Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment why parents in small communities are, essentially, not allowed to decide where their students will go when they have to complete high school away from home. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just an opportunity for some general comments and some issues that affect my constituents.

I think, most notably, I had done a Member’s statement and looked for some assurance from the Minister for the Fort Liard residents and about them using Fort Nelson and Northern BC Health Authority services given the advent of our new medical records initiative. I believe that the medical records can be transferred faster. There was a concern for the health centre in Fort Liard of residents getting medication in northern BC, then if they’re sick or ill the nurses and/or...

Mr. Speaker, thank you for your leeway in continuing debate with the Minister of Education. The parents know the value of good education and that’s why they are choosing other districts based on their own selection and guidelines that they would like for their children.

Once again, can the Minister explore home boarding not only in the district that the student is from but other communities? Also, I want to point out once again, the mitigating factor here is that there are Aboriginal rights and the federal government pays for that, and our government, therefore, is responsible as well. Thank...

I understand a bit about that, how schools are funded by each education authority. I guess my question was more related to home boarding. When students from small communities go to Fort Simpson, the education authority takes care of the home boarding and provides them a place to stay. But when the parent makes the choice to send them to another district – in this case to Yellowknife – why are we not supporting costs for home boarding in relatives’ homes or other areas? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are certainly times when our education system doesn’t support our students or support the good decisions made by their parents.

In many of our small communities, students have to go away to a larger centre to complete high school. That can be really on both the student and the parents. For example, Mr. Speaker, a parent I know in Trout Lake wants to send their child to Yellowknife for high school instead of Fort Simpson. This parent has considered the various factors and made a decision. However, the education authority does not agree with this choice and will not...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, with a deliberation of Health and Social Services.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just in terms of the review, I know that there are some successes from the Aboriginal Student Achievement Strategy, and if the Minister will review that, as well, and take some of the best practices. I know my colleague Mr. Bromley brought up an excellent program out of Finland. I just want to know how extensive this review will be. Will it be just internal? Will it be looking at other jurisdictions in Canada? Will it be looking at other jurisdictions throughout the world? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know that this might have been a passing fad 10 or 15 years ago when they introduced it, but it’s not working.

I’d like to ask the Minister, does he have any statistics or can he show any productive results that show that peer passing is working in our system. I know that the parents who approach me say it’s not. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise in recognition of Education Week and I’ll gear my Member’s statement towards that.

The Education Minister has recently mentioned his plan to review and renew our education system. I support this review and, I believe, it should be extensive. The practice of social passing should be one aspect of the review. It has long been a concern in the communities that I represent. The department has always denied that social passing in our policy, but it is a practice that some schools use.

Students are passed to the next grade, even though they are not ready...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that committee reports progress.

---Carried