Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, February 18th to 22nd is Education Week and is also Heritage Week.

To celebrate Heritage Week, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is hosting a number of heritage-themed free events in partnership with the City of Yellowknife, including Amazing Family Sundays, an art show and guided tours of the Back Bay Cemetery. Association Franco-Culturelle de Yellowknife is hosting a youth film night and school programs. The Norman Wells Historical Society is offering snowshoe-making workshops and Fort Smith’s Northern Life Museum is holding behind-the-scenes tours of its facility and...

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission, Corporate Plan, 2013. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I didn’t say if I have committed or not on this particular initiative. I stated that we need to deal with the school board and identify the importance of delivering this program into the communities.

What I can state is we are going through various initiatives within the Government of the Northwest Territories. Education renewal is before us. Part of the pillars is professionalism, dealing with the teachers. Also, there is a Small Schools Initiative, the funding that goes to the community, the programming and the delivery. So those are the discussions that will be initiated with...

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. I’d like to commend BDEC for the excellent work they’re doing with e-learning. This is an area that we are exploring with other communities as well. As you know, we service 33 communities. With this particular work, we’ve dealt with Alberta Distance Learning at the beginning of the initiative in 2010. Since 2010 we have continued on with the district education authority taking on the initiative on their own.

It’s been very successful to date. There have been approximately 136 students that have taken the program and 110 were successful. That’s just a capture of the success...

Madam Speaker, the educational renewal will deal with that matter as well. What I can commit here is that the renewal of the e-learning up to two years from 2011-12, so we do have some time this year and next year, what has been laid out here.

This is an area that we will be discussing with the Beaufort-Delta Education Council. We will update the standing committee on the results of our discussion and then the next step. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, as I stated, the funding is in the process of renewal up to 2013. Beyond that we need to deal with the Beaufort-Delta Education Council and how we can move forward.

As I stated, I’m very interested in having the continuity of e-learning. Again, we have to service all 33 communities, so we’re currently dealing with the school boards at this point. If we’re going to commit the funds, then those are the discussions that we need to have at that level, then it will be brought back to the standing committee as part of the business planning cycle as we move forward. Mahsi, Madam Speaker...

As I have stated, those are the areas that we are currently exploring with the president, college staff and the Board of Governors. Like the Member, I do not want to see those parents going elsewhere, but here in the Northwest Territories to get educated. We will do what we can to deliver those programs.

Right now we have a diploma program. Obviously, third and fourth year are down in southern institutions with our partners. We will see what we can do to deliver that effectively and immediately in the Northwest Territories. The fall may not be an appropriate time, but definitely that is our...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we first heard of and also received information from the students, we passed it on to the college immediately because the programming falls on the college campuses. We encouraged them that they need to explore those areas, how we can best deliver this programming. It is not only business, there is also social work that grants a degree program that the students have asked me, I believe it was two or three years ago here in this building. From there, we have been working on that as well.

Those are just some of the areas that I need to work closely with the college and to...

A really good question. This is an area that we are undertaking right now. Part of the criteria, the six pillars that we are discussing are small community schools. That would capture that and also the accountability when it comes to funding. Those are the discussions that we are engaging in. We’re hoping by this fall we’re going to have a product to release to this House and also the general public about what we heard and we want to move forward on. So I‘m glad the Member is raising the profile, because it is part of the discussions as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. On an annual basis, it’s all based on student enrolment, the formula funding we’ve had in place for quite some time now and we follow that process. The funding goes directly to the school boards and at their discretion, such as how many staff they want to hire, programming in the schools and so forth. So we work closely with the schools at that level. At the end of the day, we provide funding to them based on formula funding of the student enrolment. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.