Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I told the House yesterday, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada will be arranging a meeting with the Hon. Diane Finley, the federal Minister responsible for the literacy funding that was cut, next Tuesday. Our intention is to seek from the Minister some understanding of where the Minister is going. We've heard from the federal government that their intention is to fund federal programs, programs across the territorial and provincial boundaries across Canada. But I am hoping to make sure that she hears this, that is that if she is looking at expanding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share some good news with you about education results from the 2005-2006 year and enrolment for this school year.

We have our high school graduation numbers for this past year and, Mr. Speaker, the results are excellent. Overall, our graduation numbers are up from 343 in 2005 to 359 this year. This includes an increase in the number of both aboriginal and non-aboriginal graduates. For the first time, Mr. Speaker, the number of aboriginal graduates is higher than the number of non-aboriginal graduates, moving...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, the Government of the Northwest Territories funds the Literacy Council to the tune of about $440,000 this year. I have met with the executive director of the Literacy Council and have assured the council, through her, that we will look at what we can do to strengthen our funding. The total amount of money that this government is putting into literacy programming each year right now is in excess of $6 million. So we are going to obviously take a look at whether or not we should reprofile some of that money to better support the Literacy Council. We are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Brianne Christison from Aurora College, YK Campus. Brianne is in her fourth year of nursing and is visiting the House as part of the Professional Growth V course on nurses influencing change. One component of this class is to learn about how politics shapes and influences health care and health care policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, the Government of the Northwest Territories funds the Literacy Council to the tune of about $440,000 this year. I have met with the executive director of the Literacy Council and have assured the council, through her, that we will look at what we can do to strengthen our funding. The total amount of money that this government is putting into literacy programming each year right now is in excess of $6 million. So we are going to obviously take a look at whether or not we should reprofile some of that money to better support the Literacy Council. We are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The program is constantly under review for ways in which it can be improved. In terms of adding money to the budget, at this point there hasn’t been any plan to add money to the budget. We’re looking for ways to change the program delivery so that we can use what we have in the program more efficiently. There may be some proposals for change and may be some requirement for adding money, but that’s something that I would have to discuss after we come up with the program redesign, and that, Mr. Speaker, as I said, won’t happen before sometime in November and December...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make it clear that we were not consulted about these cuts. The federal government chose to make and announce these cuts arbitrarily. So we’re not in a position where I can reach into my back pocket today and replace the money that has been lost. I do want to make the point, though, that this government is already putting, and continues to put, significantly more money into literacy than what the federal government has cut. I intend to keep working with the federal Minister, Diane Finley, and I will be encouraging her to ensure that the federal government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have met with the NWT Literacy Council. Our government continues to support and to fund the NWT Literacy Council and I have assured them that we will continue to look for ways to work with them to ensure that we can help them to provide literacy services across the Northwest Territories. I think it’s important to remember that the Government of the Northwest Territories also invests heavily in literacy in the North. We provide $2.4 million annually to the NWT Literacy Strategy and Aurora College receives more than $4.1 million annually to support adult literacy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize, as well, a constituent from the Frame Lake constituency, a man with a long-time interest in politics and now a newly minted councillor, Mr. David Wind.

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Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize the president of the NWTTA, Ms. Amanda Mallon.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the reasons that it takes so much time to change a program like this is that it is so important to so many people in the Northwest Territories. Because of that, we’ve spent a lot of time consulting with northerners and people were consulted in every region of the Northwest Territories. A lot of people asked for some significant changes, not just little tweaks, but significant changes. People have asked us to look at changing the program from a program of last resort to a program that looks at what does a person need in order to be more successful, to be more...