Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Chairman, this could be part of other departmental initiative as well. We are currently working with Health and Social Services. As the Member did touch on FASD and FAS, the clientele that we have and we do recognize that there are in a system in Fort Smith. There are certain programs for them as well. But with incarceration of certain individuals does cause costs to our department at the correctional level. One of the focuses will be possibly to divert the funding to the community programming. That is our goal. We continue to work with the judges, the NWT Supreme Court judges, to identify...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This has been an area of interest to the Member and also the Members as well. The community-based programming has been very successful to date in the Sahtu region. It was unfortunate that we lost an elder, but the program still continues. It is open to other regions, as well, if they are interested in pursuing the community-based programming to deal with the corrections offenders.

We are currently finalizing our review of the community justice programming and we felt that we needed to undertake that review to find out which community is not working effectively and probably...

Yes, Mr. Chair, I do.

I want to reassure that we are not hiding anything within our system. We provide any data that’s available on the Northwest Territories education system, because we want to be transparent and we want to be accountable to what’s before us. That’s the very reason why we’re going throughout the Northwest Territories in all regions to deal with the education matters. We are very concerned about that. We want to come to a solution. There is a solution at the grassroots, communities, who we are seeking advice from. It is happening. The federal, yes, we continuously lobby them through Education...

All I can say is this is an area of high interest for us as a department, especially with a lease that is coming up and due. We have had some discussions with the federal government and will definitely push with our existing current infrastructure right now, the pressing need. Like I say, we will continue with pressing the federal government. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize some of the students that are here for the Aurora College Community Wellness Program. I’ll just highlight their names: Sharon Hopf, Yellowknife; Jennifer Jonasson, Lutselk'e; Gloria Hardisty, Wrigley; Trudy Kochon, Colville Lake; Jessica Field, Fort Providence; Gladys Edwards, Aklavik; Clara Sabourin, Hay River Reserve; Charlene Blake, Tsiigehtchic; Karen McLeod, Fort Liard; Lisa Judas, Wekweeti; Donald Yukon, Deline; Maria McSwain, Fort McPherson; and also their instructor, Carol Gregor, are here with us. Welcome. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. This particular discussion that we have been having about the university of the North, I have met with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Strahl, when he was still the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Minister at that time, and discussed the possibility of having a university bricks and mortar, but at the same time they want to expand on our existing campuses as opposed to bricks and mortar.

There was a recent announcement from the Prime Minister, or a statement on reintroducing discussion on the university of the North, so we are trying to get...

Yes, this will likely be an item for discussions, because we are planning for next year. I am meeting with the chairs -- that includes Aurora College -- at the end of next month. We are discussing various areas of programming and also capital infrastructure. There are three parking stalls slated for students at the Aurora College. It hasn’t been brought to my attention specifically, but the Member is alluding to that, so we can definitely discuss this area. Mahsi.

Mr. Chair, the quickest answer would be they have all the chances if the school board identifies them as a priority. Again, it’s the school board that makes the decision, because they are the expertise when it comes to the schools in their region. We can’t go into a community and say this is what you should have. Most of our discussion is from the school board level, from the community level. They provide us guidance and advice and we base it on that with our capital infrastructure and others, along with the Members providing us some suggestions. But it does come from the school board, because...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This particular plan has been completed in May that deals with the Yellowknife facilities. Part of the reason why it wasn’t, as the Member alluded to, part of this capital planning project that is before us today is that we wanted to consider all options that were before us to consider as we move forward. At that time it was still in the works concerning those options. But now we have those plans in place and this will definitely be part of next year’s capital planning process.

We talk about the facilities in Yellowknife and they have been highlighted. The college that the...