Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, the eviction process deals with a lot of issues. With arrears there’s a lot of attachment to it and, sure, it’s not the only one area but that’s the area that we are focussing on with the two departments, our department and also the NWT Housing Corporation, how we can improve in those communication dialogues we have, whether it be the LHO or client service officers at the community level. Yes, we hear there’s a lack of communication happening from one community to another community. Those are areas that we continuously improve in those areas. So, Mr. Speaker, we’ll continue to...

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...

Mahsi. The program that has been offered by Aurora College is recognized, probably not all courses, but most of the courses are recognized by southern institutions so they can continue on to take advanced education, whether it be a diploma or a degree program. So we’re always pushing our northern college and other institutions to have an accreditation program here in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, our contribution is towards the organization and they hire their staff and they pay their staff the wages and also benefits, similar to what we do with the school funding formula. We give a lump sum funding to the schools based on enrolment and then they hire their professional staff. So it’s a similar arrangement that we have with them.

We’re happy to announce that as of this year there have been 55 successful early childhood education candidates surrounding 14 communities. So that’s one of the successes that we like to show the Northwest Territories. So we continue to improve our...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member is there for me as well to assist me. I think we need to collaborate on this, because I don’t have all the answers. I certainly don’t know exactly what is happening on a day-to-day basis in the Member’s riding. Certainly that information will be available for our department. Certainly I will look forward to working with that. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we are always re-evaluating our program to make it successful into the communities, especially the most isolated communities. Certainly we can take on the task. We need to find out what is truly happening in the communities. Like I said, we have our client service officers or on-duty client service officers that do their work. At the same time, sometimes it is out of our hands where not enough or a lack of information has been provided, so that creates more frustration for clientele. At the same time, they have to come with the full information. So certainly we can do our part and...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today is Take a Kid to Work Day. I’d like to recognize my daughter Cheyenne Lafferty who is here with us, my shadow, and her friend Alex McLean here with us as well. I’d also like to recognize, of course, Eddie Erasmus and Joline Huskey. They’re part of the Water Strategy team. Mahsi.

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 first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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...