Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened, with interest, to the Member’s statement yesterday and I understand the concern that he’s expressed, particularly if there was some thought that a patient’s personal information could be included in a prognosis. Our policy allows the employer to get a prognosis from a doctor to get an indication of when an employee might be able to come back to work and whether or not they’re going to be able to resume work without some limitations. So quite clearly, under the policy of sick leave, Human Resources, or part of the human resource manual that deals with sick...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is aware, we have issued a directive ensuring that all of the DECs and education councils have to deliver aboriginal language and culture according to the directive. We want to see the money spent where it is going to do the most good. We have the same commitment to aboriginal languages as we have to social studies to English to all of the other areas of the curriculum. We are investing in those areas.

Mr. Speaker, one of the other things we’ve done recently is make sure that this year we have a base-funded program to help the college deliver a program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; it is very important that we have good curricula in all of the regions so that aboriginal languages may be taught. What we were hoping to do is initially have something that worked like Dene Kede. Dene Kede was a framework that was developed and could be used all across the Northwest Territories. Each of the cultural groups filled in different parts of it to make sure that it was appropriate in their areas. We are finding that is not working as well as we had hoped with the curriculum that is being developed in the Gwich’in area, so we are now...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. At noon today, the Status of Women Council of the NWT just announced they have secured funding for a northern women in mining, oil and gas project that could have a significant impact on women’s involvement in industry across the North.

The northern women in mining, oil and gas is a $1.7 million pilot project that uses a holistic approach while training women to work in trades and industry. One goal of this project is to prove that providing supports to women in trades training will increase the number of women successfully completing the training and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. By the time the tenders came in, were evaluated, by the time Public Works embarked on the process of negotiation -- they thought there might be some room for movement there -- we had lost the opportunity to make the award of a contract then to meet this year’s shipping. So we will work to ensure that we can make the decision on the project soon enough this year that we’ll be able to make the winter road this winter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The project went out to tender, and it wasn’t just to put in a gym, it was to provide a bit of an expansion to the school to allow for the community to have high school courses offered in the community. When the bids came in, they were so much over budget that we couldn’t proceed. There were some attempts to find ways to reduce the cost of the budget and they weren’t successful. So at this point, MACA, ECE and the Department of Public Works are examining what the options might be. We remain committed to the project and we’re looking for what we can do to ensure...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The numbers that I gave the Member in the first answer are the ones that I would again use, because student financial assistance is only intended for students who want to enter a degree or certificate program. So it’s not provided for upgrading. There are two exceptions and that is we offer students who are enrolled in a teacher education program, one year access to programming, as well as to nursing students. So the numbers in those two would be, in a typical year, less than 30 of the total number I have reported here. So it’s still a significant number who are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For students who take the same courses, no matter what the community is, those marks in those places represent the same achievement. That’s because in Grade 12 we use Alberta departmental exams. They count for at least 50 percent to the student’s mark. So whether the student is in Tulita or here in Yellowknife, they have to pass the same exam in order to pass the course. So in that way, we know that student achievement is the same.

One of the issues we think may be a problem with people thinking that achievement is less in the small communities is that oftentimes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we’re still in the process of examining whether or not the scope of the project will need to change. We haven’t decided whether or not we’re in a position to just agree to pay the price and go forward with the project. If all of our school projects keep coming in at more than twice what the budget is, Mr. Speaker, we’re not going to be able to proceed with all of the projects. We agree with the Member that the school expansion in Gameti is a priority and we’re going to work with Public Works and MACA to do our best to bring the project forward next winter...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that Public Works attempted to discuss the issue of the cost with the contractor in the community; they were not able to come to any resolution. So Public Works has come back to MACA and ECE and given us a number of options that we can consider. We are working together with the other two departments to develop a strategy so that we can move the project forward, hopefully, within the next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.