Jackson Lafferty

I did state in the House that with the existing policies there have been some changes. Whenever an issue or a concern has been brought to our attention we’ll seriously look at it and if we need to make changes to our policy, then by all means we need to sit down and inform the Members that there will be some changes coming. This is an area that we as a department can also look at.

This is an area that has been targeted, but the groups had the recommendation of the people of the North. They highlighted specific areas. One of them was the cultural orientation, another one was the laptops, another one was to deal with absenteeism. We gave funding to the school boards to deal with those important matters at hand. So we’ve captured different angles and this is one of them. So the students are also benefiting from this particular piece of work that’s before us, Mr. Chair. The teachers need to get to know our cultural perspective, the language and the students. The students...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The Mine Training Society does deliver programs on behalf of the federal government through ASEP, Aboriginal programming. So there is a priority for Aboriginal, of course, because of the title and it is federal funding, but my understanding is that others can also apply for training programs, the Aboriginal Skills Employment Program. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. This is an area we should look at with the college. Why some communities aren’t getting base funding, we don’t really have that detailed information with us as to why. I’ll commit to the Member that we’ll look at this area and get back to him.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an area that we need to find out what’s happening. We did have a position in place but now it’s vacant. There is a toll-free number that people can access. We did send out notices and e-mails to all the relevant stakeholders to notify them that this is the contact information, contact person. So the information is out there, Mr. Speaker, but I will find out the situation about the concern that’s been brought to our attention. Mahsi.

Not really, Mr. Chair. Just that it will be part of next year’s budget as well. At the same time, we are implementing some of the recommendations that have been brought to our attention within our existing funding and some of the funding that’s before us in the House here today. So gradually we’re starting to implement those recommendations, but next year will be even a bigger move to include in the overall budget as well. Mahsi.

The subsidy is based on the needs assessment of those individuals.

Mr. Chair, yes, that was a really good project in the Sahtu region and we can definitely provide that information. We do have that information. We don’t have it here with us but we’ll share it with the Members. Mahsi.

When we initiated this, one prime example, of course, is the orientation that the Member has alluded to. That initiative has been under the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative funding. Mahsi.

The lease is due to expire around the end of August 2012. That’s an area that we are working with and we need to have a plan in place early this fall. Mahsi.