Caroline Cochrane

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 654-18(3): Living Wage and Northwest Territories' Child Benefit." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, a high-quality education system is one that ensures that student wellness and the development of a positive sense of identity are promoted and embedded in school experiences, programming, and environment.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment values diversity in our school communities. We recognize the unique challenges experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and two-spirited, or LGBTQ2S+ people, including being possible targets for discrimination and bullying.

In support of these students, staff, and families, the Department, as part of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other day I recognized the Pages from Range Lake, but I hear we have a new Page from Range Lake. I want to recognize Lacey Lewis. Congratulations for being here, and I also recognize all of the Pages. Thank you for your work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I'm very pleased to advise the House that a ceremony was held this morning in the Great Hall to celebrate eight individuals who have made tremendous contributions to education in the Northwest Territories. Please join me in recognizing this illustrious group in the gallery today, the 2019 inductees into the Education Hall of Fame: Ms. Sheila Cook from Hay River; Sheila Kindred from Fort Smith; Eileen Erasmus from Yellowknife; Steve Nicoll from Fort Simpson; Michelle Brown from Fort Smith; Claudia Parker from Yellowknife; Brenda Johnson from Yellowknife; and Gayle Strikes With A...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 57, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, be read for the second time. This bill amends the Employment Standards Act to:

extend the period of entitlement to unpaid parental leave and to provide for parental sharing of leave;

extend the period of entitlement to unpaid compassionate leave;

provide an entitlement to unpaid family caregiver leave, to allow for individuals to care for family members who are critically ill or injured;

provide an entitlement to paid and unpaid family violence leave;

extend the...

We do have regional representatives who are in the Sahtu who can actually make themselves available at any time that the MLA would like them to go in and to approach their community. Myself, though, as a Minister, might be a little bit tougher. I would have to check with my staff. My last review of my calendar says that I am booked up, and in fairness, I have even had to talk to other MLAs and say that I can't do constituency tours for four or five days, because I don't have that. I am working day and night and weekends now. We have a lot of work to do. I am willing to be available if I am...

I am a bit confused because post-secondary education, of course, attendance is not mandatory at all. That is about the student actually applying for their own future. I don't think there is any post-secondary across Canada that makes attendance be a requirement. Like I said, though, there are requirements that say children who are over six and under 16 must be registered in school. Although it doesn't say they have to attend every day, they need to attend to be able to keep up and to be successful. It is an issue that we need to address. I am not willing to say it is parents. I am not willing...

Attendance rates are a huge concern. I don't really have the answer to why they are not improving. Everybody, in my opinion, has been kind of blaming everybody else. Everyone is afraid of it. They are saying, "Is it the parents' responsibility? Is it the Aboriginal governments' responsibility? Is it the community's responsibility? Is it the teachers' responsibility?" Those questions are not okay for me.

I have actually brought it up at the Education Leaders, which has all of the chairs and the superintendents from all of the regions' 10 education boards, councils, authorities. I said this is an...

The Form F is actually a form that is signed to show either you have a status number, or if you're Metis, actually you're signed by your band or your Metis association. In fact, I don't see any reason why, once someone has been acknowledged as falling within the Form F that they have Indigenous rights based on being from the Territories, that we should be asking, so if we're doing that, I'm hoping it's a mistake. If we're doing that purposely, it should be fixed, and we will make sure that we look at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As stated before, at this point, it isn't just a monthly amount that anyone can access. It is based on the needs, so we do do an assessment, and I think at this point we'll be staying with that because we just don't have the money to support everybody to do anything. I think that it should be income tested. I think that, if people can afford it, then they should help supplement. Like I said, it's something that we try to supplement, but we have to make sure the money goes across as many people as possible.