Jackson Lafferty

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this particular area is a personnel issue. At the same time, we can be generic about whether it be the 17 years, aboriginal employee within corrections. Mr. Speaker, there has been some progress in play with certain individuals within the system where individuals may work night shifts and they get an opportunity or are offered an opportunity to work day shift, so they can expand their role in day and night shifts. At times, there is some reluctance for various reasons and due to the fact that the warden and associate warden try to deal with this matter and...

Clearly it is a priority for our department to follow through with all recommendations that are brought forward. Even though we have responded to some of the recommendations in the fall, we want to have a comprehensive package plan of action after the Language Symposium that we are going to be having in March, the end of March. So once that takes effect, then the plan should be available for presentation to the standing committee at that time. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I do believe this will be part of the discussion that the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative will certainly take into consideration, because they are dealing with the absenteeism, the enrolment issue, the functional grade level and the also the high school graduates we’re upgrading. Those are the discussions that are before them and they will certainly take those into consideration. If not, we can certainly discuss it as we go forward. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. We have identified some of the regions are losing their languages rapidly and we are currently dealing with that through our language groups and the continuous discussion with the federal, three territorial Ministers... We have had a teleconference just late last week and, Mr. Chairman, I am taking a lead role in the language and culture preservation on behalf of the three territorial governments to push at the federal level. I have identified the Gwich’in especially, because they are losing their language fast. Even the Tlicho, even though we have a strong language...

Mr. Speaker, with the addition that we are talking about, whether it be the second phase of Ecole Allain St-Cyr and also the Ecole Boreale in Hay River, we also talked about having a gymnasium attached to the school through our negotiation with the federal government. So we will continue to address that at the federal level. We are, like I said, Mr. Speaker, dealing with the French school board on enhancing this even further, expediting the process with the federal government, but it has been a slow process to date, but we’re not giving up. We’re going to continue our negotiations with the...

Part of the plan will be to have that package... We are hoping to have it available April 2010. So we are looking forward to that so we can start thinking about the future capital plans. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, most definitely I agree that the more an individual has education in their back pocket, high school graduation and on to post-secondary and even to higher education. Of course, we want them to come back to the Northwest Territories and work for whether it be our government or aboriginal governments or municipalities. So we continue to invest into our SFA Program, our Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative area. So we continue to invest in those areas. Early childhood that we talked about earlier, we continue to invest in those important factors. Mahsi.

Those types of discussions we need to have with the divisional education council. The library is an area that we continue to support, whether it be the programming into the regional centres or small community libraries. In the Member’s library in Lutselk’e, they are getting new community learning centres. It could be worked out through the college itself, but there are all these opportunities that we can discuss with the Member in that respect. At the same time, I think this is an ideal discussion that we need to have for the community of Lutselk’e.

I know that there is always talk about having...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Hay River school, there has been an addition to it to deal with the space issue; the challenge that was put before us I believe a couple of years ago in the school itself. Also, the gymnasium aspect of it, certainly there have been arrangements made with other schools within the community of Hay River. Part of the long-term plan, of course, is to work on the gymnasiums for those schools without the gymnasiums. Like I said to other Members, I need to work with the Department of PWS and also Municipal and Community Affairs on this particular piece of work. We need to...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I guess the reason why it’s not reflected in this budget is that work is still being collaborated with the regional boards, whether it be the schools, the health, the housing, but nothing has been changed at this point. As we move forward, as I stated earlier, there will be more discussion that will be taking place. But, Mr. Chairman, the Member is asking if there have been any changes. No, there has not been any change. Mahsi.