Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past week, I received many emails from teachers, parents, and students complaining about a longstanding issue with the plumbing at the Ecole Boreale portable in Hay River.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of ECE confirm if his department has looked into the issue and determined what the cause of the problem is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also received dozens and dozens of emails from students, staff, parents, perhaps other people in the community who were concerned about this issue, and I appreciate those emails because it brought it to my attention.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment became aware of this issue just prior to the flooding in Hay River, and that was really the first time that we knew about it.
So the issue that we've learned, in consultation with the Department of Infrastructure, is that there have been ongoing sewage backup issues. This goes back to the original issue goes back to when the portable was installed. The sewer line was hooked up to an abandoned sewer line. The sewer line from the building was hooked up to an abandoned sewer line instead of the newer sewer line which it should have been hooked up to. There has been a temporary fix in place for many years and from what I understand, it had been working but over the last over this year in particular, and perhaps over the last few years as well, there have been increasing issues. Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been a longstanding one, as the Minister said.
Can the Minister confirm how and when this plumbing issue will be addressed to the satisfaction of the Ecole Boreale staff, students, and parents, as those students, staff, and parents accessing the building have a right to a safe place to learn and work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I agree, students need a place to learn that is supportive of that learning. And in a supportive learning environment, staff need a safe supportive workplace as well. And so as soon as we learned about this, we started working with the Department of Infrastructure, and there will be a permanent fix in place over the summer. So in the next school year, it will no longer be an issue. It would be great if we could fix this issue before the summer, fix it now, but it's a very disruptive process. I believe it involves digging up the parking lot and, you know, the smell of sewer would be far beyond what it is now. So we have to wait until the summer to get it done but it is getting done. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if there are issues other than the plumbing, such as heat and cooling, as those were mentioned as recurring issues that need to be addressed as well.
Will the Minister also commitment his department to following up on these issues and remedy any issues found before the start of next school year? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there have been concerns about the classrooms being too hot in the late spring/early summer. As a result, Infrastructure has installed portable air conditioners. There isn't a plan to connect the portable building to the main air handling unit but we do have the portable air conditioners in place. And I will say that, you know, this issue brought to light the fact there needs to be a little better communication. So I've reached out or I've had conversations with the president of the CSFTNO, the French language school board, and I've had conversations with the Minister of Infrastructure, and we are going to ensure that if there is an issue that the school board is encouraged to bring it forward. I want to hear from the president when there's these issues, and I told the department they need to have that discussion at the officials level as well because we don't want these to become longstanding issues; we want to get them fixed as soon as possible. I'm here to advocate for those education bodies and advocate for the students, and I need to know what's going on in order to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when this portable was first put in place, I think it was supposed to be a threeyear fix. It's probably been ten years since it was actually, you know, installed. So, Mr. Speaker, when the portable was constructed, like I said it was a shortterm solution to address lack of space in the main building, is it the department's intent to look at an expansion of the main building to eliminate the requirement for the portable? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So currently there is nothing on the books to build a new permanent facility at Ecole Boreale. As the MLA, I advocated for, you know, that in the past, advocated for a gym, advocating for all of these issues as the Member is doing now. Unfortunately, there was a decision made, you know, 15 years ago that we are now dealing with. It would have been great if they had just built a permanent building at that point. But now we're at the point where we have many schools that are in need of repair. There's 49 schools in the territory, you know, over 50 years old some of them, in desperate need of repair, and so it's a very competitive environment. So there is nothing on the books. But I hear about those issues. I hear about the desire for a gym at Ecole Boreale. And I would love to give them one. I'd love to give a gym to Jean Marie River as well, to N'dilo, to Dettah to a number of different schools but the fact is it's tough to get together the money to serve all the needs in the territory. But I am going to work with the Minister of Infrastructure and with my department to determine what the needs are at Ecole Boreale and see what we can do in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
