Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize two Fort Liard residents in the gallery here today. First is Ms. Melanie Louie. Welcome to the gallery. I also recognize that she’s with the Fort Liard District Education Authority. As well, best wishes this year to Bianca Kotchea in the Social Work Program, who’s in the gallery today. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to provide some comments on the work that the Social Programs committee did with regard to reviewing the Child and Family Services Act. The most significant for me was that they came over to the community of Fort Liard as well as Fort Simpson. The residents were really pleased to see committee in their communities and they did share many of their concerns. Once we got the debate and the discussion going and the reason why committee was there, people began to understand and identify some of the core issues that they had every time they experienced apprehensions...

When I speak about immersion programs is where we’ll actually be teaching the children from K to 3 in an aboriginal language. Do we have a current program such like that in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke about how I look forward to the Aboriginal Languages Plan. However, I also mentioned that immersion programs lead to success in many languages. Not only aboriginal languages but throughout other jurisdictions immersion programs really work and they tend to support the local languages. I’d just like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment how many aboriginal immersion programs we have in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to see that we are working on something. I don’t know if there’s an evaluation available on some of these programs, but that’s certainly something that I would like to see completed. As well, as we move forward with immersion programs, does the direction come from the Minister’s office or is that work, again, with the education councils? Thank you.

The vision that I shared earlier was that I’d like to see our aboriginal communities, of course, begin immersion programs. Even in our smallest communities it would be ideal, and a lot of our smaller communities, the majority are speaking an aboriginal language, like the community of Trout Lake. I don’t want to anticipate the Aboriginal Languages Plan, Mr. Speaker, but I’d like to ask the Minister, is there a current strategy to look at starting up immersion programs throughout our jurisdiction? Thank you.

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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak on the importance of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment’s release of the Aboriginal Languages Plan. This is one of the major initiatives that our government can call a legacy for this Assembly.

Last fall I had the honour of chairing the Aboriginal Languages Symposium with the Honourable Jackson Lafferty. We brought together our best and hardworking language specialists from throughout the Northwest Territories. We said this is not just another symposium but a launching pad as we work towards...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what I am looking for. I am looking for a strategy by our Minister of Health and Social Services as well as our government. What is the strategy to take care of the medical needs and the emergency medical needs of our Northerners, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the Minister has reiterated some of the plans and some of the engagements that she had with respect to the closing of this airport.

Has the Minister engaged the new mayor of Edmonton and the new council, and what is the strategy in order to let them know that we are just as an important part of the planning of the imminent or planned closure of the Edmonton City Centre Airport? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I am going to speak about the planned closure of the Edmonton Municipal Airport. This definitely will affect my constituents directly. Should this become an eventuality, people from the Nahendeh riding will have to experience a time element important for emergency medevacs. This amount of time can be the difference between life and death.

We, of course, do not see yet any alternate plans to serve the people of the North. The media in Alberta has reported the tentative plans of using the Edmonton International Airport and ambulances, and then there is the report...