Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do take all applications seriously as they go before us. We do provide funding to all the education councils where they distribute to all the schools. The aboriginal funding we get from the federal government, we offset the costs from our perspective, as well, through the GNWT expenditures. The funding has been allocated to the schools and we usually tell the folks, if they ask for funding for specialized projects, they should approach the local language groups first. Language centres, we provide funding to them, and those are special projects, so the money...

I totally agree with the Member that we definitely need to stress the importance of preserving our language or even our cultural way of life. Every opportunity we get with the federal Ministers that are here... Just recently Minister Strahl was here and I reminded him that there is a proposal that is coming, because I did meet with Minister Strahl in December and although we had a discussion about losing our language, I did touch on the Gwich’in as well. I use Gwich’in as an example when I meet with these officials. It was a very productive meeting where we talked about the submission of a...

Those are discussions we need to have with the community of Hay River French school board and our department identifying the gymnasium or the footprint of the actual facility right now. We’ve added on as a temporary measure to deal with the space crunch at that time. So, yes, we will continue to have ongoing discussions with the parties to move this forward with the federal government. So we will continue to do our part as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment with the community of Hay River. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. When we presented that in the fall time to provide a comprehensive response to the recommendations that are brought forward, we continue to work with different language organizations, language groups in the communities, just looking forward to this Aboriginal Language Symposium. Out of that we will produce a strategic plan to deal more in-depth of the discussion that needs to take place on recommendations. So I would say yes, at this point we are on par, but there is more work to be done. So, Mr. Chairman, those are the areas that we continue to have our priority in place...

Mr. Speaker, there are different education councils and also education authorities initiating their own practices to deal with the absenteeism. We just came from the South Slave school district where they had certain pilot projects that have been very successful and they are almost meeting the Canadian standards on the grade level. So I’d like to see in the next year or two the final results, hoping that we’re beyond the Canadian standards. Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are successful programs underway within each of the five regions. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, those are the funds that have been allocated to the schools, but due to low enrolment, the money has gone down a bit. It’s all based on enrolment. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this Ecole Boreale, we are always in negotiation with the federal government just on expansion itself, even here in Yellowknife. Those two schools, we have been in contact on numerous occasions with the previous superintendent of the French school and also even now with the new person onboard, that we continue throughout the open communication dialogue, because we need their support as well when we are faced with the federal government. At the same time, within our department, I will continue to work with other departments in the area of recreation, the gymnasium piece of the area...

We will be asking the boards to provide to the department a summary of the current system that they have and just an ad hoc process, the practice that they have done for years; some of the activities that allow greater collaboration between the boards and agencies in the regions. With that in mind, we will be seeking input into areas of collaboration from our department to the regional boards and also case management to strengthen in that regard. We are also very interested in identifying ways to improve the overall accountability and reporting by the boards. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout this session and in the previous session, as well, we did share the highlights of the graduation among the aboriginal groups or even the northern students. It has been very successful to date. Yes, we are currently dealing with a challenge on enrolment and absenteeism in the schools, but we are developing a plan of action to deal with those matters. I did highlight some of the key areas we’ve initiated with providing worthwhile investment into the school boards so they can deal with those enrolment and absenteeism challenges before us. There has been...

Mr. Chair, when we toured the community, it has been... I saw some positive outcomes out of it where the language spoken by the students, they can’t leave their classroom until they say a word every day. It was fascinating to observe. Those are areas we are seriously looking at through our funding criteria. The Member is asking if the money or the funds that have been lapsed could be used towards that. It would all depend on discussions with aboriginal groups. We do have representatives from, I believe, the Member’s riding. They can certainly bring that information back to their discussion...