Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members will know by now, this is Education Week. Today I also want to recognize and salute educators.
---Applause
NWT educators come in many forms. Most are in our formal education system -- kindergarten to grade 12 and college programs -- but there are many who are not. NWT educators include daycare and child care staff, non-government organizations’ educators, English as a second language teachers, playschool and preschool teachers, elders, coaches and parents. We have a huge number of informal educators who work with NWT residents of all ages to promote and enhance lifelong learning.
Teachers and mentors impact our children most particularly and we’re blessed to have many excellent, dedicated teachers in this Territory. They love their job, they love their students, and they work hard to help every one of them to excel. All students don’t, of course, but many do and it’s because of the teachers in their lives.
I’m sure most of us can name at least one teacher who influenced us when we were young. For me it was my Grade 11 History teacher. He taught me to think beyond my reach and try to achieve beyond my capabilities. He taught me that teachers are human and that learning can be fun, even if you think you don’t like the subject.
So this week, Education Week, take the time to tell someone in education that you appreciate their efforts, that they make a positive difference in their students’ lives. If you have a child in the school system, think about how you can become more involved in their schooling, how you can better support their learning efforts through taking part in school activities or helping with school programs.
We don’t recognize the contributions of teachers often enough and kudos must go to both the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the NWT Teachers’ Association for their programs which salute teaching excellence. The NWTTA Thank You for Making a Difference campaign has grown significantly over the years and now draws in students and parents from across the NWT to nominate an educator for recognition.
Because it’s Education Week, I want to formally say thank you for making a difference to all NWT teachers and to the teachers in Yellowknife schools in particular. But I especially want to single out the staff of Ecole William McDonald School and Ecole Allain St-Cyr, both in the riding of Frame Lake. Thanks to all for your ongoing hard work and dedication to our children. We often say you’re preparing tomorrow’s leaders. I know our future leaders will be great because of the teachers in their lives today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This being Education Week, I also would like to take this opportunity to recognize the educators in the Northwest Territories in our formal education institutions and Ms. Bisaro listed off a number of areas that people could serve in this capacity.
Mr. Speaker, it’s a challenging task that lies ahead of our educators in our communities here in the North. In any community anywhere, it is a challenging task. It’s something that I admire greatly in those who choose that profession, something that I know I could not succeed in just by virtue of the amount of discipline it takes to stay on course.
Mr. Speaker, I went to school many years ago and I just want to say that I am grateful to the people who educated me for the basics. I wasn’t a good student, but the basics of arithmetic and grammar and spelling and the very basic essentials of education, in spite of my lack of enthusiastic participation has stood me in fairly good stead going forward in my life. I would have liked to have more formal education, but I came from a home where there was not a high priority put on formal education. My parents were not formally educated and so they did not, in turn, convey to us the importance of that. You’ll notice a lot of times teachers’ kids are the best students because they have that strong parental influence in the home, that getting a good education is a really important thing.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to also recognize some of the outside of the box kind of thinking that’s taking place in education. I think of the storefront high school program that’s in Hay River, that’s located in the downtown, where we did take students that were not doing well in the routine and regular process, and we found a place where they could participate perhaps in a different way, in a different place, but we did not discard them because they could not accomplish the same amount as kids in the academic program. So I do thank the Department of Education for that kind of creativity, thinking outside the box and trying to make sure that as much as is reasonably possible we meet the education needs of children in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
