Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to my colleague Mr. Menicoche today talk about school and a gymnasium for Trout Lake, I had asked the Minister of Education not to make them wait long, because I think we had to listen to him speak in this House about the gymnasium for Nahanni Butte for about three or four years.
On the topic of gymnasiums, Mr. Speaker, we all know the value and the importance to children of physical activity, and in our remote and northern communities here, where it is cold much of the year and not everybody can participate in outdoor activities, a school gymnasium is a very, very important thing to promote the health and well-being and enhance the education of our children.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to Hay River and the Ecole Boreale and the advancements that have taken place there with the establishment of a school and now the addition of additional classroom space through the portables that were added on, that school is still without a gymnasium. I wonder if the Minister of Education could update us on what the government is doing in relation to that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Hay River school, there has been an addition to it to deal with the space issue; the challenge that was put before us I believe a couple of years ago in the school itself. Also, the gymnasium aspect of it, certainly there have been arrangements made with other schools within the community of Hay River. Part of the long-term plan, of course, is to work on the gymnasiums for those schools without the gymnasiums. Like I said to other Members, I need to work with the Department of PWS and also Municipal and Community Affairs on this particular piece of work. We need to cover all schools that we are currently dealing with. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Ecole Boreale is a French first language school and, as such, when the original capital budget for that school was obtained, there was participation by Heritage Canada in conjunction with our government, and subsequently our government has invested more capital in that school.
Mr. Speaker, is there an opportunity to secure any funding for the gymnasium to any other sources than just to the normal capital planning process of the GNWT? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this Ecole Boreale, we are always in negotiation with the federal government just on expansion itself, even here in Yellowknife. Those two schools, we have been in contact on numerous occasions with the previous superintendent of the French school and also even now with the new person onboard, that we continue throughout the open communication dialogue, because we need their support as well when we are faced with the federal government. At the same time, within our department, I will continue to work with other departments in the area of recreation, the gymnasium piece of the area within the school. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, maybe my question was not clear enough, but what I would like to know -- and I didn’t hear this in the answer from the Minister -- is there an opportunity to secure additional capital funding through the federal government Heritage Canada for the expansion of the facilities at Ecole Boreale through federal dollars, or is it a GNWT allocation that will have to be identified for the adding of a gymnasium? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, with the addition that we are talking about, whether it be the second phase of Ecole Allain St-Cyr and also the Ecole Boreale in Hay River, we also talked about having a gymnasium attached to the school through our negotiation with the federal government. So we will continue to address that at the federal level. We are, like I said, Mr. Speaker, dealing with the French school board on enhancing this even further, expediting the process with the federal government, but it has been a slow process to date, but we’re not giving up. We’re going to continue our negotiations with the federal counterparts and Canadian Heritage. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I assume that the portables that were added on to Ecole Boreale to make room for more classroom space were intended as a temporary measure. So I would like to ask the Minister of Education if, in considering the expansion of the school to incorporate that additional classroom space, the gymnasium could be part of that ask and part of that negotiation and I’m also just wondering if the footprint for an expanded Ecole Boreale could be accommodated on its present site. Thank you.
Those are discussions we need to have with the community of Hay River French school board and our department identifying the gymnasium or the footprint of the actual facility right now. We’ve added on as a temporary measure to deal with the space crunch at that time. So, yes, we will continue to have ongoing discussions with the parties to move this forward with the federal government. So we will continue to do our part as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment with the community of Hay River. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
