Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess it has been a very long day. Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommend that the government provide a comprehensive response to this report and its recommended actions within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the Premier for his answer. It is unfortunate the federal government is going to look after this program because it is hurting a number of northern communities, especially in my riding. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier work with his Ministers to come up with a plan that we can take to the federal government to address issues of communities who don't have stores or have challenges such as transportation and freight issues, or do not have stores at all if the federal government allows them to?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said previously, I did contact a number of people in the union and in the department and spoke about this. The union agrees. We need to do an evaluation and move forward and so has the department talked about their evaluation. What committee has done is remodeled our – modeled after the statuary requirement to review the Official Language Act, established options to formally engage a committee, the Legislative Assembly in reviewing of its items or significant changed interest.

We also picked the date of saying we wanted the sitting as of July 1st, which normally will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the past few days, I've used my Member's statements to talk about Nutrition North. As stated in my statements, this program is not working for my riding. To add to this, we have seen numerous reports and articles about the challenges this program faces across the North. Mr. Speaker, can the Premier inform this house which department is working with the federal government to make this program work better for small and isolated communities in the North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we looked at this motion and looked at it, I went out and did some research. I talked to a number of people including Mr. Oliver and some of the people on the committee. Basically, from my understanding in talking with the people there is that it is a minimum of 945, but a majority, except for maybe one school presently has over 1000 hours in senior high from 10 to 12. This group, this committee is looking at it and saying that there is a minimum 945.

As my friend from Yellowknife Centre talked about, we do need more teachers. I love what Alberta has done. They have...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My general comments are going to be short and brief. We went out and went to three communities. We have heard over 237 responses through e-mails and letters. Committee provided and listened to what people and teachers and administrators said. We are making two recommendations here to the floor to make a decision to amend the bill, and at that time, we will discuss those. I will have further comments during those amendments. I would like to thank everybody for their commitment and hard work to this. It was very interesting and very challenging. We would like to thank all...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for the 150 years update. It was very important to hear that I think for the third or fourth time here. I now understand that John Howard Society is 150 years old. It has been in the Northwest Territories for 23 years. Thank you very much. However, I guess my big concern is you went out, talked to his organization, and gave them from a one-year term to a four-year term. You did not follow the same process given out to everybody else. To me, I am not worried about John Howard Society so much as the process. You basically said to the coalition that...

Thank you, Ms. Gardiner. Thanks for the answer. I guess, to me, red flags. You want to learn something? You had nobody from the coalition apply for this. That, to me, is a big red flag. Have you guys taken this as an opportunity to learn something from this? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, and I thank the Minister for her answer. Four of my communities are designated authorities, and four of these communities actually provide all of the municipal services. Again, when we are talking about this, this is a concern for me. Again, when we look at job descriptions, a band manager is the same thing as an SAO. What is the difference between these job descriptions? Are they similar? Are we utilizing existing resources to modify these resources that they are going to provide to the designated authorities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That kind of leads into my second question with limited access and the ability of councillors to actually access the internet program in order to take this training. In regards to the face-to-face training, are we going to actually bring the MACA staff into the communities, or is it going to be like the School of Community Government's other courses, where they hold a regional one and people have to come in there?