Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. First of all I think we need to be proud of our northern college that we have here in the North, the three campuses that we have. I would consider them as a college and also a university because we do deliver university programs, degree programs that we’re actively pursuing and other programs as well. So with the standalone university, I think we already see that in the Northwest Territories. Every time we meet with the board of governors, certainly that topic of discussion has been discussed and it’s part of a long-term planning basis for the whole Northwest Territories...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have Mark Aitken, director of legislation. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the purpose of Bill 15, the Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.

Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:

a)

it must not be controversial;

b)

it must not involve the spending of public funds;

c)

it must not prejudicially affect rights;

d)

it must create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

Departments responsible for the various statutes being...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have Mark Aitken, director of legislation, and Gary MacDougall, director of legal registries. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 2, Settlement of International Investment Disputes Act. The purpose of the bill is to provide for adoption in the Northwest Territories of the Convention on the Settlement on Investment Disputes between States and National of Other States. The convention established the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an institution of the World Bank, in the belief that the centre would promote international investment, especially in developing countries where people are fearful of investing because...

Certainly part of the long-term plans that we talked about within our department and also with the board of governors with Aurora College is strengthening our program delivery through Aurora College. The three campuses that we have here in the Northwest Territories, we need to strengthen that and make it exposed to all the students that are here in the Northwest Territories. Also, we have students from outside the Northwest Territories that attend our college as well. It has been a northern college recognition also going on to national recognition as a college. We do offer university courses...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There are different pots of funding that we provide to daycare establishments, whether it be for profit or not-for-profit organization. I can certainly share that information with the Members on the criteria of the funding. I don’t have that information with me right now, but I can certainly provide the detailed information on the program, the criteria, the funding distribution to the organizations.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to announce new services from the Department of Justice to help families in transition. These services are the first steps in longer-term project design to create an effective and accessible family law framework for more choices for families.

For many people, the court system works well, but it’s only one option. It can be expensive and time consuming. As Members know, mediation offers parents an alternative. They talk to each other, work out their issues, like where the kid will live, visitation, financial support and how they will continue...

Our goal is definitely to look out for the children at hand. We want them to succeed at life. Certainly throughout the North that’s our goal, the primary goal; to look after those children and their well-being and so forth. Certainly this area that the Member is alluding to, we continue to have the discussion on again improving our program. On a going-forward basis, those are the discussions we will be having during the business planning process and having dialogue with the federal government and FMB on improving our programs.