Jackson Lafferty

I totally agree with the Member that we need to move these obstacles that are in the way. That’s why I did a Minister’s statement, as well, that we are getting rid of some red tape within our department. This is an area that works well, whether it is the two-month advance for harvesting on the land where they can bring their families. We assist them. We’ve come around with the liability issues. We’ve done that in the past and we will continue to push that forward.

Just to touch on the first one, as the Members know, the Elders Program started just last September. We’ve just started our second semester now. We will be providing detailed information on the elders who are in school. At this point, we are still going through the first phase, the first year, but we will provide that information.

With respect to the geographical names, historical sites, traditional name, there has been some recent announcement with the Member’s riding and even prior to that with the Gwich’in, the Degee area. There are all these different traditional names that have been...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have committed to the Member that I will be meeting with the board of governors and report back to the committee. Mahsi.

The information I shared is $26.6 million based on the enrollment of the schools. Some school facilities are small, so they would get a smaller portion than the larger centres. It’s all based on enrollment. The contribution is based on that. Mahsi.

That’s exactly what we’ll be doing, working with our federal counterparts. They do have their stats as well. We provide our NWT stats and information to them. So, yes, I agree with the Member that we need to closely monitor this. Mahsi.

Yes, Mr. Chair. We have to work very closely with the school boards. From there, they decide on hiring the elders on need and the hours that they should be working in the schools. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Obviously, 2016 is coming very fast and I’m sure it will be looked at. We will be looking into it further. The college, again, community learning centres falls under that item, so we will be working closely with them when they are going through that review process of their facilities, so I am glad that the Member is referring to that. It will be addressed with the board of governors as well. Mahsi.

Indeed, safety becomes a factor when it comes to client service officers dealing with clientele. It goes both ways. We do have client service officers in most of the communities; and those communities that may not have it, we have regional representatives. I just met with the client service officers from across the Northwest Territories just last week and I had a really good discussion with them. I wanted to share their perspective because they are grassroots people dealing with clientele on a day-to-day basis. I was very appreciative, listening to what they are faced with, their challenges...

Mr. Chair, what I stated earlier is, as the Minister responsible for education, I’m guaranteeing them that they will be under 16 to 1. Anything above and beyond that, my department will be subsidizing them. Territorial-wide at this point we are, obviously, under. After a three-year period, we’re saying we want to be under. That’s the guarantee that we want to have. Anything above and beyond that, we’re going to subsidize. Mahsi.

I’m glad the Member is asking that specific question. Yes, indeed, it is a collaborative effort. It’s not just the Education department. As Member Bisaro also alluded to, we’re in a workforce environment, so it does cover all spectrum of activity that is happening in the schools, outside the schools, so working in collaboration with MACA, Health and Social Services, the Justice department and other departments are getting involved. It is one of our priorities, as well, to prevent bullying from happening in the school environment, in the work environment and in other places within the Northwest...