Mr. Speaker, I said earlier I acquired a document entitled NWT Schools Capital Needs Assessment Summary dated April 2003. It states that by 2018, JBT shall be reviewed to determine if further renovations are worthwhile or if a replacement building is necessary. Can the Minister tell us if a technical evaluation was done to JBT Tyrrell in 2018 or any time since, or if one is being planned any time soon? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture, and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last technical evaluation for JBT was done in 2005. And I'm not aware of plans to do another one. There have been no major issues identified with this school. Issues are identified by the regional Infrastructure staff who regularly work with the school and maintain it through reports from the staff at the school, through observations from ECE staff when they're in the school, and Infrastructure has a database that produces a rating of schools, and the rating for JBT is based on its deferred maintenance and its condition, and the rating for JBT is .52, which is really right in the middle of the pack when it comes to all of our 49 schools. I think it's in better shape than about 21 other schools. And no major issues have been identified with this school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the consensus I received from the constituents of Fort Smith is that JBT is the biggest priority to replace first because of the age of the school, the whole idea that it served as residential schools for the residents of Grandin Hall and Grandin College. Would the Minister take this into consideration when assessments on priorities are done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT uses a capital planning process when looking at what infrastructure to replace. It takes into consideration the following criteria: In order of importance, protection of people, protection of access, protection of environment, financial investments, and program needs or requirements. That being said, the fact that this school was a residential school is definitely something that we take into consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if the Department of Education has ever received any concerns about from people about the fact that JBT Tyrrell is a former residential school and is still being actively used as a school today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Member just brought concerns to me, and she's a representative of the people so I have to say yes, I've heard concerns from the people. The South Slave Divisional Educational Council has also reported they have occasionally received similar concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, PWK and JBT Tyrrell are the oldest schools in the Northwest Territories. Their increasing age, along with the historical baggage they carry as former residential schools, is becoming more challenging for Fort Smith as time goes on. For these reasons, Fort Smith is in need of a brand new school for both elementary and high school students. Does the Minister agree with these reasons that Fort Smith needs new schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, we can't ignore the fact that the schools were residential schools. But in terms of the age of the facilities and the technical status of them, they are in very good condition. You know, they what the what we don't do well is we don't keep up appearances well. So we don't refresh schools with new paint and those kind of things to make them look new but, really, the school itself is solid. And, you know, any new school would likely be, you know, significantly smaller. You know, the two schools might turn into one school based on the fact that they're both at about 50 percent utilization and that back then schools were built much bigger. So there's a lot of things to consider when we talk about whether or not, you know, we want to replace schools. But right now, technically, there's no need to replace the schools. They're solid pieces of infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
