Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Premier. In the recent months, there has been a lot of lobbying with Ottawa to protect Jordan's Principle funding along with Council of Leaders. Can the Premier update the House on what he and his Ministers heard and achieved at these meetings protecting Indigenous children's education here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll do my best to answer it. I might hand it to the education Minister at some point. But I will say that Jordan's Principle has been at the forefront of our discussions with the federal government since this announcement was made to change the program. I've spoken about it to the Prime Minister. I was very direct with him about the impacts on the territory.
When we went to Ottawa as the Council of Leaders, we collectively spoke to the federal Ministers - Minister Chartrand, Minister Gull-Masty, Minister Alty - about Jordan's Principle. Indigenous leaders and GNWT Ministers all spoke with one voice and really let the federal government know exactly how this change has impacted the territory, how we're different from southern Canada. And so we did not get a commitment that they're going to reinstate the program in the territory as it was before, but I think it was an important conversation to have in light of the upcoming budget. And I will say that in our conversations, a number of the Ministers have acknowledged that we have unique circumstances, and they are looking into the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Education is a territorial responsibility, and under the first principle of Jordan's Principle the government approach first must provide these services without delay. Can the Premier explain why ECE continues to dispute who funds Indigenous education with or without Jordan's Principle? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT is a public government, so we fund public education. Most of the people in the territory are Indigenous, so we provide education to Indigenous students with the general public government funding. So I'm not quite sure what dispute the Member is referencing, but we understand that we are a public government and that we provide education to all members of the public. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. If schools can no longer access Jordan's Principle funding, the resulting cuts to education will be so severe that our treaty rights will be violated. Will the Premier direct the Minister of ECE to restore that funding through exclusive education for our children, or will you stand by and let our sacred treaties be ignored and eroded? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a bit of a loaded question there. I will say this. For the members of the public who want some insight into how things work around here, the Premier does not direct the Ministers to do things like that. That is a money decision, so those types of decisions are made by the financial management board. That is how that $14 million that was allocated came about. It was a decision of all of the group of Ministers here. So I don't -- from the technical standpoint, I don't have the power to tell the Minister to fund this. From a fiscal standpoint, the Minister does not have $16 million in her budget to fund it. So there's some issues with how things are being proposed there. That being said, the federal government has a long history of creating programs and then abandoning those programs and the GNWT picking up those programs because often they're much needed. This is an instance where we cannot pick up a $16 million a year increase in funding so we are going to continue to lobby the federal government, along with all the other Indigenous leaders at the Council of Leaders, to reinstate the program so that it works for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
