Charles Dent

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. The government believes that this policy could be brought into place. So the affirmative action policy fairly quickly and it could happen during the life of this Assembly, depending on how our discussions go with Members and other stakeholders. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has completed quite a bit of work on this and has some ideas for how to move forward with employment equity. We are at the point now where we are ready to discuss it with Members of the Legislative Assembly and the standing committees and then see if there is a willingness to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intention, now that we have the curriculum and as soon as we can find the money or identify the funding to offer this program, is to offer the program in various locations on a rotating basis. So it isn’t going to be offered every year in every community. We don’t think that there would be enough uptake to be able to do that. We want to make sure we have the critical mass of students and instructors. We are only planning to offer it in one community for two years and then move it around the North in that way to make sure that everybody has access to it. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an area that is extremely important to our department. As the Member pointed out in his statement, we have brought in a directive requiring schools to use the aboriginal language and culture funding for that purpose. We know that some schools are having trouble finding enough qualified instructors, so we have expanded the program. The program design work has been done so that the curriculum now goes for two full years. I would allow it to be a certificate program. It could be brought in. So we are ready to move to that. But, Mr. Speaker, at this point...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure that you can say that the budget is big enough if it’s been planned already without that space there. The community has been involved intimately in the plans for the school. The space has been set aside for it, but there is a requirement for the community to get involved. It’s worth pointing out that the community itself has a number of options right now. The municipality will have access to gas tax funds, MRIF funds, and improved capital funding that my colleague, the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, spoke about just last week...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to work with Members to identify ways in which we can improve our support. As I said earlier, I have already got the plans for an improved subsidy. I would dearly love to be able to offer improved capital grants to operators, but that’s going to take more money that this government doesn’t have. We need to find ways to improve our income as a government in order to be able to get those subsidies to people in the North. I’m quite prepared to work with Members and to see if we can find ways to achieve betterment. Thank you.