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This is page numbers 3161 - 3198 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon to the people from ECE. The Education Culture and Employment budget contains some promising initiatives. I am happy to see the additional investment in northern distance learning. The results from this initiative have certainly improved the completion rates for the courses, which I know is the purpose of this initiative.
I'm also pleased to see that there is now going to be additional money available for inclusive schooling for junior kindergarten students. The budget is somewhat ambiguous about whether this is one‑time‑only funding based on a lack of enrollment or whether this is funding that will be included in the base going forward. One of the things that comes out of the junior kindergarten experience is the need to revisit some of the formulas for funding things such as inclusive schooling, Aboriginal programming, and busing, all of which are being stretched to include an additional grade. So I'm looking forward to a conversation with the Minister at some point about the revision of the formulas to provide funding in these areas.
An area in which I have some concerns involves the Child and Youth Care Counsellor's Program. On the face of it, this looks like a great initiative to provide additional mental health support to youth and children in the communities. I am a little concerned about the roll‑out of this program; first of all, that the roll‑out is very lengthy, and secondly, that there be an assurance from the Minister that the money that is currently allocated to counselling positions remain in place until this new initiative is fully implemented. I understand that there will be an MOU created between the superintendents and the various boards and district education authorities and the Department of Health and ECE to guide the implementation of this program, and I look forward to hearing about the progress on that.
One of the things that counsellors do now that they may not be doing in the future because of the re‑direction of this program is provide advice to youth who are getting ready to apply for post‑secondary education opportunities. I know that there is a plan to create career and education advisors, but it doesn't seem as if that program is in sync with the child and youth care counsellors, in that the new education advisors won't be necessarily placed in the places where the career counsellors are being placed. In my mind, that program is not synchronized, and so I'd like to confirm that has been taken into account, when we get into the more detailed consideration.
Further, it's my understanding that the shared services study is now complete and that it has been reviewed by school boards and district educational authorities, and I'm looking forward to the Minister making this information available to us in advance of the next budget cycle, so that we can have a look at how shared services might impact the delivery of the administrative functions of the school boards.
I want to talk a little bit about childcare funding. The federal government, in its last budget, announced that there would be funding for affordable childcare, to make childcare more affordable and more available. We've talked a lot about affordability. I know the Minister is very focused on availability, but in any case it seems to me that it's time to have an update on the implementation plan for that money and how those two different issues are going to be resolved. I also want to caution the Minister that childcare is not education, and vice versa. So the fact that JK is in place now does not address childcare needs in the NWT; they address education needs. Childcare needs are something separate.
Mr. Chair, I am aware that the Aurora College Foundational Review is ongoing and due to wrap up at the end of March and is on schedule, according to the Minister's statement of last week. Recently, I also participated in a review of the Social Work Program. I appreciate the opportunity to do that, but I remain concerned that there is not money in this operating budget to resume that program in the next fiscal year. My concern is that, if the program doesn't take students in September, it will no longer exist, because it's a two‑year program and it won't have any new students in it. As a result, the staff will be given layoff notices and the program will collapse out of a lack of uptake. So I would like the Minister to make a commitment that he will, in fact, make money available for the Social Work Program, pending the outcome of both the foundational review and the social work review.
Finally, I just will talk a little bit about the performing arts. I know there was discussion last week about funding for the arts, and I feel this is an area of some confusion. There is performance for its own sake, and then there are arts for economic diversification. ECE houses the former; art for its own sake. As we heard last week, that budget hasn't been increased in 10 years; it's at $500,000, and clearly the demand for this money outstrips the provision of it very considerably. I would like the Minister to take a good, hard look at what he can do to augment the budget of the NWT Arts Council in the next fiscal year. Those are my opening comments, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm going to raise a number of the same concerns that my colleague from Yellowknife Centre has already expressed. We did have a good briefing at noon today from the Minister of Education and his colleague the Minister of Health and Social Services on the youth mental health support investments. It will require transitioning some of the money that's now given to the district education authorities to support that work, and there is additional money that's coming in, and I think that's all a good effort, but there is still a number of outstanding issues with regard to qualifications of the 49 new staff that are to be hired over four years and whether, indeed, we can actually find them, the availability of those sorts of qualified individuals. There are also, I think, some issues around who they report to and what kind of accountability there is between the two departments and locally.
Communities will want to be able to express some views about whether those individuals would be best situated in the schools versus the health centre, and so on. I was pleased to hear the Minister say that they are prepared to look at the concept of a memorandum of understanding between the departments and the different regions to ensure that the money stays within those purposes and to help clarify relationships and so on. I think that's a good move, and I appreciate the commitment of the two Ministers to work together on that. There is to be a communications plan developed, and I think it will be important that that be shared with the standing committee, and that there be regular updates as this starts to roll out. Some more questions about this, but I think it's headed in the right direction, and I appreciate the work of the two Ministers on it.
There is to be a $200,000 reduction in school administration funding in this budget, and I guess it's being driven by a shared services concept. I really think this is more clearly linked to Cabinet's fiscal reduction strategy than good governance, but I'll hold my breath until we see the study on shared services. I understand that is available, and I would urge the Minister to share that with Regular MLAs now, not wait. If that study is finished, share it with us now so we can have a better understanding of whether these savings are really real or imaginary, and whether there is support from the district education authorities for those.
One area that I am concerned about that is presented in the departmental business plan is this notion of having four or five different streams for secondary school graduates, and I don't really understand it very well, and I think there needs to be a lot of public discussion around that. I wanted to encourage the Minister and his department to develop a better communications strategy and approach on this. I think we want to avoid some of the confusion and division that accompanied the STIP initiative, and this is really going to require a lot of proactive work on the part of the department. We want to make sure that our students are fully qualified to get into post-secondary education in other jurisdictions. This needs to be approached very cautiously and carefully.
On the junior kindergarten implementation, the Minister promised full funding, and it's still not there. It looks like there is going to be an increase in inclusive schooling funding, which is a good thing, and it looks like the Minister is prepared to consider some increases for Indigenous language and culture programming, but as my colleague said, what really needs to be changed is the formulas to make sure that junior kindergarten students are actually counted in those formulas for those types of school funding. The Minister himself tabled in the House last year a document that shows that, indeed, if the junior kindergarten students are actually included, it would be about $1.8 million extra going to the district education authorities for those school formula. If it is to be fully funded, the Minister needs to come up with that money and the Minister needs to come up with that money and change those formulas on a permanent basis.
I have some concerns about the status of the social work and teacher education programs, and the fact that it doesn't appear that there's going to be an intake of students coming up in the fall of 2018. If there is no student intake for two years, what are the teachers going to be doing? Sitting around waiting? I just can't see Aurora College waiting themselves, having teachers doing nothing. That needs to be sorted out very quickly, and if there are changes that need to be made to those programs, change the programs. You don't cut them.
I am concerned about the outcome of the foundational review. I did speak to the consultants myself. I am worried that the department is going to turn the foundational review into a way to implement the Skills 4 Success work that the department has under way. That's not what the foundational review should point towards, in my humble opinion. It needs to figure out what the position is of Aurora College with regard to post-secondary education in the Northwest Territories. How is Aurora College going to fit into post-secondary education? That's what that foundational review needs to assist us with.
The minimum wage was increased, or will be increased shortly. In my humble opinion, it's not enough. Come the fall, people in Alberta will be paid more for minimum wage than our workers here in the Northwest Territories, and we have to find a way to make sure that our workers are paid fairly. There are other ways to do this, including increasing the basic income exemptions and territorial tax incentives, and so on; looking at the concept of a living wage, as well. I'm going to be encouraging the Minister to consider additional ways to ensure that our citizens are properly recompensed for the work that they have to do.
I do want to point out that there is no increase in arts support in the ECE budget in 2018-2019. We've heard a lot about that in the last while with the review of Bill 1, and there's a petition that's going to be tabled in this House as well on this issue. If we're serious about economic diversification, we have to find more funding to support the arts. Structural changes, I said in the House last week, bring those efforts together under one roof with the Arts Council.
On early childhood and daycare, there is this agreement now with the federal government. I want to find out what's in that agreement, and whether, as my colleague said, it's really going to support affordability of childcare as well. Unfortunately, in our mandate, we've now moved away from universal childcare to something much more vague, and I'm not sure where we're really going with this.
The last thing, on a positive note, I want to say to the Minister and his staff that I've had very good reports about the staff working collaboratively with Ecole Alain St-Cyr on the expansion of the school. I know that's not really an O and M measure, but I do want to end on a positive note and say that I've heard very good things about the work that's going forward on the school expansion. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Next, Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to the Minister and your colleagues from the department. One thing I want to make sure that we are continuing to remain focused on, especially as it relates to the bigger picture, is that our entire education system from early childhood education on through to post-secondary and, of course, onto adult education and lifelong learning is that we are developing a system that works toward aligning our education system with those things which we value as a society. I feel that that kind of has gaps in it. I think we are making genuine attempts when I see programs like Skills 4 Success and what have you, but I just feel that there are some rather large gaps. In particular, it's in the middle grades. I feel we're doing good things in early childhood. We've made a lot of improvements relating to junior kindergarten. A number of the programs I'll allude to in a moment are looking positive and successful, but somewhere in that middle ground, in around the grades of 8 and onward, we seem to be kind of almost losing a bit of grasp on our students. By the time they reach graduation, they're not fully aware or understanding of what it is that they want to do. I think that that has a lot to do with us failing to identify as a society what it is that we value so that we're unfortunately sending students out to education, or even into the work force, not fully able to contribute to society. A lot of times, students are just going to university or college or what have you to just kind of put in time. Often, after one semester, they're failing. A lot of it simply has to do with the fact that they don't have that sense of direction on what it is that they want to do with life. Those are the gaps that I am talking about that we have to find ways in which to fill and start shaping and moulding our kids at those middle grades.
