Charles Dent

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.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, when I met with the Chairs of the divisional education councils we had some discussion about how…Some of the funds that we identify in the formula are categorized as funding aboriginal language programming. There has been a fair amount of latitude about how that money is being spent, and we are concerned that in some instances it may not be being used in the ways in which we had expected that Members of this Assembly would expect. So what we're going to do is work with the DECs. This isn't something that we're just arbitrarily imposing ourselves. We...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I didn’t earlier say that the numbers of students in high schools had dropped. I said the overall schools population had declined by just under one percent. It’s about .8 percent year to year. Most of the decline is in the younger ages rather than the older, and that is consistent with the aging population and it is somewhat expected. As the population ages, you tend to have fewer young children in the population as a proportion. What I did say was the high school participation is increasing. We are getting more young people, particularly more aboriginal young people...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have been assured by my officials here tonight that there was no change in the lease. What has changed is who is responsible for delivering on some of the responsibilities. I am also advised that they have had a look at the issue of the lease and what should be delivered, and are satisfied, according to the lease, it is being done as is required.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I’d like to say that I appreciate the committee’s comments on the early childhood development program. Like the committee, I believe very strongly that it’s important that we provide this kind of programming for the youngest people in the North. The early years are the most important and we have with this type of programming a real opportunity to significantly impact their future. So it was quite troubling to me that we were going to have to reach the end of the funding for this programming and I must say that I, with the committee, agree that this is an...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Of other expenses, I am assuming, Mr. Chairman, travel is $177,000; materials and supplies is $126,000; purchased services is $168,000; utilities is $526,000; contract services is $3.091 million; fees and payments is $17.116 million; and other expenses of $4.274 million; computer hardware and software is $212,000.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, that’s something that is completely open to DEAs. For instance, in K to 3 the DEA could decide to do the entire program in an aboriginal language. It could be five days a week. The flexibility is there within our system to allow a significant amount of aboriginal language programming. It’s a challenge for a lot of districts though to find adequate resources, to find people who can teach and speak the language as well. That does become a big problem. Then we need to make sure that our communities are being supported.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have heard often from Mr. Pokiak and his concerns about the school in Tuk. I know it was one of the first issues he raised with me. I am aware of the Member’s concerns and I will do my best to work with him and the community to see what we can do. We face though some significant challenges in terms of the needs we have out there for schools where there is significant overcrowding or structural safety issues we have to deal with. That all has to be taken into account as we figure out the mix for each year. I will continue to discuss the issue with Mr. Pokiak and we...

Madam Chair, the aboriginal numbers will include children in all communities. So it doesn't exclude any schools. But we can break it down by community, we can provide it by region, we do it by regional centres, we do it by smaller communities. So we have a broad range of statistical numbers that we're quite prepared to provide Members. We have a bi-annual report that we put out that puts a lot of this information in graphs and the numbers available for the members of the public. The next one is due in the next couple of months. The deputy is telling me he's not going to get out until the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had mentioned earlier to Mr. Delorey that Yellowknife Catholic Schools had a good example that I discussed with the Chairs of other boards, for a facility that they had managed to find partnerships to develop it. I don't think anybody is denying the importance of trades training for young people in the North, particularly given our opportunities in the resource development field over the next several years. So I would dearly love to be able to say that we had some money in the budget to improve what we have for trades training.

I guess I also need to say that the...