Shane Thompson

Thank you to the Minister for coming into that world because that is where I was coming. I know those four communities. You need actual support to get these. Four of my communities that I represent don't have licensed daycares. With a half-time position, how can that individual support the ones that actually have daycares and the ones that are trying to get them in there? It is kind of: well, we want to get 11 more licensed daycares going, but we are not going to give you the supports to it. How can we actually achieve that if we only get a half-time position? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I was asking the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about upgrading, and stuff like that. I need to follow up with a couple more questions for the Minister. We have set up a meeting to go into the communities. Can the Minister make a commitment to be prepared and to have her staff prepared to discuss upgrading and the challenges they are facing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We went to them and told them to make cuts, so we, as government and the Department of Education, told them to make a cut. They've proposed these two things to cut. Now, you're telling me that the money is still there. We've seen the college. They did a review of the social work program, and they said, this is what we need to do to fix it. So why didn't we just say, "Okay, fix it and still implement it?"

It's funny because we're sitting here saying they're autonomous. They're not really autonomous, because we've got to give them two years now. We've told them that we have...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 44, I see that there is only a part-time position for early childhood and school services. Can the Minister explain why it is only a part-time position for eight communities? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's great to talk about learning centres, but if we don't have them in the small communities, it doesn't really help. Could the Minister advise: in the future, will learning centres be expanded into these small communities and all communities in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you. I'd just like to follow up on some questions from Ms. Green here that she proposed to the Minister. The Minister talks about the college being autonomous. Can you give me the definition of what "autonomous" means? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is great to hear, and I am hoping we will get feedback from the parents and that as we move forward. Coming back to distance learning, on the floor here I talked about, you know, it is very much about the peer courses and that, and then we are talking about getting it out there to the schools there, but what about the schools, i.e., in the smaller communities that only go up to grade nine? Right now, that is all they offer and after that, grade 10, 11, and 12, they either have to go to Fort Providence or Fort Simpson to go to school. How are you trying to work with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the NWT and, in particular, the Nahendeh, many residents require academic upgrading, even after finishing school. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: how is the department working with Aurora College to meet the needs of adult learners in the region? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. In other words, individual A has to go ask for SFA first, and, if he doesn't, then he has to get income support. Correct? Is that what I am understanding from the Minister? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree that people come and go, but Fort Liard hasn't had that position filled for a long time, so that is a concern for me, and especially the community. I would just like to go on to the SCIP. We are on to our third year, so what have we learned for the last two years? Are we waiting until the very end for a three-year pilot project and then we will move forward to do an evaluation? Have we done an evaluation on the last two years? Thank you, Mr. Chair.