Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I received an email from Sambaa K’e First Nation council in Trout Lake, district of education party, regarding concerns about Charles Tetcho School expansion. Mr. Speaker, construction is scheduled to start in February 2017 and is going until the school year ends in June 2017. They feel that there is no space in the community that will accommodate all the school-aged students during this time and they’re concerned that the students are going to miss out a lot of school while the construction is occurring. Mr. Speaker, they feel it is going to be very noisy and not safe for the children. I have some questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Is the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment willing to work with the Minister of Public Works to ensure that their staff gets into the community to discuss the construction schedule since the last time they were in the community was May 2015? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker and yes, some of the 12 are doing in Moose Kerr School and in our other communities and we’re looking at the capital planning studies for providing facilities and safe facilities for students. We want to make sure that we’re doing it in the right way in terms of safety and environmental protections, so yes, the same commitment. We’ll work with the school and the community and with Public Works and Services to ensure that we’re doing this in the proper way it’s supposed to be done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Way too fast today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. However, he didn’t really answer the question; I was asking if he’d get his staff into the community. But I can ask that a little bit later on. Mr. Speaker, with the construction happening to the school, has the department come up with a plan to house the students during this construction phase?
I thought the Member had asked if I was going to be willing to work with PWS and I did answer that one, and of course, our staff will go into the community and work with the community and the school board. We’ll get our superintendent in there. I’m also willing to make a commitment to go into the community and see for myself and work with Public Works and Services moving forward. Unfortunately, as the Member had stated in his preamble to the questions, space is an issue. We will be doing a phased-in approach when we’re working, making the renovations and the work that needs to be done while construction has been happening. With the phased-in approach, the students will be housed in one section of the school while work is being done. Then, on the second phase, they’ll be moved into the other part of the school while work is being done and we will be doing it within the best interests of the students of the staff, to make sure that the least disruption will be happening as we’re making these renovations to this school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the government, Mr. Speaker and I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell the House how the department is going to address such issues as safety of the site and the noise level during school hours that will impact on the students?
The department, along with Public Works and Services, will develop safe work plans and safety plans with accordance to the WSCC guidelines and approval. As I mentioned, we want to try to do this in the proper way. It’ll be a phased-in approach and we’ll try to do it with the least disruption to the students and the staff and try to adjust the noise issues as we are developing these safe plans on the building of the school.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker and I thank the Minister for his answer. He’s kind of answered, but I’m going to rephrase it a bit here. Will he commit to a timeframe when his staff and the DPW staff will get into the community, consult with them? He’s already made a commitment to come in and I’m assuming we’re going to have to do that in the fall because we’re in session right now, but will he commit to a time frame when the staff from DPW and Education get into the community and talk to the DEA and the council. Thank you.
Yes and unfortunately, we are in session nearing the end of the school year, but I’ve made a commitment to try to get out to all the schools, all the communities over the course of my term and I will commit to going into Trout Lake, working with the community, see how we can get this school built in the best possible way and you will bring staff in there.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
