Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to let you know, I’m here for you.
Today my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Will the government conduct a thorough review of limited availability and suitable high school student accommodations for students coming from small communities specifically in the Beaufort-Delta?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Currently we do provide funding to the local boards, the regional boards. They offer assistance to the students if the high school will be out of the community. So we do provide assistance through that avenue. If we need to look at the structure of the residents outside of the small communities, then they will have to be part of that process. Whether it be a district education authority or district education at the regional level council, I think we need to have a consultation process in that respect.
That ain’t happening. Will this government allocate the appropriate resources for these accommodation problems to be adequately resolved to ensure the quarterly reviews and benchmarks are carefully monitored in the future?
We need to gather the information from the local district education authorities and district education councils at the regional level. They’re the ones who have all the information at the community level and how many students are attending outside their communities to regional centres. We need to gather all the facts and then meet with them. We have our own regional representatives that work for us that can certainly meet with the board, with the MLA, and identify if there are solutions that need to be worked out. I’m more than willing to do that.
My problem is I have five students from a small community that I represent where two of them have dropped out due to lack of housing. That’s my problem. I look forward to seeing that information that you are going to get me. I’ll bring it back to my constituents of the community.
That information will likely come from the regional council. Like I said, they have all the information. I’m willing to have my staff meet with the regional representative and provide that information. Whatever information we have from our department perspective we can share with the regional council. But then again, it is the regional council that is responsible for looking after the students based on our funding allocation through the council.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