Just to touch base on a couple of things from last year, I have reached out, as many other MLAs have, to education districts, and we have been receiving some fairly positive feedback with regard to programs that were implemented. One of them was the STIP Program. Most districts seemed to have positive comments about it. I would like to see, and I would look forward to seeing, some more of the outcomes, some more of the measurables and statistical information so that we can understand the benefits of the STIP Program a little better.
Apprenticeship and trades, this is a difficult area. I respect that. I come from the trades background myself, and in many ways, it has not changed. We are really trying to make some improvements, but we do need to make some fundamental change as it relates to the undertakings of apprenticeship and trades and technology. I think our partnerships with groups like NWT Skills Canada are positives ones, and those are the things that we have got to continue to do.
When we look at employment opportunities in the Northwest Territories, and in particular I would like to point a finger at areas such as the Sahtu Region, they are certainly going to be slowing down on oil and gas, but they have an opportunity to exploit reclamation and remediation opportunities there for another generation or more.
Giant is similar, on our front door here in Yellowknife. This is generational work, and we have got to find ways in which today it might be a father who might get a job there that is just labour‑based, but then, that father's son needs to have a job that might put him into a supervisor's type of position, and the generation after that might have the opportunity to become an engineer. I want to see that kind of trajectory as it relates to how our generational skills are being broadened, not just labour opportunities generation after generation after generation. We have a lot of future infrastructure projects in the pipeline that can allow us to start thinking that way and taking advantage of those opportunities.
I will just touch quickly on innovation and technology, and what we are facing today. Obviously, this is a much faster‑paced world that we are living in because of innovation and technology. If we are not taking advantage of the opportunities to take up lifelong learning, then certainly the world can pass us by. The discussions that we are starting to have more recently are around knowledge‑based economy, expanding post-secondary opportunities, creating new governance for post‑secondary models, and even consideration for things like centres of excellence. This is now the right time to continue that discussion. We are raising it at a critical time, and it is the time in which we want to put the right support, both with funding and resources, towards those types of discussions. They will be critical within the next 10, 15 years. If we do not keep up those discussions then, again, we are going to create gaps, and we will be left behind.
To the Minister's comments, I just want to make some highlights and points that I am in favour of. The $2.1 million for junior kindergarten, and in particular the inclusive schooling funding, is well‑appreciated. I am looking forward to that being invested. Identifying that there were some inadequacies both in the student financial assistance as well as income assistance and putting a significant degree of funding towards that is a good improvement. Specifically, to junior kindergarten through grade 12, a renewal of the policy with regard to Indigenous language and education is something that we heard, talking to district educators, that they are going to appreciate. There are others already that talked about the child and youth care counsellor program, so I will leave that at bay for now.
As it relates to the foundational review with Aurora College, all I am really asking there now is, we are into it. Let's try to, at any cost, avoid delays, and you mentioned in your comments that there will be a strategic plan that stems from that. Again, I know how these things can take time and what have you, and we have got to do it right, but I think, for the interests of our students and post‑secondary students, that we have got to be timely and work expediently on that.
Maybe what I will do at this point is I will jump ahead to the arts for a moment, because you have indicated that there is going to be a completion of a new four‑year GNWT Culture and Heritage Action Plan. I raised it the other day with regard to a need for a review of the Arts Strategy. I hope that that is a piece of this. The Arts Strategy certainly is long overdue for a review. In the meantime, as many have indicated, and as the public has recently raised, there is definitely need for more support and resources for the arts. I certainly will be advocating during these deliberations for support for the NWT Arts Council, additional support, and also for the department to consider a touring grant in support of the arts. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Those are my comments.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next, I have Mr. Thompson on my list. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I would like to congratulate the Department and Health and Social Services for working towards the new child and youth mental health workers. I think it is very important. In my riding, it has been a huge concern. Just in the past year, we have had a number of sad incidents and some tragic ones. I have got to thank the departments for working together for that, and I know, from talking with the people in my riding, they are very supportive of this direction of people working together on that.
I would also like to thank the department for continuing to expand the Distance Learning Program. It has a huge impact upon some of my smaller communities, and some of these small communities actually want to start looking at extending their schooling to kindergarten to grade 12, and so here is an opportunity with the extended learning education that we will be able to help them meet that goal. So I thank the department for that. I know, in some of the smaller communities, I have heard that a lot. They want to keep their children in the communities, and so I praise the department for doing that positive step on there.
As we have heard through some of my colleagues here, we talked about junior kindergarten and the funding. It is a concern for me that, again, it is funding as according to the formula. Again, it is not fully funded, but it is funded according to the formula, and that needs to be educated or brought out to the people so people are aware of that. The education formula is a formula. We do not fund any programs completely. It is from my understanding and looking at things, it is based on a formula. That needs to be educated, and that is how we need to be sending the message out to people. It is not fully funded, but it is funded according to the formula.
The career and education advisors, that is a huge concern for me. We are removing the counsellors, and I fully support that idea, but now you are putting these positions, three into Inuvik and three into Yellowknife. They are travelling, and yes, they are a team, but again, it's the face-to-face. It's the knowing the people and the students and understanding where it's going. When we talk about careers, we are starting at a younger age. It is just not grade 10, 11, and 12, because once they get to that point, you know, going into grade 10, they have already got a career. They already know where they are going. We need to make sure that we provide the proper system and education and support that the students need, and that is starting in grade 5, even in kindergarten, helping them get prepared.
Somebody talked about the five systems of education, the five streams that we are looking at. That there is a concern for me, especially if we are not educating the public about what it is, but it is not just about post‑secondary. It is about trades. It is about educating the parents and also the students of where they need to go. I am confused with the three streams we have right now, or the two streams depending on what school you are talking about. I understand the department is trying to work on this, but we need to educate people. People need to understand the direction we are going with this.
You have probably heard me say this numerous times. I talk about the social work program and also the TEP program. We are doing a foundational review. I appreciate the department is doing that, and I am hoping that some good results will come from it. Again, we are putting a nail in a coffin when we don't do an intake. When we don't have an intake, that means our students are starting to look at going elsewhere.
The department does a great job in preparing or supporting the students existing right now. I have no qualms about that. I say that the department is helping the people who are in the program and they are trying to get where they need to go. It is not about the help that we are challenging or questioning. It is about providing this service.
According to your Skills4Success, the top 20 jobs in demand, elementary school teachers and kindergarten teachers, 777 positions from 2015 to 2030. That is your result. That is what you are telling us. Now you are saying this department, this program is going to be removed from the college. That kind of goes against exactly what you are trying to say. One says, "here it is." The other side, "we are cutting it."
That is a huge concern for me. If there is something wrong with the program, then we need to fix the program. We can't be sending people always down south. In talking with the students, whether it is in the social work program or the TEP program, they go to school in the North because that is where their support system is. Going down South, I have talked with a number of social work students out there, and they are going, "Man, oh man, we don't have the support system we have up North." It is just not the department, but it is the family and the extended family. The department needs to understand that and needs to look at it. I seriously believe that is what we need to be looking at to improve on.
Small community employment fund, again, the department is talking about trades, the importance -- not trades, but training. I agree, totally support that. However, there is a catch here. It is about putting people to work. It is about how people right now need the economy to get some food on the table so they don't have to go on income support. They want to work on it. This is what I have been trying to say.
Yes, it is great that we do a portion of it for training, but the other portion is we need to put people to work. If we put people to work, they are going to feel better about themselves. If they are feeling better about themselves, they are going to advance and get better. Then their family environment is going to be better. I understand the department and what they are trying to do. I think it is a good vision. At the same time, we need to put people to work. We need to put people on the ground doing jobs. The struggle may be that the department is really good at developing the skills we need to do it, the training that we need to do it. Maybe we take part of that money and put it to ITI, who then does job creation. Right now, people want jobs, especially in the small communities. People don't understand a $10,000 or $15,000 job has a huge impact on their life. We need to promote that. We need to encourage that.
This is where I am coming from. We need to look at what is good for the small communities, as well. It is just not where the vision and the mandate from the government is. We need to look at what the small communities need. Sometimes, it is not the training. Sometimes, it is about giving them a paycheque and giving them a job. In saying all that, I have to give credit to your staff. The regional staff do an amazing job. They work well with the communities and they try to achieve. Every time I have talked to my communities about things, they have talked highly of the ECE staff, the Divisional Board of Education. The department is doing a good job regionally implementing your actions.
I would also like to thank the department finally, before my time is up. It is about social assistance and reducing the cost of living for seniors. That is probably one of the biggest challenges I have right now: trying to explain to seniors, "You make too much money, so you can't get subsidy." They are going, "I can't afford to live where I am if I don't work. If I don't work, I can't provide food on the table. If I work and provide food on the table, I can't access the department's funding to get the fuel subsidy."
