EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I know there are a lot people out there who would like to get their grade 12 and there is a lot of talk of wanting to get to grade 12, but I knew the next question would be: how do they do it and where does the education actually happen?
So I guess one of the things that maybe adult educators are probably doing right now in the communities would be contacting or going on the radio for their needs assessment to find out who out there in the communities wants to get their grade 12. They can then compile a list that could be sent back through the channels to decide which communities would actually get the PASS instructors. Is that sort of the flow of how would it work?
Yes, it can be made to work in that manner.
In terms of curriculum development as part of the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy Action Plan, one of the objectives was “Ongoing collaboration to address suicide prevention within school curriculum.”
This was supposed to have a timeline of April 2012. There was supposed to be an “Ad hoc working group to coordinate the implementation of NSPS across all organizations and through new curriculum development, especially grades 7-12.”
I was wondering if we could get an update on what curriculum development has been done so far to meet that objective.
We are working on this issue right now from grades 7 to 12 and it has not been completed.
One of the other objectives was to “Pilot a social and emotional learning curriculum in elementary schools throughout Nunavut.” The action was to “Create a pilot strength-based social and emotional learning curriculum, which includes areas such as self-esteem, positive social interaction, conflict resolution, and coping skills.”
I was wondering if I could get an update on what has been happening with that curriculum development.
This is also being on worked on. We can get back to you with the information once it is completed.
On page 78 of the business plan, one of the priorities for 2012-13 was to “Review and consider changes to the Career and Program Planning for grades 7-12 to support students to take courses that support further education and employment.”
I was wondering if the minister could update us on what happened with that priority over the last year.
At this point, I can only respond in that the work is still being done, which is called pathways in English. It is still under development.
On the same page, page 78, one of the priorities for the 2012-13 was “Develop Student Assessment benchmarks for language arts and math.”
I was wondering if the minister could update us on that objective.
It is being worked on from kindergarten to grade 3.
My deputy will provide a response as to how much has been done to date.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) I’m aware that the K-3 portion of the benchmarks is done. I would have to confirm with staff where we are with 4-6. With the benchmarks, what it includes is what writing should look like in kindergarten; what writing should look like in grade 1.
We call them exemplars. When you’re assessing the child, you should be able to have written work that has been written by children that you can compare to say, “This is what grade 3 writing looks like in Inuktitut.” So that has been done.
We just updated our K-6 Teacher Planning Guide, which is very comprehensive, and that will be in-serviced again in the fall.
What it does is talk about theme planning, classroom management, and goes right into daily planning and how you tie all your curricular competencies together.
It’s very comprehensive and will be a great tool for our teachers.
That’s being in-serviced in the fall. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
That’s excellent because it speaks to a lot of what the members have been talking about in terms of standards across the territory.
If there are benchmarks, then hopefully we will see increased learning levels.
The deputy minister had mentioned Inuktitut as having benchmarks. Are the benchmarks that you’re working on for those grade levels in language arts and math for English and Inuktitut or is it just Inuktitut-specific?
The information is not with me and we will get back to you with it.
The minister is going to make me work extra hard. I’m going to have to go through the Hansard and pick out all the commitments that were made to make sure we get the answers.
My final question I wanted to know a bit more on page 78, the priority was “Develop drop-out prevention strategies and pilot the results of the work on the Young Men’s Engagement Project…” I know that other members mentioned a program in Baker Lake, but I remember a program we talked about from Pangnirtung.
Even within the workforce of the GN, we’re finding that a lot of women are in the workforce.
At the same time, in the schools, it seems like a lot of the boys or young men are dropping out.
I’m just wondering how those pilot projects that have been going on in Pangnirtung are working out, whether they are successful with what they’re doing, whether they’re more land-based, and whether that makes it more successful.
We will help our colleague. These are being written by staff and we will get back to you with information that we said we would provide.
My deputy will respond to the question.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) The report on the young men’s program is still in progress right now. We’re hoping to have a report finished very soon that will lay out all the options.
Young men are being surveyed to get their point of view as to why they may have dropped out and we’re also surveying young men who have been successful in school.
It’s interesting to note that graduation rates between men and women seem to be almost equal. That’s a new trend that we noticed this year, but we will get back to the actual stats between men and women and their graduation rates.
The Arviat project has also been very successful. It’s a resiliency program and again, it was DEA and school based. The DEA and the school really saw it as a priority for their school, developed a proposal, and secured federal funding, a significant amount of money, as a stay-in-school option and it really involved students at risk.
