Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Summary Conviction Procedures Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Summary Conviction Procedures Act to provide that a justice may enter a conviction and impose the specified penalty where a person who has been summonsed to appear before the justice by way of ticket fails to either pay the specified penalty or to appear as summonsed.

The maximum fine for failing to appear before a justice as required is increased, and formalities relating to information...

Mahsi. If there is such an education symposium being conducted in the Sahtu region by Sahtu residents, then if there’s an invitation, I’m certainly willing to attend, but there are other sources of funding that those individual students can certainly access. There’s INAC funding, there’s upgrading funding that’s available, but this is an upgrading program that the Member is referring to, Mr. Speaker, not a college or university program. With our SFA program, we solely contribute towards post-secondary students. So, Mr. Speaker, those are the areas that we continue to focus on and I’m willing...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Our policy currently states that we do sponsor post-secondary students, students that are off to university or colleges, but I think the Member is alluding to upgrading. We need to be very careful on what we do here, because it would have a huge impact in the local district education authorities, and not only that, the divisional education council, because our funding is based on enrolment and provided to those organizations. If we start sponsoring students down south, there’s a number of students that are on a waiting list and we’re not just talking about one student. Just...

Mahsi. The training program that’s been delivered through Aurora College has been ongoing for a number of years now and it has been very successful to date. We produce so many early childhood workers out of that. When I quoted, the number was based on 2008-2009, 55 successful course completions by students from 14 different communities. That’s just one year. This particular program has been ongoing and certainly there’s always been room for improvement in the program. There’s an accreditation program attached to this, as well, and we’re also partnered up with other institutions and southern...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the Early Childhood Program, there have been some changes to benefit the communities that we service. Part of the ongoing initiative, the ongoing improvement of the program is the last two years, April 1, 2007, there has been an increase in the contribution, so that can offset or allow operators to increase staff wages and improve benefits for early childhood staff. So those are the areas where there have been some changes. Also, since 2007-2008, the department assists eligible providers with basic rent or mortgage expenses. Those are new initiatives that...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is referring to a generic area of challenges. We need to find out the root cause. What is the real issue? Like I said, it could be the lack of information being provided. That is always the case, Mr. Speaker, dealing with client service officers. Concerns come in. It is almost always, 80 to 90 percent of the time, that not enough information has been provided. I think that we need to strengthen that area. Certainly that would be our clear message to the communities when we visit the community. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the issuance of monthly cheques, it could vary in various circumstances where individuals may not have provided enough information such as a tax return or a tax refund, whether it be a source of income has changed or there has been a deposit into their bank account without informing the client service officers. So there are all these areas attached to the information providing.

Certainly we can have our staff do an informal or formal presentation to community government if that needs to happen. We certainly want community members to be aware of...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise to provide an update to my colleagues in the House about the Ministers of Justice meeting in New Brunswick last week, especially on aboriginal justice issues.

I have been working with my counterparts in Nunavut and Yukon to provide a unified northern perspective to the federal government. We have common issues, common needs. It makes sense to work together and support each other, especially on policing and aboriginal justice.

For many years, Mr. Speaker, we have been frustrated at the federal government’s inadequate funding for aboriginal policing in the North. The...

Mahsi. We are willing to support the students that are entering college or university, but if they’re at, say, a Grade 9 level, then there’s an education factor in the Northwest Territories. They are more than willing to assist these students enter into our school system. We have beautiful schools in the regions, we have a new school in Tulita. Those are the areas that we continue to improve on. So we continue to strive for that, Mr. Speaker. We have to make clear that the SFA funding is specifically for post-secondary college or university students, but I’m willing to work with the Member on...

Mahsi. We are currently supporting those students that are willing to upgrade in the regions, Mr. Speaker. We have to support our students in our home communities. We can’t ship the students down south to get upgraded. Yes, we fully encourage students to go to college and university with the appropriate courses, and those courses are delivered here in the Northwest Territories. We continue to support those individuals that are willing to upgrade or get educated on our home turf in the Northwest Territories. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, but when we talk about the policies in place, we certainly...