Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and honourable Members. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. Jim Beaver who is with the aboriginal policing directorate. He's in the gallery today. He was attending the opening of the North Slave Correctional Centre earlier today. With him is MJ Patterson who is with the Department of Justice, the corrections policy officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was advised around noon, shortly before we began in the House today, that this was happening and asked whether or not it actually fit within the policy for income support. I am not able to answer that question right now. I have contacted the department and asked them to provide me with some advice on that.

Typically I do know that almost all forms of income that people receive are considered when the level of support from income support is being calculated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on March 31, 2004, the opening ceremony for the North Slave Adult Correctional Centre will take place.

This marks a significant step forward on modernizing the corrections system in the Northwest Territories. The North Slave Adult Correctional Centre will replace the 38-year-old Yellowknife Correctional Centre. The new centre will increase the ability of offenders to access appropriate programming to assist in their healing. The new centre will provide a safe and secure custody environment that supports rehabilitation.

I would like to recognize the work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. On February 24th and 25th, I met with the Chairs of the NWT education bodies, including the Chairs of the divisional education councils, the Commission Scolaire Francophone de Division, the two Yellowknife district education authorities and Aurora College.

I discussed with the Chairs the comments and suggestions made by Members of this Assembly regarding schooling. I noted that Members expressed how important schooling is to the futures of our students and our Territory.

The Chairs and I discussed a number of issues including the importance of student...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to recognize nine outstanding individuals who will receive the Language Leader Awards. These awards are especially meaningful as each of the award winners are nominated and chosen by their peers from the communities and regions. We need to ensure the grassroots work being done by leaders such as the people we are recognizing today continues. These people don’t just talk about the importance of their languages; through their daily activities and lives, they demonstrate how important their language is.

I’m...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, that’s not an optional program. It’s a required part of the curriculum, it must be taught.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Braden certainly raises a good point and we can certainly take a look at what we can do. It’s complicated by the different numbers of boards we have in town and trying to predict where the growth is going to be in relation to each one becomes more difficult and makes planning an overall response a lot more difficult. It would certainly be advantageous if we could find some way to do that. We will certainly raise that with our partners here and see what the opportunities might be.

I can’t say exactly, because there wasn’t an agreement that goes beyond this year for funding. For instance, last year, the family learning kits which were done in collaboration with the NWT Literacy Council, there was $76,000 in funding. That is one of the areas that is being cut. We have still got the $251,000 that is still going to be going to them. We are going to have to discuss with them how that is being spent, but it is not an easy number to come up with because the amount that the Literacy Council got each year was not the same. So there wasn’t a set amount that was going; it...

Mr. Chairman, let me just read through this list that I have, it may answer the Member’s question, although it may give it in more detail than what she is interested in. Under the task colleges, and we are talking about the $25.69 million. Of that, minor capital under colleges accounts for $211,000; travel, materials, supplies and purchased services accounts for $44,000; under ABE and literacy, curriculum and exam development accounts for $28,000; travel, materials, supplies and purchased services accounts for $14,000; under apprenticeship and training on-the-job subsidy contracts there is...