Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I give notice on Friday, May 25, 2012, I will move that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Most definitely. That is our goal and objective. We want this Mine Training Society to survive the March 31st deadline. It’s going to happen. We have industries lined up already. We have the federal government that is agreeing to initiatives and we need to continue with this ship that we built. We need to continue to advocate with the federal government. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

There is a program in place with the federal government and it’s to replace ASEP. Now the acronym is ASET. It’s a program that individual Aboriginal organizations can access funding for, for training. It’s a bit different from what the Mine Training Society has done for a number of years. We’ve argued that with the federal Minister Diane Finley, but they’ve already had their mind set on this ASET program. We’ll continue to discuss our initiative pan-territorially. It’s been very successful, Mr. Speaker. The Mine Training Society has been leading the way through industries when it comes to...

As much as it hurts, I have to take this as notice.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I need to follow up with the Member’s statement. I’ll definitely follow through with my department where things are at within the WSCC about the tribunal. I’ll definitely follow up.

I totally agree with the Member that we need to safeguard our teachers and professions in the school. I know there are some policies in place at the regional and community schools about zero tolerance on staff abuse. The Safe School Policy, I need to look into the status on that, if it’s been completed, if it is a Northwest Territories-wide initiative. I’ll get that information and the recent update and provide that to the Members.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We were fortunate enough for 2011-2012 for those individuals - the teachers coming to the North and also from the North - finding a suitable accommodation. It is a challenge. It’s a struggle at times for those teachers to find accommodations in the communities, especially isolated communities. This is an area that we’ve been working on in a coordinated approach with the Housing Corporation, my department, and also Health, because we have to deal with other professions as well. There is a review on the way, as Mr. McLeod alluded to, of the Shelter Policy review. This is an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

I would just like to say thank you to the Members on this motion. This initiative is already in the works with my Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We’re already proceeding with this. A proposal for the creation of the Aboriginal languages secretariat will be brought forward for consideration in 2012-2013 business planning session. We will continue our efforts to seek increased funding from the federal government through the negotiation of a multi-year Language Funding Agreement. I look forward to continuing to work with...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Early Childhood Development framework has been a key in our discussions at the forum with Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. It’s on our radar within the ECE department. We are going through the final stages of the recommendations. The changes are forthcoming and we’re finalizing that within our Education department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

For the interim, the three mining industries have agreed to contribute to the Mine Training Society. There’s a feasibility study that’s on the way. We, as Education, Culture and Employment, have always supported it and we will continue to support the transition period. We want to see no or a minimal impact on the Mine Training Society as we move beyond March 31, 2012. That is our goal. We will push that, again, with the federal government. With the three mining companies on board, they are adamant that we need to keep pushing for the skilled workforce that they’ll need for upcoming employment...