When you talk to some of these elders about this situation, they are getting really frustrated. They are saying we -- I say "we." I am not blaming the department. We as government don't seem to care about them. They go, "We have an appeal process, but why? It is not going to work for us." It has a huge impact on them. It is really frustrating to hear their stories. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are my opening comments, with 22 seconds left.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Just under the wire. Next, we have Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Over the course of this budget review, I want to be able to speak to some of the work standing committees did during the business planning process. We touch on this often in our sittings to benefit our constituents that MLAs are hard at work for the fall of every year, reviewing the departments' annual business plans. This takes a lot of time from the Ministers' offices, the standing committees, and from the departments and departments' staff. It is a significant amount of work, and it should not be understated how important this is in the functioning of consensus government.
One of my concerns, however, is, after the conclusion of these reviews, standing committees make numerous recommendations to government. The real test of that business-planning process is whether or not Ministers accept the recommendations and move to implement them. I think that is the true spirit of effective consensus government when that exchange over the business plan actually results in progress moving forward. That goes greatly to my disposition on these final budget documents.
First off, I will just speak to some of the highlights here that the Minister indicated in his opening remarks that I support fully. The $2.1 million dollars to offset the costs associated with junior kindergarten implementation and the additional inclusive education schooling, this is something that we have heard as Regular Members from our education partners and something that we have lobbied hard for on the floor of this House and behind closed doors. It is good to see this additional funding implemented.
My only concern around it is it is not fixed permanently. It is something that we hope will continue as there is a shortfall in enrolment. It is something that I hope continues so we have fully paid-for junior kindergarten going forward.
I think the new $1.6 million to expand distance learning program is also a welcome investment in education. $1.4 million to establish six new career and educational advisors, I have heard from colleagues that they have seen these officers working firsthand at schools and at job fairs and that they are very much welcome conduits for skills development for young people. The force growth spending, $1.7 million to address income assistance program and other income assistance program investments are good things. We don't want to fall behind with our social assistance programs.
I do want to look at a few of the concerns around the department's progress on mandate commitments. I will be quite clear from my seat, at least. Post-secondary is a real mess. It has taken a long time to get to a point where we can actually see legislation moving forward. There is a high likelihood that further delays will push this into the last year of our term or perhaps the next Assembly altogether. Meanwhile, there has been a huge push from the federal government to invest in post‑secondary infrastructure and programming that we have not fully capitalized on, and we do not have a concrete plan to really invest in post‑secondary opportunities.
Aurora College is, of course, the poster child for that lack of progress. We started with a strategic review, which turned into a foundational review, which, when complete, will become a new strategic plan, which was the plan all along. I think what I am expecting is that we see real change to Aurora College and real independence granted to the institution.
One of the fundamental problems with the college, from everything I have heard, is political interference with the operations of the college. I do not mean politicians are getting their friends jobs there. I mean the overall direction of the college is controlled by the department and the department's frameworks and strategies. It is being used as an instrument to develop on Skills 4 Success and other labour market strategies. That is not the role an independent post‑secondary institution should play. ECE's interaction with the college should be one based on funding agreements, but the college should ultimately be the ones to dictate programming choices and operational matters, and the college needs to start listening to students. They should be at every school at a younger age talking to students. This is standard practice for every post‑secondary institution, and they just do not do it. That is something I have heard about and was confirmed to me recently in the foundational review that is going on right now.
These are things that we do not need two years of work to figure out. These are very clear things. It needs an independent board. That board needs to be empowered to make clear decisions, and it needs to be severed from government. It should not be operating as a public agency. It should be operating as a public academic institution, and I am not sure if that is what is happening at all. The business planning process, which is more in depth than this, did not give me an satisfaction that that is, in fact, the direction we are moving, and we need clarity on this issue because time is a‑wasting, and people need those skills and development.
The standing committee, again, recommended that the Teacher Education Program and Social Work Diploma Program be reopened for enrolment. The department has ignored that recommendation, and I am not sure why. They cleave to the foundational review, but the issue is those programs are dead in the water if they cannot enrol new students. In effect, they are being bled dry by a lack of enrolment, and again, this is, I think, the second time the standing committee has made that recommendation and the second time it has been ignored.
The standing committee also recommended that childcare subsidies be made available to parents and families on income or means‑tested bases. That is echoing other previous recommendations. That is not indicated in this business plan, either.
The standing committee recommended that arts funding be increased by $500,000, doubling the current support to the arts council, and also that a touring grant be established for $100,000 to help NWT‑based performing artists in performance opportunities outside the Northwest Territories. I fully support these additional investments in our creative industries. Again, those recommendations were not taken up by the department.
I think this is troubling. These are significant areas where we can work together to improve the department's budget and the department's operations, and these recommendations that standing committees are making are modest. They are not exhaustive. They are not hundreds upon hundreds of minute details. They are high‑level policy recommendations that are not being taken on by this department.
As the Premier mentioned in his opening statement, employment in Yellowknife does quite well. We have very high levels of employment. It is really the smaller communities outside of the capital that suffer from very high unemployment, and that is something that this department needs to address. The Small Community Employment Strategy has stumbled to get off the ground, and I hope that we will see progress on that through the commitments made in both the business plan and this budget.
Finally, on to the issue of arts funding. The creative industry in Canada employs more people than forestry, natural resources, Canadian Armed Forces, and fisheries combined. There is nothing preventing us from developing an industry, not of that magnitude in the Northwest Territories, but certainly we could lay the foundation for it, and that starts with doubling the investment in the Arts Council. That will help creative professionals find more funding for their projects and develop their professional skills. We are talking about the whole gamut from filmmakers to architects to graphic designers. They are all involved in these creative arts projects.
Not only that, but it allows more wellness and vibrancy in our communities. It helps people take pride in themselves. It hits a whole number of areas of important public policy goals that this government has set for itself, and not increasing it because times are tough is not enough. We need to start an investment now so that investment will pay off in the future. The arts council and arts communities have been waiting 10 years for increased investment, and the fact that this department cannot see the wisdom in expanding not only arts and culture but employment in these industries is very disappointing to me.
With that, Mr. Chair, I will conclude my opening comments, but I will have more to say as our budget deliberations develop. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Running the clock. Next, I have Mr. Beaulieu.
Marsi cho, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I want to speak on the items that appear to be most important to the communities that I represent. I have had many discussions over the years with various groups about all departments, and these are the items that were very specific to education.
The Indigenous language broadcasting, it is not an item here that I have an issue with the budget on. They have over a million dollars in Indigenous language broadcasting. It is the way in which more of the broadcasting can be spread throughout the NWT and how money could do a lot to support the communities where they need to have some language broadcasting.
I think CBC does a pretty good job of broadcasting Aboriginal languages, but there is another radio station, Native Communication Society, the CKLB. They often are not able to get their broadcasts out to the communities. In fact, looking at one of my communities, Lutselk'e, they do not have any radio at all. They do not have CBC, and they do not have any CKLB.
That is something that I think we talked about a bit when we had the Committee on the Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities. We speak about that and how we are able to maybe train local individuals, which, again, would be a job in the small communities for somebody to take care of the technical aspects of what needs to occur in the communities to ensure that the broadcasting is continuing.
I don't know if this department would be solely responsible for it, but I think they would certainly have their hand in it as well, and I think that is something that I would like the department to start working on to try to assist the broadcasters or the radio stations in order to broadcast to all the communities in the territories.
Like most people, I do have an issue with the fact that there is no enrolment of students for the two programs. I felt at one time that maybe the TEP program, the Teacher Education Program, was sort of like the flagship program for Aurora College. I know that Aurora College now has a very good nursing program. I think that's going well. They're producing a lot of nurses. My understanding is they're not producing as many teachers. I'm thinking that instead of withdrawing from the program, that maybe they should try to improve the program if they have issues, that students are graduating from there and are not able to go right into a classroom to teach, then maybe what they should do is to make sure that the education is there for them; their own education, the teacher's education, so that they can go into a classroom and teach.
It's the same thing with the social workers. I know that some of the social workers, once they've gone through the program, don't have all of the requirements to be a social worker in the different fields, and so on. If that's the case, then I think the college should do something about making sure that the social workers have the education in order to do the job for us in the territories. I think that the value of local social workers is really underestimated by our government. I think that, when you look at social workers when it comes to Child and Family Services and other areas where the social workers interact with the community members, you would find that the social workers, the local social workers, are highly successful. I know many, many social workers, many of whom are retired after a long career, and from my community, my home town, ladies that I knew when I was a kid, who are retired social workers who have a very good reputation. I think if need be, maybe reach back to some of those social workers to try to improve the program, as opposed to discontinuing enrolment.
Just touching on a couple of other things that I think would be a big help to the small communities, and that is things like trying to run a breakfast program. For most communities where you have money, where people have money, and where the people are wondering even if they have food in the fridges, well, in our small communities, there are families that don't have food. It seems like it's a basic need, but they don't have food. Some of those kids will get up to go to school so they could have something to eat, and it's a pretty sad state of affairs when we have kids that don't have food, and that they're going to be not attending school because the parents are unemployed, or the parents are not employed, after trying to get the kid off to school day after day after day after year after year after year. It becomes something that we need to change, that we need to put the parents to work.