Most schools, if not all, have special programming that they do for students at risk, whether it be a separate exercise type of programming or doing activities with them like cooking and stuff like that. When I visit communities, I have seen it first-hand where they were actually bringing me to certain sections of the school where they work with students at risk of dropping out. There is active work being done on this at the school level.
We will get back with that report once it’s submitted to us. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We’re on page G-8.
On G-8, Curriculum and School Services, this area of activity or branch talks about program development, production and implementation, and teaching and learning material development. That’s what I wanted to talk about the next few minutes.
I think we always have to remind ourselves about our foundation, Mr. Chairman.
We have a mission statement and to me, that is the foundation of this particular department that we are reviewing this morning. This mission statement talks about successful delivery of all the programs and to meet the needs of Nunavummiut.
That’s what I wanted to focus on for a bit.
In partnership with our elders, schools, and communities across Nunavut during the transitional years from the NWT to Nunavut, we, the people of this area, had dreams, aspirations, and mission statements.
We eventually want to see that in Nunavut, Inuktitut becomes a working language.
I’m not looking for a radical change and no one is in this particular jurisdiction.
We know it takes time to plan, to do research and development, and we have to come up with a full package, where the full package meets all the legal standards and requirements.
We know that it takes time, but this is my personal opinion. Also, I heard that being said in my community.
We have inherited curricula from the NWT to Nunavut where our students now become English speakers. I say that without prejudice to anyone.
I believe this is a public government and I am more than happy to serve in this public government, but we have goals and objectives that we would like to meet, resulting from the recent goals and objectives of the majority of the population of Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, I know that the department is doing very well and I salute the department and all the bureaucracy across the jurisdiction.
Mr. Chairman, I want to say my reason is that the population of Nunavut has strong, solid linguistic skills in all of the official languages: Inuktitut, English, and French.
Some years ago, I visited Denmark.
I was struck by the people of Greenland, their ability to speak Danish, English, and their local language. That’s my dreams, aspirations, and vision for Nunavut.
I know, again, I would like to go back. I’m not looking for a radical change and we know it takes time to develop a full package finally for the delivery.
By full package, I mean planning, research and development, and meeting all of the requirements and legal standards.
I want to remind all of us here that we have goals and objectives to meet. Some day, [Inuktitut] would become a working language equal to the official languages in Nunavut.
I don’t have any questions at all, but I also wanted to say that we have come a long way under the leadership of this government.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Ningark. I don’t think I heard a question. (interpretation ends) I heard nothing but wise advice from a wise man. (interpretation) Thank you.
We’re on page G-8. At this time, I don’t have any names on my list.
G-8. Education. Branch Summary.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $17,043,000.
We will proceed to page G-9.
Branch Summary. Education. Early Childhood Services.
My first question may have been asked in part in the last couple of days, but if I do ask it again, I apologize.
Your department’s dedicated grants and contributions budget supports community early childhood facilities with contributions, support, and annual inspections.
Are there currently adequate early childhood spaces and programs in all Nunavut communities and, if not, which communities have expressed an urgent need for space or programs?
There definitely is a lack of daycare centres in our territory, as I have continued to maintain.
Everywhere in Nunavut, daycare spaces are at a premium and this continues to be a very important challenge we face.
The Department of Education isn’t responsible for capital costs for the construction of new daycare centres. We have no funds for these types of assistance from the federal government, only for assistance to existing daycare centres that can be applied to its operating and maintenance. Additionally, whenever new schools are constructed or when there are extensions to alleviate overcrowding, daycare spaces are now included.
At this point, there are four communities that need more daycare spaces. (interpretation ends) There are four communities in need of additional daycare spaces, which are Igloolik, which is currently being renovated right now, Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, and Rankin Inlet.
There are six communities that need new buildings or major renovations for their existing daycare facilities and these communities are Cambridge Bay, Chesterfield Inlet, Grise Fiord, Hall Beach, Rankin Inlet, and Taloyoak.
Other communities that have child care facilities that require some renovations are Arctic Bay, Baker Lake, Clyde River, Gjoa Haven, Kimmirut, Kugaaruk, Kugluktuk, Pangnirtung, Resolute Bay, and Sanikiluaq.
If there are any further questions on that line, I will be happy to try and provide the answers.
Mr. Rumbolt: Thank you, Chairman.
