Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, safety of children while taking student bussing transportation is important to all of us and more so, you know, when it comes to the smaller children who during the cold winter months, you know, maybe missed their bus stop and not quite sure where they are.
So will the Minister of ECE confirm who is responsible for developing student bussing policies? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Education Act lays out the various responsibilities of the department as well as education, the DECs and DEAs. And so it would be the DEAs who are responsible for developing their own bussing policies however there's always supports available from the regional body or from ECE if it is needed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sometimes the policies, at least some I've looked at, they're very vague and, you know, they may just be a couple of lines.
So will the Minister confirm if a student bussing policy lays out responsibilities of the DEA, bussing contractors, students, and parents or caregivers, and the GNWT as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A bussing policy can touch on many of those things. It doesn't necessarily have to have all of those things. There are different ways that education bodies go about providing bussing. So sometimes there is a contractor, sometimes the bus is owned by the education body, so it really depends on the situation. But I'm sure there's best practices that we would like all the DEAs to follow. And, again, the department's always happy to provide any sort of assistance when DEAs want to develop these policies. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm who is ultimately responsible for the safety of those persons using student bussing? Is it the department, the DEA, or the bussing contractor? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Safety is everybody's responsibility. And so the bussing depending on how things are structured, you know, the bussing contractor could be responsible for the safe operation of the bus, the technical status of the bus. Education bodies are responsible for developing the policies. But ultimately the department is responsible for ensuring that education bodies are developing policies in accordance with the legislation. So ultimately the GNWT is responsible. Whether or not the Act lays out a framework that makes that easy for us to be responsible and puts the authorities in the right places is a different conversation. But that is the situation. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm that he will have his department ensure that all DEAs have in place a comprehensive student bussing policy that sets out the rules and responsibilities for the DEA, bussing contractor, students, parents or caregivers, and any other, you know, people or things that would be included in there? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I could say that I would ensure that DEAs have all the appropriate policies in place but my authority doesn't allow me to dictate to DEAs which policies they should have in place. We're happy to work with DEAs and encourage them to develop policies. If a DEA doesn't have a bussing policy, we can look at other bussing policies and provide those as templates, we can outline which policies DEAs should have, but ultimately it is up to the DEA. I know that in Hay River the DEA is working on improving their bus policy so at least in the Member's constituency that work, from what I understand, is well underway. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
