Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Every year we go through these changes. It’s all based on FTEs, enrollment total and if that changes then obviously the budget changes and that reflects on the total enrollment. Mahsi.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We made some changes to our income security area where we want to have people entering the workforce as part of our target initiative, and we have five employment services officers into the regions. We have slated one for each of these communities: Fort Smith, Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson and Behchoko. So, five in total. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I will certainly commit to that. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Those three positions are two linguists within the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat and one registrar, teacher certification is from headquarters to the Beaufort-Delta and also the South Slave region.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Any opportunity that arises, obviously, we like to take advantage of it. We’ve heard about this particular area, whether it be a traditional food that’s available. Again, it would have to be at the discretion of the schools to allow that into their facility. We are, as I stated, working very closely with BDEC, the Beaufort-Delta Education Council, if this is something that they want to explore and have that available to our students. This is just recent news to us, so it is being discussed at BDEC level with my officials. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Over the years we’ve been working with the federal government on having an identified Older Workers funding program. We just signed off an agreement with the federal government just recently in April 2014 for a three-year agreement. It is being spread out to the communities and it is those individuals who are 50-plus years of age, 55 years of age and older that can access this funding. So far we’ve implemented nine of the NWT communities as a start, Tuktoyaktuk, Fort McPherson, Inuvik, Aklavik, Ulukhaktok, Deline, Hay River, Fort Smith and Behchoko. I will just remind you...

It’s by community. Obviously, a community has to access and apply through the application process for funding. The funding is available, it’s just a matter of a community applying for it, so I would highly encourage those communities that have not applied to apply for the funding that’s available for them.

Taxing them is a different subject. There is funding available to us. As I stated, it’s not only Chevron. There are other companies that came forward. A basic example would be the multiplex and others. I think, in my view, we need to take advantage of these potential investors. As I stated before, there will be plenty more that will be up on the horizon and we need to work with them. We need to work with all stakeholders across the Northwest Territories. Any opportunities that they provide to us as a true partnership, then we need to take advantage of those opportunities.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This is not the first time that this has been brought to my attention. Not only Inuvik but other regional settings, as well, even the Sahtu and other places. This has been brought to our attention where we need to have a secure residence for our students that are attending at the regional high school level coming from the small, isolated communities. We need to have a suitable place for them to study and to have shelter. We work very closely with the DEAs and DECs to make that a priority for them, because we want every child to be successful as part of their education...