(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Special Committee on Education completed its final report a little more than 10 years ago, it set the process in motion for development of autonomous boards to allow local administration of educational facilities, staff and programs.
Today there is much confusion about the degree of autonomy which divisional boards of education are allowed to exercise. There are mixed messages, Mr. Speaker. On one hand, the Government of the Northwest Territories has stated that it supports local and divisional control of education and, on the other hand, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment Programs continues to tie the hands of board officials with administrative directives that leave the real power in the hands of its bureaucrats. For instance, the Keewatin divisional board of education has been eager to exercise its rightful authority to appoint both the director of education and the supervisor of schools as its employees and to determine the terms of their appointments. Although the board is given this authority on paper, administrative directives exist which severely limit the board's flexibility in selecting the appropriate candidates in establishing terms and conditions of employment.
The department establishes what these terms will be. The board is supposed to merely be the signing authority. The directive even states...