R.J. Simpson

If you don't mind, I'd like to hand it over to Mr. MacDonald.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to table the following document "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 3-19(1), Tracking Post-Secondary Student Accomplishments." Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to draw the Chair's attention to the clock. It is 6:00 p.m., and according to Rule 6(1), the House must rise at 6:00 p.m., as we weren't put into extended hours. Thank you.

I will definitely look into that. We had a conversation about this yesterday. It is a very real issue that students are facing. They become counsellors, peer counsellors, who are dealing with heavy, heavy issues. That weighs on someone. People internalize that, and that becomes an issue for them. I am committed to looking into this.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is part of a broader discussion that we have been having about how we can better use Income Assistance to get people into the workforce or support self-sufficiency. The Member spoke earlier about a laissez-faire approach to business, and some of the concerns around this are, if Income Assistance is paying for rent as well as income while someone is starting a small business, that puts them at advantage over other people who have other expenses, to pay for office space, and things like that.

That being said, the Member makes a very good point. You can't get back on...

If the directive is winding us up in court or is putting us into court proceedings, obviously, it can be improved upon, and I'm very live to this issue. I'm from Hay River, where we have a French first-language school, and I've been looking closely at this file. I'm not looking at a formal review right now, but I am personally reviewing it. I am having conversations. I had a conversation this morning, or rather yesterday morning, about this, and I'm having further conversations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member doesn't want me to say, "I don't know." Well, I do know. There have been 29 individual student applications. Twenty-three of those student applications under the 2016 directive have been approved, which means that those children, as well as, for the most part, most of their siblings, are now eligible to attend. Thank you.

Absolutely. I can work with my colleague, and we can look deeper into that. It is an issue. It is a recognized issue. That is why, in partnership with Health and Social Services, we are rolling out child and youth counsellors across the territory, because we recognize that this isn't something we can ignore. Schools are places where you go to learn, but you can't learn if you are dealing with so many other very, very serious concerns that are consuming all your time and are very emotional. I will do that work with my colleague.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is curriculum in the school that deals with this, as the Member is well aware, and I believe she referenced some of it earlier. If not, I know that she's spoken about it before. I can get a list of those programs or those courses for the Member.

This has been an issue for a while now. One of the issues I find with the school curriculum is there are a lot of things that we should be teaching, and there are only so many hours in the day. When you talk to schools, they want to teach what they need to in order to take students to the next level academically, but also...

Absolutely. This government is all about collaboration and breaking down silos. I have to work with the Housing Corporation, as I've stated before. When we're talking about small businesses, I have to work with ITI. I am absolutely going to do that, and I am going to have to work with the committees of this Assembly, as some of the changes that are being discussed would require legislative changes that would have to go through the committee stage.