Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’ve long stood up here and debated with the Minister of Education about the need for a new school for Trout Lake. I think our last discussion in this House was last October. I would like to ask what the Minister has done to advance the Trout Lake new school replacement project since then.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Trout Lake school, Charles Tetcho School, has a capacity of 20 students at this point. It does have up to 33 students that we have a capacity for at that size. Right now it’s at 61 percent for 2011-2012 enrolment figures. Based on that, from the information I have there’s not much need for additional space requirement. However, I have committed to the Member and will be visiting his constituency, and I want to look at the actual facility itself and discuss further how we can move that along expeditiously. As the Member indicated, 2018 is far away, but that’s an area we continue to work with with the MLAs during the capital planning process. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I’ve also long made the case that that is not a school in Trout Lake. The old one had burned down. The school is being housed in the community centre right now, and our government has committed to replace that school, and that’s what I’m asking the Minister today.
So I’d like to ask the Minister, given that, when will this government replace that school in Trout Lake.
Again, it’s based on the capacity of the students in the schools for the Northwest Territories. We deal with 49 schools and the Charles Tetcho School was constructed in 1993, so it is almost 20 years now and that’s an area that we need to re-evaluate, the number of students in a school and also the population in a community.
Again, I will be visiting the community and looking at the school, and we can discuss further what the next steps should be. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I’m trying to point out to the Minister that, for example, if a school had burned down in Yellowknife and they put them in the community hall, how long would it take them to replace that school.
So I’d like to ask the Minister once again, when will that school be replaced for a new stand-alone school in Trout Lake. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, currently we have the school in Trout Lake. We have students learning in Trout Lake; 20 students that are registered in school. We do have a facility. It may not be a fancy facility, but this is an area that we are closely monitoring. At the same time, this is an area that I’ve been pushing my department, especially for small schools, how we can expedite this process.
When it comes to capital infrastructure, every year we go through that. We push through various schools to be included in the capital planning process. Unfortunately, there are other pressing needs, other pressing issues that come forward as a priority.
So with this particular school, we’ll continue to push that forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It’s time for small schools in small communities and enough of building big schools in big communities. I’ll take up the Minister’s offer to come to my riding, and I certainly look forward to meeting with the leadership of Trout Lake and to show him the exact needs. The community actually disputes the numbers that he’s using. They’re actually saying that there are about 25 students already and growing yearly.
I’d like to ask the Minister, will he commit to start the work to do a planning study for the community of Trout Lake for a new school. Thank you.
Those are the discussions that we need to have within my department and with the school board as well. What it comes down to is the needs of the community, the number of students.
I did commit to the Member that I will be visiting the community, and highlighting the Trout Lake School and how we can take that matter forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
