Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation.

Can the Minister please provide the numbers on uptake for the last three years in Yellowknife on the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program?

Can the Minister please provide information on the amount each of the recipients received under EDAP?

Can the Minister please provide information on the reasons for any variations in the amounts received under EDAP?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, Mr. Speaker. I can see we’re playing an interesting game because yesterday the Minister was challenging me. Now I challenge him back by saying that these kids are poor. Now he’s saying the poor kids are coming to school from the regions. Well, who knows where these facts are coming from? So I challenge him to prove that the poor kids can’t go to school because they don’t have shoes. We live in the North, everybody knows we have shoes and boots here; we’re not talking about who knows where. Mr. Speaker, I didn’t say yesterday to use the law. I asked about why we aren’t using the law when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment stated that forcing them, meaning children, to be there when their parents don’t support them being in school is a waste of time. I’m concerned that the Minister would consider developing programs and services to encourage children to do well in school is a waste of time. Does the Minister actually stand by that statement he made in this Assembly yesterday? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess at this time then, I would like to put a request into your position right now, as Chairman of the Board of Management as well as Speaker of the building, to get some assurances that we will look into it in this fiscal year about addressing it again.

It is a building that welcomes people. Just at the opening up of this session when Mr. Roland read in his budget, there were cars parked every which way and I have to say that I am embarrassed; truly I am embarrassed that we invite people to come here to see and follow along and be part of our opening budget, but...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories take an extremely aggressive and clear defined stance in negotiations on the Northern Strategy with the federal government to ensure that the federal government acknowledges the particular opportunities and needs that result from the Northwest Territories’ strong economy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, committee, for allowing us to go back to page 2-99. Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee recommends that the Premier come forward to the Accountability and Oversight committee prior to the review of the 2006-2009 Business Plans with options to re-profile the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and the intergovernmental relations and strategic planning division of the Executive offices;

And further, that the proposed option to address the existing problem of duplication of responsibilities and identified possible associated cost reductions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be speaking in favour of this and in these adjustments. As I see it, we are now opening up the appeal process to show transparency by making reports available to the appellant. I think those are good things for the people who do appeal to the process, whereas a decision in the old days up until, of course, the date that this gets changed, is either a yea or nay. It is upheld, and folks will sort of feel left out of the system and try to understand why their appeal wasn’t upheld. I appreciate and I also applaud the efforts to include that transparency.

The other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister left out one specific area. As I understand it, funding is linked to attendance in roster enrollment, but that is only checked, I believe, once a year. In a certain period, that sets the funding rate for the whole education period. That being said, what is the Minister willing to do to address the truancy issue through legislation that empowers either Health and Social Services to go in and check on what is happening with these children or allow the education system and the DEAs, as he has pointed out, to go in and knock on those doors to make...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken to some educators out there and they have said that when they recognize truancy and they phone these parents and there is no answer, there is nowhere for them to truly go. Why has the Department of Education, Culture and Employment never stepped in to own up to their responsibility to deal with truancy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to focus on a serious issue that seems to be rising in our schools. It is truancy. Mr. Speaker, it takes a whole community to raise children. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to participate. Schools can only do so much. Some parents seem to leave it up to the child or teenager to take their education in their own hands. Tardiness and lack of attendance affect our children and their ability to stay focussed at school and eventually some students drop out unless there is some form of intervention.

I have spoken with staff at various schools, and...