Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that we can meet the timeline that the Member has asked for, in terms of getting it on the ice road this year. The department will be meeting with the DEA, and with the residents of Colville Lake, to talk about how we can plan to bring the two structures into one unit. We will do our best to advance things as much as we can, but I can't guarantee that we'll make it on the ice road this winter. We will certainly make it a priority to look at whether we can do that, though. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for the record, we know that the vast majority of the graduates from our nursing program do stay in the Northwest Territories. That program has proven to be quite successful in getting northerners into nursing.

The Member makes a very good suggestion in terms of getting the training into communities. It’s one we encourage the college to pursue. We have, right now, a mobile lab for welding. The college does move from community to community to offer the Pre-Trades Training Program. That is one of the ways in which we are hoping to expand that training. We do hope to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure. I can't answer that question. I would doubt that it does. Having seen the school myself, I would expect that that probably doesn't meet our current standards, and we are moving to put the addition in as quickly as we can.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the college has long been interested in finding a way to have a residence built in Yellowknife for college students and the programs here, but we have been unable, at this point, to find the money in the capital program to support that kind of approach. I, like the Member, would dearly love to see us better accommodate students here. I know that we’ve had to restrict the availability of housing to certain programs to ensure that the people in this program can find housing. So it is a problem, and it’s a particular problem because of the cost of housing...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just for clarity sake, I wouldn't want people to believe that district education authorities or councils have been breaking the law. What they have been operating, in addition to a half-day kindergarten program, is early childhood programming, which hasn't been subject to the kindergarten curriculum. That has been a local decision. They felt it was important enough to bring this sort of program into the school, and we certainly allow that kind of flexibility.

As the Member will note from the last sentence in my opening comments, we have advanced the issue of funding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have heard a great deal in this Legislative Assembly, since the beginning of this session, about the need to invest in early learning and childcare programming. The Report on Pre-Budget Consultation, prepared by the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, discussed, in some detail, the needs in our communities with respect to these programs.

When the Prime Minister addressed his caucus last May, he made special mention that Canadians across the country were eager to participate in a national childcare system built on the principles of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Member brings a lot of passion to this issue, because he has a history of involvement in literacy, and particularly working with the college. He is absolutely right. We know the figures. We know that people in the North are much less likely to be working if they don't have an adequate education. Since 2003, we've had four literacy funds that have been administered by our regional offices, including the workplace education fund, the community skills for Work, community literacy projects, and literacy programs and support for seniors. Those are some of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The approach to delivering education in the Northwest Territories, now, is one that is substantially decentralized. We have elected bodies in communities that get to make decisions that are relevant to that community in terms of how the programming is offered. So, for instance, the culture and language programming is not the same in any two communities. It’s substantially different. The Tlicho region’s approach to cultural inclusion will be different than that which is found in the Gwich’in region, perhaps. We don’t stipulate that schools have to follow or deliver...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can answer some of that question quite easily. Adult literacy and basic education programming in the Northwest Territories has a budget of $2.4 million. We've had programming offered in 30 of the 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. To list off the percentage though, I can't do that. I have my listing here by dollars by community, and I would be happy to share that with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, please, Madam Chair.