Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I give notice on Friday, May 25, 2012, I will move that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Early Childhood Development framework has been a key in our discussions at the forum with Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. It’s on our radar within the ECE department. We are going through the final stages of the recommendations. The changes are forthcoming and we’re finalizing that within our Education department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

For the interim, the three mining industries have agreed to contribute to the Mine Training Society. There’s a feasibility study that’s on the way. We, as Education, Culture and Employment, have always supported it and we will continue to support the transition period. We want to see no or a minimal impact on the Mine Training Society as we move beyond March 31, 2012. That is our goal. We will push that, again, with the federal government. With the three mining companies on board, they are adamant that we need to keep pushing for the skilled workforce that they’ll need for upcoming employment...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular area has been successful in the Northwest Territories. The former ASEP has been producing a world-class, skilled workforce in the Northwest Territories and transferrable skills onto other provincial jurisdictions as well. We want to continue with the process, as well, since it’s been very successful.

I did meet with my federal counterpart in Ottawa when I was there in December, and we talked about this specific topic, the Mine Training Society, where it’s going and that March 31st is the deadline, sunsetting. Leona Aglukkaq, at that time, spoke about a pan...

About the publication, again I need to follow up with WSCC. They are arm’s length from our government and they have their own board of governance. There is also a tribunal board that we deal with as well. I need to find out the status of where things are at with the Member’s statement.

Once we leave here I’ll gather the information from my department and the parties that are involved, the regional groups. Hopefully within a week or two from now, if we can get our hands on the Safe School Policy, if it’s in place, then I’ll provide that to the Members.

There has been some uptake on the application process. As the Member stated, it hasn’t been very successful to date. We are exploring those areas. We explored that area as an option and we are also exploring other areas where the Shelter Policy review would capture some of the discussions we’ve had in the 16th Assembly. Now we’re into the 17th Assembly, how to deal with the housing shortage in the communities, especially for staff or professions that we need to take care of.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

...reality, that’s what happened here. The community of Behchoko wanted a public library, so community members worked together to find a solution. The solution was to provide public access to the existing library at the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School. CJBS has always found ways to be innovative and creative.

Hours of operations are from 9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday to Friday, and evenings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This is exciting news for the community of Behchoko and a great opportunity for community members...

The Member is correct about the high importance of this particular subject. Early childhood has been in the forefront in discussions at the regional forums. At all forums I have attended, that has been at the forefront of the discussion. We need to focus on the unborn child. The children are one year old or six months old. We need to start from there. So with this particular piece of work before us, as I stated, it’s been finalized within my department. The plan is to initiate that through our business planning process, the discussions we are going to be having with the standing committee, I’m...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Most definitely. That is our goal and objective. We want this Mine Training Society to survive the March 31st deadline. It’s going to happen. We have industries lined up already. We have the federal government that is agreeing to initiatives and we need to continue with this ship that we built. We need to continue to advocate with the federal government. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.