Some of the Members spoke of the small community employment program to be used for that. We get a hold of it. It appears as though the department's got a hold of it, and wants to turn it into a skills development thing. We put that program in place because of employment rates. The employment rates were so bad in the small communities that we needed to have people go to work, so that people could go to work. They could send their kids to school, so they don't have the situation in the future. Like 10 years from now, if people are working and the kids are going to school, we're going to have graduates. We're going to have people in, the students are graduating; that increases their ability or their possibility of getting a job. Even just grade 12 increases their possibility of getting a job by probably close to 30 per cent compared to somebody who doesn't have a high school education. I mean, that's quite a jump. If they were lucky enough or fortunate enough to end up in a post-secondary like trades, or university or college, then their possibilities of getting a job could jump by another 15, 20 per cent.
So I think this department has to be able to get people to work, hire people. There are a lot of projects on the go. I know that in my hometown right now, there are a whole bunch of people cutting trails as part of the community access road from the Department of Infrastructure and the assistance of the small community employment program combined together. It's put about eight or nine people to work. Those eight or nine people are going to be able to have not just an income but have ability, if they can't find other work, even to draw employment insurance.
I think those are the things I want to talk about. There's something that I think is old and way past due, but at one point, we used to have truancy officers. I talked about that in the House before, and I think that the department should look at something like that, or talk to DAs or something like that. It doesn't have to be specifically that, but developing a strategy to get the kids to go to school.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Further opening comments? General comments, Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few things that would be nice to see in the budget here. Many schools in my riding have issues in the fall, mostly the fall time with bears in the community, and especially when it's dark in the morning. It's a safety concern for children who have to walk to school, both in Aklavik and Fort McPherson. This fall, we had grizzly bears hanging around the community, and also in the springtime. People in the communities would like to see busing, but the truth is, funding that's given to the DAs isn't adequate to provide schooling. That is something that we really need here, and we're putting the safety of students at risk here. I think it's time we address that.
Also, from what I understand, the small community employment program is doing much better this year with a little help from the rural and remote communities participating in the process. I was hoping that whatever is not spent this year could be put in the community access fund, which is a big help to the small communities. Many of our communities have around a 36 per cent employment rate. It's actually gone up from the last numbers that I received. It's up to 40, but it would be great to see, 50, 60 per cent in the future here. I'm sure, if we work together, we could make that happen, maybe top off the fund here. Maybe even $5 million would be great, my Cabinet colleagues here. Those are the concerns that are brought up by myself here. I know in Tsiigehtchic as well there, they're looking to hopefully provide high school grades here in the future, and will be a challenge providing some subjects. That's something they are looking forward to in the future, how to make that work. Because we're seeing the dropout rate increase because of students having to go to Inuvik, and that's something we don't want to see. We want to see our children to succeed, and we have to figure out a plan here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Further general comments on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment? Seeing none, as we've discussed, the Minister will have 10 minutes to respond, keeping in mind that as we go through the detail of this document, there will be plenty of time to respond to more detailed concerns that the Members have. Minister Moses, you have 10 minutes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate all the comments and feedback with all Members of committee as well as the Assembly here. We've also heard from our education leaders. We do meet with them on a regular basis, and some of the concerns that were raised here today were some of the concerns that were brought forward with our education partners as well. So we definitely are listening and trying to make those changes that will be in the best interest of our staff as well as our students.
Beginning with the inclusive schooling for junior kindergarten, I know it was brought up by everyone here and you see in my opening comments and in the funding here that we did increase funding for junior kindergarten specifically around the inclusive schooling. I can confirm that it will be in the base moving forward, that this funding is going to continue.
We also had some comments around the child and youth care counsellors. We did do a really good presentation at lunch to standing committee, and I think we got into a lot of detail at that meeting, and that meeting was public. I'm sure it's going to be on the Legislative Assembly Facebook page, if you want to get into more detail on the questions there. That's just a great program, with the collaboration of working with the Department of Health and Social Services to address some of our biggest concerns and the community's on mental health, and I know there was discussions around addictions and suicides as well. Like any other program, we're going to monitor that and make sure that it's working well. As it rolls out, we'll be able to give better updates on how these child and youth care counsellors are working in the Deh Cho and the Tlicho, as we move into the next steps of implementing it throughout the Northwest Territories.
We also had the career and education advisors. There were some concerns there. Obviously, they are two different programs; one is focusing on mental health counselling in the schools, and I agree, I think we need to get some of this information out to our students at a younger age. Not as far as kindergarten, as I heard mentioned, but I think we do need that, to get that information out to the schools, and having these career and education advisors traveling throughout the North and helping students decide what career paths they want to take and education that they need to get to either a post‑secondary or to another career is going to be very important.
I know tying in with our high schools' pathways, pathways to graduation, as Members know, we did give an update to committee on this and we'll be looking at implementing the high school pathways in the 2019‑2020 academic year. So that gives us about a whole year to really get out and consult and work with our partners, work with our families and our communities, and get that information to them and get their feedback and input as well.
I know MLA Green mentioned the shared services report. Currently the steering committee that is working on that is developing a response to the report, and we'll be sharing that with committee as soon as that response comes out, just to have Members updated on that.
Early childhood funding, childcare, we did sign off on an agreement with the federal government, and we will be sharing that action plan with Members once that's all finalized. I know some of that funding was for this fiscal year. One good thing that came out of that is we are able to carry over funding that we're not going to be able to spend this fiscal year. I know it's late into 2017‑2018, and some of that funding is going to be available come April 1st, from this fiscal year, here.
The foundational review, I know that has been a big concern and has rendered a lot of questions in the House. We're still waiting on that report. I gave an update last week on where we are with the foundational review. I appreciate all the Members who took the time to give feedback and comment into that review, and once that review is completed, we will be making sure that we do a management response. Everything that I said on Friday's Minister's statement will continue, staying focused on that. With regard to programs, I think we're going to have to see what came out of that foundational review before we move forward, and working with the Aurora College.
I know one Member has brought up that it would be nice if Aurora College could work on their own, focus on their own path and doing things on their own, but this is public dollars that we do fund Aurora College with, so we do need to be a part of that process when we're looking at the programs and the way they run their shop, over at Aurora College. There are concerns about the level of our students when they're graduating. Back in the previous government, we started working on the education renewal process. We know that there are a lot of new programs, pilot project; we have a lot of working groups that have education leaders on there, as well as our partners. So moving forward with this renewal, we're going to see some positive things coming out and, as some Members mentioned, we want to make sure that our students have all the supports, the resources they need, so that when they graduate, that they would be able to go into further post‑secondary or get into a career that they need. As I mentioned, we'll continue to keep committee updated as we go out and consult on the Pathways to Graduation project.
I'm trying to see what else is in here. As you mentioned, Mr. Chair, as we get into the detail on the budget and go page‑by‑page, we'll get into more detail on some of the questions.
The arts funding, the strategy. As I mentioned when I got questions in the House, I will be working with the Department of ITI to look at what options we have moving forward to develop a strategy, but also looking at things as some Members mentioned with the structural side of things, and we'll have those discussions with the Minister of ITI. As I mentioned in the House answering questions, the Arts Council will be a big part of that. They are the experts and they do represent a lot of the organizations and some of our artists in the Northwest Territories.
I know trades was also mentioned. We just released that strategy, and I think we're going to see some really good things coming out of that strategy. As Member McNeely had mentioned last week: how are we getting support? How are we supporting them to push out the people in the trades area? I think that the apprenticeship trades and occupational certification strategies are going to address a lot of those challenges and gaps. The steering committee and working group, which are mainly comprised of industry personnel, they're the ones who are implementing it, so we're going to reach out and try to get an update from them on where we move forward.
Senior home heating subsidy, ours supports the seniors. We continue to make those supports and make the changes that are benefitting seniors thought the Northwest Territories, and we just made a couple of those changes over the past fiscal year.
We also heard a little bit about the childcare benefits. We made changes when the Canada Child Benefit came into place. We made changes, as well as making changes to the NWT Child Benefit, putting more money into the families of low to modest income, and we're going to continue to support them, as well as support our childcare providers.
The arts funding, as I mentioned, we're currently looking at all the funding that, collectively, all departments fund to the artists and the organizations throughout the Northwest Territories. In my department, we fund over $2 million, and I think it's sufficient in terms of how we support our artists throughout the Northwest Territories, as well.
In terms of support to local radio stations, the funding that we did get with the signing with the federal government, we do have allocated funding that's going to the local radio stations. So a lot of them got a bump up, and we want to continue to look at revitalizing our Indigenous languages throughout the Northwest Territories and we have an ambitious agenda to try to address that.
Small Community Employment Support Program, I tried to get into that, but we'll get into more detail. I know the rural and remote committee is doing a lot of good work providing direction and giving good feedback on how we roll out that funding. With the increase of $3 million, we've seen a lot of uptake right throughout the Northwest Territories, where, before, with that $1.2 million, it was not fully allocated, but with that increase, I am sure we can be spending that full funding by the end of this fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we get into detail, we will get into that.


