Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Madam Chair. With me to my left is Gloria Iatridis, acting deputy minister of Department of Education, Culture and Employment; and to my right is Tricia Ralph, legislative advisor. Mahsi.

I am pleased to introduce Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. The purpose of this legislation is to raise the maximum aggregate of the principal amounts of all student loans that may be made by the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The maximum aggregate principal amount of student loans that the government may lend under the Student Financial Assistance Act is currently set at $36 million. The amendment proposes to increase this amount to $40 million for the fiscal year 2012-2013 and thereafter. This change is required to allow the Department of Education...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular motion, I will be tabling a document responding to the motion that was brought forward to this House. We are currently working on various logistical parts on the legislation itself, and working with other counterparts in the provinces and territories. This is a very big package that we are working towards, because it does deal with our Education Act as well. We will keep Members up to speed, as we move forward, but I will be tabling the document today. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Member is asking for more detailed information and I can provide that to the Member on the process itself, how many appeals have been processed and so forth. I don’t have the specific details of the information on the monitoring mechanism, and I need to highlight to the Member in writing, and I will definitely get back to the Member. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this particular program, transitional vocational through Grande Prairie College, is not a post-secondary program. As you know and Members know, SFA qualifies for post-secondary programming, but there are other sources of funding that is the Labour Market Agreement. It is not only for on-the-job training. There are other ways to work around the system where we have the funding through the federal government. That is one example.

Income assistance is another example. Employment Insurance, Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategy is another funding that is available, UCEP, University...

We do work closely with the employment standards officers. We have to make sure that they’re following the act. If an individual or a party is not satisfied with the decisions that are being made, there is an appeal process, as the Member alluded to. The employment standards appeal, adjudicators hear appeals by employers or employees who are not satisfied with the decision of the employment standards officers. There is a process that’s been established and we continue to work with that as well. Mahsi.

I don’t have the specifics of the duty outline and what the Member is referring to on the training aspects, but I can definitely provide that information in detail to the Members. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment wishes to congratulate all the graduates from high schools, Aurora College and apprenticeship programs.

Aurora College saw 140 graduates this spring: 43 from Thebacha Campus, 53 from the North Slave Campus and 44 from the Aurora Campus. Graduates received certificates, diplomas and degrees in programs like Environment and Natural Resource Technology, Education, Nursing, Business Administration and Social Work.

This year sees the first class to graduate from the Aboriginal Language and Cultural Instructor Program at the...

Yes, Madam Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “GNWT Response to Motion 5-17(2), Anti-Bullying Measures.” Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.