Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has been very successful in the North. In fact, we do have approximately 20 RCMP members who deliver the program in the communities. They are situated in Inuvik, Aklavik, Whati, Yellowknife, and Fort Smith.

There have been some programs undertaken in the Member’s riding. This was for a short period. Certainly, it’s one of the areas that we can talk about with the Member —it is a G Division area — if the community is interested.

When the officers are in the community, they get trained. It’s a specialized training area. If an...

Mr. Speaker, one of the options that we did work with was PWS having another inspection done on the actual building itself. The building is an old building, so it was a safety factor. The foundation is rotting away. At the same time, that was one of the options we were working on.

The next option, in the medium term, will be to do a lease agreement with the college campus, because we know that the students need to enter the fall school year. That’s one of the short-term solutions that we are working on. After July 30 I do believe there will be space available for them. That’s one of the areas...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Ever since there was a petition from the students of Inuvik that came in late last year, my department has been working with the community of Inuvik and the different departments of ENR to try to find a solution, because we know that in August of 2008 there will be the closure of the facility. We’re doing what we can as a department to come up with a solution.

We’re working on some options, and we’re also working with the Beaufort-Delta Divisional Education Council, possibly using some classrooms in the interim. Also, we’ve identified an ENR building that’s going to be...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. As Ms. Shaner already elaborated, where individuals are on EI, there are set standards of payments. Another avenue is, of course, to go back to court and revise payments if they’re not working. Those are avenues that they can certainly turn to. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I think it is one of the focuses of the GNWT, where we need to develop programs and services for those homeless who are out there. We currently do have programs among our resources. If we need to increase in that area, we need to work with the communities. We have contribution agreements with the communities, whether they be with First Nations or organizations in communities, to deal with the homelessness.

Certainly, any input from the Member or the Members will be very helpful for our discussions with the social envelope Ministers to move forward.

This does come down from the courts. We are enforcing it through the legislation. Like Ms. Shaner has indicated, there is a process of appealing their payments. If it’s too high, they can go back to the court. That’s one avenue they can certainly access. At the same time, there are people out there who could be unemployed, and they still owe money to their spouse and their children. That’s the area we’re focusing on as Maintenance Enforcement: again, the best interest of the child and the well-being of the child. There are avenues where they can go back to court. That’s why we’re enforcing...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It’s a privilege to recognize Amanda Mallon, who is here with her staff, Dave Roebuck and Colleen Eckert. Amanda served four years as NWTTA president, and she is outgoing president. This is her last month, and we do have a new president coming on stream. I’d just like to say thank you for all the services that you’ve done for us. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have to my left Karan Shaner, ADM, and Mark Aitken, director of the legislation division.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I’m pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act. The purpose of Bill 5 is to give the Maintenance Enforcement Program more enforcement tools for collection of maintenance payments. The amendment will also bring the act in line with most Canadian jurisdictions which already have these tools available for collecting maintenance payments.

Considerable consultation was undertaken by the Department of Justice on these amendments with the Law Society; the family law section of the Canadian Bar Association, NWT...

Mr. Speaker, my department has been meeting with the Francophone School Board, the citizens of the French group and the Hay River DEA. We’ve been working with them to find solutions to the additional space problem, another area we are working on. The discussion on the right-holders-only enrolment part was also raised at those meetings.

There’s been some consultation in the community of Hay River. From there it also has an impact on the Yellowknife perspective. Like I said, we’re waiting until this coming Friday the 20th to seek some input from the Francophone communities and the communities of...