Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do have the Nominee Program and also the staff to deal with that matter. We realize that there are people from all races and from all different countries, as well, that are coming to Canada, also coming to the Northwest Territories. So this is an area that we continue to monitor, but we do have people that deal with those individuals that may have questions, that may have an application process and we’ll do what we can to assist them through that venue. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I’m sure that the information that the Member is sharing, we’re not aware of if any individuals have been declined.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This is an area that we can seriously look at. When the Member touched on the age-plus, the 90-plus, definitely, those are the areas that we need to explore. There may not be that many elders so it might be workable. We need to look into that and we’ll come back to the standing committee if we’re going to make those changes. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. In September 2009 the current formula was approximately $666,000 for Phoenix. The proposed is... Right now the current would be $439,000. There’s a difference of just over $200,000.

Mr. Chair, this is an area that, like I said, we need to look at. We’re not sure if the Mine Training Society is going to survive the end of next year and we need to explore those options as well. We can look at it and see where it can take us. We haven’t really identified funding in this budget to allocate a certain amount of dollars towards this Mine Training Society because that wasn’t a part of the plan, but I realize there will be a motion coming forward and working with them and also the federal government, but I can commit in this House that this is an area that we need to discuss...

This was addressed in this House. There was ongoing discussion between the two departments. The discussion will continue to find what those options will be. As soon as we find a solution, we’ll definitely get back to the Members. I can’t really give you a specific date as to when, but as soon as we hear, that will be far more in advance than next year’s 2012.

This particular position, I need to gather more information from the college itself because this is a college position. I will take the opportunity to meet with the standing committee if they wish to do so. My office is always open to briefing the committee members. I will gather this information. Mahsi.

We are still working on the ASA forum to wrap up by May. So more than likely, we may not see it this fall because we still have to work with the budget process. The working group is from last summer and the fall. Definitely that’s one of the targets that we’ve been discussing at the regional forums. The Member has raised that issue with us and it is part of the discussion in the regions. Almost all regions have raised elders in schools, so definitely that will come out in the package, I’m sure. Mahsi.

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...