Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The old hostel is being used as an office. The Member stated the Fire Marshal told the government that the old hostel cannot be used as a 24 hour facility, but could only be used in the daytime. So the old hostel is being used for offices, an educational facility and library and social services.

Member for Thebacha.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister still did not answer my question that I posed to him.

Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am told that in order to renovate the old hostel, in terms of electrical, plumbing, heating and bringing it up to standards, it will cost more than the current plan we have for building a hostel. A similar type structure in Inuvik cost the government four million dollars to upgrade it.

To the motion. Member for Thebacha.

Can the Minister advise us as to how much the deficiencies were that had to be addressed in respect to that hostel. Were they four million, one million or$800,000? Something in my mind tells me it was under$500,000 and that is why I am trying to get an answer.

Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, we do not have the figures at this moment. I would have to get back to the Member.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Zoe.

Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is two separate hostels. This one for $800,000 is one hostel. The one he is talking about is a hostel that is already under construction.

To the motion. Member for Nahendeh.

Fort Simpson Hostel

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to say something about the situation of the hostel in Fort Simpson. For many years there was a student hostel in Simpson, and back around 1988, I think, there was a Fire Marshal's inspection of the place and at that time the Deh ChoRegional Council had the contract with the government to run that facility. I was involved as an interim executive director at that time, and I remember Stephen Kakfwi was the Minister of Education at that time, and what happened there is that the department, at that time, wanted to shut the place down. Their excuse is that they did not have enough money to renovate that facility. My recollection is that the figure was around $500,000 to upgrade the facility to meet the standards of the Fire Marshal. It did not have proper material in the walls and the doors, and the electrical was not up to code.

We had to shut the place down and it sat vacant for a couple of years. The Department of Education renovated a certain part of it. Social Services is in the senior boys' section, for people who understand that hostel, and the other part is for the adult education section. There is a library in one section of the school; the resource room for education is in there; the special language people; and Deh Cho Divisional board is in there. The whole hostel is used at the present time.

I recall, as interim executive director, we did have a plan and we proposed, at that time, to build three small hostel units which will be run by the regional council. We were turned down at this time. When the plan for this hostel was coming up, I wondered if there was any long-term strategy plan back in 1988 on the Department of Education's part. The fact is that presently we have students from the surrounding communities living in home boarding, but we are at capacity and we need more places for students to go to. Maybe we need more HAP units in there so we can accommodate the students. But that is a different issue.

--- Laughter

At the present time, I am told that we have about 27 grade 12 and senior students away from the community, and if we bring them back into Simpson we need additional places. My understanding of this motion is that for 1992-93 there was a hostel in the capital estimates, a 10-room hostel in the capital estimates, and the $800,000 extra is for another 12-unit hostel. That was my understanding of the motion, and I do not see how some of my colleagues would think it is something new. It is in the documents that I have received, and I thought everybody understood that. Mahsi.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, we just passed a motion on having high schools in Cambridge Bay, Fort Simpson, and Rae-Edzo. Mr. Chairman, is it the plan by the department that eventually we are going in the direction of having residences for students who are from outside the community? Cambridge Bay would probably have a structure like that built, as well as other communities who are moving in the high school direction. Is that correct, Mr. Minister?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With respect to hostels, I would like to state that the Deh Cho Divisional Board of Education told us that they needed this hostel to take in the students that are coming in from the small communities. Yes, Mr. Chairman, we are planning to have a hostel in Kitikmeot Region, either in Coppermine or Cambridge Bay. We would have to consult with the community or divisional board prior to putting it into a community. Currently, in our budget we are planning to put a hostel in Cambridge Bay, but we would have to do some proper planning with the divisional board as well as the government and the MLA affected.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister indicated that it was determined by the Deh Cho Regional Council, and in

light of that, he has made some changes to the amount of the 12-bed student hostel. Was that based on the January meeting? In the first week of January the Deh Cho Regional Council met, and I have got the minutes of that meeting. Was it based on that request?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Deh Cho Divisional Board requested a grade extension last fall. That grade extension will be in Fort Simpson. They also stated that home boarding is at capacity, and they were concerned that the community will not be able to take care of the students coming to Fort Simpson. They raised it with the department last fall, that they need to have a hostel as an alternative to home boarding, or in addition to home boarding.

Thank you, Mr. Gargan, to the motion.