Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, bullying is a broad societal problem and a very serious issue in our schools that Education, Culture and Employment is dedicated to addressing.

On February 16, 2012, the Legislative Assembly passed an anti-bullying motion, calling on the department to establish a territory-wide campaign to denounce bullying, and review anti-bullying legislation in other jurisdictions and bring forward a bill for consideration by the Assembly within 18 months.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to announce that later today I will move first reading of a bill to amend the Education Act that will include bullying...

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association, we value their survey that was conducted. They shared that information with us. It is to some degree evidence-based that the Member is referring to and has been referred to in the past. We need to use evidence-based when we come up with various investments into the communities dealing with the housing and other infrastructure as well. Information that was released in a recent survey, again, we are working closely with the NWTTA. We will continue to press that matter. The Housing Minister is also involved in this because we are...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Our government, obviously, supports the teachers that are out there, the value they bring to our schools and also our communities. We’ve also met with the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association, between myself, Minister R.C. McLeod and also Minister Abernethy, to discuss what’s out there, their assessment, their survey that’s been conducted, and I would just like to say thank you to the NWTTA for releasing that information to our government. At least it’s a tool that we need to work with. I believe that as a partnership we can move forward. We are doing that in...

Mr. Speaker, yes I have. We will continue to pressure that at the Cabinet level. At the same time, I have a board chairs meeting that consists of the college and all the education board chairs, and we discuss the communities’ needs. If there are ideas generated or suggestions, then we will work with that. At the end of the day, the Board of Governors makes that decision based on the communities’ needs. They work with the community representatives what is required, whether they be the activities happening in the Beaufort-Delta, Sahtu region or Deh Cho region. It will be based on that. We get a...

Mr. Speaker, most definitely those are discussions that we need to have with the Deline leadership, the DEAs and DECs as well. Just offering some of the initiatives that have been undertaken by Beaufort-Delta, as an example, e-learning is a prime example that we will continue to invest. There have been discussions on fibre optics. Those are just some of the discussions that we will continue to have. Education renewal is another one that they have been part of and will continue to push this forward. It is a big piece of work for the Northwest Territories and the Legislative Assembly. We want to...

Those are exactly the types of discussions we are currently having. We’ve heard from the Deline leadership, also the DEA, and also the DECs for their regional perspective on expediting certain capital infrastructure from the communities on to our capital plans. As part of the educational renewal process that’s before us, we’ve involved the community members, and we’ve listened to the small community capital initiatives. Those are in the forefront of our discussion as we move forward.

One of the pillars on the educational renewal is to focus on the small communities, whether it be the funding...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize our 2013 Educational Hall of Fame award recipients in a ceremony we held this morning. They are Beverly Masuzumi of Fort Good Hope, Bill Gilday of Yellowknife, Andy Norwegian of Fort Simpson, Jill Taylor from Hay River, Anne-Mieke Cameron from Yellowknife. We have a couple more, they’re not here, but they will be presented. I’d like to also recognize Dolphus Nitsiza, who is here from my constituency in Behchoko. I’d just like to say congratulations to all the Education Hall of Fame inductees and welcome to our Assembly. Mahsi cho.

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Mr. Speaker, that is part of our overall plan to find a concrete solution. That is why we are involved in partners such as NWTTA and also into the departmental discussions that we are currently having to find the solution at the community level. We know that teachers’ housing is very, very critical, especially in the small, isolated communities, and adequate housing to stay in the community longer. So that is part of the vision that we’re currently discussing, and to develop a better relationship with their students as well. The longer the teachers are staying in the community, the more...

Mr. Speaker, this is an area that the NWTTA, again we are working closely with them. The NWT Housing Corporation, Robert C. McLeod is also partnering this. Of course, the NWTTA conducted a survey with its members just recently. Of course, I will be seeking their permission to provide the results of the survey to the Members. At this point in time, we do not collect information on the teachers sharing accommodation. That is information that will be shared between the NWTTA and our community departments. We all know the small communities; there is a shortage of housing. We need to deal with that...

Mr. Speaker, we do go through an annual basis before we distribute funding to the college so they can deliver programs, trying to get feedback from the Board of Governors on what is needed and to make changes.

As we know, there are a lot of community learning centres for the Northwest Territories that need to be fully taken advantage of. There are all of these different programs that should be delivered at the community level. I will take the Member’s suggestion seriously into consideration. I will be working with the Board of Governors, the chair and also the president to move this forward and...