Jackson Lafferty

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.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular policy on the Seniors Home Heating Subsidy Program is intended to assist, as the Member stated, low-income seniors. If there are also other individuals living in the household, as well, that are earning an income, they should be contributing towards the actual cost of fuel or food in the household as well.

We’ve heard in the past, our ancestors, our grandfathers, that we have to share within our household, share within the community, and that’s what should be happening with individuals that are living in that particular household. They need to share their...

I like those direct questions. I’ll try to give him a direct answer. The direct answer is that we’ve gotten out of long-term lease agreements on the housing for staff. Now we’re talking about the Shelter Policy that’s before us. It’s under review and there will be discussion that will take place with respect to housing for staff, housing for community members, and there will be more discussion with the standing committee. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Recently MLA Blake and I visited Fairbanks, Alaska, to learn about the Alaska Native Language Program. The trip had both an education and a language focus and I think we can learn a lot from their retention and revitalization strategies, and language acquisition and teaching methods. I believe these significantly complement our approaches in the Northwest Territories.

We met with faculty staff at the Alaska Native Language Centre and the College of Rural and Community Development at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska. The university incorporates indigenous knowledge and...

I would say yes. We need to work with all communities to deal with the housing for staff, especially the teachers. That’s under my portfolio. Education is one of the goals and objectives of this Assembly, and I’ll definitely work closely with the NWT Housing Corporation to identify the needs of the communities when it comes to housing for staff. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular program is under review within the NWT Housing Corporation and that information will be shared with the Members once it’s available. But it is under the Housing Corporation, the $25,000 earmarked for those particular programs. Mahsi.

I need to find out from my department exactly where the status is on those two particular schools that the Member is referring to, particularly on the planning studies, if they’ve done one already; if not, then when is that going to be happening. So I can get back to the Member on those two schools that he’s referring to. Mahsi.