Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
I am pleased to inform the House that next month a career and technologies services shop in Deninu K’ue School will officially be opened for the first time in 16 years. Thanks to initiatives set out by the Career and Technology Services Program, the industrial arts shop will reopen with all brand new equipment for the students to use for years to come, thus supporting the demand for skilled tradespeople in the North.
I would like to commend the principal and teachers of the Deninu K’ue School in Fort Resolution for all their hard work in making this all possible. Of course, credit should go to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the local district authority.
However, all is not well in this area. We still have students in Tu Nedhe that have yet to access career and technology services. More specifically, I’m referring to the Lutselk’e Dene School. The staff of the Lutselk’e Dene School were able to secure funding necessary to purchase equipment needed for the Career and Technology Services Program but do not have a building to house that equipment. Although there exists a building in Lutselk’e that can be turned into a shop to house this equipment, that building is the current community learning centre. The holdup of the provision of the career and technology services programming for students in Lutselk’e is not due to the lack of money for equipment and operations but due to a lack of space.
In Lutselk’e there is a new community learning centre currently under construction and the old community learning centre could be ready for use for a shop at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.
Previously the Minister advised the GNWT would be decommissioning the old community learning centre rather than using it as a temporary shop. Mr. Speaker, the holdup on the decision to turn the old community learning centre into a shop is money to operate, maintain and provide custodial services for the building.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
The bottom line is that this building can still serve a vital purpose in the community of Lutselk'e.
Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment questions on this at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
