Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there is a teacher staff housing unit in Colville Lake that is maintained by education, culture and employment, and the current state of this housing unit requires improvements because its condition has deteriorated and we need to ensure that we extend its service life as well. This will be a single-year capital project, and work is expected to be completed in 2026. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start by acknowledging that this certainly would be very frustrating and difficult on the part of students who are really wanting to ensure that they're focusing on their post-secondary studies. As the Member mentioned, student financial assistance has seen an increase in their applications this year. There's been an almost 20 percent increase in the number of applications for student financial assistance that have come through to the government, and even though the Department of Education, Culture and Employment did hire five additional...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, right off the hop, I can say that William McDonald School did just complete an assessment so that we have an idea of where that school is at, that before it was expected that Yellowknife schools -- Yellowknife school boards did their own assessments of their own infrastructure and it was agreed to, in recent years, that we would work together because certainly it's important that both the GNWT and the school boards together understand where the school infrastructure is at and what is required. I think this is an excellent opportunity, and I want...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in conversations with multiple entities, it was raised to the Government of the Northwest Territories, including myself, that really what we needed was a combined way that we talk about the Northwest Territories and that we talk about our aspirational goals and where we're headed as far as economic development and as far as developing ourselves and investing in ourselves as a territory. And what we needed was a common elevator pitch that we could take beyond the borders of the Northwest Territories. And what, ultimately, this document would do...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the document I have in front of me shows that the school was built in 1988, but I would be more than happy to provide the Member with a history of projects that have been done on the school as well as when the school was originally built so that the Member has a complete picture for the school in Dettah, for Kaw Tay Whee School.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I want to be very clear that with the expectation that school boards use their surplus to pay for the support assistants initiative, that we were very clear with school boards that we would honour any previous commitments that they had. So if a surplus was intended to be used for investment in a capital project and they, you know, were in the process of getting quotes for that, for example, a roof and were pursuing that, that we would certainly honour that commitment and also have given school boards the opportunity to resubmit their operating...

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in regards to the school in Dettah, in the capital estimates that were put forward last year, there was a major kitchen overhaul that was approved in the 2025-2026 capital plan. Is it that work that the Member is referring to? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there is a beautiful campus for Aurora College located in Inuvik. There is also a beautiful campus for Aurora College located in Fort Smith. So what we were talking about here is the campus for North Slave.

Mr. Chair, I can assure you that those conversations are quite live and are moving forward, but it is not -- we are not in a situation where Aurora College can rely solely on the Government of the Northwest Territories. And part of our mandate agreement is to also ensure that we're working collaboratively together but also with third party...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So the Member is right, there's two different types of assessments. So there's a routine assessment that is done on an expected five-year cycle. And so it is the goal of approximately 20 percent of our schools get done annually by the Department of Infrastructure for those types of assessments. Then there's also a technical assessment that the Member's referring to that is far more detailed, and that is done before a school undergoes a retrofit or a replacement so that we have a very detailed account of what is happening within that school envelope. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the way that we are handling this so far is through operations and maintenance funding through the Government of the Northwest Territories. So that's mitigation through flushing protocols, through the addition of point-of-use filters in our schools as well. And so any kind of need aside from that, if there was a greater need, would have to come forward in a supplementary appropriation.

And through yourself, Mr. Chair, I would love to open it up to the deputy minister given that I know how important this is and how relevant this is right now. So I...