Jackson Lafferty

That detailed information I need to get. I don’t have in front of me that information. I’ll get that information for the Member.

Mr. Chair, the information that I have, I’ll probably have to get that information to the Member. I’m not sure if we have the actual information that the Member is referring to, so we’ll provide that information to the Members. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. To date there are 22 committees that have been established throughout the Northwest Territories. A total of 80 people have been appointed to date.

We support all the students. We want them to be successful. It’s not only our department, it’s across departments, so I need to work with my colleagues. There is the Nursing Program and social work programming, teachers in our system. Those are the areas and professions that we want to place in our schools, in our nursing stations in our health care system. So it is our priority to work with them to push them in that direction. At the end of the day, it is their decision, Mr. Chair. So we’ll continue to push as a government. Mahsi.

Mr. Chair, I will get my deputy to elaborate more on the reaction, but I can share with the Member that when we first initiated this discussion we did state that there was going to be some funding changes. We did consult with the superintendent as well. Of course, their argument back also was the higher costs to operate, but we did an evaluation of the program and this is how much the overall programming is costing the organization. If there are additional substantiation costs, well, give us that information. We are awaiting that information, if there are additional costs. But if I can get my...

Mr. Chair, the SFA review and also the terms of reference, the terms of reference will be drafted up. We are looking at ‘11 and ‘12. Mahsi.

With any motion that comes forward we look at it and see where it can fit within our programming. At the same time we, as it stands now, will be reviewing the SFA programming and that will happen this year. This is an area we can look at as an option. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from students out there from the communities. It has been brought up before in this House as well as at question period, so I’m sure there will be community members that will be raising those issues. It has been addressed and we’ll definitely look at it in due time.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The dangerous offender status or designation is the responsibility of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada under federal jurisdiction. If there is concern that the Member is addressing or bringing forward, then by all means we can receive the detailed information and share with our colleagues at the federal level.

Yes, indeed, there are tough decisions that need to be made by the school boards and also by ECE. Again, it may not be a priority of the board, I don’t know. Because we have to hire teachers, we have to hire subs, we have to hire the staff and do programming for students, those are also priorities as well. So I have to respect the priorities of the school boards, as well, but this is an area that we need to discuss further, as I indicated earlier. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we are going through a financial crunch, but this is something that we can definitely explore for next year’s budget. We have already identified the $150,000 and Student Financial Assistance program, of course, with a number of family members, but this is an area that we can explore further. Mahsi.