Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am the second-youngest member of this 18th Legislative Assembly, but that is not saying much. In fact, my days of being considered a youth are long gone. However, Mr. Speaker, I was elected to represent all of the constituents of Hay River North, not just those who can vote, so, while I may be old, I cannot afford to be out of touch.
That is why this past Monday, over the lunch hour, I held a constituency meeting at Diamond Jenness Secondary School that was exclusively for students. Fourteen students attended, mostly from grades 8 to 10. I was a little worried that maybe they were only there for the free pizza, but, Mr. Speaker, my fears were unfounded. They were definitely there to talk about the issues. I spoke for a couple minutes about how our system of government works and then opened up the floor, and, for the rest of the hour, I listened to their concerns and answered questions. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the issues revolved around education.
I heard first-hand about how they were directly affected in terms of workload and their ability to succeed by changes to the curriculum. They were concerned about the lack of course selection, especially compared to other jurisdictions. Some felt that they could have trouble following the career path that they had chosen because they did not have access to the right courses. They wanted more practical education, as well. They wanted courses that teach them about the real world, things like taxes and budgets. There were concerns about the lack of special-needs helpers in the school and the need to rely on third-party funders and other students to provide special-needs support.
Then, Mr. Speaker, there is busing, or, more precisely, the lack of busing. Bus routes have been cut back so much that there are only a handful of students at Diamond Jenness who are even eligible to take the bus. Lately, they have been hearing rumours that busing in Hay River may be eliminated completely, and they are rightfully concerned.
The discussion also extended beyond education and went to places I did not expect. There were concerns about how we are providing for our elders and what the government is doing to ensure that age-appropriate housing is available. They were also concerned about the lack of skilled workers available to construct that housing and to complete other projects in the community.
These are just a few of the topics that we touched on. It was very enlightening, and we all agreed that we should do it again, and I plan on it. I have also reached out to Ecole Boreale and hope to meet with students there in the near future. I promised the students that I would get back to them with answers to their questions, and today I will start with questions for the Minister of Education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