text: The item "SMT3000RMI2U APC SMART Rackmount UPS 3000VA UPS With New Batteries, LCD Display" is in sale since Wednesday, August 10, 2016. This item is in the category "Computers/Tablets & Networking\Power Protection, Distribution\Uninterruptible Power Supplies". The seller is "hazellcomputersltd" and is located in Purley on Thames, Berkshire. This item can be shipped to United Kingdom.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


text:
Mentors for our families are always needed. Please click on Mentors Needed in the menu to learn more.
Office volunteers are always needed. Duties can include answering the phone, light filing, assisting in preparations for quarterly board meetings, greeting guests, and working on current projects.
Are you are retired or semi-retired handyman? The Homes of Hope Transitional Housing Programs has six houses that need care from time to time. That care can include painting, repairing kitchen cabinets, repairing holes in the wall, repairing broken windows and doors, replacing light fixtures, replacing blinds, checking on washers and dryers that are giving problems, etc. If you have one day a month to donate, we can use you!

industry_corpus2: Others


text:
Family Preservation Services (FPS) of North Carolina with the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Program.
The Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team consists of a community-based group of medical, behavioral health and rehabilitation professionals who use a team approach to meet the needs of an individual with severe and persistent mental illness. An individual who is appropriate for ACT does not benefit from receiving services across multiple, disconnected providers and may become at greater risk of hospitalization, homelessness, substance use, victimization and incarceration.
ACT Team is seeking a dynamic individual to join our team as an Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) Lead who provides person-centered services addressing the breadth of an individual’s needs, helping him or her achieve their personal goals. Thus, a fundamental charge of ACT is to be the first-line (and generally sole provider) of all the services that an individual receiving ACT needs. Being the single point of responsibility necessitates a higher frequency and intensity of community-based contacts and a very low individual-to-staff ratio. Services are flexible; teams offer varying levels of care for all individuals receiving ACT and appropriately adjust service levels given an individual’s changing needs over time.
The Assertive Community Treatment Team Lead is a full-time leader/supervisor that is the clinical and administrative supervisor of team members who also functions as a practicing clinician on the ACT Team. The team leader at a minimum must have a master’s degree and meet the status of a Qualified Professional according to 10A NCAC 27G .0104. The ACT Team Lead shares responsibility with the ACT Team Psychiatrist for clinical supervision of all team members as well as for clinical treatment of all consumers.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


text:
Christ desperately wants to have a personal relationship with you, the most fulfilling relationship you can ever experience. Have you come to know Christ in a personal way? You can know him personally by doing the next four things.
He wants to give you a satisfying and meaningful life on earth and unending life in heaven.
As humans, we are all sinners who have displeased God in a variety of ways. Our sin prevents us from experiencing the life that Christ desires to give. Unless forgiven, we face eternal separation from God.
Christ died that you might be forgiven of sin. But he is no longer dead! He was also resurrected and is now ready to give you the forgiveness and life for which he died.
You can be saved through faith: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Eph.2:8-9).
Is there anything hindering you from believing in Christ and surrendering to his leadership today?
If not, pray this prayer: "Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you died for my sins and was raised from the dead. Please forgive me and give me an eternal relationship with you. I surrender to your leadership in my life right now. Thank you for saving me!"
If you would like a member of our Evangelism/Discipleship Ministry to contact you with more information, please Email Us and leave your request for more information. Leave your name and number and hour of day that is best to contact you. We are excited you stopped by this page and await anxiously to share with you.
"NOW THAT I HAVE ACCEPTED JESUS CHRIST AS MY PERSONAL SAVIOR, WHAT DO I DO?"
God's Word says for us to "not forsake the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25).
II. YOU MUST TRUST THAT CHRIST IS IN YOUR LIFE...DESPITE HOW YOU MAY FEEL. GOD HAS ANSWERED YOUR PRAYER. He Promises Eternal Life to All Who Receive Christ.
BAPTISM - This means you are a new Christian who has never been baptized by immersion or you are coming from another church which does not practice baptism by immersion.
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE - This means you are already a Christian, but have fallen away from the church and wish to return to full involvement in your Christian faith.
LETTER - This means you are already a Christian with membership in another church, and wish to unite with another church by requesting a letter of recommendation from your former church.
RESTORATION - This means you are already a Christian and a member of a church who has been inactive in your church membership, and wish to be restored to active membership status.
REDEDICATION - This means that you are already a Christian, and wish to rededicate your life to Christ and the work of His Church.
Feel free to answer the invitation to Discipleship following the Pastor's sermon//message.


text:
Turn Up Get Shot headshot sessions will be turning up in Bristol. Temporarily relocating from it’s usual home on Brick Lane, London we’ll be hosting a headshot session in the centre of Bristol.
If you want to do something about that monstrosity of headshot that’s making a fool of you get in touch and we’ll book you in.


text:
After claiming your Company Page and enabling Premium Branding, making changes is simple. We’ve included a breakdown of each Premium branding feature to help you get started. All the information below can be found in the “Employer Tools” tab when logged into your Indeed Company Page.
Featured job: Choose a high priority job to feature on your Company Page!
From your “Jobs” tab search for a job that’s in demand.
Check the box “Feature this job” and you’ll see it highlighted at the top.
Featured review: Feature helpful reviews and respond in an open and positive way.
From your “Employer Tools” dashboard, click ‘Reviews’ on the left-hand menu.
Search for a Review that represents your company the best.
Check the box “Feature this review” to highlight it at the top of your ‘Reviews’ page.
Brand company email alerts: Customize the automatic emails sent to your followers as jobs are posted.
Company updates: Share your employer branding activities easily from your Brand Insights dashboard.
From your “Employer Tools” dashboard, click “Post Updates”.
Click “Post Update” to share on your Why Join Us page.
Choose “Image + Text” or “YouTube” format.
Premium Header: Share your company’s story with custom content visible from every tab of your Indeed Company Page. This includes a header image or branding such as your company’s brand color and YouTube video.
From your “Employer Tools” Dashboard, click “Edit company page”.
Scroll down to “Header Image”.
Square Logos: Square logos are used everywhere on Indeed. Upload yours with the below specifications to give job seekers the best impression of your brand.
Scroll down to “Logo” and “Square Logo”.
CEO photo: Highlight your leadership by adding your CEO’s photo and name.
Company details and links: Add important details about your company for easy research by job seekers such as market, headquarters location, revenue, company size, corporate website, and social media platforms.
Custom content: Include up to 10 sections of custom content shown on your ‘Why Join Us’ tab. Add videos, images or text.
Select the type of content: Video, Image, or Text.
Select alignment and fill out information.
Locale: Customize your employer brand for more than 60 geographies.
This is the first section found under “Customize Your Company Page”.
Enhanced Job Views: Job posts on mobile include all the information needed by a job seeker to research a company.
Monitor talent competition: Search for your competitors and see how you stack up in order to better attract and retain talent. View Company Pages Premium Employer Metrics to learn more.


