A federal cabinet minister has vowed to return to Ottawa and raise the territorial government's concerns over losing Jordan's Principle funding.
Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality, was in Yellowknife this week as part of an annual meeting of ministers responsible for the status of women.
In an interview with SA国际影视传媒 on Thursday afternoon, Valdez told SA国际影视传媒 that during that meeting, someone brought up concerns over Jordan's Principle to her, though she couldn't say who.
"It was brought up, not in great detail, but more around the importance of it," said Valdez. "And I had committed to certainly take that back with me to Ottawa."
Currently, Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) is slated to not receive renewed funding, which would mean dozens of educational assistants being laid off for the upcoming school year. According to GNWT ministers Lesa Semmler and Caitlin Cleveland, Carney himself has also pledged to speak with federal Finance Minister Fran莽ois-Philippe Champagne about these same concerns.
The cuts, according to Semmler and Cleveland, would also worsen inequities and dismantle other supports that were showing progress including education, early childhood development, child and family services and mental health and addictions.
"I think in cabinet, it's important to bring those issues up," said Valdez. "Not just JordanSA国际影视传媒檚 Principle, but the main issue that we discussed today, which was our focus on ending gender-based violence and the economic and full participation of women and girls in our economy."
Shirley Zouboules, Yk1's superintendent, has told SA国际影视传媒 that it submitted applications to Indigenous Services Canada, based on need, in February, March and April, but has yet to hear back.
She has also noted that at least 79 students would have their education impacted by this loss of funding with some of those students being young girls.
