Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Within our Justice department we do have a Human Resource Policy that deals with the specifics of if there’s harassment in the work environment or if there’s verbal abuse and so forth. We do have those policies in place and work closely with the Human Resources department as well. Those policies do go through some changes, as well, that reflect up-to-date information we receive from the general public. We’ll continue to make those changes as necessary.

Mr. Speaker, the absenteeism is a cross-function of the priorities that have been established through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, whether it be the student support, the early childhood development, the literacy, the home support. So it does fall within those four categories. Every region that we visited, absenteeism was an issue and is a challenge. We are putting a strategic plan in action that is coming from the general public telling us, the educators, the parents, how we can deal with those issues and those matters at hand. They are giving us solutions from that. We are...

That’s a discussion we need to have. I can’t stand here and say, yes, we’re going to commit dollars. We need to discuss further with the capital planning projects that will be before us. If we need to commit a certain amount of dollars towards the planning studies for the college campus, then we will do that. We need to discuss that further. At that point in time we need to highlight what the priorities are. This is one of the priorities we’ve been working towards, so we will be discussing it further if we need to allocate the funding at that time.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We work through, and also are in consultation with, the school district education authority and also the council. We collect that data that are important for our educational system. We need to work closely with the school boards. They provide information on the absenteeism that the Member is referring to. The stats overall for the last few years, we do have them on file. Based on that, where we need to focus in certain areas. There have been some great achievements over the years and also there have been some lack of achievement over time. Those are the pros and cons we...

I do believe there is a Board of Governors meeting coming up and the Sahtu has a representative on there. I’m sure that individual will bring that discussion forward. This will likely be the topic of discussion at that level.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. At one time these were part of the capital process, but due to other pressing issues we had to deal with… But as we move forward for next year’s capital planning process this could be part of the initiative that we need to bring forward along with other capital project initiatives. We’ve talked about the Sissons Schools and also Mildred Hall, completion of the Mildred Hall and different aspects.

Mr. Speaker, during the transition period we’ll be talking about what needs to be before the 17th Assembly, but it will be up to the 17th Assembly to decide as we go forward, but...

Mahsi. That is the information that we are gathering, the needs assessment of the community, a trades centre versus a community learning centre that we have currently. So it could be a part of the discussion on the upcoming capital planning, but it all depends on the information that we do receive and we’ll try to expedite the process along with other major capital projects that we may be faced with. So we’ll do what we can as a department to push this towards the capital planning process. Mahsi.

Mahsi. I definitely will commit in this House to keep the Members up to speed on what’s happening with the ASA. We will be going to the Beaufort-Delta in May. So those are the discussions we’ll continue to have and conclude that discussion at that time. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this is an area that I’m fully committed. The Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, I’m looking forward to the Members’ discussion at that level when we’re in the Beaufort-Delta in May, along with other discussions, the solutions that will be brought to the table and this will definitely be a part of it. We’ve heard from other Sahtu and other regions as well about the boarding and also the Deh Cho. I’m glad the Member is raising that issue and I’m looking forward to that discussion in May. Mahsi.

Mahsi. It is our department that is responsible to deliver these programs into the schools. Again, I have to reiterate that we need to work with Alberta and also the DEAs and DECs. Having those initiatives, not only that, but the Aboriginal student achievement that’s underway, they’ve discussed that as well, having a residential school era in our school system, land claims, self-government. We’re introducing to our social program development area within the curriculum. So we are listening to the people and those will be written out after this fiscal year. It will take some time, but we will...