Jackson Lafferty

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed, I will advise the Member of our progress to date on this particular piece of work that’s important to all communities. So I will keep the Members informed of our progress to date on my meetings with the new commanding officer that’s coming on stream February 23rd, and we will definitely discuss this going forward. Mahsi.

Yes, that is part of the discussion that we’ve continuously had with the RCMP “G” Division and also the commanding officer. I think it’s important to realize the cultural aspect of it and the size of the community. Orientation to the community plays a big factor. So, Mr. Speaker, this has been on the table with our meeting with “G” Division and then we will continue to discuss that, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize members from the NWTTA: President Dave Reid and also Gayla Meredith, coordinator of member services.

Mr. Speaker, we have client service officers that get together every now and then to highlight the key changes or program that is on hand. If there are any new initiatives that the community should be aware of through any client service officer and, Mr. Speaker, we will certainly take this into consideration with respect to the Member’s riding. If there is not enough information being shared, then we need to do that and other communities as well. Mr. Speaker, we will do what we can to provide more choices and the program delivery into the communities. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, that will be part of the long-term goal that we have where we did have a successful college Interpreter Training Program in the past and also that is the area that we are also looking at as well. In the meantime, we are delivering the training modules in the region. We will continue to work in that area and also improving in what we have on hand. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this is an ongoing initiative that’s been in the works for several years now and we will continue to work on improving in this area so that we can deliver a wide range of interpretation and also translation training programs into the regions. We’re reaching out to the communities. But, Mr. Speaker, with the upcoming language symposium that’s scheduled for the end of March, this will be one of the topics of discussion at that forum. We want to get input from the language experts to give us direction on this particular piece of work. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is part of the consultation. That’s why we hire a consultant to have an overall review with the school boards in Yellowknife. I’m not sure if I’m getting a clear message to the Member that we’re in the process of reviewing the schools in the Yellowknife area and, certainly, the consultant will be in touch with the school boards to identify what’s required, what’s needed. That’s why it’s called a school review. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in fact, my department met with YK No. 1 on November 26, 2009, to provide an overview of the updates on the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 facilities. So there has been a meeting and now, based out of that, there has been a request, not necessarily from them but the three school boards that we deal with, on a request for an educational overview for the Yellowknife riding.

So, Mr. Speaker, based on that, there is a review of the 10-year education facility plan that’s currently underway. It’s based on looking at the impact of the enrolment data from the past...

Mr. Speaker, we do what we can with what we have in resources in the regions, whether it be the Tuktoyaktuk client service officers and we do have regional representatives as well that go to the communities. Some communities may feel that the caseload is also increasing. Those are areas that we are looking at as ECE department where we can add resources if we need to based on the clientele, the caseload. Those are areas that we are looking at, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We feel that we need to meet the needs of all clientele in the Northwest Territories. We do provide budgets and funding to each department and also to the respective regions. There has been an increase in the travel budget as it has been highlighted in previous budgets and also this year as well. We continue to go out to isolated communities. It does cost us extra. Mr. Speaker, yes, we do have a budget for that. Mahsi.