Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I don’t have to educate the Minister on the facts that kindergarten wasn’t once funded and then it was only funded half time, and as we all know now, it is funded full time, Mr. Speaker, thanks to past Education Ministers.

Mr. Speaker, is it the intent of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to work towards supporting junior kindergarten? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s not quite correct because the Education Act says that students aren’t funded unless they’re age five by the end of the school year. They are not counted under funding per basis. The issue is drawing in early children who can use the literacy and numeracy development over the long haul on those early years. Would the Minister look at and consider the position and proposal that I’m putting forward, which is redefining the act or redefining the mandate of the department that can provide junior kindergarten by accepting those students as students and funding them?

The problem with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Program, although it’s a fantastic program, it doesn’t fit all the students. I’m talking about programming that school boards can offer for all students.

We have schools that are presently taking on this role of junior kindergarten and I think it’s a significant advancement of the education of a young person and giving them the right start. Would the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment investigate the opportunities on a proposal basis trying some pilot projects of funding junior kindergarten?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister able to point towards any specific statistic that shows and demonstrates that our terrible average of being on the national worst list of abuse against women is coming down? Is she able to point specifically at any numbers or statistics that definitely define us as working towards that goal of ending violence against women? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be able to highlight some of the resources they have committed directly to the V-Day North campaign or any other campaign that has gotten out there to stop the violence against women? Thank you.

Is the Minister able to inform us as to what those 50 outstanding mortgages that it sounds like they are pursuing legal action on, the value of those particular mortgages once we foreclose and put those up for sale? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to acknowledge Nadine Koe, a constituent of Yellowknife Centre, who sits on both the Official Languages Board and, of course, the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board. Her contribution will be great and greatly appreciated. Thank you.

We have a little more than 400. Am I correct by saying that we have approximately, rounding numbers off, we only have 160 clients paying their mortgages within a reasonable time or on time, and we have the remainder, we’ll guesstimate at about 240 or more, who are not paying their mortgage? Is that correct? Thank you.

I take it from the Minister’s answer that there’s never been anyone evicted or forced out if they have not been making their payments in the last five years. Thank you.

What’s the plan of the department, corporately that is, to start picking up the 60 percent of our mortgages that are still left outstanding when we’re referring to payments? Thank you.