Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed, if any? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Koe.

Academic Requirements For The Trades

I would like to make a few comments about the academic requirements for the trades. The standing committee on agencies, boards and commissions struggled with questions related to the basic expectations for pre-trades academic qualification. Members were able to identify from their personal experience many individuals in community settings with excellent technical skills and work ethics who were simply not able to succeed in apprenticeship programs because of the academic requirements for qualification. The standing committee felt that to a significant degree some young Northerners are prevented from accessing trades careers solely as a result of educational disadvantage.

This begs consideration of whether a separate system of technical training standards should be developed. Emphasis might be placed on the development of competency-based workplace training. The process could be modeled after, but not the same as, trades apprenticeship. The prospective trainee's academic record would be de-emphasized at entry and at completion, however. The goal would be to develop northern workers with skills required for the community workplace. Clearly, persons pursuing this process would not be considered tradespeople and would be ineligible for their Interprovincial Red Seal, but it would be a means of providing training and vocational development to those who are limited in their access to apprenticeship.

Certainly, the standing committee was not decided in its deliberations on this matter, as a readjustment of academic standards carries a certain peril itself. However, because of the unique educational and workplace conditions which present themselves in the Northwest Territories, the standing committee believed that this question was worthy of further review.

Motion To Adopt Recommendation 5, Carried

Mr. Chairman, our fifth recommendation: I move that the Department of Education work with the Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Board to prepare, for tabling and debate in the Legislative Assembly, a five-year plan for the development of an alternate system of standards for workplace qualification.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Koe.

Women In The Trades

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I would now like to talk about women in the trades. The standing committee on agencies, boards and commissions applauds the fact that two of the seven appointments to the Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Board are tradeswomen and would wish to see even greater representation, if possible. However, the standing committee noted statistics indicating that only about five per cent of current apprentices in the Northwest Territories are women. The standing committee believes that it is important to see an increased emphasis on encouraging northern female participation in trades careers and ensuring access to non-traditional occupations.

Motion To Adopt Recommendation 6, Carried

Mr. Chairman, our sixth recommendation: I move that the Department of Education develop a plan, including yearly participation targets, for increasing the number of women in the apprenticeship programs.

Thank you. Your motion is in order. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Koe.

Motion To Adopt Recommendation 7, Carried

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Our final recommendation: I move that in accordance with Rule 94(4), the Executive Council table a comprehensive response to all recommendations contained in this report to the Assembly within 120 days of the presentation of this report to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Koe. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes our report. I would like to thank the committee Members and all of the witnesses who appeared before the committee to produce this report. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Koe. Does this committee agree that this report, CR 2-12(2), is concluded?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. What does the committee wish to do now? Mr. Koe.

Yes, I would like to recommend that we deal with the item Ministers' Statement 10-l2(2), Education Dispute.

Does this committee agree that we deal with Ministers' Statement 10-12(2)?

Agreed.

--Agreed

Ministers' Statement 10-12(2), Education Dispute

We will circulate the copies of Ministers' Statement 10-12(2), Education Dispute to all Members. Okay, I believe everybody has a copy now. I wonder if Mr. Koe would like to start it off. Mr. Koe.

Opening Remarks By Mr. Koe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yesterday the Minister of Education tabled this document entitled "Education Dispute", regarding the Inuvik teachers at the elementary school, and it is now affecting the teachers at the high school in Inuvik. Yesterday I mentioned that I believed the honourable Minister was not disclosing all the facts in his statement, and I would like to make a few comments to this effect relating to the Minister's statement.

In the first part of the Minister's statement he mentioned it was at the teachers' request that the community council was turned down last November. I would like to point out that these requests were turned down after being previously approved. The teachers in question are upset because all three in-service activities in question were supported by the director and the staff, and the staff of SAM School were encouraged to various degrees to participate in them.

