Delivered on March 1, 2017
Mr. Speaker, as I’ve said in this Assembly, education is one of the cornerstones of development and success. There are always people behind a student’s experience in education, and they are usually teachers or principals.
Mr. Speaker, one of the most important areas we can invest in is early childhood development and the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment in its mandate to do this by implementing its Right from the Start Framework. Ages zero to five are the most critical time in a child’s development, and the work that the Departments of Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment have been doing in partnership have been helping all of the children in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, today is national Pink Shirt Day, a day celebrated during the last Wednesday of February of each year. We provided pink carnations for all of the Members, and I am pleased to see all the pink in the House today, marking our acknowledgement that bullying in any form is unacceptable.
This initiative was started by two brave young men in Nova Scotia, David Shepherd and Travis Price, who gave away fifty pink shirts after a grade 9 student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school.
Mr. Speaker, the Legislative Assembly has identified education, training and youth development as one of its priorities and the Government of the Northwest Territories has made several commitments in its mandate to advance that priority. Work in these areas is foundational to the future success of our territory, and we have seen some solid progress on many initiatives in education, training and youth development.
Mr. Speaker, two of the key factors in community wellness and safety are education and partnership. Every person and organization across the Northwest Territories has something to contribute to help make our communities healthy and safe.
At the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, all of our programs and services follow a continuum of strategies, building on the foundations of the others. These strategies are designed to address community and resident needs from early childhood, through to ensuring Northerners have the skills, attitudes and opportunities for success.
Mr. Speaker, over the past year, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has implemented new initiatives and improved existing programs and services to help meet our mandate commitments to address the cost of living for NWT residents.
We all understand the importance of reducing poverty and providing our residents with the tools necessary to achieve their goals and live healthy, productive lives. The work underway at the Department supports those goals.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to provide clarification on the implementation of Junior Kindergarten in the Northwest Territories. I think we can all agree that we want to give NWT children the support they need to thrive and be successful, Mr. Speaker.
YELLOWKNIFE (January 23, 2017) – The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE), the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association (NWTTA) and the Northwest Territories Superintendents’ Association (NWTSA) today announced their collaboration on strengthening teacher instructional practices (STIP) across the NWT.
YELLOWKNIFE (5 December, 2016) - Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) Minister Alfred Moses met with Education Board Chairs on Friday to discuss matters of mutual interest and to plan for future actions. The Minister and Board Chairs typically meet every six months.
YELLOWKNIFE (November 17, 2016) – Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Alfred Moses tabled the Skills 4 Success 4-Year Action Plan 2016-2020 on November 4, targeting actions to improve employment success for the people of the Northwest Territories.
