Jackson Lafferty

As I stated, there has been some research in other parts of the jurisdictions and my department has been discussing that with various counterparts, various parties involved. I can assure the Member that there is work in process. Not only that, I can assure the Member that I will get to the Member before the 12-month period. But this is a particular area that has been of interest to us, as well, since the Member has been asking. I will definitely get back to all the Members on the timing of the next steps. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There have been a couple of increases to minimum wage as requested by the Members of the Legislative Assembly. There has been some work done. I don’t have that specific detailed information, but I can provide that to the Members once I get my hands on it.

We have explored those areas regarding some of the seniors having individuals living with them. It could be providing more home care to them. Another area that we also explored is the seniors and individuals living under their roof, could they be invoiced as opposed to the senior. We have been exploring those areas. We have a representative at the regional level, as well, and we continuously have those discussions at the community level and at the regional level, and we will continue to do that if we need to make those changes. We need to consult with the communities as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The policies are in place for a reason and they can be amended as well. Based on what the discussions are that we’ve had with income security programming, we’ve made some drastic changes in 2007 to increase our funding. When the Member speaks to the senior fuel subsidy, I believe he’s referring to there are areas that we need to explore. We don’t want to have an impact on a senior’s pension when it comes to subsidies. There are people living in the household. I understand some people are living there helping out, but some people do take advantage of the elderly people...

Mr. Speaker, yes, indeed, we are looking at all opportunities that may be available to us. Will there be the college program delivery in our own language? We have seen that at the University of Fairbanks, and even at the post-secondary level they were teaching in their own language with no English, period. It is our dream to be there. At the same time, we need to work with the college board of governors and the staff if they could deliver those types of programming. At the same time, we are lacking resource people, as well, those qualified Aboriginal-speaking teachers.

I am challenging the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories recognizes 11 official languages. Nine of them are Aboriginal languages. Yes, indeed, some of the languages, we are losing our language, more specifically, the Gwich’in area and the very reason why we have gone to Fairbanks, Alaska, to find out the best practices. We have initiated that and we brought the information back. We are pursuing rolling out the program.

Yes, all the languages in the Northwest Territories need to be protected, revitalized, and more specifically, those are on the verge of losing their language. We must put more emphasis on...

From the Sahtu perspective, I think we certainly need to take full advantage of the community learning centres at the regional level. Yes, indeed, we need to prepare our people for the opportunities that are coming. At the same time there are talks and we do have a representative from the Sahtu region on the Aurora College Board of Governors, Ms. Ethel Blondin-Andrew. There have been talks about a potential mobile trades unit similar to the Inuvik initiative that’s been very successful. Those are some of the discussions that are happening within the training committee. If there is a meeting...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the Sahtu region there are four community learning centres: Norman Wells, Deline, Fort Good Hope and Tulita. Each of those community learning centres have their own adult educators as well. There is also a Sahtu Regional Training Committee that deals with the long-term planning for the region. We are part of the process as well as the department. Those are ongoing initiatives and discussions that are happening at the regional level. Mahsi.

Those are part of the discussions that my department has been exploring with other jurisdictions as well. Part of the best practices, we analyze other provincial and territorial jurisdictions and how they increase their, I guess, annual wage increase. It has been part of that discussion, yes.

For the record, we’re not picking on the elders, the seniors in the community. We have subsidized the elders in the communities. The Seniors Fuel Subsidy is particularly for those individuals that are low-income households. So we do provide subsidies. At the same time, we have increased the threshold of $10,000 as well. We are making changes to our policy and we will continue to do that. Mahsi.