YELLOWKNIFE (March 6, 2020) -  On April 1, 2020 the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Canada and officials from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) will be appearing before the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee on Government Operations.  The Committee will be conducting a public hearing on the Auditor’s report on Early Childhood to Grade 12 Education in the Northwest Territories, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on February 6, 2020.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is responsible to plan, support and monitor the delivery of education programs and services that are equitable, inclusive and reflect Indigenous languages and cultures, to support improved student outcomes.  Overall, the audit found that ECE’s “actions fell short of meeting all its commitments and obligations, and it did not know whether its efforts were improving student outcomes.”  The audit also found that “the department did not determine what needed to be done to ensure that students in small communities had equitable access to education programs and services, compared with students in regional centres and Yellowknife” and that it “did not take sufficient steps to collect and use data to understand how it might make changes to address persistent gaps in student outcomes.”

“These findings are troubling to Members of the Standing Committee because it is our children who will ultimately pay the price for shortcomings in the Northwest Territories’ education system,” said Standing Committee Chair Frieda Martselos.

The Standing Committee is mandated to review the reports of the Auditor General of Canada and will produce its own report in follow-up to the public hearing.  The Committee is particularly interested in assessing the actions planned by the Department in response to the audit. 

The review will take place in Committee Room “A” of the Legislative Assembly building in Yellowknife, on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 9:00 am.  Please note that Members of the Standing Committee and representatives of the OAG will be available to the media for comments following the noon conclusion of the public hearing.   The report can be found on the Legislative Assembly website at www.ntassembly.ca under the heading Tabled Documents.  The document number is TD 11-19(2). 
 
For more information, contact:

                                   
Jennifer Franki-Smith, Committee Clerk
Standing Committee on Government Operations
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories

(867) 767-9130 ext. 12009 or toll free 1-800-661-0784
E:  Jennifer_Franki-Smith@gov.nt.ca