R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And again, I can't really mandate glad things but we do do our best to develop the resources and provide the resources, promote the resources at no cost to educators. So the LGBTQ2S+ equity, safety, and inclusion guidelines training is available upon request from ECE. In addition, we have safe school regulations that mandate that all 49 schools in the territory provide a safe school plan which includes identifying LGBTQ2S+ resource people in the school and gender sexuality advisors. ECE works with local partners to put on the triannual rainbow youth conference...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, in response to the child and youth mental wellness action plan, such training has been developed, both traumainformed classroom training and culturally sensitive classroom training. It is not mandatory for all NWT educators, but it is available upon request and it's free to education bodies, and there has been significant uptake on those programs. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, "Let's Go Fishing." That's the theme of this year's Indigenous Languages Month, which we celebrate every February in partnership with Indigenous governments and the NWT Literacy Council. To help everyone embrace this year's celebration, we are sharing a delicious fish chowder recipe in all nine official Indigenous languages. Throughout February, we continue to encourage residents to engage in the exciting activities in communities and schools to promote Indigenous language use.

Madam Speaker, the Northwest Territories is a landscape of rich and vibrant cultures that are the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am sorry to ruin the theme day here, but I want to talk about a different topic.

As members are aware, it is Indigenous Languages Month and the Members may not be aware but the UN also declared 2022 to 2032 the international decade of Indigenous languages. I think this is a monumental event, and I'm always happy when I hear Members of this House speak in Indigenous languages. My colleague from Boot Lake, the Member for Yellowknife South I've heard, of course our Member for Monfwi, and I think that to mark not just Indigenous Languages Month but the...

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: 31st Annual Report 20192020 Victims Assistance Committee of the NWT; and 32nd Annual Report 20202021 Victims Assistance Committee of the NWT. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Yellowknife Catholic Schools 20212022 Capital Plan Amended. And the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 20212022 Capital Plan Amended. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't know, maybe. The Member raises some very valid points, and sometimes I joke that he's just trying to chip away at the workweek with the more holidays and paid sick leave but the fact is this pandemic has shown us that when you're sick, we want you to stay home. But not everyone can afford that. So we are reviewing the Employment Standards Act in the upcoming fiscal year which starts not that long from now, and we are going to be going out and speaking with employers and asking them these questions, how they feel about it, and then speaking with the public as...

No, we don't have those numbers. When employers implement things like this, they're not required to inform employment standards. However, under the Employment Standards Act, I believe there's around between 15,000 and 19,000 employees in the territory who fall under that act, and I would imagine for the most part they don't have paid sick leave. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, today is Pink Shirt Day, a day when we take a moment to pause and reflect on how we treat one another.

Pink Shirt Day began in 2007 in Nova Scotia. After a male student was harassed for wearing a pink shirt, teenagers David Shepherd and Travis Price organized an antibullying protest in which they handed out pink shirts to the students in their school. Fifteen years later, Pink Shirt Day has become a global calltoaction as schools, communities and workplaces are flooded with pink in solidarity against bullying.

This year's national theme continues as Lift...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the 16 to 1 ratio is a minimum, and it's a legislated number. We actually fund to about 12.8 to 1. And that is just including teachers, program supports, staff. So it is basically instructional staff. So that number is a minimum, and we already exceed that number. And I will be the first to say there's never enough money for education; there's never enough teachers to go around, and so I appreciate the Member's comment and the school board's comments. But unfortunately, we've talked a lot about competing needs today, and we've talked about our overall debt, and our...