text:
It’s no secret that cyber security is a growing industry. The global market value increased by over 10% in 2017, and is projected to be worth $232 billion (approx. £165 billion) by 2022. There are significant changes in the industry that are driving the growth. Notably, biometrics and fingerprint ID, cloud-based apps (think Software as a Service) and mobile applications have promoted this new focus on cyber security, primarily on an individual level.
This focus on the individual does not detract from the major task at hand, that is, protecting businesses from malicious breaches. Instead it serves as a reminder that personalised security measures only add to the complexity of protecting sensitive data.
The primary role of cyber security remains to be ensuring data remains only in the hands of those with permission and authority. In 2018, there is a growing focus on machine learning as a method of providing advanced levels of protection. Harnessing computing power and automatic processing can give businesses a significant advantage over human-only cyber security measures. We will discuss the role that machine learning has to play in the arena of cyber security.
Many businesses fall into the trap of thinking that good anti-virus software is all that’s needed to make a digital environment secure. Others believe that multiple layers of protection coupled with sensitive alarm programs are a better way to go. Unfortunately, both strategies have their weaknesses. In particular, businesses that focus on alarm systems and additional software solutions end up ignoring most of the alarm indications, because they are triggered without cause in the majority of cases. True attacks may end up being ignored thanks to the overwhelming number of alerts that are false. In either case, a singular focus on one method of protection will necessarily leave gaps to be exploited.
Can machine learning change cyber security protocols for businesses?
Yes. Machine learning can be applied very strategically and effectively to cyber security efforts. In essence, machine learning algorithms are programmed to progressively get better at a task over time. As the algorithm is exposed to more cases and situations, more data is considered and accounted for. As it ‘learns’ it becomes far more effective at its prescribed task. In addition to ‘on the ground’ learning, machine learning algorithms can also rely on established data sets to learn from. There are millions of examples of both harmful and benign executive files, and countless examples of spam emails. When the algorithm has a large pool of experience to draw from, the amount of false negative and positive alarms is significantly reduced.
When it comes to cyber security, machine learning processes focus on understanding what actions and behaviours are considered ‘normal’ within individual workstations and the network overall. It can do this by watching and recording every action taken on every workstation, for example. Over time, the program can begin to differentiate between normal and expected anomalies (such as a spike in network traffic or downloads from a foreign IP address while travelling for work), and unexpected anomalies, which have a far greater chance of being malicious incursions. In addition to these data-driven analyses, machine learning algorithms also need to master the art of context. Algorithms need to be taught the difference between authorised and unauthorised access to files or servers. Context would take into account information like who operates the machine, where the machine is located and the roles the machine is likely to be commanded to carry out. When actions are taken that are out of this context, the machine learning should send an alarm to the human team to investigate. As context is much harder to learn as there is little in the way of established data sets, this can take additional time.
This is in contrast to typical security measures, which are more likely to watch for specific indicators or markers being triggered in the system as a sign of an attack in progress. A situation like the foreign IP address above may set off an alarm 100% of the time when using traditional cyber security protocol.
How will machine learning change a response to an identified threat?
Machine learning styles of monitoring are constantly processing every single change that occurs within a defined ecosystem. It is possible that a program like this will identify a dangerous anomaly very quickly and alert human teams to take action. From a behavioural standpoint, cyber security teams may be more likely to act promptly when alerted by machine learning processes, simply because they are far more likely to be genuine threats. Machine learning may also be able to produce specific data sets that can point response teams to the exact location and method of the breach.
Are there other benefits to using machine learning style surveillance?
Yes. Traditionally, stationary workstations were well protected against hackers. Office-based networks are likely to be shored up with plenty of defences. In contrast, staff who work from home or take portable devices like laptops and tablets can be relatively unprotected. Because the mobile devices are enabled to access business networks, they create a level of vulnerability that traditional protective behaviours do not take into account. Inserting machine learning code into portable devices and home-based tech may help close a door that hackers have been exploiting unchecked.
As 2018 continues, the role of machine learning in cyber security will become clearer. There is a great deal of scope for this technology to aid businesses. As hackers advance, the likelihood of an anomalous attack increases. It is foolish to assume that traditional methods of protection are enough.
Prosyn are one of the most trusted IT support providers in London. If you would like more help advice and support with inserting machine learning into your data security protocol, or any other IT support issues, contact us today to see how we can help.
Are Cryptocurrency Miners Hijacking Your Browser?

industry_corpus2: Artificial Intelligence


text:
ACMI is the nation’s largest amusement vending company in the U.S. ACMI and its franchisees own and operate more than 26,000 coin operated amusement vending machines throughout the United States. After years of growth and expansion in a facility that did not meet their needs, ACMI hired AFPA to assess facility requirements and complete a purchase and lease on behalf of ACMI an investment group formed by Freeman.
A full service approach was completed by AFPA. The program included an in-depth program study, site location, structuring a long term lease, securing an institutional loan, formation of a real estate partnership and supervision of a $1,000,000 tenant improvement project and move coordination. The project was completed under-budget and ahead of schedule.
ACMI has since been sold and has vacated the property. Freeman completed a new 6.5-year lease with Inovonics Corporation and subsequently completed a new, ten-year loan with Summit Mortgage Corporation.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


text:
Provides reference information for HL7 escape sequences.
When separator characters need to appear within the data contents of an HL7 message, HL7 provides escape sequences to replace the separator characters.
The character most likely to require this feature is the & (ampersand) character. It is often used as an HL7 separator. At the same time, & is likely to appear in HL7 document data, either within the legal names of employers (Parker & Sons) or as shorthand in treatment orders (XR CHEST PA&LAT).
The following table lists the standard HL7 escape sequences and their meanings. HL7 escape sequences begin and end with the escape character as defined in the MSH segment. HL7 escape sequences are case-sensitive, and they use the specific characters F R S T E as well as .br, X0A, and X0D as shown in the table. In the examples shown, the \ (backslash) is the escape character.
* Only used for unescaping.
If you <assign> a literal string to a target field using DTL, and that string needs to include HL7 separator characters, either as separators or as literal characters, some special handling is required. The procedures are as follows.
The only other case in which you need to be concerned about separator characters is if you wish to migrate data into or out of an Ensemble HL7 virtual document and you are not using an HL7 to HL7 data transformation. For example, you neeed to explicitly deal with separator characters if you a transforming from XML to HL7 or if you are not using a transformation at all. The EnsLib.HL7.Segment class provides explicit Escape() and Unescape() methods that you can invoke to accomplish manually what a DTL data transformation does automatically to unescape and escape HL7 messages. A replace() method also exists.


text:
Removal van returning to UK - want stuff taken?
I have just driven a rented van from England, off-loaded, and will return this Thursday afternoon (19 February) with it empty.
If you have stuff you'd like to get to England for a cheap price (I'd like to try to recover some of my expenses) then call me now on: 0494 406873.

industry_corpus2: Transportation


text:
Amit Trivedi is the one of the very few Hindi film composers who has consistently been good in composing background score in Hindi films. He almost always gives me a theme or two to hum home with when the movie ends. Amit Trivedi’s background score in English Vinglish is quite special, with a well defined theme for Sashi and its delicious variations playing for all varied emotions of Sashi throughout the film. Sashi’s theme got stuck in my mind since the very first time I watched the film. I loved Amit Trivedi’s score in Luv Shuv They Chicken Khurana as well. Very rarely mainstream movie critics mention about film’s background score in their reviews, and almost every reviewer mentioned about Amit Trivedi’s score for one of the scenes in Aiyya, which I am yet to watch.
This is Sashi’s Theme and its Variations – a Recent addition to my Stress buster playlist.
Amit trivedi is growing in his music every movie, initially when he won the national award for Dev D, i wondered what the hype is all about only after listening to the music did i realise that there is more music than ARR, Yuvan. Every year when the awards are announced i wonder why our movies did not get through, but reality bites hit hard..

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text:
The 2018/19 edition of the national LGBT careers guide for students, graduates and jobseekers.
Whether you're looking for your first job or want to make a career change, Starting Out provides the information you need to find an inclusive employer. It contains advice on how to identify inclusive employers, insights into different sectors and perspectives from inspirational LGBT workplace role models.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


text:
New research highlights the challenges faced by European capital goods manufacturers in their transition toward service-oriented business models.
Within the fiercely competitive global market, manufacturers are under increased pressure to differentiate their businesses. A major route to achieve this involves ‘servitisation’, the transformation from traditional business models (BMs) to new service-oriented BMs. During this process, companies shift their focus from product-centric offerings to services and solutions. This is done in an effort to increase and provide steady revenues and to build sustainable competitive advantage.
But is this trend gaining momentum among European capital goods manufacturers? In order to analyse the uptake, a team of researchers carried out a survey as part of the EU-funded (T-REX) project. They presented their findings in the ‘International Journal of Engineering Business Management’.
The researchers argue that servitisation implies “not only a redesign of the value proposition but also companies’ need to reshape their business models.” They add: “However, manufacturers undertaking such a shift face numerous challenges that may lead to the so-called service paradox.” When there is such a paradox, substantial investment in adding services to the existing product portfolio doesn’t generate the expected higher returns.
The survey, which covered around 100 manufacturers, investigated the degree of service orientation of BMs of capital goods manufacturers that operate in the automation (e.g. system integrators, robot manufacturers), machinery (e.g. machine tools, packaging machines, textile machines) and transportation (e.g. forklifts, earth-moving machines) sectors. The respondents, operating mainly in Germany and Italy, were classified according to their size: micro and small (25 %), medium (29 %) and large (46 %). The survey’s reference framework included various aspects of the new BMs to become more service-oriented. These were value proposition, customer segments, customer relationships, service delivery channels, key resources and activities, partnerships, revenue model and cost structure.
The survey found that the adoption of service-oriented BMs was still low in the analysed sectors, particularly in the automation and machine tools industries, where revenues are still dominated by product sales, with services representing only 20 %. “Although the majority of respondents believe that the importance of service business will increase in future (86 % of the total), only 68 % of them claim that services are already an important part of their company’s business,” the researchers noted. They emphasised that information systems and ICTs still have unexploited potential, especially in SMEs. The survey also concluded that customer relationships are transaction-based and that customers are perceived as an obstacle rather than an incentive to offer new service-oriented BMs.
The T-REX (Lifecycle Extension Through Product Redesign and Repair, Renovation, Reuse, Recycle Strategies For Usage&Reusage-Oriented Business Models) project worked to develop conceptual tools to implement and experiment through three industrial application cases. It created a new business platform to offer capital goods as new product-service systems. Through the three validated demonstrators in forklift trucks, machine tools and robot solutions, T-REX demonstrated that it’s possible to create new service-oriented BMs. These can achieve up to 84 % of component reuse, a life-cycle extension in the range of 30-100 %, and a reduction of maintenance service costs by 27-36 %.

