Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. There is development of an audit manual for the program auditor. That’s part of the process that we’re going to be developing over time and, again, this will be part of the process. There will be short-term, mid-term and long-term goals and objectives to follow through with the recommendations, and we are taking those recommendations quite seriously and we will be implementing them. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House for a portion of today’s proceedings to attend meetings with the Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Aurora College Annual Report 2011-2012. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, the Education Renewal and Innovation Initiative is examining a wide range of issues facing education in the NWT and developing a comprehensive plan to address these. The development of this plan and many aspects of the plan itself will involve participation of other GNWT departments. I am happy to report that a wide range of GNWT departments have dedicated staff to participating in this process. The plan itself is scheduled to be completed by this late fall/winter.

The renewal initiative is currently in the research and engagement phases. The project charter, describing the work...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Today I’d like to talk about the Pages that are here to help us. We have two, Amber Beaverho. That is one of the Pages from Gameti; and another one, Krischan Smith. They are both from Whati community. And Alfred Beaverho, who is their supervisor. I would like to say thank you to those Pages and all the other Pages that have been here helping us through our session at this time. Thank you.

Yes, this is an area that, again, we’re very interested. Along with the Deh Cho riding, there is a lot of activity happening. We want to expedite the process. The Member is alluding to within 25 days. I think that’s doable. Having our parties involved to get to the Sahtu region, the Deh Cho region, and start talking about the training plan. What is needed in the community? What kind of training is required from the industry’s perspective? Because industry have their own certain criteria of positions. They need to be involved. By all means those are areas that we want tackled from my department...

I do believe there is a plan to have a meeting soon. I will be getting back to the Member on the dates of the meetings, if it’s going to be quarterly or monthly. Activities are happening as we speak. Preparation for the various training initiatives will be taking place. Those are areas that I will be instructing my department to work very closely with the Sahtu region; more specifically, the regional representatives that are on the steering committee to establish those meetings. I will be sharing that with the Member.

Most definitely. We need to work with all Members on this particular work, because it does impact across the Northwest Territories, the 33 communities, the DEAs, the NWTTA. If there is a push back, then I need to work with the Members.

With my department, I’ve just got a note that they’ve been in touch with the superintendent to try and find the background of the situation itself, so we are trying to find a remedy towards this particular area. As you know, we want every athlete to be successful, so that’s an area that we need to tackle. This is a GNWT policy and NWT Collective Agreement policy as well. There are several areas that we need to deal with and develop guidelines towards that. Again, I need to work with HR and the DEA. They’re getting a clear message now. My department has already been in touch with the DEA, the...

Yes, we can. This is an area that we’re very closely monitoring and there is a huge potential opportunity here. We have to find out the needs of the community. How much manpower is there in the Sahtu region? Who is trainable, employable? What are the training needs in the community? Industries have to be involved as well. We have to get the industries at the table and start discussing this immediately. I agree with the Member, we’re going to fast-track this and have a meeting within hopefully the next couple of weeks.