Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. In the Sahtu we have about 489 youth between the age of 15 and 24 years of age, according to 2012 stats. I recently questioned the Minister of ITI on the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment. We have close to 500 youth who are in this category. We have an industry up there. We have a strong need to start training our young people so they can stop flying in workers from the South. These are from all the Sahtu communities.
I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, is the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment complete so we can start doing further work on it?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There are activities that are happening in the Sahtu region and my department will conduct a study regarding the feasibility of the Sahtu training centre that we’ve been talking about for quite some time now. That would consist of education and training, the needs of the communities. Obviously, we need to do that anyway, because we need those feasibility studies within the guidelines that we approach the next step.
We have established a committee and there’s been a labour pool that’s been developed for training needs, so it is before us. Through the committee, industry sectors are part of that, my department and other sectors as well. Those are the tools that we need to work with so it can be available to the community once it’s all compiled from the committee. Mahsi.
Thank you. The 500 youth that we have in the Sahtu, they’re ready to work, they want to go to work, but they need the support to develop the capacity and the skills for themselves. I’m very happy that the government is looking at a Sahtu training institution for the Sahtu, the feasibility study is happening, I’m glad for that. The Education, Culture and Employment office is looking at the labour pool needs. The Minister said it’s available. When is it going to be complete so we can start to look at working with ITI to bring this type of training forward to the next Sahtu readiness exploration floor? Is that report done now?
Mahsi. I need to find out the latest status on the actual report that’s been worked on by the committee. It does consist of a variety of parties that are involved on the committee. I’ll find out the status and if it’s ready for public review or for the committee, because it’s a tool that it’s giving us to work with while we’re developing the study on the feasibility of the Sahtu regional institute of technology that will give us some areas of discussion as we move forward.
So, definitely this is an area that I’ll find out the status. Mahsi.
Being on the tours and being in the communities and looking at the number of young people we have in the communities and the availability for them to take the opportunity to work in government or oil and gas or traditional economy, I would think that this Minister would be right on top of what’s going on in the Sahtu. They’re spending well over $100 million, Conoco alone; Husky is spending over $10 million. The Minister needs to be on top in saying we have close to 500 youth that need to be supported and we need to support them in whatever industry and skill they need to build.
So, I want to ask the Minister in regards to this, for example, does he know that Class 5 training is needed in the Sahtu? A lot of young people want to work but don’t have a Class 5. Can he, for example, in one of those areas, work with the Minister of Transportation and say we will bring Class 5 into the Sahtu, get those young people trained so that they can have a Class 5 driver’s licence?
Mahsi. That type of training has been conducted in various communities, along with partnerships with the various different departments and the communities, so by all means we can pursue those. If it’s a real need in the community, for sure we’ll be working closely with the Department of Transportation and the community. Of course, the college will be involved, as well, when it comes to training in various areas, whether it be trades or different sectors. Those are the needs that need to be identified then I will be getting back to the Member on the information that’s going to be provided. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of ITI has committed to having a Sahtu exploration readiness forum. We certainly need the information from the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment to be part of the forum so we can discuss and start putting plans down to start training our people. Things are happening in the Sahtu, it’s going on now, things are going to be happening more so in the next couple of years. We really need to help these 500 youth with skill development and capacity building in our communities, in all the five Sahtu communities, so will the Minister have that report ready should the Minister call a forum before September?
Mahsi. In order to move forward on a forum for the Sahtu region, obviously we need the tools, we need that data, we need the stats, so I’ll be working very closely with ITI as we move forward on developing the forum for the region and providing that information that’s required, the community needs assessment and information from the community perspective and also the region. We will be compiling all of that information and working with ITI to deliver that to the community. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
