Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will reserve my comments for later. Thank you.

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Thank you very much. I can appreciate also some of the local resource problems with regard to aboriginal languages and culture. Some of the things that lead me to think that it can be improved more efficiently is if we use the languages and culture more and it’s more supported by our government and as a result by our education department. For instance, it was brought to my attention the Jewish people in Ontario are all really strongly knowledgeable in their languages and in their culture. I was wondering how an almost dead culture continues to be fluent in their language and their culture. It...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I’m just trying to ascertain from the Minister whether the priorities that we establish here as the Government of the Northwest Territories, does that become the priorities of the regional divisional education boards?

Mr. Chairman, no further questions at this time. Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman, I’d like to thank the Minister for that response because that’s the type of thing that I’m particularly interested in. It’s just with respect to if we’re going to identify a priority region, which is happening in this case, in particular with the pipeline training in the oil and gas sector. It’s being impacted in the Deh Cho and I’d like to see at least some future direction, some future concentration of our training, particularly in the trades like welding and carpentry, given thought of in our region. I don’t know if it’s in the particular plans of the department right now, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for those answers. I am sure we, as a government, are indeed looking out for our small businesses. The next question is when someone is utilizing our credit facilities, like the BCC or the NWT Development Corporation, they are, of course, not thinking that they will get into trouble or find themselves in situations where they are unable to pay any loans. I'm just wondering if there's any type of counselling available or advice given to the clients beforehand that if you are in trouble, these are the steps that are going to take place and this is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With regard to my Member’s statement, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Business Credit Corporation a question for the benefit of my constituents who received legal notices that their loans have been called. What steps are followed after being given these notices that the BCC is calling in their loans? I am interested in the process that is followed after being legally contacted. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. What I heard from the Minister was that the authority is there with the divisional boards to allow that kind of structure to exist, which is to have a day set aside to concentrate on education of aboriginal languages. Maybe if the Minister could confirm that for me.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I think the next question for the Minister from me would be that I’m just trying to determine whether the priority is identified in this special report. I was wondering if there was a move or trend towards having more aboriginal language and culture used in the school. Some of my constituents were talking to me. They’re saying, Kevin, the way it looks to me is that the government has a priority in languages and culture, yet we’re actually only spending five to 10 percent of our time in these endeavours. So what’s the real priority? I’d just like to ask the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is line items on education and culture. I’d just like to speak on them, but perhaps if I can ask the Minister what the latest initiatives in terms of supporting the acquisition and maintenance of aboriginal languages and culture just in terms of whether there are any recent studies being done to support these important initiatives in this department.