Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE.
Mr. Speaker, what is the rationale behind not renewing the 2008 to 2018 literacy strategy; did the mandate of the department change somehow? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of ECC or ECE. Try that again.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we came in and started this Assembly, we actually talked as a group a lot about strategies. We talked about the multitude of strategies that we often find in government departments across the country that sometimes act as doorstops instead of guiding documents. And what we decided as a group is we wanted to see actionable, tangible items. We wanted to see programs being delivered rather than strategies being written. And so that has been my direction as Minister, that I want to see action in communities. And one of the things that we're working on right now is working to review the way that adult learning and basic education is delivered across the territory. Mind you, it was not something that was jump-started on our move, but it is work that is now being done holistically with communities that we will see evolve over the course of this Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I understand the Minister's point behind strategies; however, we are still funding programming using this strategy as I mentioned in the statement. Doesn't that necessarily suggest that the strategy should be up to date? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, all of our contribution agreements that we have within the Government of the Northwest Territories do come with an agreement. A memorandum of understanding is often also included in that. Many of them end up being redone year to year, and they use data in order to form what we're going to do. And we also work quite often with the NGOs that are applying on and receiving these contribution agreements in order to access this funding. And a lot of times, especially, you know, when we're talking about literacy, we're generally talking about a small handful of organizations, and they work most closely with residents and really are subject matter experts. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister for ECE. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my statement, the Minister made reference to the BC government because we have a BC curriculum. Will the Minister commit to funding screening, training, and support for students with learning disabilities for literacy as is being done in British Columbia? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we are in the process right now of finalizing a What We Heard report from the inclusive schooling review. That report will be out by the end of this calendar year and by the beginning of next calendar year, we will have a response to the recommendations from the government that I'm very happy to share and want to ensure that it's publicly accessible. And I fully intend from that and from the recommendations that come from that to have funding requests that I will in turn be working with my colleagues on. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
