Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. We do know that the graduate rates here in the Northwest Territories are not as high as other jurisdictions, and we know that is even truer in other communities where dropout rates and lack of graduations are quite high, often under 50 percent, which is deeply troubling. We do know that a number of things are happening right now. Education Renewal is underway. I have heard it's a good step in improving education here in the Northwest Territories. There is some concern that it's not moving fast enough. We need to continue to push, as an Assembly, to ensure that that moves forward in a timely way. More importantly, we need to make sure, through Education Renewal, that they are engaging communities and speaking to the people in the communities who have the real life experiences that can help develop and improve the education system here in the Northwest Territories.
In my speech around priorities on Monday, I talked about youth and our need to be bold, to talk differently, to push as we move forward. If we want kids to graduate, we need kids to attend school. Bottom line, if you aren't attending school, you aren't going to graduate. We can stand around in this Assembly and talk about ideas and talk about things we can do to encourage kids to get in schools, but unless we are out in communities talking to leaders in the communities, engaging leaders in the communities who can help us and work with us to set a priority for the children and residents in the communities, we aren't going to get those kids in school. So we, as politicians, need to be bold. We need to get out into the communities and talk to leadership throughout the Northwest Territories and find what resources they need, whether it's human or supports to find ways to encourage their people to get into communities. It has to be a joint effort. It has to be all of us working together to make sure our kids are educated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.