Debates of March 9, 2005 (day 52)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment stated that forcing them, meaning children, to be there when their parents don’t support them being in school is a waste of time. I’m concerned that the Minister would consider developing programs and services to encourage children to do well in school is a waste of time. Does the Minister actually stand by that statement he made in this Assembly yesterday? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t say that it was a waste of time to develop programs to encourage children to be in school, nor did I say it was a waste of time to encourage families to make sure that their kids attended school. But there’s a big difference between finding a family that isn’t sending a kid to school because he hasn’t got any shoes and finding a way to support getting some shoes on the feet of that kid so that he is comfortable coming to school.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to admit I was lost there because we’re not talking about shoes; we’re talking about making sure that kids go to school here. Maybe my question was too fast. Mr. Speaker, I got these comments from research, who read the blues which are the unedited Hansard. I put a lot of faith in their questions, or their development of some of these questions.

Mr. Speaker, will this Minister agree to look into the problem of dealing with absentees and truancies by putting a community liaison such as a social worker in each educational authority in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If an education authority wanted to put their money into providing that kind of service within their school area, they could. Mr. Speaker, I just want to be clear about my previous answer. Many of the kids who are not attending school tend to come from poorer families and we need to address that issue before we start addressing finding those families and making them even poorer to put them back in school. The Member has been recommending that we use the law to try and enforce attendance at school by finding families if their kids don’t attend. What I said yesterday was that that’s the wrong approach. We have to be supportive of families and kids, and make sure the families are supporting their kids to be in school. But there is nothing in the Education Act that would stop a school district from putting their funding into providing a liaison person within their system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Okay, Mr. Speaker. I can see we’re playing an interesting game because yesterday the Minister was challenging me. Now I challenge him back by saying that these kids are poor. Now he’s saying the poor kids are coming to school from the regions. Well, who knows where these facts are coming from? So I challenge him to prove that the poor kids can’t go to school because they don’t have shoes. We live in the North, everybody knows we have shoes and boots here; we’re not talking about who knows where. Mr. Speaker, I didn’t say yesterday to use the law. I asked about why we aren’t using the law when we have truancies. Mr. Speaker, we have a law in the book that we don’t even use, so let’s just take it away. We’re wasting paper space by having it. I’m talking about innovative approaches, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister consider innovative approaches by helping our DEAs with implementing a community liaison social worker in their schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If a DEA agrees that is the approach they want to take, they are welcome to take it and we will support them in doing it. We would be very happy to do that. There are an awful lot of innovative approaches being taken by DEAs across the Northwest Territories right now. In Lutselk’e they’ve been running an on-the-land program, which has been proven to dramatically increase the attendance rate for kids who are typically at risk for not attending. There are attendance programs that are run at schools all across the Northwest Territories. So this is an issue that I have discussed with the chairs of the boards and we work together, the department and the DECs with the district education authorities, to encourage programs to stimulate attendance in school. There’s no question that attendance is a problem in the Northwest Territories, but it is one that we are working with DEAs and we are prepared to look at any solution that a DEA proposes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment just nailed it there by saying that there’s no question that attendance is a problem in the Northwest Territories. He just nailed it exactly. Mr. Speaker, he said use their funding. Well, funding is prescriptive. It takes all the wiggle room out of schools so they just can’t do whatever they want to do. It’s already implemented and tied to certain issues. So, Mr. Speaker, I really like this comment by saying that we will support them. Well, will we support them with direct funding to one social liaison worker for each district education authority? Will the Minister show some leadership and initiative and creativity to deal with some of these problems that are social envelope problems? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 575-15(3): School Attendance In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know where the Member gets the idea that the funding that we offer to school divisions now is prescriptive. There’s about $125 million that goes to schools. The only part of that that is prescriptive is the $7 million that’s stipulated to go into aboriginal languages and culture, and the $16 million that has to go into special needs. Other than that, it’s wide open. The schools can use the money as they see fit. We give them money that we say this portion is allocated for transportation, but we don’t require them to spend it on transportation. They can put the money where it makes the most sense in their communities. That’s the best way to deal with this issue, is to let the communities decide how to best handle it.