industry_corpus2: Manufacturing


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University of Exeter PhD student Bouke Wiersma is undertaking research into public opinions in Guernsey on marine renewable energy and is about to undertake his third and final study. This will take the form of a questionnaire that should take around 20 minutes to fill in and will ask questions about Guernsey and renewable energy.
The questionnaire will be distributed through a stratified sampling technique throughout the island to around 1000 households utilising a drop and collect methodology - whereby a survey will be left with a householder and then collected once it is complete. It is planned that this will allow a random sample of the population, while also ensuring that relevant demographics such as age, wealth and gender (among others) are represented.
The questionnaires will be delivered in early on the weekend of the 31st January and collected the following day. There will be around 1000 surveys distributed and it is hoped we will receive in the region of 700 completed surveys for analysis.
The aim of this study is to understand in greater detail people’s views on renewables and what affects these. It is important that the sample is diverse and will therefore cover people both with and without a strong opinion on renewables; as such we are not seeking people to come forward to help, as this may only attract people with specific views.
The Guernsey Renewable Energy Team has been working with the University of Exeter and Bouke on this project for the last 3 years and it will provide statistically significant information that is fully representative of the Guernsey population, and will allow the States of Guernsey to undertake informed decision making.
It is hoped that as many of these forms will be completed as possible, as this will let people have a chance to have their views about renewables heard.
The results will be published on the Guernsey renewable energy website once they have been analysed, and will also be published as part of Bouke’s PhD thesis.
For any further enquiries please contact Peter Barnes on 01481 234567, or the Renewable Energy Team through enquiries@guernseyrenewableenergy.com.

industry_corpus2: Power & Energy


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(Reuters) – Lionel Messi is one of the investors in the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid later this year, according to Barcelona team mate Gerard Pique whose Kosmos company has been instrumental in a revamp for the historic tennis competition.
Pique’s investment firm Kosmos has backed the new format to the tune of $3 billion over 25 years and will jointly run the competition alongside the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
The inaugural 18-nation finals, which have replaced the 16-nation World Group played throughout the year, will take place at Madrid’s La Caja Magica (Magic Box) stadium on Nov. 18-24.
Speaking before Thursday’s draw ceremony, Pique confirmed Argentina forward and fellow tennis fan Messi, who already has a stake in Kosmos, was involved.
“Leo knows more than anyone about this because he is involved in Kosmos,” Pique was quoted as saying by British media on Friday.

industry_corpus2: Sports


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The perfect set for someone of discerning taste. The Navy Blue Grenadine and the Burgundy Grenadine should be staples in any man's closet. Grenadine ties are classic, timeless, an essential of any wardrobe. With their refined texture and understated colours, these ties possess an elegant simplicity and versatility which make them a choice complement any number of shirts and suits. Each tie is handmade and is composed of 100% silk from Como, Italy.
Order today, and you'll receive your Navy Blue & Burgundy Grenadine Tie Set before with free shipping.
Navy Blue and Burgundy is the perfect pairing. The Navy Blue is the defending heavyweight of versatility, but the Burgundy can hold its own. While I'd wear the Navy Blue with just about anything, I would be just a tad more cautious with the Burgundy. A white shirt will always pair nicely with it, but my initial approach would be a light coloured shirt - perhaps a sky blue shirt. The high final versatility score reflects your ability to get near equal use out of each tie.


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The Purpose of the Sensory Room is to provide both a stimulating and calming experience to promote self-regulation, positive behaviour and an opportunity for children and adults to engage with others and their environment.
The Sensory Room is available for use by the public. Bookings for public use may be made through our Calgary Office (403-262-9445 ext. 0). The drop-in fee is 5 dollars for a 45-minute session.


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Abby Martin of Media Roots went out to cover the immediate aftermath of the brutal police raid of Occupy Oakland at 6:20 am on October 25, 2011.
500+ Oakland PD used tear gas, rubber bullets and completely leveled two encampments of peaceful protestors practicing civil disobedience. 90+ protestors were then arrested.

industry_corpus2: Media & Journalism


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A few weeks into the Easter Semester, students of Uganda Christian University (UCU) are concerned about the Re-marking Policy.
The policy was revised to include an increment of Shs100,000 in the re-marking fee that was initially free of charge.
A number of notices pinned up around the university on Wednesday January 24, indicated that every student who desired their examination papers to be remarked had to part with Shs100,000 per paper. The students were also informed that applications for re-marking would only be accepted in the first two weeks of every semester after the release of results.


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FADED FRIDAY w/ DJ A/C & Lily S.
We bring the club to the gentlemen’s club. Come out for the ladies and stay for the party. With some of the best entertainers, this is the premier place for first class service.
Got a large group or celebrating?
Pre order your bottles and lock in your section NOW!

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


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Detractors from this practice say that it’s dangerous to take too much iodine, that it can damage the thyroid and can trigger autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto’s.
I’ve been trying out the high-dose iodine protocol for a couple of months at the time of writing, to treat hypothyroid-type symptoms, with good results so far. If you want to see how I got on with the protocol, take a look at my Iodine Deficiency Diaries series on YouTube.
Lynne Farrow, in her book The Iodine Crisis, says that iodine has helped people suffering from a range of conditions, including fatigue, cysts, menstrual problems, weight gain, breast pain, psoriasis, Type 2 diabetes, fertility problems, genital herpes, incidence of miscarriage, fibromyalgia, vaginal infections, eczema, erectile problems and libido.
Farrow says that in the early 20th century, iodine used to be prescribed for a wide range of medical conditions, including atherosclerosis, syphilis, uterine fibroids, poisoning, scarlet fever, bronchitis, pneumonia, obesity, depression, breast pain, eczema, genitourinary diseases, malaria, ovarian cysts, rheumatism, gastralgia, tonsillitis and coughs.
In the 19th century women with painful or lumpy breasts were advised to paint them with iodine, and doctors sometimes injected iodine into the breast tissue. Tincture of iodine was applied to wounds.
Europe has the highest percentage of iodine deficiency in the world, and the UK is the seventh most iodine deficient country.
Read more about why iodine is an essential nutrient for mental as well as physical health here.
In the 1950s, experiments on rats conducted by Jan Wolff and Israel Chaikoff suggested that iodine could be harmful to the thyroid. Lynne Farrow says that this research led to iodine being stigmatised as potentially dangerous in amounts greater than the WHO recommended daily level of 150mcg.
The thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped organ in the neck that regulates metabolism, needs iodine in order to function. But it is widely believed that too much iodine can cause it to malfunction, possibly causing autoimmune conditions.
The research of David Brownstein, MD, and the late Guy Abraham, MD, suggests that this belief is based on unreliable evidence, and that the current recommended daily amounts of iodine, 150mcg are far too low.
Mainland Japanese people are believed to consume approximately 13.8mg of iodine daily, more than 10 times the WHO recommended dose, mainly from seaweed. The Japanese have relatively low levels of breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers, and Japanese women have significantly lower levels of fibrocystic breast disease.
Dr Brownstein, in his book Iodine: Why You Need It; Why You Can’t Live Without It, recommends a daily dose of between 12 and 50mg a day for iodine deficient adults. This is a process that should not be taken lightly. I have been supplementing at this level for two months now, and have seen some improvements with just a few detox effects.
It’s clear that some people experience much more serious detox effects than I did when taking high doses of iodine. They are probably in the minority compared to those who benefit from the treatment, but everyone has a different constitution.
These effects are very wide-ranging, but among the most common are fatigue, brain fog, tremors, depression and anxiety. I experienced all of these, but only for a short time, and they were reduced by taking the companion nutrients and by doing the salt loading procedure regularly (details below). Some people report stronger and more unpleasant detox effects.
So if you are thinking of starting this treatment, you should proceed cautiously, preferably under medical guidance from a practitioner who is familiar with this protocol, and certainly having read the books by Lynne Farrow and Dr Brownstein, so you know exactly what to expect and how to treat any symptoms or side-effects that occur.
The main cause of side effects when taking high doses of iodine is the detoxification of chemicals, some of them in everyday use. These are classified as halogens: bromine, fluorine, chlorine and astatine. They can bind to the iodine receptors in the thyroid gland, blocking iodine uptake and disrupting the function of the thyroid, as it needs iodine to make thyroid hormone.
Bromine is added to bakery products and fire retardants in the US, and is used in some medications and in crop spraying. Fluoride is added to drinking water in some regions.
Chlorine, the oxidised form of chloride, is added to swimming pools as a disinfectant, and is often used to purify the water supply. Chlorine can be removed from water by using filtration products (see below).
Dr Brownstein says that all of these elements are more toxic when iodine deficiency is present.
Lugol’s iodine solution is not a brand – it’s a name given to the formulation made from iodine and potassium iodide which was first developed by Jean Lugol, a French doctor, in 1829.
It shouldn’t be confused with tincture of iodine, which is formulated from sodium iodide and should not be ingested.
Lugol’s can be painted onto the skin or ingested, but be very careful to take the correct dosage.
Lugol’s can sometimes trigger gastric irritation, so many people prefer to take tablets like Iodoral, or Iodorx, which offer a similar formulation to Lugol’s, but in tablet form.
Taking high doses of iodine is likely to trigger a significant detoxification reaction in the body, and the iodine supplementation protocol has been set up to deal with this.
It’s often recommended to start doing the salt loading (see below) and taking the companion nutrients several weeks BEFORE you start taking the iodine, in order to get the detox process started, in the hope that by the time you start taking the iodine the detox effects are not too strong.
The guidelines are to build up the intake of iodine gradually, starting with 12.5mg of iodine (such as Iodorol, Iodorx or Lugol’s) each day, and increasing the dose by 12.5mg every week.
• 1/2 teaspoon unprocessed sea salt added to the diet. It’s very important to use unrefined salt, as table salt is refined, which means essential minerals have been removed.
In addition to this, you should carry out the Salt Loading Protocol twice a day while detox symptoms continue. This is a very important part of the detoxification process.
• Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of unrefined, unprocessed sea salt or Himalayan salt in about 4 fluid ounces or half a cup of warm water.
• Follow this immediately with 12-16oz of pure water.
This should trigger copious urination – if not, repeat in 30-45 minutes, and repeat again if necessary.
With most of us being encouraged to reduce our salt intake, health-conscious people will probably have an innate reluctance to ingesting salt in this way. But it really is a necessary part of this process. And it’s very important to take unrefined salt, not table salt.
If you’re concerned about this you could try and reduce your general daily intake of salt to make up for the extra salt you’ll be consuming.
And if you suffer from a health condition such as hardening of the arteries, where too much salt could present a danger, it’s important to take advice from your GP or iodine-literate practitioner.
Lynne Farrow points out in her book on iodine that the use of salt water for detoxification is not new, and that the US army used salt water intravenously on Gulf War soldiers to combat bromide toxicity from medication prescribed to prevent against a possible nerve gas attack.
Many people who undergo the Iodine Protocol cease taking iodine for 48 hours every week, but continue with the salt loading and taking the companion nutrients during this time. This is known as “pulse-dosing” and it can help alleviate the detox symptoms.
If you’re concerned about chlorine in the water supply, there are a number of filtration options you can try.
Binchotan charcoal is said to remove elements like chlorine from water by attracting the negative ions to the surface of the charcoal. It also neutralises the water’s pH levels.
After three months of use, the stick has to be boiled in water for 10 minutes, after which it can be used again for a further three months.
Chlorine can also enter the bloodstream through vapour inhalation and skin absorption while bathing.
This Dechlorinating Bath Ball Filter from Pure Showers is designed to remove chlorine and other contaminants from bath water. You have to swoosh it around the bath for three minutes before getting in. It lasts for 12 months or up to 400 baths.
Pure Showers also stocks a range of shower filters to remove chlorine, bacteria and heavy metals from the water.


