Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Part of the plan is that the local school board, the school is responsible for the maintenance of the playground, in partnership with PWS. So we do provide funding, the general pot of funding to the school boards, and they’re distributed to the teaching staff and janitorial custodial work. Part of the custodial work is also some of the contract agreement they have, is cleaning out the school in the summer, in preparation for summer, and also upon their return they go through the school system and do an overall cleaning as well. That is part of the contract we have with the...

I totally agree with the Member. We have to tackle it from all angles in all venues where we possibly can. Like I said, I am working with representatives from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs office. One area that we highly stress is scientific research funding through the federal government, so that is in the works and we have shared that information with our federal counterparts.

Just so the Members know, I am also the spokesperson for my colleagues, Nunavut and Yukon, when it comes to talking about the university of the North, so it has been a very productive discussion so far...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. On October 17th to 19th in Yellowknife, Aurora College is hosting the Association of Community Colleges symposium on Serving Aboriginal Learners in Rural and Remote Communities. This event is an opportunity for aboriginal leaders, college educators, government officials and industry representatives to discuss strategy and best practice in aboriginal education at the college level.

Hosting a national conference with a focus on aboriginal learners is an honour for Aurora College. This unique conference attracts participants from smaller institutions with an aboriginal student...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This particular piece of work has been an ongoing discussion for a number of years now. It has been brought up in this House as well. As you know, the way things are going with our economy, this could be a $60 million or $70 million infrastructure. We need to start talking about that as part of our capital project for the next few years. We are also talking about potential partners out there that we are exploring options. We’ve been approached about lease-buyback and various options that various organizations have offered. Those are just some of the discussions we are having...

Mr. Chair, yes, the museum area is based on an application basis. So the quickest answer would be yes. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is pleased to share news about the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative that focuses on increasing accomplishments of aboriginal students across the Northwest Territories.

The success of all students is important for the Northwest Territories. However, aboriginal students have been lagging behind non-aboriginal students. While we are making progress on this challenge, we nonetheless want to enhance the improvement.

Mr. Speaker, the initiative’s long-term goal is to develop and implement a territorial plan to help...

Mr. Speaker, with the recent announcement of the power rate reduction, I’m sure that will support and also benefit the community. With regard to the Income Security Framework, we continue to provide that service, Mr. Speaker. Again, we are aware of the high cost of living in small communities. We did visit the Member’s riding. I did visit the Member’s riding when I was a Regular MLA and toured the store as well. We know the high cost. That is why we want to increase our programming as it is comes out to funding as well. We did increase the funding in 2007. We will definitely look at it again...

Mr. Speaker, we continue to deliver a subsidy program to the communities. It’s also adjusted by the region. So the higher the costs of the community, the rate changes in that area as well.

With the federal subsidy that was delivered through Canada Post previous years back. There have been some changes in that area. I believe they’re focusing on three main companies that will be delivering that for the food delivery. This will not complement what we do. We will continue to deliver the subsidy program to those communities that are in need, the 33 communities that we service. Mr. Speaker, that...

You almost forgot me there. [English translation not provided]

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say thank you to Mr. Whitford for being an ambassador of the Northwest Territories. You know, you can’t really say no to an elder when an elder asks you to include him in a journey we have with our portfolios. When I first became Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, visiting the schools and gradation dates and so forth, when I first met Tony and we sat down, of course he told so many stories at that time too, but he asked me if I could include him in my journey and I couldn’t say no to an...

Mr. Speaker, we did increase in 2007 for basic food, clothing and other expenses. We have a program that’s always changing the Income Security Framework. Definitely, those are areas that we continue to look at and we continue to make changes.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is alluding to the high cost of living. We include that into our programming as well. So we’re fully aware of the high cost of living in the communities and continuously we change our programming. Mahsi.