Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The numbers that I gave the Member in the first answer are the ones that I would again use, because student financial assistance is only intended for students who want to enter a degree or certificate program. So it’s not provided for upgrading. There are two exceptions and that is we offer students who are enrolled in a teacher education program, one year access to programming, as well as to nursing students. So the numbers in those two would be, in a typical year, less than 30 of the total number I have reported here. So it’s still a significant number who are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For students who take the same courses, no matter what the community is, those marks in those places represent the same achievement. That’s because in Grade 12 we use Alberta departmental exams. They count for at least 50 percent to the student’s mark. So whether the student is in Tulita or here in Yellowknife, they have to pass the same exam in order to pass the course. So in that way, we know that student achievement is the same.

One of the issues we think may be a problem with people thinking that achievement is less in the small communities is that oftentimes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it seems like the Member has adopted one point of view and that is the only way that things can move because that is the only proposal that I have heard. I still think that we have options that we can consider. I have suggested some in my letter. We have enough space in this community. I am prepared to, if necessary, make sure that we have a broader discussion among stakeholders. I hope that those stakeholders will then talk to the boards. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member may have noted my answers to Mr. Ramsay earlier today. This has not been going on for just a week, two weeks, a month, or even a year. It has been going on far longer than that. There have been a number of discussions with the goal of trying to resolve this with this situation. There has not been a collaborative solution yet, so I am trying to force some action with my recommendations with YK 1. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll certainly take that recommendation under advisement. We’ll take a look at where we’ve got the resources and whether or not we can afford to do that. The staff at the ARI has recently been ramped up in order to accommodate the increased numbers of requests for research that we’ve been receiving over the past couple of years. So we’re hoping that we’re going to have the staff on hand to be able to handle the workload that we see coming over the next 18 months as IPY rolls out, but we may have to look at, as the Member suggests, increasing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a good question. Because we don’t have a university in the North which is sponsoring the researchers who are coming to the North, we don’t have a lot of control, or awareness even, of what is being proposed for International Polar Year. Much of the research is going to be done in cooperation with scientists who work in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. So by working in concert, we’re hoping with them, with ENR and the southern scientists, we’ll be able to ensure that there is a clear understanding that we want traditional knowledge to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d say right now that plan B is to make sure the parents have all of the information and then I’m hoping that they would be prepared to put some pressure on the boards to ensure that they are acting in the most appropriate way. That, to me, is plan B. For us to go beyond dealing with the boards and actually deal with the public is a step beyond what would be in the normal course of business. So at this point, that’s plan B, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is aware, the issue about school space was first raised by school boards when we met with them right after the last election. So it has been something that all the Yellowknife Members have been involved in for almost four years now.

The issues of or the manner in which it’s been handled was, first of all, after the first couple of meetings there didn’t seem to be any easy way to move forward, so I put together a committee that involved all of the stakeholders in education in Yellowknife. That committee met and over the course of a number of months...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled GNWT Public Service 2006 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have responded to a number of parents. I intend to respond to all parents who contact me. I call tell the Member that most of the parents with whom I have spoken one on one generally I have been able to answer their concerns and their questions. They have often come to a different point of view than when we started the conversation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.