Norman Yakeleya

I do wish the department all the success in their initiatives to raise the level of attendance of our children for them to go to school.

Is the Minister looking at some innovative ways that the school itself can do to get the children and parents saying it’s important that your child gets the proper amount of rest so they can come to school fresh and be ready to hit the school work? Is his department working with the educational boards to do a one-time initiative, as they did a long time ago, and get the teachers to go and visit the families at their homes, sit down with the parents, talk with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to speak about education in our small communities. In 2013 the Alberta Achievement Test results show that the Northwest Territories is not doing very well. Actually, this test is a measurement of our education system in the Northwest Territories, and when you look at it, the results are pretty glim and bleak in the small communities. We do have a commonality with the larger centres. When you look at the results from the small communities and larger centres like Yellowknife and Hay River and Inuvik and Smith, there’s a commonality that connects us, and that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the same note for the comments from… I’m not sure if this is the right area to look at, but looking at the contracts and work, I would really appreciate the staff and the Minister to hear the Northerners and local contractors are doing the work. They are working out of the regional office. We certainly like to see the economy in our communities have a little bit of a reprieve there for our people, so I appreciate whatever they are doing to make it happen. I fully support the Housing Corporation to see that that work gets there. I just wanted to give kudos to the staff...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I ask the Minister for a breakdown of utilities? Is this the total cost that we give to the Housing Corporation or that’s what they collect? Is $26 million what you’ve been talking about?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I welcome the Minister and his staff. I wanted to make my general comments to the latest NWT Housing Community Survey and the summary of the housing results.

I see in the core need that in the Northwest Territories with market communities, the core need is at 13.1 percent and in the non-market communities the core need is at 32.3 percent. If you look at the definition of core needs, it has to do with suitability, adequacy and affordability of housing. Under those definitions, certainly the non-market communities are just about triple the number in the core need than the...

I want to again ask the Minister to challenge the schools. You know, there are people in what the Budget Dialogue talked about, putting hammers and screwdrivers and wrenches into the young hands. You know, there are kids that are very, very intelligent, very smart. You know, just the hard work. So how do we get them into the schools maybe where it’s exciting where they want to be in school? Is there a challenge in the schools that the Minister can challenge the school and say, any schools in the Northwest Territories who have a certain percentage of attendees, you’ll somehow be rewarded with...

In today’s life, students bring with them lots of issues to school. Some of these issues they have they need support on. Is the school now looking at ways to help the children with their emotional and mental issues, so they can have support other than to hold on to them and not deal with them? That sometimes prevents a child from attending school. Is there support for them such as counselling services in our small schools for the kids?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 2013 Alberta Achievement Tests, they talk about factors that give our smaller communities and larger centres test results. One of the biggest factors that brought our percentage down was the children’s attendance in schools.

I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, in order to raise the level of success for our young people, what is the department doing along with education boards in communities to ensure that children go to school, stay in school and bring their grades up? Right now, the biggest factor is children not attending school.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will have opening comments to the Minister recognizing that this is an operational and maintenance budget. I’m hoping to put another plug in, I know it’s not time for infrastructure but I will still continue with my consistent plea for an RCMP presence more consistently and maybe permanently in the communities without a detachment. For example, Colville Lake. I know the department is working on that with the Fort Good Hope detachment and doing their best to make sure the presence is in Fort Good Hope. I’m going to just remind the Minister that I will continue until our...

That’s a lot of…(inaudible)… Can I ask for a breakdown in regards to what we’re paying for in the Sahtu communities and other communities, a breakdown of the utility costs? Also, the funding we give to the regional corporations, the regional offices, is this money we provide to them being expended through the year? In other words, is this what we’re doing for the communities in the Sahtu? The money is being expended and they are using the money for what it is intended for in the communities. Thank you.