Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to table the Globe and Mail article, Aboriginal literacy pilot project dramatically improves test scores in Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the orders of the day.

---Unanimous consent granted

I have looked at some of the activities going on in the small communities, extracurricular activities that could support students in their education, also their health and wellness. Some of the small communities are doing very well at the territorial level in sports such as basketball, volleyball and soccer.

Is this part of their school programming that can be supported with their educational goals in the small communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if he’s talked with his department… There was a young student I talked with a few weeks ago. I wanted to ask the student what the best thing about going to school is. Do you know what the student said to me, Mr. Speaker? He said, “Leaving.” I just went, “What?”

What is the Minister’s department doing to keep the students in the school rather than to leave right away?

When the government did a test in the schools, we found out, shockingly, that in our schools in our small communities, 50 percent are operating below their grade level. That’s shocking.

So, I want to ask the Minister again, with him probably not having the privilege of reading the Globe and Mail I received, to look at a pilot project in our communities that would increase these numbers here. They’re doing it at the Hillside School on the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and Walpole Island Elementary School.

Is the Minister willing to look at this, investigate it and say yes, this could be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Government of the Northwest Territories did a needs assessment in the Sahtu region, the number one issue with the results of that assessment was the literacy skills of our young students either in school or who have finished school.

What is the Minister doing, what is this department doing to improve the literacy in our small communities in the schools that can show great results by giving some resources to the teachers? Thank you.

That’s something to maybe take a look at when renewing their licence is that these things are checked off. Certainly, we want to encourage them. We want to encourage everybody. Some people don’t do something unless it’s typically as a requirement as to an operating licence. With the resources that we have, some of these operators are using our resources for the fire sprinklers around their operation. It’s something that I would be interested to see, if that could be part of the review of their whole fire situation. Did we use a lot of our own fire sprinklers for tourism outfitters in the area...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to give a shout out to the 8,350 students in the Northwest Territories and the 49 schools across the North and the 800 educators in the 33 communities in the eight regions. That was from a newsletter that I received this morning. Thank you, Minister Lafferty, for sending that over to us.

I also want to say a special congratulations and support to the 62 teachers in the Sahtu region who are working with our students and making a difference in the lives of the students.

At the same time, I was reading a quote from an Ojibway elder, Mr. Jimmy Jackson. Mr. Jackson said...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to first of all say to the Minister and the staff that there were a lot of really concerned people last year because of the fires that happened in the south part of the Northwest Territories and the situation that called for additional dollars and resources to be used in the North to fight the fires.

So, my first point and my first comment is the ability of having well-qualified firefighters prepared and ready for any situation that might be in a similar situation as last year. I want to ask the Minister if he’s looking at the firefighters training program this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, February 26, 2015, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, February 26, 2015, it shall be adjourned until Monday, March 2, 2015;

And further, that any time prior to March 2, 2015, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice...