Kevin A. Menicoche

I think the Minister is on the right track. He does have to get out to the communities, get to the colleges, get to the community education programs and speak to the students and parents. I believe that there should be a strong communication plan when that work begins, so I’d like to ask the Minister what kind of communication strategy will they have in place before they begin their consultations and review of the SFA. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask my questions to the Minister of Education today. Over my time as MLA I get lots of inquiries over the Student Financial Assistance program. There’s always been a call to increase it and I understand the department is reviewing it. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education exactly where we are with this process. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The single students, the single-family students, the couple’s students with children all are waiting for this review. The most important question: will it be completed enough to impact students who are going to return to school this coming fall? Thank you.

It’s not only for those that travel to other communities, even though their needs are just as great, but even in their home communities, those rates, they feel it’s still a little bit low. What is the scope of the review of the Student Financial Assistance program, Mr. Speaker? How encompassing is it? Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that response. I’ll be glad to follow up on it.

I know that the Minister of Health and Social Services is looking at expanding the respite care programming and piloting a couple of programs. I see that even the budget for that line item went up by almost a million dollars. I’d like to know if that is the case and are they looking at communities such as Fort Simpson for something like that. I do have some constituents that could benefit from respite care services. In fact, I had thought that we were using it at one point for some constituents in Fort Simpson...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The first step I always believe is communication. I’m glad the Minister is willing to work towards that and work with the Dehcho Divisional Education Council. I would also ask the Minister to bear in mind that other communities are having the same issue, like Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake and Jean Marie River. Please bear in mind and ask them to get involved at some point. It’s an issue that concerns all the small, remote communities in my riding.

When I spoke with the parents and the members of the DEA in Wrigley, they asked that... It’s a long way to travel. The DEA and the Dehcho Divisional Education Council have the resources for them to come to Wrigley, meet with the parents and discuss some of the solutions and issues around their children not being able to attend school in Fort Simpson. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, we have an obligation for Aboriginal education and we must find solutions no matter how tough they are.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, during my recent constituency visit to Wrigley in January, I was contacted by the Wrigley DEA members and parents who are concerned that students who went to Fort Simpson for high school were having a lot of problems. If these students are to complete secondary school, their only alternative is to live in Fort Simpson and attend the Fort Simpson high school, and they cannot. Those that do attend are at the expense of the parents.

I am proud that in the past three years there have been a total of 14 children who travelled to...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I’ll be glad to go through the Minister’s budget for her. It’s the line item on prevention and promotion services. The budget item is up a million dollars from the previous year, from the revised estimate. That was my comment there, Mr. Chairman.

I’m glad to hear that we’re expanding respite services and I’d certainly get the confirmation if it will be done in Fort Simpson. Most particularly for families of special needs is what I was asking for there, Mr. Chair.

As well, I think, if anything, one additional item that I’ve raised with the Minister already...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just with regard to the delivering of community health programs. As I travel to the communities in my riding, the communities have been requesting, I think the communities get a $5,000 allotment for developing their own community-based community health programming. One of the communities, I think it was Trout Lake, found out that for the amount of in-house programming that they wish to deliver, $5,000 they feel doesn’t really cover their needs. They’ve often asked me to forward that concern on to the Health Minister. I think I have on a couple of occasions in...