Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as parents, the greatest gift we can give our children is a good education. Getting a good education sets our children up for success as adults. In the Northwest Territories, the 2014 employment rate for people with high school or post-secondary education is 76 per cent. For people who do not finish high school, that employment rate is cut exactly in half. If you successfully finish high school, you are twice as likely to find employment in the NWT than if you don't. Finishing high school is a bigger challenge for teens and young adults living in Tsiigehtchic than for many other students in the Northwest Territories. That's because Tsiigehtchic is only one of two communities left in the Beaufort-Delta where the schools do not offer an education beyond grade 9. For a young person, the prospect of leaving their home community to finish high school can be scary. Students in Tsiigehtchic who want to move on to grade 10 must be billeted to families in Fort McPherson or Inuvik, where the number of students attending their new school is greater than the entire population of the student's home community.
The prospect of being away from family and friends and having to live in unfamiliar surroundings is enough to discourage some students from finishing their high school education. I have spoken to concerned parents in Tsiigehtchic who are asking for help to provide grades 10 through 12 for their children without them having to leave home. In Tsiigehtchic, the employment rate for those who don't have high school is under 30 per cent, well below the territorial average. We must do everything we can to help our students succeed. Today I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about how we can help students in Tsiigehtchic finish their senior high school education without having to leave their homes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
