Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The judge did not say that anybody wilfully did something that was not acceptable. The judge said that she found that they had made the wrong decision and that, in her opinion, it needed to be re-examined. So this is not a situation, if you care to look at the judgment, that there was any indication that an individual was found to have done anything wrong. So, Mr. Speaker, in terms of who is going to be held to account, the WCB has had the ruling of the court, it's looked at it, the Governance Council has agreed not to appeal the case, the appeals tribunal is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It had been the hope of the appeals tribunal that they could have heard this case much more quickly, and it was the opinion of the tribunal and their legal counsel that they could put together a freshly constituted appeals tribunal to hear this case right away when the decision was made to hear it. However, since Mr. Valic and his counsel have rejected one of the members, we are working with all due haste to try and put one together. I can’t say exactly when that hearing will be able to be held, but I can assure the Member that the appeals tribunal will work with Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me pleasure to recognize in the gallery a group of provincial and territorial directors from the early childhood education and care from across Canada ranging from Newfoundland to British Columbia, to the Yukon and Nunavut. With them are some of their northern hosts from the Early Childhood Program in Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to note that the WCB recognizes chronic pain syndrome as a compensable injury. There was some difference of opinion as to whether or not it fits in the disability tables, but the issue is one of whether or not compensation is being paid. The WCB says, or will accept chronic pain as a compensable injury. Each case is dealt with on an individual basis and it doesn’t fit into a standard table as some of the other injuries do; for instance, the loss of a thumb or the loss of a foot in which there is a standard sort of response. Each...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason is because Mr. Valic and his solicitor have determined that the public interest representative on the panel, the appeals tribunal right now, who would be available to hear the case is not suitable. Their argument is that she was involved in the case. I have been assured by her that she has never even read the file, but they have decided that they wanted a new person. So in order to achieve that, we’ve had to advertise for additional members of the appeals tribunal. That’s been done and, as the Member noted in his statement today, it is the closing day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I understood the Member’s questions, he was focussed on college level courses. So I would be pleased to contact the college right away and let them know the region’s interest and ask that they have a representative meet with the Tlicho Community Services Agency to discuss the need in the region for this kind of course. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department really is supportive of the development of language skills among the population and a lot of money is put into, for instance, helping northerners do better at picking up their languages. For instance, ALCIP, the Aboriginal Language/Culture Instructor Program, has been expanded to next year. It will be a two-year course. That’s expanded by one year. The first year will focus on language acquisition. What we are trying to do is make sure communities are better supported to have teachers who speak the aboriginal language of the communities. We should...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would have to see evidence that there was significant demand for the program to talk about a pilot project such as the one that the Member talks about. I think I can demonstrate to the Member that we are prepared to consider pilot projects, because in the Tlicho region the department is working with the Tlicho Community Services Agency to bring in a Teacher Education Program where we are trying to bring people into the field of teaching who will be comfortable speaking their own language. That is the first step in making sure we have better language services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, the next scheduled meeting for our committee is after session ends, but it is scheduled for the month of June. So it will be something that we’ll discuss and I’ll ensure that we contact the Member in writing to let him know what the results of that discussion are.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; the previous courses offered, or the previous participants in the courses offered by the college have been very successful in achieving a certain high standard of ability to interpret.

Unfortunately, the college hasn’t seen much uptake. They kept offering the courses, but there were very few people who signed up to take the courses. We suspect that that may be because, particularly since division of the Territories, there hasn’t been as much demand for interpreting services. There hasn’t been, therefore, the registration of students at the college...