Northwest Territories (NWT) Education Leaders met via teleconference with Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) Minister R.J. Simpson and the NWT Teachers’ Association (NWTTA) on June 3, 2020 to discuss priorities and planning for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year.
Mr. Speaker, the COVID-19 global pandemic has had profound effects on people around the world, including residents across the Northwest Territories (NWT). The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) has been working tirelessly to adapt its programs and services to help lighten the economic, social and emotional weights of the pandemic, and I would like to provide an update to the public about those efforts.
Education Leaders from across the Northwest Territories (NWT) met via teleconference with Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) Minister R.J. Simpson, the NWT Teachers’ Association (NWTTA) and NWT Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) Dr. Kami Kandola on May 19, 2020 to discuss planning for the coming 2020-2021 school year.
The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is accepting funding proposals from professional artists in the Northwest Territories (NWT) recovering from the impacts of COVID-19.
Up to $3,000 is available to NWT artists or commercial film and media arts producers with lost revenues or whose activities are restricted due to physical distancing requirements.
Education Leaders from across the Northwest Territories (NWT) met via teleconference with Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) Minister R.J. Simpson and the NWT Teachers’ Association (NWTTA) on May 13, 2020 to discuss the recent recommendation that NWT schools are safe to reopen for the remainder of the school year as part of Phase 1 of Emerging Wisely: Path to Eased Public Health Restrictions.
Today, Minister of Finance Caroline Wawzonek announced that the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) will allocate up to $6.2 million to temporarily top up wages for workers making less than $18 per hour.
Under this program, businesses are asked to apply for temporary funding to increase the wages of their employees who make less than $18 per hour, for a maximum of 16 weeks between April 1 and July 31, 2020. The program is available to all workers in the NWT that are currently earning less than $18 per hour and are over 15 years old.
R.J. Simpson, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) met with territorial education leaders and the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association (NWTTA) during their biweekly teleconference on May 5, 2020 to further discuss continued learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on what is currently being done to support families and students with complex needs.
Today, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE), R.J. Simpson announced the exemption of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) for Income Assistance (IA) clients. These benefits would normally be counted as unearned income and would affect a client’s IA benefit amount.
The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) recognizes that supporting access to early learning and child care is essential for healthcare providers, frontline staff and other essential workers to be able to respond to COVID-19 in the Northwest Territories. Today, Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance, and R.J. Simpson, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE), are announcing additional support for essential workers responding to COVID-19 that will ensure access to child care.
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Good afternoon.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges for our residents and communities as we take the necessary steps to protect each other by staying physically distant and self-isolating.
For residents with children, there are additional and significant challenges now that children are at home as a result of school closures and the cancellation of many child care programs.
