R.J. Simpson

Sorry, my deputy minister, Ms. Mueller.

Thank you. That is due to a sunset of the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement with the Government of Canada. Thank you.

Thank you. Junior kindergarten is funded the same way that every other grade in a school is funded, so there should be no financial gaps. There are more students, there are more classes, but there is more money that is flowing the same way as if that was additional students in grade one, or if you had to open up a second grade one class. It's the same type of money. That being said, I know that schools are often tight for cash. You know, you talk to some principals, and they say they have to determine whether they are going to buy these supplies, these books, maybe, that the class might need...

Thank you. I am very familiar with this. I have had constituent businesses who have brought this issue to my attention time and time again, and I have had discussions with the department about what we can do to address this issue. Questions earlier in the House today reminded me of this. You know, dental hygienists can't perform their work because there are no dentists around. Similarly, apprentices can't get their hours and can't move to journeypersons because there are no journeypersons around. We have discussed some different approaches, and, in the mandate, we have an item in there that...

To my deputy minister, Ms. Mueller.

Thank you. Absolutely. This has become vital. I think the feds see a need for it, and I can't speak for them. I can't say if it is entrenched. We could have a new government, and they could get drastically slashed. When I speak with the appropriate ministers, I will definitely be speaking to the value of this. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, that can be shared with standing committee. I think it likely has to be shared with the Cabinet, but not for decision, prior to going to standing committee, but I have no problem doing that. Thank you.

Thank you. We have a line that says "inclusive schooling," but that doesn't mean that all of our efforts related to inclusive schooling are contained in that line item. We talked about the child and youth care counsellors; we talked about the territorial support team; what we're doing with education renewal and innovation. All of that is related to this idea of inclusive schooling. As well, the mandate talks about renewing the Education Act, doing work to review inclusive schooling and address some of the issues that have emerged over the years. Virtually everything we do in education in the...

Thank you. The territorial support team does go into the communities. They don't travel there on a regular basis. There are referrals. Based on those referrals, I believe there's been 42 in the last year, so there's been nine from the Beaufort Delta; there's been four in the Sahtu; the Deh Cho, Tlicho. They've been all over the entire territory. The largest number is in Yellowknife, but that's just because of the size of the population, but they do travel to every region. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to hand this over to Mr. Saturnino who can, perhaps, provide a bit more detail. Thank you.