Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When this committee was first established, our representatives were on there, my Department of Justice and also the Department of Health and Social Services. In the beginning there was a lot of discussion across a broad sector of what’s going to be happening, the programming in the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife. One of the key messages that came back was the potential conflict of interest that may have been perceived where departmental staff were sitting at the meeting with all the discussions and decisions that were being made. It was very uncomfortable for them...

Mahsi. I believe we are listening to those voices. We listen to the MLA that is sitting here, Mr. Jacobson. He indicated the importance of supporting our students, the importance of having these students continue with higher education, and we are pursuing that through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. These are important works that are coming from the expertise at the grassroots level. We want to hear the people from the Beaufort-Delta region and that’s what we’re doing.

Also, the Beaufort-Delta education, they have all of the records, all of the attendance, the students that may...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular issue has been, as the Member indicated, brought up in the House and we did approach BDEC, the Beaufort-Delta Department of Education, Beaufort-Delta Board of Education. We’ve been working closely with the board on identifying key aspects of the students: are they missing school or having challenges while they’re in school, where they’ll be staying. We provide funding to BDEC on an ongoing basis, on an annual basis.

Mr. Speaker, also the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, the meeting that we’ve had, the last one in the Beaufort-Delta was a very...

We did present the ASA during the process, and we can provide that as soon as we have that information from the regional leadership to say where we’re going with this. We can provide an update to the standing committee.

I didn’t highlight just education parties. There have been various organizations that are involved in the discussion right at the start of the ASA forum that we initiated in the Sahtu region in September until just last week. Those key areas of early childhood development, the discussion from the parties, such as my department, is education and early childhood, and also school services. Also the grandmothers, the parents that are actively involved in education matters. Some have retired but came back to lend their support to provide services as much as they can towards this product that’s...

Those different contribution agreements we have conducted in the past with the First Nations community organizations. We can look at it as a potential to explore those areas and see what can come out of that or involve the Member in the discussion, as well.

I need to work with the Member on the specific item that he’s referring to and defining the flexibility. We do have staff at the community level that work closely with the regional office, and also from regional office to headquarter office. We can provide those valuable services to the community through that venue.

When we talk about it at the community level, if we don’t have people present, then how can we deliver that program effectively? Those are areas that we need to seriously look at and how can we deliver those in a timely manner and efficiently. I will continue to work with the...

I’ll definitely pursue that. Whatever we do at this venue is interdepartmental. There is a lot of discussion on programming, working with the Yellowknife committee, the social committee. I will be working with my colleagues as we move forward on this particular important piece of work.

Mahsi. Yes, it’s been two years that we’ve been pursuing this Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative since the Member raised this issue. We know that it’s important, and it’s not just the Member, all of the Members have been raising the issues about the success of our students, and that’s the very reason why we’re here, Mr. Speaker. We’ve visited all regions, and we’re finalizing the package, and we will be meeting in a couple of weeks for the final go-round with the leadership to say this is what we’ve heard, this is what we want delivered, what do you think. That is key messaging that’s...

Mahsi. That’s the very reason why we’re doing the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative forums in all regions. The Beaufort-Delta was, again, very successful, one of the successful outcomes. We had all of the leadership involved, the educators, the parents, even the youth to talk about their experience. They talk about what they want to be when they graduate and so forth, and that the leadership, the DEA, the chairpersons were there discussing the importance of supporting our students and developing plans of action. That’s what is going to be before this House and I’m looking forward to...