Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to respond to the Commissioner's Address to discuss equity for Indigenous people in terms of equal treatment in terms of improving reality. I want to ask whether we deny students in our small communities - especially our Indigenous children -- Indigenous students - the chance at a proper education?

My first Member statement during this Fall Session addressed the legacy of unequal education that began with residential schools and continues to the present day. Inequity begins in early education, Mr. Speaker, and lasts through secondary. We see this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, being here, we -- we are not here only for us, you know. We have to keep in mind the people, especially the young children, we are here for the future generations. We have -- every decision that we make here, we have to keep the future generation in mind, the little children, the babies that are not born yet. What kind of life do we want them to live in the future, you know? I know we want something bigger, better for them, that -- and it's not just only to this legislature. It's also -- it also goes for other government as well. For example, Indigenous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Tina Apples from Gameti and Elizabeth Romie from Whati. And also, I would like to -- earlier I said Scott Tetso. It's Dahti Tsetso. sorry about that. So I like to.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to looking at the condition of the Mezi School in Whati?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us what is the current demand versus the capacity of the Mezi School? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about the condition of the Mezi Community School in Whati. It is one of the older schools in our region.

So, Mr. Speaker, this school is no longer adequate to meet the needs of the community, and I would like to see something done about that. The Mezi School in Whati was originally built to serve elementary school children. It was not built to accommodate high school students however that is what it is doing now. So the school is even home to Aurora College programming which is taking up needed classroom space. Currently, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am -- I do support this bill as well. I am pleased. I know that there's a lot of people are going to benefit from it in NWT. I know everyone's going to benefit from it. So I am pleased to see the good working relationship between the Cabinet and Indigenous government which we never had before. So it's -- so we are making progress. So I am quite pleased about that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do support -- I support this motion as well. The health care system in the NWT, especially in small communities, needs major improvements. Mr. Speaker, we want living in the small communities -- we want Cadillac services. We've been living with the Ford Focus services for a long time, you know, like, I mean, in the process -- in the process, our people are not getting the treatment they deserve. Some of our people are getting more sicker or misdiagnosed, you know, and we heard so many stories about medical travel too as well, you know, and the problem...

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to ensuring the school receives the retrofitting that it requires? Thank you?

Thank you. Thank you for that information. So, Mr. Speaker, are projections for the demand for classroom space tracked by the department?