Wendy Bisaro

I’m very glad to hear that the department is working on trying to find housing for teachers. There is a concern, as well, about the housing that exists in communities and that the housing that teachers are given…. There may be housing available, but it’s not very satisfactory housing. I’d like to know if the department is doing anything to try and upgrade those houses so that the living conditions for teachers are what they should be.

As mentioned yesterday, this is Education Week. We have over 800 teachers in our 33 communities, capably represented by the NWTTA, the N.W.T. Teachers’ Association.

But in all of our communities, teachers and their boards face obstacles. Public education should be fair and equitable for all students, yet our schools are not fully funded and must use school fees, fundraising efforts and corporate donations to finance some of their programs. Somehow we must find the dollars to completely fund all of our school programs and ensure equal opportunities for students, no matter where they live or...

I move that $85,000 be deleted from the interim appropriation detail booklet amount set out in Schedule 2, Capital Investment Expenditures, item number 9, Environment and Natural Resources on page 6, for the project “Lightning Location System.”

I give notice that on Thursday, February 21, 2008, I will move the following motion. I move, seconded by the Hon. Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 21, 2008, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, May 22, 2008. And further, that any time prior to May 22, 2008, 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, and thereupon the House shall meet at...

I am in full support of this motion. When I was a city councillor a number of years ago, the city council of the City of Yellowknife approved a motion urging the Government of Canada to approve the UN declaration.

It is beyond my understanding why the Government of Canada has not approved this declaration. I believe they should. There are many principles in the declaration which are already a reality in the ways the Government of Canada treats indigenous people, so I don’t understand why they feel that they can’t sign on to this declaration.

There is an objection on the part of the Government of...

Mr. Speaker, I have two written questions I'd like to ask today. The first one is to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

Will the Minister advise the enrolments for all Yellowknife schools for the past five years (2003-2004 to 2007-2008)?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know whether or not the department has any particular actions or programs that are in place to oversee what the district education councils or the school boards are doing, relative to zero-tolerance policies.

That’s not exactly the answer I was looking for, but I understand the situation. I would urge the department to work with their district education authorities to do more to bring housing in line with the conditions that most of us expect.

I’d like to ask whether or not the department has a zero-tolerance policy that addresses violence towards teachers in school.

I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment a couple of questions relative to some of the problems that teachers experience on a daily basis. I would like to ask the Minister what the department does currently to provide housing for teachers in smaller communities.

I hear the Hon. Member from across the floor, but I have to again state there is no indication in the materials and explanations that we have had, apart from his words just now, that indicates that this is an urgent item. I gather that the system is already there, and I understand that it needs to be upgraded but, again, my understanding was that this interim appropriation was basically for items which were under contract, which were a safety measure or which were urgently required. I don’t know why this item can’t wait ‘til May or June.