I will refer to the three days in question. The first is on March 12th, as a special needs profile in service in the morning, and this in-service activity was led by Lynda Mann and was actively supported by the director of education and the supervisor of schools during the course of last summer in meetings with the principals. This support is reflected in the minutes of the Beaufort/Delta Divisional Board of Education on November 29, 1991, and in their minutes dated May 24, 1991.

The second in-service activity was the new language arts communication curriculum scheduled for March 13, 1992, in the morning. Five teachers were given five days to develop this unit by the Beaufort/Delta Divisional Board of Education last spring. These teachers put in more than five days of their own time, and over 100 hours were used to put together a curriculum that is about 125 pages long and currently is not going to be used. If it is not, it will be a real waste of resources.

The third issue is regarding the SAMS language arts unit, in support of a new language arts curriculum in-service activity scheduled for March 13, 1992 in the afternoon. The Beaufort/Delta Divisional Board of Education staff development plan has been in existence since 1989. However, the board was overly optimistic in its time line, and the actual curriculum guide, kindergarten to grade six, was not received from the department until March, 1991. The school plan was amended to 1991-92 and approved by the board. This school plan was reviewed at a three-day orientation for all new teachers in the summer of 1991, and staff were assured that these activities would support the staff in implementing new programs. These were detailed in the staff development strategy.

The SAM School plan for 1990-91 was approved at the March 26, 1991, meeting of the now defunct Inuvik Education Society. Not withstanding item number three of their minutes, where the director declared the supervisor of schools can approve the 1991-92 school plan, apparently without recourse to the community education council, in point of this fact, this 1991-92 school year was approved by the supervisor of schools and was identical to the 1990-91 plan approved by the Inuvik Education Society.

The SAM School staff were shocked when this school year plan was turned down by the community education council in November, especially since it was done in an in camera committee meeting, without the principals present, who, by legislation, are ex officio members of the committee.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer now to the second paragraph where the Minister stated, "This means that teachers are not participating in school activities that take place outside of normal classes until they get what they want". I would like to state that this issue could have been resolved because members, especially the NWT Teachers' Association president, tried to resolve the matter for the past two weeks with the Department of Education and tried to meet with the Minister also prior to supporting the work-to-rule schedule.

A letter dated February 18, 1992 was also sent to the Minister requesting a meeting either here or in Inuvik. To my understanding there still has been no meeting to discuss these specific issues.

Mr. Chairman, in paragraph three the Minister states that teachers are required to spend 190 days "or just a little more than six months each year" teaching our students. The school year in the NWT resembles very closely school years in the rest of the country, with variances of a few school days more or less. In other provinces extensions to the school year have been put forward and rejected by parents. Simply put, parents want the summer with their kids, and Canada's climate is probably the main factor. It is no different in the North. Not withstanding, it was disappointing to see the Minister obliquely trying to assess blame on teachers for the length of the school year. I do not believe the Minister believes that teachers have an easy job; however, he is certainly getting bad advice from his department when he stands up in the House and claims teachers work a little more than six months. This comment is irresponsible in the extreme, especially from a new Minister and a new deputy who should be trying to solve problems and cement partnerships with teachers rather than making comments which have negative connotations and are politically sensitive.

Yesterday, or two days, ago the Minister, Steve Kakfwi, stated his admiration for public servants who have had to make do with less, and on the heels of his comments honourable Minister Allooloo contradicts the essence of these comments. Sure, we are all aware of the efforts that teachers put into their commitment to teaching and to community life. I think most teachers, or quite a few teachers, spend a lot of their time after hours and on weekends working with our children and working in other community activities, and I do not think these were taken into consideration when you made your statement.

The preceding is not the only bad advice he is receiving; it has been stated that the Minister was told by his advisors that he should not meet with the president of the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association because the president only wanted to use the current work-to-rule as a collective bargaining negotiating ploy. Absurd in the extreme. The work-to-rule was generated in Inuvik and not prompted by the NWT Teachers' Association. In fact, the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association recommended to the teachers in Inuvik that they hold off their actions for a couple of weeks until some kind of meeting could be held with the Minister.

Mr. Allooloo.