Charles Dent

Mr. Speaker, it is clear in the regulations that if the information provided by the student in their application is wrong or if there has been a mistake made, that the amounts can be changed. Typically, there would be no notice given that the amounts would be changed because unless there was something wrong they wouldn’t be changed. So my understanding of the program is if there has been a change, it must have been because someone was unaware of the full particulars, and maybe they weren’t set out properly in the application. But the role of the student financial assistance officers should...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don't have a program of scholarships and bursaries that are specifically limited to teachers who want to take this kind of upgrading or training. There is, however, a fairly large pot of money, which is part of the collective agreement with the NWTTA, that is available for teachers for upgrading purposes. What has been found to work best with courses like the aboriginal language and culture programming is part-time delivery in the regions, so that it can be delivered close to the workplace. Often this kind of upgrading doesn't require a huge investment of time or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the strategic plan may not specifically mention that sort of program, but it is certainly one of the basic tenants of the teacher education program and one of the reasons for offering the program right through to the baccalaureate or bachelor degree stage in the Northwest Territories. We are anxious to see more teachers who are born in the Northwest Territories and conversant in the language of their community who have been able to go through the process and become fully qualified teachers with a B.Ed. to work in the North. That's one way in which we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in fact through our participation in the Western Canadian Protocol we have enhanced the curriculum across all western provinces in both territories to include more history of the North, and in the social studies curriculum you will find that in particular starting even as early as Grade 4 that there is a fair emphasis on northern history. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, through the teacher education program at Aurora College there is again a significant emphasis on northern history so that teachers who come through the northern system are even more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has no flexibility in student financial assistance. The regulations must be followed explicitly. The Minister cannot bend the rules. So I would be quite happy to investigate the situation if the Member would subsequently provide me with the name, and certainly follow up. The student always has the right of appeal to the Student Financial Assistance Appeal Board, and I would encourage the student to make that appeal. Again, just from what I’ve heard, it sounds like someone made the inadvertent mistake of not recognizing part of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would expect that the only occasion we would see that sort of incident happening would be if it was found out that some information was wrong in the application or that the funding had been improperly accessed. If there was some reason to believe there was a problem with the way in which the funding was allocated, that might be the situation. It is difficult to respond to a general question of that nature, and it is unfortunate that I don’t have the specifics of this case to be able to follow up on it. Of course, it would be difficult to give a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, May 31, 2004, I will move that Bill 8, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendments Act, 2004, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of protection of the public is one that we take very seriously at all times. The RCMP is certainly aware of the concern and is very careful to monitor convicted sex offenders as they do normally, and as we do through the parole system. So I think that over the last few years there has been a change in the approach and it has gotten more rigorous. I think that while standards have changed, monitoring of the sex offender registry will provide one more tool that we’ll be able to have. Until the computers are updated, and there is adequate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that no one is going to be ready to implement by this fall. I understand that the most recent meeting to discuss the implementation of this act, the RCMP has indicated for instance that they can’t be ready by this fall. There are a number of issues that have to be addressed, so the committee is working at moving the process along. There is a committee made up of representatives from all jurisdictions, and my understanding is now that we are looking at early 2005 for the registry to become active.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the goal of setting this program up was to find out whether or not it would improve results. So certainly we would look at this as a pilot project. Of course we will have to examine how many inmates there are in the system at any given time who would qualify for this kind of program, and how many programs like it we can run would be somewhat dependent on that. So I can’t predict whether or not there will be opportunities in other regions, or how often we will be able to do it, but certainly we were looking at this as a pilot project and we will want to...