Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The principle function of the employment standards officer is to administer the Employment Standards Act. The act sets out general rights and responsibilities and minimal requirements, fundamental principles of employment standards. The act also covers such areas of work, minimum wage, termination of employment, annual vacation, statutory holidays, pregnancy and parental leave. Those fall under the act, so it’s up to the officer to follow through according to the act. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. With me to my left is Gloria Iatridis, acting deputy minister of Department of Education, Culture and Employment; and to my right is Tricia Ralph, legislative advisor. Mahsi.

I am pleased to introduce Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. The purpose of this legislation is to raise the maximum aggregate of the principal amounts of all student loans that may be made by the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The maximum aggregate principal amount of student loans that the government may lend under the Student Financial Assistance Act is currently set at $36 million. The amendment proposes to increase this amount to $40 million for the fiscal year 2012-2013 and thereafter. This change is required to allow the Department of Education...

Mahsi. There has been discussion with the Akaitcho Government, as well, on this, especially with the executive director identifying a feasibility study on the Weledeh dialect.

As you know, we have the nine Aboriginal official languages. Within that it also contains different dialects as well. So we have to be careful what we’re talking about here. Wiillideh dialect is part of the Tlicho dialect as well. So there’s different dialects that are involved; the Chipewyan dialect. So those are just some of the areas that the executive director was going to do some more research on in this area. But I...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is referring to the ALCIP program that we graduated students out of Inuvik and Aboriginal Language and Culture Instructors Program, but we are also delivering interpreter and translation training through the five different modules in the Deh Cho Yamozha Kue Society. We contribute on an annual basis for them to deliver the program. We are currently re-evaluating how we deliver that program through the Yamozha Kue Society because a lot of ideas and suggestions were brought forward. We are currently looking at and re-examining how we deliver that program in the Deh Cho...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Peter Huskey, who is here with us today. Welcome. He is from Behchoko and actively involved with the meetings that are occurring. I’d just like to welcome him here. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is committed to continually improving our education systems, including curricula.

The department is implementing a new student information system for all schools in the Northwest Territories. The new system will hold functional grade levels, Alberta Achievement Test results, student support plans, classroom assessment and student attendance together in a single student’s electronic file. This will allow schools, school boards and the department to more accurately track student information and assist in the overall accountability...

Mahsi. Yes, I did commit to re-evaluating that particular program as part of the Yamozha Kue Society and considering delivering that same or advanced-level courses into the Aboriginal language groups, into the communities. So that is our overall goal, is to capture the regions to the best of our ability as we were doing with the ALCIP program. So we’ll continue to address those needs. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Language is very important to all the departments, especially when it comes to terminology, interpreting different words. We are currently working with each department, such as the Department of Health and Social Services more specifically dealing with the regional health authorities. Stanton has hired on-call interpreters, as well, even translators. So each department has their own roles and responsibilities to hire their interpreters and we do what we can as a department to identify the needs.

At times we did receive requests from constituencies across the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, based upon the completion of the interpreter training pilot delivery series, we are currently re-examining the deliverance of the program itself. Yes, the Member is correct. It was a pilot project that we initiated with the Yamozha Kue Society, and Aboriginal Language Culture Instructors Program is through the college. It is a two-year diploma program that is geared towards an area that they’ll be certified and qualified to start teaching in the classroom setting. These modules were just a pilot project, but currently we are examining that. Mahsi.