Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask questions to the Minister of Education and Culture. Several weeks ago I went to Colville Lake. I did a tour of the school in Colville Lake and I was reminded with the school of a program that I used to watch one time called Little House on the Prairie. Mr. Speaker, it reminded me because when I went to the school there were 36 children in this one classroom. It was one room and the parents are very concerned because there are 36 children in one classroom, kindergarten to Grade 6. They’re concerned because of the different grade levels that are being taught there; there are many distractions. So I want to ask the Minister in terms of this type of schooling that we have in the Northwest Territories, how many schools are still present today that will teach children in these types of situations?
The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It was a spectacular trip to the Sahtu region and we did visit the school as well, toured the school there. Yes, it is a small school for the size of the population, but at the same time we are discussing, as part of the capital planning process, we need to reassess, we need to re-evaluate the school status. There may be other schools similar to that, but those are ongoing discussions that we do have with the district education authorities or council. It will be at their request, as well, if they are concerned or they want to have an extension on their school or a new school. So that should be the planning stages. So, Mr. Speaker, we are discussing this, because it was brought to my attention as well. Mahsi.
Thank you. I would like to ask the Minister to go a step further in terms of providing what he says is his mandate was to provide quality education in the Northwest Territories, specifically for Colville Lake, Mr. Speaker. That school that I talked about still has no running water, it has a honey bucket for a sanitary facility. I want to ask what things can bring Colville Lake School up to a quality education standard in the Northwest Territories, like any other school in the North. Again, if I could ask the Minister, how many schools like this in the Northwest Territories are under similar teaching conditions for the mandate that he is supposed to be working on?
Part of the discussion that we’ve had in the community was also... At times it is the wish of the community not to have running water, but at the same time we are pursuing with the school to put in a piping system for running water because we feel that we need to have students healthy in the school so the germs don’t spread around. So, Mr. Speaker, we are committing $225,000 to deal with that matter. At the same time we need to look forward at how we can work with the community on expansion down the road. So, Mr. Speaker, again, we need to work with the DEC and DEA at the community level. They’re the ones who the schools are under and we need to work closely with them. The visit to the community was a good opportunity for us to get into the community with my staff and just to see the school, the size of the school, how compact it is and so forth. So, yes, we will be putting in the piping system this year.
I do want to say that the community certainly appreciates the Minister’s tours in the Sahtu region that we had. I want to ask the Minister about his consultation and discussion and if he will come back in time on his review and if his review reviewed the adequacy against school capital standards and criteria for the Colville Lake School.
Once we identify assessment that needs to take place in that particular school, again, DEA -- sorry, DEC -- we need to work with and to identify as a capital project as well, either for next year or the following year. It depends on the space required.
I realize that, visiting the school, the space was maxed out. That is a concern to me, as well, having visited the school. We’ll continue to work with the DEC on identifying what is a priority for the community of Colville Lake and for our Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 8, written questions. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the Order Paper, recognition of visitors in the gallery.
---Unanimous consent granted
