Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Minister of Education said in presenting the main estimates for the Department of Education that he recognizes the importance of reshaping our education system in a broad way. The Minister has a large task ahead of him. The education system right now is not meeting the needs of our people in the Northwest Territories. There are some very basic and fundamental failures. I share the view of the Minister that the government needs the input and advice of ordinary Members in the communities. I hope the direction that we will provide will be considered carefully by his department. Mr. Chairman, I do not intend to take up a great deal of time in my comments to talk about English language in the education system, but there are
a number of issues that are of great concern to me, and I must raise them. I have raised them before, and they still have not been addressed adequately. For instance, Mr. Chairman, in regard to adult literacy, I have expressed my concern in the House that there is not enough focus in the government for improving adult literacy rates. The government funds some programs, but are they working? In October of 1990, the literacy strategy was tabled in the House by the Department of Education. At that time, the Northwest Territories had the highest rate of illiteracy in Canada, and 44 percent of the people in the N.W.T. over 15 years old had less than a grade ten education. The strategy promised that it would have an immediate impact on individual literacy levels, and a long term impact on the N.W.T. literacy rate. Mr. Chairman, I would like to know if the government strategy has had a positive impact. It is not enough to say, we are spending money on programs and assume we are solving the problem. We need to know if the programs are working, and they must be working in all communities, both large and small.
If the people of the Northwest Territories are going to be able to take on more challenges, to assume more areas of responsibility from the federal government, and to take the responsibility at the community level for design and delivery of programs and services, we have to be able to read and write.
According to the main estimates, there is an increased emphasis on aboriginal languages, and literacy. I support this emphasis, Mr. Chairman, because it is necessary to the preservation of aboriginal culture, our way of life. I am not convinced that we are not simply throwing money at the problem, hoping that it will go away.
What effect these programs have had, I am not too sure yet, Mr. Chairman. Are people aware of the Aboriginal Languages Literacy Programs in the small communities? I am not too sure that we are conveying that to the communities either. Are the programs accessible? What efforts are being made to reach the people in their languages? How many people are learning to read and write the aboriginal languages?
Mr. Chairman, we need appropriate evaluation procedures for these programs, so that we can make sure that they are effective, sufficient, and economically feasible. Mr. Chairman, I am sure that the honourable Members of this House are deeply concerned at the low graduation rates in the territories. We have an extremely high drop out rate. There is no easy answer to this problem.
The government identified this as a priority, when they presented their employment development strategy in 1990. How much has been accomplished since then? What results can the government present from its strategy?
However, Mr. Chairman, I do think that one goal we must work towards in order to develop an effective northern education system, is the presence of more aboriginal teachers within the schools. There have recently been projects by divisional boards of education, the department, and Arctic College to provide teacher training within the communities.
I congratulate all the players for what is turning out to be a successful and innovative program, that is attracting interest internationally.
One of these projects recently concluded in one of my communities, Mr. Chairman, in Rae-Edzo. I understand that one is scheduled to begin next fall in my other community of Lac La Martre.
The community project in Rae-Edzo was very successful. Listening to the Minister's opening remarks, I did not hear any outline of the department's plan to continue on this path. The department's overview refers to the current projects in the Keewatin and South Slave regions. What are the department's long term plans? The training of more aboriginal teachers must be a crucial component of any comprehensive strategy to improve our education system.
Mr. Chairman, another area that must be reviewed by the Department of Education, is the level of funding that is provided for special needs education. I agree, and this was a major concern of mine when I was a member of the education council for my own community of Rae-Edzo. I know that the Minister said a few days ago that the level of funding for special needs education must be increased to meet projected increases in enrolment, but Mr. Chairman, even at last years' enrolment levels, funding was not adequate.
For 1992-93, the Dogrib Divisional Board has had cut positions used to support special needs students in North Slave schools, because of loss of income that the board used to receive from interest earned on quarterly contribution payments.
Much of this money was used for special needs students, but now it is gone. It is not really correct to speak of increasing the services when more funding is needed, just to put the board back to where it used to be.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased, also, to see that the department intends to bring forward a directive on student bussing. I would support bussing being included in the funding formula. The Minister is aware that I do not feel that the department has been consistent in this area. I remember that the responses that I received from the past Minister on February 25, to my questions on the bussing policy, were that additional funding would be required to implement consistent guidelines.
I would like to know if the Minister does plan to provide adequate funding for student bussing? This is really a safety issue and I do not think that it is an area that the department can risk ignoring.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to seeing the Department of Education's strategy, that they have been talking about. The recommendation of our Standing Committee on Finance, that it be completed by October, 1993, is a reasonable one.
Quality education has to be a priority of this government. This is the key to the success of northern people. Mr. Chairman, these are some of the points that I wanted to raise. Before I conclude, I want to raise another issue, or put the department on notice, that the Dogrib region is in a process of developing a comprehensive industrial strategy for the whole region. One of the key components of this industrial strategy, will involve manpower planning. We expect to work cooperatively with your department.
In short, Mr. Chairman, at some point in the near future, our region will be approaching the Department of Education for assistance in terms of training, and development of our regional workforce. When we do approach the department, we will be seeking their assistance from their own resource person to share some of the data that they have in regards to the labour market, etc.
This is part of what my region wants to do, develop a comprehensive industrial strategy. They will be knocking on your door. This is just to advise the department that we are looking forward to working with them cooperatively. Mr.
Chairman, these are the points that I wanted to raise with the Department of Education.
Another area, before I conclude, Mr. Chairman, I wanted to touch on, is in the area of a program that the department has been offering.
It is in regard to the Northern Leaders' Training Program. I understand that the department is eliminating funding for this important program. Mr. Chairman, as the House knows, in my Member's statement, I indicated that the Dogrib region is pursuing regional land claims. When our claim is completed in the next year or two, it is of tremendous importance that we have people trained in the management and administration of land claims.
This program that we had in place, I do not see it in the current budget. My understanding from going through the documents is that they are eliminating this program totally and I disagree with the department for doing that. I think that it is important that we continue on with funding this program. There are other regions that may be pursuing regional land claims and we have got to have people in place to undertake this type of work for us and if we start eliminating this program now, we will not have anybody in place.
So far, there have been three main people that have been pursuing regional land claims, the T.F.N., Gwich'in, Sahtu and now the Dogrib are in pursuing that route. It may be that the other two regions, the Deh Cho and the South Slave, may also be going that route. So, I think that it is premature for the department to eliminate funding for this important program where we will train to have proper people in place when we conclude our claims.
I think that the department is going in the wrong direction by eliminating this particular important program. Mr. Chairman, those were some of the points that I wanted to raise with the Department of Education at this time. Mahsi.