Jackson Lafferty

Madam Speaker, our languages make us who we are as individuals and as a society. Today I would like to talk about service improvements and revitalization efforts for the Northwest Territories official languages.

Recently we concluded the consultation phase of the French Languages Plan. The Fédération Franco-TéNOise is reviewing it and we hope to share it with Members of this Assembly very soon.

The Francophone Affairs Secretariat officially opened in April and is planning for possible inclusion in next year’s business plan, working with all government departments. We are also doing the early...

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. I’d like to recognize Colinda Blondin, who is here with us. She is originally from Behchoko. Welcome and enjoy the session.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Colville Lake School has been addressed in the House on numerous occasions. It all depends on the allocation of students. We currently have, as the Member has indicated, 55 students. It’s allowable up to 62 students. At the same time the Member is asking when we can discuss this. The opportunity would be when we’re going through the capital planning process. We put forward any requests on capital infrastructure if it’s a real critical need for the Northwest Territories. We compile those capital planning and then decide from there which is the most priority for the...

We can provide a summary of the status of our discussions and provide more detailed information as we move forward this fall. Thank you.

The lease agreement plays a huge part. We need to extend the agreement. We have a minimum of two years, up to five years. We’re going to have some more information this fall. Mahsi.

I don’t have any information on why, but we should focus on as we move forward. If this is part of the capital planning project, then we should pursue it and that will be a discussion that we will be having in this House as well.

This is an opportunity. We’re listening to the Member. We need to go through the process of selecting those individual capital projects that are important to the Northwest Territories. If we have a capacity of 62 and we have 55 students in there, that’s an area we’re also looking at. We’re closely monitoring those schools, Colville school and Trout Lake and other schools that have been brought to our attention. We’re going to work with that as part of the planning process for capital planning. Discussion will take place as to which priorities we should focus on. That is the process that we...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize the students who are with us today from Princess Alexandra from Hay River. It’s always great to have students in the gallery. There are 35 students, three chaperones and two teachers. Welcome. Enjoy the gallery.

The City of Yellowknife could be a potential partner because we are dealing with the library in Yellowknife. We need to identify a location for that as well. There’s been talk about adding that to a stand-alone college. Those are the discussions that are happening, very preliminary. Later this fall we need to identify those individuals that are interested in discussing this even further.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When I referred to potential partners, we are seeking out those individuals that are interested in working with us as a department and also the college. We have been approached during the 16th Assembly by a corporation that could be the same corporation that may come forward. We are at the preliminary stages at this point, as I stated in Committee of the Whole. This fall or later in the summer we’re going to be discussing the next step, once we sign off on the extension on the lease agreement for Northern United Place. Mahsi.