The minister mentioned that there is no funding for new daycare buildings and if new schools are built, they are adding facilities for daycares.
So these six communities that are in need of new construction for daycare facilities, are they going to have to wait until new schools come to their community before they can get daycares?
Hon. Eva Aariak: If the funding is coming from Education, I’m afraid so, but there are other initiatives that communities have initiated in their own initiative by finding daycare spaces and whatnot.
Once the daycare spaces are acquired, other areas that the Department of Education helps out are in the areas of providing money for toys and programming assistance, and so on.
On G-11 of your grants and contributions for early childhood services, it says that funding for healthy children initiatives will decrease in 2013-14.
Can you describe what was the funding through this division used for last year, and can you indicate whether any programs will no longer be able to continue to the reduction in funding?
There are no program funding cuts in that area.
Community initiatives fund family-centred early childhood services and programs for young children aged zero to six and their families. Support services fund additional programs in services for children zero to six who require extra support to reach their full development.
There has been some underutilization of some funds under that and they have been re-profiled to other areas, such as Inuinnaqtun language enhancement in Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk.
So these monies have been just re-profiled to more specified areas in the two communities of Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk.
According to the business plan, funding allocated to the Young Parents Stay Learning program will be decreasing to $133,000 from $140,000, but your recent annual report states that close to $160,000 in total actual funding was provided through this program in 2009-2010.
Why is funding for this initiative being reduced when there is a clear need for the funding?
The program was underutilized and had to be re-profiled to other areas, but if there are funding requests through written requests and they are eligible, no one will be denied any funding under that.
I will have Kathy explain that further.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) There has been a history of underutilization of funds, We took it upon ourselves this year to be a little bit more prudent in our budgeting, so budgeting to actual.
So what we have done is change the amounts, but there will be no decrease to the program. Actually, it gives us an ability to provide other enhanced programming around early childhood.
One trend that we’re noticing in the Kitikmeot is that for language of instruction, we are more in dire straits for the Inuinnaqtun language. We’re in revitalization mode because the use of the language is much significantly different than the other two regions. We need to be proactive in working with our other government departments that are having the same issues around either gaining employees or students for Inuinnaqtun.
So those are our targets for this year to enhance language for Inuinnaqtun in those two communities. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In Early Childhood Services under grants and contributions in G-11, it shows a decrease in Young Parents Stay Learning, daycare contributions, and healthy initiatives. They all show a decrease in their budgets, yet in the business plan for Early Childhood Administration – Headquarters and Early Childhood Services – Regional, they both show an increase in their budgets: Can you explain the reason for the increase in their budgets?
I will refer this question to my deputy.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) This is one of the divisions that have been impacted by the move of Family Services.
The section of early childhood was originally reporting to the directors within the region. Those directors will now be moved to Family Services and the core function of these four PYs will be reporting into headquarters.
We also have the duty to inspect and license daycares and to ensure that their safety and dual inspections of daycares a minimum of once a year.
So we have to ensure that our early childhood officers have sufficient funds to be able to travel to all of the communities to visit the daycare at least once a year and to provide assistance with programming. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We’re on page G-9.
Mr. Rumbolt said that he had no more questions.
Before we proceed with the other names on the list, we will take a 10-minute break.
>>Committee recessed at 10:11 and resumed at 10:28
Chairman (Mr. Tapardjuk) (interpretation): The Chair recognizes that we now have quorum and we can now call the meeting to order.
We are on page G-9.
I want to use page 81 of the business plan as my foundation since under the third bullet states, and I quote, “To encourage young student parents to continue to work towards their high school diploma.”
Yesterday, when I was questioning the minister about this matter, I seemed to be indicating that our students weren’t capable of passing due to our system. I just wanted to comment that shortly after that, I was informed that my grandchild, who had difficulty passing his grade the year before, returned to high school and that my grandchild would now be able to get his diploma.
I didn’t have that information prior to yesterday. I am extremely happy about that.
Further, for those students in that situation, I encourage them to continue. Even if they skip a year, they can return and it is possible to complete their education. This highlights that possibility.
I congratulate my grandson Joshua on his success.
With respect to this issue, I had several very good questions to ask, but Mr. Rumbolt stole my thunder with his questions. The leftover question I was left with is what I want to now ask about. It was mentioned earlier that six daycares need renovation or replacement.
Chesterfield Inlet’s daycare committee members have met with me over this issue and they keep reiterating the same thing. They are extremely grateful for the operational funding they receive and they are thankful for those funds, as well as the inspections of the facilities, as the daycare there is in an old building.
