Jackson Lafferty

This particular area is not just our jurisdiction; it’s a national issue. Workplace and bullying harassment that’s happening within our work environment or outside our work environment. So there is a strategy in place at the national stages and we’re part of the discussion through the Justice department, whether it be the public safety, Education department as well. I will keep the Members posted on if there are going to be any changes or acts that are coming into play. We are looking at various options from other jurisdictions as well.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We did hear from the community. I also work closely with the chair of the DEC as well. They have raised those issues in the past. We need to look at the overall schools in the Northwest Territories. Trout Lake is part of that process that we need to discuss. The situation it is in, the age of the building and the space of the building, this are information that we have been gathering. We will discuss it further as we move forward to the next year’s capital planning process. Mahsi.

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...

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure how I can get around this. I did commit in the House that this is part of the process of the new initiatives that are coming up. I do support the students in the education system 100 percent. Definitely, again, I have to reiterate that Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative strategy will guide us through that venue. Mr. Speaker, we will do what we can because this is the voice of the Northwest Territories. It would have handprints of the people of the Northwest Territories. It is not coming down from the top down as the face-to-face meeting and getting their...

This is, as I stated, the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is a great strategy that’s out there and is getting a lot of positive feedback from the community members. Again, it’s for the whole Northwest Territories. It will reflect on how we deliver programs in the Northwest Territories on the education factor, whether it be junior kindergarten or other areas. It will give us some guidance within our department to move forward on various initiatives.