Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Member is raising this key point of interest. It is important to the Justice department working along with the RCMP “G” Division. We have a Victim Services Program in the communities. That’s just one step, Mr. Speaker. Also we are trying to create some awareness in the communities. We have various websites through Health and Social Services and our Department of Justice linking to various programming that is available throughout the Northwest Territories, but we continue to improve in our program. We have community justice programs, as well, that could be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Wendy Wile. She’s monitoring her daughter here, Mikelle, and I believe that Grandpa’s up here too. She’s a former resident of Behchoko and former teacher in Behchoko. Mahsi.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. To my right I have Mark Aitken, director of legislation division and to my left, Mike Reddy, senior policy analyst, policy and planning division. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Chair. I’m pleased to be here to speak to you about Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Summary Convictions Procedures Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their review of this bill. The Summary Conviction Procedures Act allows for a ticket to be issued to a person who is accused of committing an offense under a territorial law or municipal bylaw. The ticket indicates the amount of the voluntary payment for an offense, as well as the date on which the person is obligated to attend court if the person wishes to challenge the ticket.

Mr. Chair, the act...

Mahsi. With this outcome, we can certainly clarify what’s truly happening. It’s just a matter of making calls to the superintendent or the board level and reconfirm where the students are at, but at the same time, the Member is asking for an additional teacher in the community to what was required based on their funding. It will be at the board level to deal with those eight students that have been brought forward to our attention. Mr. Speaker, yes, we will clarify the matter once and for all. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my department works closely with the Beaufort-Delta education council and we get information directly from them. The information we got from them is exactly what I quoted yesterday. There might have been a miscommunication, but that’s what we received. We do have a superintendent who continues to have a discussion on this particular issue, as well, between our department and also the Beaufort-Delta, to deal with the one outstanding student that I referred to yesterday and how we can work with those students and then continue on our dialogue where if some of the...

This particular program is quite unique and the cost factor itself is approximately $800,000 to operate. It does consist of classroom and library resources, mostly level books. They are the key to success literacy program and make it possible for teachers and students to track their reading achievement progress. Those are the specific areas, $800,000, which also covers the literacy coaches in those communities.

I, too, truly enjoyed the tour of the South Slave with the Member. I believe it was a real successful South Slave tour. I can certainly highlight some of the key initiatives that have been undertaken since 2006.

Just over 50 percent of the South Slave students met or exceeded the standards of the Alberta Achievement Tests for grades 3, 6, and 9 after the second year, for the South Slave students reading at or above the Canadian norm this year, 2009. We are making a huge improvement in this area. In 2008-2009, South Slave students were at 71 percent, at or above the Canadian average. Also, 2009...

Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Education Week, I would like to draw attention to an important tool that is helping many Northerners receive important trades training in smaller communities. I’m talking about Aurora College’s Mobile Trades Training Lab in the Beaufort-Delta.

In 2008, the college worked with Education, Culture and Employment, the Government of Canada and partners in aboriginal governments and industry to secure the lab. It offers a 900 square foot shop that is fully self-contained with its own forced air oil furnace heating and power generators. It also comes equipped with an...