It used to be a private home actually.
Due to that reason, I just want to raise further questions on this issue.
Since the Nunavut government isn’t funded to construct daycare facilities, it slows the process. It was mentioned that only if a new school or extension is planned will a daycare facility be included.
This has been a problem for some communities. Does the Nunavut government keep bringing this issue up with the federal government? This creates a multitude of problems in our territory.
It would be good to hear of a strategy or plan to resolve these issues since communities are experiencing a lack of space for daycare.
It exacerbates the challenges of student parents who have returned to high school and can become a barrier for them to complete their education. That seems to be the case for many student parents.
Yes, indeed, the shortage of space is our biggest challenge here in Nunavut.
Further, I want to express my pleasure of the communities that have taken the initiative to create their own facility by creating a society.
It really helps alleviate the problem in the community when residents take on that initiative.
I am proud of their initiative since it means communities can live up to the ideal of self-reliance. However, it also shows that once a facility is running, the communities still require support from our government.
I can only respond by saying that the Department of Education hasn’t requested any financial assistance from the federal government for these facilities.
The issues I voiced earlier are the reasons why residents living in smaller communities, although they could try to fundraise and present a proposal to the federal government, still require support at least in the short-term future.
If this could be kept in consideration, it would be quite helpful, especially in looking for ways to provide more assistance.
I know we aren’t discussing capital money, Mr. Chairman. However, we have to meet the needs for space that our preschoolers require to ensure that they have a better future in this field.
I have no further questions at this time. Thank you. That was just a comment, Mr. Chairman.
He didn’t have a question, but if you would like to make a comment, I give you the opportunity to do so, Minister Aariak.
I concur with the member’s statement.
Anyone at the community level can request funding from the Inuit organizations, as they can also provide assistance under various programs. As well, this issue is important to a lot of people, to different levels of governments, and we have to keep voicing our needs and deliberate on our challenges.
The member stated the truth when he spoke of the impacts because many of our residents are impacted since the lack of daycare facilities prevents them from obtaining gainful employment. So this is, indeed, a very critical issue.
One of the questions I had was on G-4.
I guess a bit of a definition or background in terms of we talked a little about it before in terms of early child education programs and daycares. How do they differ?
Is it just the way funding is streamed in the sense that daycares are not under the envelope of a school, but they offer early childhood education programming, whereas kindergarten or junior kindergarten also offer early childhood education programming? Is that the correct wording or rationale?
Chairman (Mr. Enook)(interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Elliott. Minister Aariak.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) The requirement for district education authorities is to implement early childhood programs.
That has caused some confusion with regard to the Child Care Act.
While this is an Education Act requirement, all DEAs’ early childhood programs, whether new or existing, are required to follow the Education Act and regulations as well as the Child Care Act and regulations.
In terms of early childhood education programs offered within the school, I know that there’s actually a lot of talk not just in Nunavut but across Canada about early childhood education and a lot jurisdictions are looking at kindergarten and junior kindergarten.
At this point, as a territory, the GN only offers kindergarten programming, not the junior kindergarten program.
Currently, we are doing research and cost analysis with junior kindergarten.
That’s excellent too because I know if it’s junior kindergarten and under the umbrella of the Department of Education, then it would actually save a lot of concerns, especially with smaller communities that have a hard time getting the infrastructure dollars to fix up a daycare facility and also provide earlier learning opportunities for the youth at younger ages.
For my next question, I want to go back to the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy Action Plan. One of the objectives is to “Foster healthy development of children in Nunavut.” The lead department that was in charge of this is the Government of Nunavut and the action plan or the action or the task was to “Develop and promote Inuit-specific programming in daycare [curricula].”
And this was starting in 2012 and would be ongoing. I was wondering if the minister could update the House on what has been happening with this priority.
I will have my deputy minister respond to the question.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) We’re actually quite excited to report about this right now because it just happens to coincide with the Nunavut-wide early childhood conference that we’re starting this evening right throughout the weekend.
So we do have kindergarten representatives from every single community as well as representation from every single community, whether it be a daycare or an early childhood program.
Our intent is to look at the transition [from] early childhood into the school, looking at traditional Inuit rearing practices, but also to showcase the three resource units that we have developed.
The first unit is on stars, the second one is on boats, and the third one is on fish. It includes how to do lesson plans. There are assessments.