We will continue to work with employment development officers in the communities; also with the organizations we’ll continue to work with. Whether it be client service officers, employment officers in the communities and the regions we’ll certainly be prepared to deal with the new initiatives that will be before us. We’ll be prepared as much as we can when the time comes.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for asking that important question for small communities. We are looking forward to debating this budget that’s before us. There is a new initiative in there that deals directly with employment in small communities. That will result in outstanding challenges or issues in the small communities of hiring, directly hiring summer students that are going back to school. Definitely, I’m looking forward to more opportunities to discuss the budget that’s in the process and this will surely shed some light into the small communities.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, regarding the high school students, as I stated in the House on numerous occasions, we want every student to succeed. We do provide funding to district education councils and the DEA that falls under them that deals with these matters. I have to respect their decision, as well as the boarding homes’ and so forth. But it would be under the direction of the Beaufort-Delta to make those decisions based on the funding that we provide to them. We’ll continue to work with the Beaufort-Delta Education Council as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, safety is our first priority so we will definitely look at the playground this summer. Whether to remove that due to safety precautions, we certainly need to discuss that further with PWS. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That particular school was brought to our attention just in December that their playground needs to possibly be replaced within a few months or a couple years. So those are the discussions that we continue to have with the Dehcho Board of Education, specifically with the superintendent, that has brought this to our attention. The focus is that we’re going through our budget planning process this period, but part of the planning process will be to put this into next year’s budget. Mahsi.

That is the type of discussion that we will certainly be having. I would advise Members to try to meet up with board members on the educational factor, because it’s the board of education that is telling us where they are going to expend their money a year in advance. Sometimes we hear complaints or issues or opportunities that we move forward with, but those are discussions that we need to have with the board of education.

This particular discussion can be undertaken by my department with the education council in the Beaufort-Delta. I definitely wouldn’t want to dictate on where the money should be going. It was their decision. Like I stated earlier, those are the experts around the table. We need to get the advice from them. We can certainly meet with them to identify where we should extend it, whether it be home boarding or other areas. Those are the types of discussions that can certainly be undertaken.

We continue to work with each district education council on the enrolment issues and also having those students enrolled and also being successful in their programs. We continue to strive there. We continue to provide funding to them to make that a successful program in the communities. So, Mr. Speaker, I can commit today to continue to work with the Beaufort-Delta Education Council, what the status is of those eight students who have been identified here and what the board of education is going to do as we go forward. We can continue monitoring that and we can get back to the Member on that...

As I’ve indicated, we’ve already allocated funds for the operation this school year. I can’t, as a Minister, stand up and say, hire a teacher in the community. I have to respect their decision. We have empowered the board of education to make those types of important decisions, because they are the experts at the community level. They’re currently, I believe, dealing with this matter. I believe MLA Jacobson has already met with the board or will be meeting with the board. So this discussion is ongoing and we will continue to monitor that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the issue was brought to our attention in December and the discussion is ongoing. We can’t really do anything until it’s thawed. Definitely, we’ll keep the Member informed of our progress to date. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.