Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. I kind of knew that was coming. This is an area that we’ve explored and we have extended our NUP lease agreement. Currently, we are discussing, between my department, PWS and also the Executive, how we can look at options at this level. We want to see a stand-alone campus. That’s part of our long-term goal, that is our objective and we need to work towards that. So the discussion is happening and we’re asking for our outside options, as well, how the private sector can play a key role. So those are discussions that we’re currently having. We can provide some of the updates to the...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but we are currently going through the review process. That’s what we heard from the general public and from the Members of this Assembly, so we are moving forward on that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Part of our goal is to produce as many language speakers becoming qualified teachers, whether it be in the Northwest Territories or from outside the Northwest Territories, because we have a lot of our people for the North attend southern post-secondary. We want them to come back. A lot of them do speak their language as well.

So those are some of the priorities that we have in Education, Culture and Employment, to produce those qualified people that can come back and teach the children in our school system the language. As you know, the various languages we’re losing, Gwich’in is a prime...

I’d like to focus on what we have here today. Reduction, in the past we’ve transferred funding from inclusive to early childhood. That was the direction and recommendation from the standing committee that I work with. I need to work with what we have. So we work closely with standing committee. If there is a guidance or advice given to us, we need to work with it. If early childhood development is a priority, then we need to focus in those areas.

With respect to inclusive schooling, again we are re-evaluating the program and if we are going to be making some changes, I will be coming back to...

Mr. Speaker, a short answer will be that we are going to address all of those gaps that may be available in between various funding. We need to identify those. Again, I will be sharing that information with the Members. Mahsi.

When I talk about external, there are other sources and experts that we need to depend on. When the Member is talking about external evaluation, those are some of the key factors that we need to take into consideration as well.

I stated before that we’re doing a lot of research in this area. We want to have the best product for the Northwest Territories that meets our educational system. That’s what we’re doing. It is a comprehensive and complex issue.

Mr. Speaker, this is one of the recommendations brought to our attention during the SFA review. We are currently reviewing it, how we can best fit it into our programming. As you know, there have been several recommendations that were brought to our attention from the general public. We have initiated three or four of them already as a priority set by our government and also the general public, which is the most pressing need. It is before us and we are evaluating that.

You can rest assured that there are other fundings available, whether it be Labour Market Agreement. Individuals who do not...

As I stated before, we need to reach out to the front-line workers as well. We are doing research and we are reaching out to experts as well. We want to have those best practices from elsewhere, as well, within Canada, and even in the States and internationally, as Mr. Bromley alluded to earlier. Those are the outside experts that are informing us and providing input. We will continue to address that and reach out to various sectors out there, outside our educational system.

Mr. Speaker, it will be extended out to other jurisdictions as well. We’re doing research in this area from our counterparts across the country, and not only that but with ASA what we’ve heard from the general public, and through addictions there’s the forum that’s happening. There are all these different forums that are currently occurring in the Northwest Territories. We’re hearing the same common thing. Based on the six pillars I addressed earlier, system accountability; professional capacity, that deals with the teachers and educators; assessment practices, so based on the various...

The peer passing has been addressed in the House. My staff have been diligently reviewing this. The Finnish system, there’s been research across the country and internationally. I will provide that information of what we have to the Members and the standing committee as well.