Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not often I rise to give an A plus to our Premier. I’d asked the Premier to write a letter to the Prime Minister with regard to my ballistic missile concerns and I have two letters to table. The first one is a letter jointly written between the Premiers of the Yukon, of course the Northwest Territories and the Government of Nunavut, as well as the response from the Prime Minister of Canada to this letter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not every region shows an excellent example, like the Tlicho region, I have to emphasize. Mr. Speaker, we don’t have a mandated policy or module system that looks at the territory as a whole. We don’t have anything that looks at the history of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I am not talking about bringing southern people here and converting them. I just want to make sure they are aware of the cultural issues, aware of our history so they respect it. That’s the issue of getting that base education, so when they go into a specific region they can get that. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise with the question with regard to cross-cultural training. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the day that we don’t have to talk about southern hires versus northern hires, but, with that in note, Mr. Speaker, Alaska has a policy on new teachers coming to their territory to take Alaskan history. The Yukon territory has a policy and statutes that refer to Yukon history as a requirement for teachers to teach in their area. So, Mr. Speaker, more specific to the Northwest Territories, if Alaska and the Yukon government can both do something like this, can the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister pointing out the fact that it’s included in some of the funding, but essentially it’s a wrap-up of offloading of responsibilities, Mr. Speaker. You could say anything that the education authorities do links back to funding of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Of course it does, but it’s not specific funding derived for cross-cultural training. You also said the city of Yellowknife is exempt from that or I didn’t hear it clearly that they get direct money for our city for our education authorities. Mr. Speaker, in the state of Alaska...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for that information. Mr. Speaker, my next question would be who funds this training at the divisional education authority level? Who is responsible for that? What consistent approach does the department have in the creation of a module that would lead to a clear definition of cultural training for the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many teachers who are new to the North get off to a very rough start in our northern communities, because they do not understand our northern culture. This is a highly stressful situation for them, Mr. Speaker, and it’s often very disruptive to the community and the students-at-large. It prevents teachers from developing a relationship with parents, students in the community, and the general wellbeing of everyone, which causes a serious effect on the work that needs to be done. This is a highly negative situation that we need to learn from very quickly and to change...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for this opportunity just to provide a few general comments. Madam Chair, I find it very difficult when we see this in our budget. It was read into the record yesterday, and I welcome that by the Finance Minister and I think he’s leading us in certainly a strong direction so, overall, all our citizens can have benefits. But it wasn’t that long ago, in October, that we had read some strong motions from this side of the House into the official record. I find we’re sort of missing those types of actions that this side of the House has led with. Over 50...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My written question is for the Premier of the Northwest Territories.

How many northern Teacher Education Program students have completed education programs since the Premier’s office made the commitment to hire all students who have successfully completed the Teacher Education Program?

Of the graduates, how many are currently employed as teachers in the North?

Further, will the Premier please explain, in detail, what the incentives are that he referred to in the Unedited Hansard, pages 2604 to 2605, on February 10, 2005, to encourage education authorities to hire...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could almost see like a candle of light starting there. There wasn’t a flashlight or a big beam, but I could feel the warmth of light. You are lighting the path in the right direction. Mr. Speaker, we are getting a whole whack of dollars for infrastructure money. I don’t have to talk about how much; this is the right Minister to talk to though. Will he use his power to create a policy that helps some of those infrastructure dollars to address this problem? Mr. Speaker, I want to hear him take control of his department and take control of this problem. Will he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to ask questions about RWED and their commitment to Expo, but I think I’m going to jump on the bandwagon about this lack of gymnasium in Nahanni Butte.

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Mr. Speaker, I grew up in Fort Simpson and I know these communities very well. I can tell you personally from my own experience of growing there as a young lad we could either go to the gymnasium to play floor hockey or kick soccer balls, or we could be out on the streets breaking windows doing nasty things. So my question to the Minister is what is his priority for our children out there? Is it...