Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I spoke about something that affects many of our youth across our territory and that subject is bullying and cyber-bullying. It is clear that many jurisdictions across Canada have been realizing the need for proper legislation to allow schools and authorities the ability to deal with the burden of bullies and their victims.
Admittedly, at this time I have to give congratulatory remarks to the province of Quebec for their most recent introduction of measures that deal with bullying in schools. I am hoping the GNWT will follow suit. My question to the Minister of Education, given the nature of the topic and the need to remove this intimidation in our schools, is the Minister and his department prepared to bring forward legislative means in the form of anti-bullying or cyber-bullying legislation in the coming months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Those are the areas that we are exploring with other provincial jurisdictions. We knew that it is a controversial issue. There have been some incidents in the past in other provinces, provincial jurisdictions. We want to explore further and do our research. Some legislation is working and some isn’t. We need to find out the pros and cons of why it is not working. Not only that, but I would like to work with Municipal and Community Affairs, especially with the Proud2bNWT.ca focusing on the youth and also the Department of Justice Not Us! campaign focusing on the youth and drugs. It all involves anti-bullying in the schools, in the communities. We need to have a coordinated approach. That is what our focus is on right now. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Minister for giving us a broad overview but it sounds like there is some work that wants to be done but is not being done. Until such time as we need to raise awareness of bullying in school in our system, can the Minister describe, because we are still working on such actions at this point, what exactly are the legal recourses for the school administration to deal with bullying as it stands today? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are certain processes in place with various school boards to have their own policies. Each of the school boards have different policies in place to deal with bullying in the schools. When there is an issue they deal with the school boards and the superintendents and also they deal with my department because I need to work closely with the board of education across the Northwest Territories to deal with 49 schools. Those are some of the processes that I outlined. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s response on policy. I am talking about legislation. These are two different things. They need to protect our students, and policy obviously is not doing what it is meant to do. In fact, I want to take this one step further. If the Minister’s response is such that we are still researching a subject which is being dealt with on a provincial basis today and we have to wait for such means, it may suggest that maybe the Members on this side of the House might have to come forward with a private member’s bill. I know the Members here are going to be very fashionable bringing that forward maybe in the months to come. Until that could be drafted and, again, if we are waiting for the government side of the House to come forward, are there any other supportive or communicative strategies the Minister is aware of to raise awareness of bullying and cyber-bullying in the interim as we are waiting for this type of legislation? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I realize there is a difference between policy and legislation. We currently don’t have legislation on bullying. That is part of the reason why I am saying that there are policies in place that deal with the school boards. At the same time, we are exploring those areas. In order to bring legislation into effect, I need to deal with the standing committee. If there are going to be changes to policy and legislation, then we need to deal with the committee as we move forward. Those are options that we are currently exploring. I am hoping to bring that forward within due time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
