Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Across the Northwest Territories students, teachers and school staff have returned to work for a new school year, some from as early as August. I would like to extend a welcome to all our new students, teachers, administrators and their families. I would also like to welcome and thank those who are returning. A continued commitment to learning in the Northwest Territories is what keeps our school going.

A new school year needs a fresh start, and it means a renewed commitment to education… [Translation ends] …and continuing the journey of lifelong learning. As...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Statement delivered in aboriginal language and then in English.]

Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the community of Tulita celebrated the grand opening of the new Chief Albert Wright School.

The new school is larger and includes a gym, a community library, computer areas, wireless networking, a large science room and a great view of Bear Rock.

Thanks are due to the District Education Authority, the Sahtu Divisional Education Council, Pin-Taylor Architects, Dowland Construction, the school staff and the community for the hard work that has been put into this new facility. Special thanks...

We are going through a process here, of course, the business planning and certainly those ongoing discussions. There are always changes that happen. There have been some recent changes to benefit the community for students’ needs. I will certainly take the Member’s comments into consideration when we are drafting changes to our policies. We will work with what’s presented to us, so we will certainly take that into consideration. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, specific to the policy itself we currently do not have a policy on the removal of the students, but we do cover their travel to their destination and back. So that’s what we offer. We offer other subsidies within our department for students’ needs. That’s what we offer through Student Financial Assistance for the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This week is NWT Literacy Week. Earlier this week we celebrated some special northern contributions to literacy.

Mardy Voudrach of Tuktoyaktuk was awarded the 2008 Council of the Federation Literacy Award for the Northwest Territories. Ms. Voudrach was honoured for her success in learning and improving her education while dealing with a disability.

Hilary Gemmell of Fort Smith won the Ministerial Literacy Award for Educators for her service to the North through her work at Aurora College and abroad. She has worked very hard for adult literacy in the Northwest Territories...

Like I said before, most of the students travel down south, and they do find accommodation, apartments or residence. Most of the time it is also furnished, so they don’t really necessarily have to buy furniture. But there are times when students buy furniture, and then they sell after three or four years, after their program of studies. If we look at the number of students that we currently subsidize through the SFA program, we have over 1,400 students. Just doing the mathematics, it will be over several million if we want to implement a policy. So we have to keep that in mind as well.

So...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Throughout Canada our SFA program is one of the most successful, generous programs that we have, and it continues to be so.

With respect to the students who are returning, it’s always been our goal to have those students return to our Northwest Territories or even to our communities to work for our government or community governments.

For the removal program that the Member is referring to, we do offer trips to the destination of students’ studies or the institution where they are studying. We cover their cost of travelling either by air or by vehicle. Most of the time...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This option was just given to us recently, so we need to sit down as a department and go over the options. Certainly, it will be presented once we move forward. There’s still ongoing discussion within my department. It hasn’t moved forward because this will be a long-term solution. Once we’ve made a decision, we’ll certainly come back to the committee, possibly the Social Programs Committee, that deals with our ECE department. At that point in time we’ll certainly be sharing that information with the committee. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we did meet with the Deh Cho superintendent, who is coordinating for the superintendents, and also with the chairs of the respective regions’ education boards. We met a couple of weeks ago. They proposed three or four options for us to consider, but we wanted to deal with the immediate issue at hand: the new recruits and the returning teachers coming to the North, especially in the isolated communities that may not have housing units.

We’re going to work closely with the Housing Corporation to identify vacant units that can be made available to the teaching staff. That is one area...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, this summer one of our territory’s most important institutions will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. On August 1, 2 and 3 École Sir John Franklin High School will be hosting a homecoming weekend to recognize the school’s 50 years of education.

Since 1958 Sir John has seen thousands of students pass through its doors. Many leaders of the modern North attended Sir John. At least five current Members of the Legislature attended Sir John Franklin Territorial high school, including myself, and at least one of us even taught...