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Roof Windows and skylight are an excellent way of transforming your home. By letting in natural light, they turn dark, unused spaces into light, open rooms full of potential. Whether you use them to add simple storage spaces or create the loft conversions of your dreams, roof windows are the first step to unlocking your home's potential.
Once you’ve found the perfect skylight or roof window for your home, the only thing remains is to ensure that you have the right accessories to make the most of it.
Liteleader aims to make life better with technology and design, creating beautiful, lightweight, and durable windows that are easy to maintain and operate. Proving quality down to the last component, they offer a range of accessories to finish any roof window or skylight.
Our range of Liteleader accessories includes foam collars to be used as a sealing frame around your window to insulate and prevent heat loss. The Liteleader accessories also include an underfelt foil collar to increase water tightness, protect your roof and create easier, faster installation, cutting installation time by up to 15 minutes.
High quality. Using their experience and knowledge of the roofing market, Liteleader accessories are made of the highest quality at an incredible value.
Perfect for any home. With our diverse range of products for both manual and electronic windows, there’s a Liteleader accessory that will match your roof window.
Ideal for control. With a range of products specifically made for your windows, opening and using your roof windows will be easier than ever before.
Durable. All Liteleader accessories are durable, hard wearing, giving you the tools or extra protection you need for your roof windows for the years to come.
As part of the widely represented VKR group and with over 75 years of experience, Liteleader offers accessories that are high-quality products designed to help with the installation of your roof window.

industry_corpus2: Real Estate & Construction


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Use the form below to request material handling equipment for disaster and humanitarian activities. ALAN will review your request and contact you to discuss your needs. Matching services are provided without fee to donors and recipients. American Logistics Aid Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by generous corporate and private donors. Learn more about the companies and associations that support us at: http://alanaid.org/how-to-help/sponsor/ .
Equipment Type: Select the type of logistics support you are seeking.
Description Briefly describe the equipment you are requesting, including quantities required. If your request is for a forklift, please describe the required capacities and operating environment.
Equipment Date: Please provide estimated date the equipment is needed.
Postal Code: Please provide the postal code where the equipment will be used.
Equipment Use: Please describe the type of equipment needed and its intended use.
Equipment Duration: Please provide estimated duration of need.


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What makes Tweetings so good to use on the Nexus 7 is the dual pane mode. In portrait orientation, my preferred method to use Twitter, The timelines float above the right pane, smoothly showing the status updates.
Tapping on anything in the left timeline pane sends brings the right pane up front with the tweet or Twitter user displayed for interaction.
The main timeline in the left pane smoothly scrolls up and down by simple swiping. Moving through various timelines (normal, mentions, etc.) is accomplished through swiping left and right.
Tweetings handles mutlitple Twitter accounts.
This shows the right pane activated for interaction with the selected tweet. Simply tapping on the left pane instantly brings the timeline back to the front for swiping up/down to check status.
Swiping the left pane left/right moves among the various timelines configured to follow (normal, mentions, direct messages, etc.).
In this mode the right pane is always fully visible for interaction with the selected tweet/user.
The timeline on the left is moved by swiping just as in portrait mode.
Different types of tweets are displayed in color, making it simple to see mentions and replies at a glance.
Long-pressing on a tweet will pop up a menu of commonly performed actions, such as reply and retweet.
You can also perform these functions in the right pane via a menu bar at the bottom of the pane. Tweetings is designed to allow multiple ways to perform the most common tasks on Twitter.
One feature new to Tweetings is unique among Twitter apps. Tapping on a user's avatar in the left pane brings up the user's profile in the right.
This profile contains all of the usual profile information with one important difference: the Recent Photo stream.
Tweetings collects the most recent photos posted to Twitter by the selected user in one scrolling stream. Simply swiping left and right in this stream scrolls through thumbnails of this user's photos. Viewing any photo in the stream is as easy as tapping the thumbnail.
I have not seen this feature on any Twitter app on any platform, and it is extremely useful.
In addition to the useful scrolling photo stream in the previous slide, you can also tap on the stream to display this recent photo page.
This presents all recent photos for the selected user on one page with nice thumbnails for viewing/ selecting.
Composing new tweets in Tweetings is as good as in any app. One cool feature is evident when you enter a Twitter username in the editing window.
Start typing a name (@abc) and like many Twitter apps Tweetings presents you with a list of users that fit what you are entering.
What sets Tweetings apart from many other apps is the username appearing in the suggested list also contains the avatar, making it easier to know when you've got the right name.
Want to have a tweet posted in the future, perhaps in the middle of the night? Tweetings has this useful feature built right in the compose windows.
Enter your tweet as usual and then select the schedule feature. Input the date and time you want the tweet to post and Tweetings will take care of that for you.
Your device doesn't even have to be active, the tweet will still get posted at the scheduled time.
Note that any tweet can be saved as a draft in Tweetings should you decide to post it manually later.
The settings in Tweetings allows full customization of the appearance and operation of the app. It is possible to set the app to stream the timeline in real-time, and notify you of actions as per your preferences.
Normally the tweet button resides in the crowded top menu, but Tweetings lets you configure the much-used button into a floating control that is always just a tap away.
When set, the Tweet button becomes an opaque control so you can see what (if anything) is underneath it, and entering a tweet is just one tap away no matter where in the app you might be.
This is extremely useful and just one of many features that make Tweetings so personal in operation.
I spend far too much time using Twitter and have tried just about every mobile Twitter app on every platform. Tweetings on the Nexus 7 may be the best Twitter app on any mobile platform.