Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The NWT and Alberta are part of the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol along with three provinces and three territorial jurisdictions. We have been involved with the math curriculum and teaching resources for the past 20 years to develop a common and use by all WNCP partners.

The NWT has been, and continues to be, extremely active in this process along with other provincial jurisdictions. As you know, Mr. Speaker, there are changes happening within Alberta education. We are closely monitoring that through their education redesign process. With any changes, we are closely...

E-learning will be a key component of the Education Innovation Action Plan, so as we move forward, evolve into action plans, this will be captured to reach out to the most isolated communities. So, yes, that is part of the plan. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

First of all I would like to commend the Beaufort-Delta Education Council for working diligently on this particular e-learning initiative that they have embarked on. It has been very, very successful to date, even though it has been a short time frame. At the same time, we have been doing our research across our great country of Canada and there is other e-learning that’s happening throughout the other regions, but this particular one captures the most isolated communities.

I agree that this is an area that we need to invest in more and then how we can deliver that as a test pilot project...

Mahsi. I’d like to thank the Member, as well, for meeting with the students, because it is very important to listen to those students, to hear their ideas, concerns and suggestions. Those areas are being brought to our attention here today, so we will be following up with those ideas particularly to Iqaluit and also Yukon College. Some of the examples brought to our attention here today I will be addressing with the college as well. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 1-17(5), I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Standard Income Assistance Benefits by Household Composition” and “Income Assistance Distinct Cases and Payments in 2012-2013.” Mahsi.

We have a Board of Governors that have their meetings in our colleges, in our communities. They are accessible to the students, to the general public. We have an open forum, we have an open dialogue when there is a Board of Governors meeting. There is one coming up in Inuvik in June. It is opened up to Inuvik to residents and students at Inuvik campus. There are meetings in Fort Smith; there are meetings in Yellowknife. Those are accessible to students and the general public. We will continue to open doors to those students.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for meeting with the students and also Members as well. We are here as elected MLAs, elected officials. We represent the students as well. We have a Board of Governors, one from each region, that are responsible for their committee, for their regions and they represent the students. So it is not only the students that represents at the Board of Governors level, but all the board members.

This is an area that we are closely monitoring, and having the student representatives has been grateful for the Board of Governors. We will continue to push...

I laid out plenty of accountability that we deal with as the Board of Governors and with my Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We continue to strengthen that into the communities and into the regions. Under accountability of the Board of Governors, again, we have representatives from each region that represents these students, that represents the general public, the regions, the communities. As a department, I work closely with the board chair to make them accountable to the general public and to the students. I have laid out what I have committed already. I will be addressing...

I heard three questions in there, so I will answer one of them. My department is listening carefully and taking notes as well.

We have a Board of Governors representing the students. We have a student representative on there as well. Most of the organizations do not provide personal e-mails, but I will be addressing that with the president and Board of Governor chair. If we can allow board members to have their e-mail address and phone number on the website, then we can make that accessible for the general public of the Northwest Territories. I am making a commitment to address that with the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We talked about junior kindergarten along with other initiatives that we want to start working towards as part of our Early Childhood Development Framework and rolling out the action plan towards that. Part of that discussion is thinking about junior kindergarten. From what we’ve heard, we’ve heard over and over that we have to start from an early age.

There have been several reports. The Member and other Members, as well, reported on various research. One of the reports, of course, is from Ontario, that has very encouraging results, with a 7 percent increase in the number...