Jackson Lafferty

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Again, yes, I will be looking into it. We have to be very mindful. Our northern students go south and they get sponsorship and they come back north to go to school. We have to be careful that we don’t double-dip. They get compensation, say, from Alberta government. At the same time, we sponsor them within the three months residency as is suggested here. Those are areas we are exploring, pros and cons, the benefits to our students. Whatever we do, provincial and territorial jurisdictions are watching us. Any changes we make, obviously we will need to work with them. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Over the years we’ve been following the process when it comes to capital infrastructure, but just recently there’s been some interest from community, whether it be the business arm wanting to provide some opportunity for us. Those are just the recent discussions that we are currently having and potential prospects of either building new schools or the college and so forth. Those are discussions that, as a Cabinet, we need to have. Anything we do goes against our borrowing limit so we have to be mindful of that.

My department is working very closely with PWS as well. Anything...

If it was that easy, I would have made that change yesterday. We are, as my department, working diligently on the particular policy that we have in place. It’s been in since 2000, so 15 years.

Obviously, we are supporting our Northerners coming back to the North. When a Northerner lives in the South, whether it be Alberta or a provincial jurisdiction, they are sponsored with 12 months’ residency. They have the same residency as we do across Canada. So once they live in southern Alberta, as such, they will qualify for financial compensation to go to school. So, we need to be very careful how we...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “GNWT Response to Committee Report 14-17(5): Report on the 2014 Review of the Official Languages Act.”

It is the will of this Assembly to move that forward. The feasibility has been done. All the information has been provided. The 18th Assembly is the new government that is coming into play within the next couple of months. If it is seen as a priority for the 18th Assembly, then the groundwork has already been done, all the information. The fiscal situation, depending on the 18th Assembly, how they want to proceed with it.

This information, the feasibility study, all the groundwork that we’ve done will be laid, again, for the new Assembly coming into force within the next couple of months.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The tabling of the document, Universal Affordable Daycare Feasibility Study, in May and June 2015, is a comprehensive package that has been delivered to us. We had an outside consultant give us some feedback of an affordability nature. Obviously, this area does create some challenges within my department within GNWT. When we talk about existing licenced child care spaces, obviously we would have to double that in the communities. This is information that was shared to us by consultants as well. Many communities are lacking infrastructure, as well, so we have to build on...

Part of the cultural development and also supporting those areas obviously falls within the community and working with the community, especially the elders and how they can provide wisdom and knowledge. When it comes to a grieving process, obviously we are going through that process as well. We’ve gone through so many of them already in the communities. We have our staff working with the community leaders and community elders, counsellors.

Obviously, there is a respect for culture. At the end of the day, if there is a lack of awareness of the cultural perspective, a lack of respect, then we...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There is a protocol in place, a process that we obviously respect at the community level. We involve the elders whenever there’s a grieving process. We work very closely, whether it be the school board, the agencies that deliver educational programs to our schools or to our community. There is an orientation for all staff to go through and how we can access the elders, the contacts in the community who are the experts in the community. So, that is information that is easily accessible for these personnel, the professionals that we employ to work with the community members...

As I stated earlier, if it’s the wish of this Assembly to move this as far as the transition document, then it will be laid out for the 18th Assembly.