Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, obviously, the safety is always our first priority. We will be looking into this. If there has been a plan in place to deal with these 10 stalls, there are more vehicles, what kind of other arrangements are being made? That is information that I need to follow up on the latest status. I will be sharing that with the Member. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, again, I do agree there needs to be better communication dialogue from my department with the school boards, and most especially the teachers. Those are areas that we are going to improve on. We will continue to work constantly and be in contact with Pearson, where we got the product from, and the eight boards lead to find solutions to these technical issues and challenges that we’re faced with. I’m very encouraged, in spite of all the obstacles and challenges that we’re faced with, that teachers, school boards and the department recognize that PowerSchool will be an incredible tool for...

The training for PowerSchool attendance and grade book occurred at the beginning of the school year. My department worked with the school boards, as we do on any new system, to coordinate a half-day training for every teacher in the Northwest Territories. This is an area that we’ve embarked on. It’s a new system. There’s also a request for a second tier of training. We are in the process of training that’s been rolled out to the school prior to report card writing so that teachers would have additional training. So there is additional training that’s been requested and we have provided that.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Since this is a direction to the federal government, the Cabinet will have a free vote on this particular motion. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. We’ll do what we can to expedite the process. As I stated, there hasn’t been a committed individual to take on the broadcasting as we have done in the past, but we are focused in those areas, and with reshuffle of the Executive communication area now, we need to identify an individual that can take on the task again. So we are committing to that.

With respect to the five Aboriginal languages, we need to work with CKLB on what could be delivered in that time frame and also in that area. We have done so, successfully, in the past. Obviously, we want to reach out to our communities too. So...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. CKLB, the Aboriginal broadcasting, is very important to this GNWT, more specifically when we have to reach out to the most isolated communities. There have been other partners as well. There is ECE and also federal contribution towards this. We feel that we need to invest in this area.

With respect to advertising and also the air time, we have contributed approximately $3,400 a month towards broadcasting. We did continue to do so until March. Unfortunately, due to the reorganization and the Executive communications staffing vacancies, it was discontinued. But we are in the...

Mr. Speaker, we are fully aware, especially in those small, isolated communities, that there is not much of an economy in the community, whether it would be a wage economy or business contracts. Those are areas that we have regional representatives, also client service officers focusing on the productive choices. The Labour Market Agreement that we have in place is for those individuals that do not qualify for EI and that require training in specific areas, as well as the Small Community Employment Program that we initiated onto the communities. Those are just some of the program areas that...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House for today and tomorrow to attend the National Aboriginal Women’s Summit F/P/T in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Within the Executive department, the communication and services, there is a proposal that has been submitted, along with others that are out there with various programs. With respect to this particular proposal submission, it is being reviewed by the department. Again, what the Member is referring to will be taken into consideration and I will be speaking to the Premier, as well, upon his return, to see if we can expedite this process. Once we identify the individual as the interim, what can we do. So those are questions that we need to address with our Executive department. Mahsi.

Mahsi. That detailed information I will need to get for the Members. I don’t have that specific agreement, whether it be a year or two, due to the fact that there’s been a vacancy, there’s been a reshuffle within the Executive department. So we have to postpone that until such time as the next couple months. But it has been up to March 5, 2012. So it’s been a few months that we were without broadcasting, but we are committed to returning that with CKLB broadcasting. So we’re committed. Mahsi.