Debates of February 23, 2016 (day 4)

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. To the motion. Seeing no more comments, I call upon Mr. O'Reilly to conclude debate on the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have nothing further to add.

I call for a vote.

Speaker: SOME HON. MEMBERS

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

We will continue our discussion of the “Economy, Environment, and Climate Change” section. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To be fair to the Members on the other side, we wanted to give them a heads-up that there's a couple more items that we would like to bring back perhaps as early as tomorrow in Committee of the Whole for this section. They would deal with support for small business and looking at how to review the Heritage Fund Act. We'll bring those forward as motions tomorrow for the consideration of Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Are there any more comments on this section? Seeing no more comments, does the committee agree that we move on to the section, “Education, Training, and Youth Development”? We'll now open discussion on the section, “Education, Training, and Youth Development.” Questions? Mr. Nadli.

Committee Motion 8-18(2): Tabled Document 1-18(2): Proposed Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, 2016-2019, Replacement of Text Regarding Cultural Programming and Official Languages, carried

Michael Nadli

Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a committee motion that I wanted to bring forward. With that, I move that Tabled Document 1-18(2), Proposed Mandate of Government of Northwest Territories 2016-2019, be amended on page 17 by deleting the words “Increasing cultural programming and education and revitalizing Aboriginal languages” and inserting the words “Increasing cultural programming and education, revitalizing Aboriginal languages and promoting use of official languages.”

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think this motion is essential in terms of the preservation and enhancement of the Aboriginal languages, not only in that respect, but also the culture that's also related to the language and culture of the Indigenous people of the NWT. You know, there's hand games that are growing in popularity among the communities of Denendeh. We just had one major one in Deline, and a few that have been organized before spring arrives. Then of course, in the summertime we're going to see more likely more hand games down the valley, and equally so our drum dances that are hosted in communities as well. It's important that we share those cultural practices with our youth, and more importantly, ensuring that our languages are preserved in that manner too. With that, I speak in favour of this motion. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Any more comments or questions on the motion?

Speaker: SOME HON. MEMBERS

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

We'll now continue on our discussion. I have the “Education, Training, and Youth Development” section. Are there any comments or questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Committee Motion 9-18(2): Tabled Document 1-18(2): Proposed Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, 2016-2019, Addition of Text Regarding French Language Education, carried

Mr. Chair, I believe I have another motion here to amend the mandate document. I move that Tabled Document 1-18(2), Proposed Mandate of Government of Northwest Territories 2016-2019, be amended on page 18 by inserting the words “We will work collaboratively with the NWT's francophone community to support French language education.” Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. A motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I do want to recognize the efforts of the new Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and I know that he has spoken in the House about how the new government is working more collaboratively with the francophone community in terms of the ministerial directive. I know that it's been raised in the House here about the importance of working with local education authorities collaboratively as well. This is an important motion, I know, for myself and my riding as Ecole Allain St-Cyr is in my riding, and I know that they are working with the new Minister to address francophone education. I think having this in our mandate is a good thing and will provide some support for the Minister's ongoing activities in this area. So once again, I do want to thank the Minister for his efforts. Sometimes I don’t always say nice things about the other side of the House, but certainly I do want to recognize the efforts of the Minister, and all the Ministers, but in this case I think it's something I wanted to point out in particular. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. To the motion. Mr. Testart.

Kieron Testart

Range Lake

[English translation not provided] I'm very proud to have a francophone background in my own heritage and to have attended immersion French language schooling in the Northwest Territories. I think we have a lot of work to do on this issue. Members have spoken about this already in the short life of this Assembly and it's something we have to continue to support and to push forward on. The francophone community call themselves “les tenois,” which is a wonderful way to say who we are as people from the Northwest Territories, much better than the cumbersome Northwest Terronian that exists in English. They're proud members of our community and an important part of history and our heritage, and supporting French language education is a continuance of that heritage. I'm very pleased to speak in support of this motion. Merci.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Are there any more comments to the motion? To the motion. Mr. O’Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don’t want to belabour this, but I also have a personal connection with this as I am quarter French Canadian. [English translation not provided.] I'll try to speak a little bit of French occasionally in this House, but also, my children did go through Ecole Allain St-Cyr. They did not have access to a gym and special classrooms, but I'm hoping that we can put that sort of stuff behind us and move forward in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration with the francophone community here in the Northwest Territories. Merci.

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. We will put this to a vote. To the motion. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

We'll continue our discussion of “Education, Training and Youth Development.” Are there any more comments on this section? Mr. Beaulieu,

Tom Beaulieu

Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

There's a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Report of Committee of the Whole

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

May I have the report of the Committee of the Whole. Member for Hay River North.