Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has successfully established the social assistance appeal committees to serve all Northwest Territories communities. The committees hear appeals for income assistance and child care user subsidy programs. Getting these local appeal committees now ensures that Northerners have access to a fair and impartial appeals process within their home communities.

To date we have appointed 87 committee members to hear appeals. There are still spaces available for more committee members in some communities. I encourage the public and my...

The aboriginal languages will likely see some shift, because we want this to work. At the same time, we need to gather the information. We have done that along with the package that we have before us. Mr. Krutko did mention numbers as well that are out there that we have used so far. We will be monitoring that and collecting more data over the next two or three years. We need the committees, the language specialists, committee experts, the community members to provide that information as well. We will be working closely with the community. My department will be working with the Members as well...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. An evaluation form will come out of this framework that’s going to be before us. We seriously want to monitor each and every recommendation that is brought forward and the program changes that we will be making within our Department of Education. So it’s all preliminary right now, the recommendations that are before us today. Definitely evaluations will be part of the process.

What the Member is referring to is captured in the 70-plus recommendations that will be brought forward and we’ve also initiated a summer institute for language this past summer. It was very successful and was part of the development stages pertaining to certification, possibly diploma or degree. So the Member has already shared his concern and we are looking at that as part of the strategy that’s before us, and there are also talks about the interpretation and translation training program. So that is part of the strategy as well. It is a comprehensive document and we are in the process of...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As it stands, we recognize 11 official languages in the Northwest Territories. The federal government recognizes English and French, so we are very proud of our Northwest Territories jurisdiction language recognition.

I have heard on several occasions of a language that could be integrated or added to the existing 11 official languages. There are comprehensive steps that have to be undertaken, public consultation. Members would have to be involved in that. The Legislative Assembly would have to be involved in that. It would take some form of consultation with the communities...

Mr. Speaker, I am fully committed to seeking a way to, of course, provide increased support to the communities, especially in the aboriginal language communities. We are also looking very closely at our existing resources where we can improve in certain programming and increase our investment as well. Those are the areas that we are closely monitoring and with this strategy in place we want to make some changes, as well, on how we distribute funding as well. I will be having further discussion with our federal counterparts, as well, the federal Minister. This has been addressed through the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Northwest Territories Aboriginal Languages Plan - A Shared Responsibility, October 2010. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The regional languages committee and the committees play an important role in promoting and supporting the revitalization of our languages and enhancing our aboriginal languages. The committee plays an important role in the development and implementation of strategic plans to meet our unique needs, circumstances and priorities of the respective languages. They will be part of the ongoing discussion when it comes to implementation of the strategy.

Yes, we do. We provide immersion programs in some of the regions, probably not all regions as we wish that we could do, but we are working towards that. We’ve been given the direction, the guidance and also the support to deliver that. At the kindergarten level, or even earlier than that, the Head Start Program has been successful as well. Those are the discussions that we’ve had throughout the Northwest Territories and now we need to start implementing the total package that will be before us. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, later today I will table the Government of the Northwest Territories Aboriginal Languages Plan - A Shared Responsibility. The plan was crafted after reviewing the Standing Committee on Government Operations’ report Reality Check: Securing a Future for Official Languages of the Northwest Territories.

Over 200 delegates at the Aboriginal Languages Symposium held in late March 2010 offered their thoughts, concerns and ideas for this plan. As well, a number of community meetings were held to discuss the future of aboriginal...