Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission Annual Report 2014.” Mahsi.

I want to make it clear that we are supporting our northern students to return to the Northwest Territories. That’s the very reason we have increased and enhanced our SFA program. We have increased the basic grant from $1,900 to $2,400; increased the basic grant on books from $400 to $550; increased current remission rates by 50 percent; a $2,000 northern bonus for our students, a bonus for our students to come back to the North and explore the North. Those are just some of the enhancements that we’ve initiated in 2015. We continue to make improvements as part of the SFA program, one of the...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This particular school, Ecole Boreale, has been in the works for quite some time now, even going through court proceedings and so forth. We’re not ignoring that issue. We are talking to the appropriate parties. Obviously, we need to be prepared of what the outcome will be with the court case. We don’t know what the outcome will be, so we’re trying to stay in close contact with the parties on how we can move forward in the meantime.

My deputy may have been involved to some degree on the discussion with the school board, and if there have been any steps taken he can elaborate...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated earlier to Ms. Bisaro, these are areas we are currently exploring. Residency has been the topic of discussion recently as well. Even though we’ve made some changes, there is always room for improvement within our policy. So the residency requirement, 12 months residency versus three months, we need to explore those options. What will be the ripple effects? What would be the benefits, pros and cons? I have already committed that this is an area that we are going to be exploring.

As I stated earlier, if it’s the wish of this Assembly to move this as far as the transition document, then it will be laid out for the 18th Assembly.

It would all depend on the financial situation we are faced with today and also the 18th Assembly. If the 18th Assembly government, depending on their financial situation, feel that this is a priority for them, by all means.

We’ve done our homework. As Members passed a motion in the House, we’ve done our due diligence. We have the information. That will be part of a document for the 18th Assembly to consider if they wish to proceed with that. My department was tasked with doing a feasibility study and we’ve done that. We’ve provided that information. Now in the 18th Assembly the…(inaudible)...

This is an area I need to discuss with my counterpart, Human Resources. We are dealing with personnel at the community level. It’s not just the cultural values, cultural programs as the Member indicated, but we also deal with the personnel. Those are discussions we should be having with the two departments.

I will commit to the Member that I will be speaking to the HR department to see what could be done to improve our relationship we have with the current leadership and also the elders in the communities to make them more accessible and aware as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can only speak to Education, Culture and Employment programs that we deliver. What the Member is referring to is GNWT professionals in the communities, and that could touch on various departments, more specifically with the Human Resources department.

Within my department, as I stated, there is ongoing dialogue with the school boards to deliver these orientations. So the teachers, the professionals, the support staff are fully engaged, fully aware of programs that are available to them such as the elders contact. This will be brought back to the school boards and also the support staff and...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “GNWT Response to Committee Report 14-17(5): Report on the 2014 Review of the Official Languages Act.”

It is the will of this Assembly to move that forward. The feasibility has been done. All the information has been provided. The 18th Assembly is the new government that is coming into play within the next couple of months. If it is seen as a priority for the 18th Assembly, then the groundwork has already been done, all the information. The fiscal situation, depending on the 18th Assembly, how they want to proceed with it.

This information, the feasibility study, all the groundwork that we’ve done will be laid, again, for the new Assembly coming into force within the next couple of months.