Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to address my questions today to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to follow up on my statement where I talked about the amendments to the Education Act. I stated in my statement that the issue of bullying and cyber-bullying is not just an issue that belongs within the Education department or within our schools. It is a societal issue.
I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not – albeit I’m glad that we have these amendments going forward – the Minister and or other departments within the government are considering plans for other legislation. I’d like to ask the Minister how he intends to address bullying in the workplace, for instance. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Since there was a request by the standing committee of this Legislative Assembly, we’ve initiated our own research and conducted various analyses, and I’ll say engaged the general public, as well, and also the standing committee went out to seek information and input from the general public. The legislation and Safe Schools Plan have been developed through this process. It is an area that pertains to my Education portfolio, where we’re going to be amending our Education Act.
When we talk about territorial-wide, it’s beyond my mandate. What we’re focusing on is the Education Act alone because it pertains to the schools and the teachers that we’re responsible for. If it’s beyond the other departments, I’m working closely with the Justice department, as well, if that’s the case, to initiate the process. We are working closely with the standing committee on those changes as we move forward. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t hear an answer to my question there, except I think it was a no. But the Minister said that the amendments that have been developed are dealing with stuff that falls within his department, but I’m sure that this issue was discussed at Cabinet before the amendments were brought forward. So I still put the question out there: How is this government going to address workplace bullying, because it does exist there, and how is this government going to address bullying that happens outside of our schools?
One of the things that is quite evident when you look at the literature around bullying, is that bullying is the result of a problem; that an individual has a difficulty, that they have run into some kind of maybe it’s a mental health issue or another issue, and it needs to be addressed. The root causes of bullying are something which are not really spoken about.
I’d like to ask the Minister what are in the plans of the Education department if these amendments are passed. What are the plans of the department to address the root causes for victims, for bullies and for bystanders? Thank you.
Mahsi. This is, I believe, in my view, a gradual step towards dealing with the bullying issue in our schools. Also, working with the Justice department, because the Justice department works closely with the federal government, whether it be the cyber-bullying, there’s other legislation within the Justice department that we need to work closely with.
At the same time, in 2003 we established the NWT Safe Schools Working Group that consists of DEAs, DECs, NWTTA, MACA, the Human Rights Commission, Health and Social Services and Justice. This is an active committee that is engaged when we talk about the whole legislation. Also, the territorial Safe Schools Action Plan has been developed through this process. So, if we’re talking beyond the schools, then that’s out of my mandate. My mandate is to deal with the Education Act and make some amendments to that, and I need to work closely with the Justice department when we talk about other department jurisdictions, because we have to deal with the Human Resource department as well. Thank you.
I am, unfortunately, dismayed to hear the Minister say, not in my backyard. I would hope that he, as a Minister, that if bullying is important to him, that he would push it with the other Ministers and bring forward some legislation to address the bigger issue of bullying.
One of the things, though, that was in the motion which the House passed in February of 2012, part of the motion spoke to an education and awareness campaign. It was asked for and it was intended to be territory-wide.
I would like to ask the Minister what plans are in place to put in place an education and awareness campaign on bullying and cyber-bullying. Thank you.
To deal with the bullying in schools, it is very important to us. We need to eliminate the bullying in schools. As the Minister responsible for Education, it is very important to me.
With respect to the media, how we are going to correspond and the communications plan for education awareness, we are moving forward on those action plans. We need to develop communication tools so we can work with the DECs, MACA, the Justice department, Health and Social Services and other departments that are responsible for their part in this as well. We are doing what we can to deal with the bullying in our schools and also in our communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Colleagues, before we go on today, I would like to recognize Mr. Gerald Gerrand in our House today, our Conflict of Interest Commissioner, who is in the gallery with us today. Welcome, Mr. Gerrand.
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And with him is Mr. David Jones of Edmonton. Welcome to the Assembly, Mr. Jones.
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Thank you. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for his response. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear in there that we have plans for a territorial-wide campaign to educate not just the schools but the people outside the schools, parents, people in the workplace and so on.
I would like to ask the Minister, he says that there is a communications plan being developed, he talked about a couple of other things that are being developed, I would like to know from the Minister when we can see this communications plan or awareness plan or whatever it is going to be. When are we going to see that rolling out? Thank you.
Mahsi. When it comes to bullying, we have to hear from the students, so we are developing an awareness campaign that will give a voice to the students themselves, and also speaking about the truth and the hurt involved when people are bullied. So these are some of the areas that we are moving forward on, on awareness. With respect to dates, I will have to get back to the Member on the exact date that it will be distributed.
Again, we are working with different departments and different organizations, because when we talk about bullying, it is very broad, so we are moving forward on this through our Education Act amendments. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
