Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to highlight the accomplishment of an excellent educator in our Yellowknife education system: Mr. Paul Bennett, principal of Ecole J.H. Sissons School.
Mr. Bennett is in Toronto at this very moment as one of 32 educators from across our country receiving the Outstanding Principal Award for Canada’s Learning Partnership for 2011. Canada’s Outstanding Principal Awards are presented to administrators who have made unique and crucial contributions to publicly funded schools and this year we are lucky to have one of our northern principals as a recipient.
Paul, as many of you know, has been the principal of J.H. Sissons for the past 10 years and I would like to say that he has become a pillar of that school’s success as the principal of the NWT’s first single-track French immersion school.
As one of two schools in my riding of Yellowknife Centre, I often have the pleasure of visiting J.H. Sissons and supporting them as often as I can. On each occasion I’ve visited them I’ve learned even more about their great programming and leadership. What becomes increasingly clear is that with Paul’s hands-on, caring approach, he has had Sissons school students become recognized as a place of pride, a place where they want to be, a place that they find higher learning with great success.
As a francophone, he works hard to foster in his school a community where students are proud of their French language and their culture, which instils further pride, rate of success, and impressive achievements from everyone, both students and teachers alike.
Paul, without any doubt, is a true icon in our educational system throughout our North. He inspires others to reach in ways that they did not know they had it in them. He is cherished by his students and respected by his staff and peers, which I’ve witnessed myself.
Paul is leaving a legacy of success and his students are answering his call to action as they reach and achieve greater heights in learning. I can tell you that YK1 is lucky to have him and I would definitely say the North should certainly be proud to have him as one of our northern principals receiving this national award.
