Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to indicate to honourable Members, one of the problems, and I respect the remarks by the honourable Member, I think one of the causes where some of the problems we have with dropouts in students is this idea is rushing at the last minute to get to university. I think one of the problems is very little planning in terms of making sure you have your financial resources in place, you have your housing organized, you have contacts through the department to a particular post-secondary institution, that kind of stuff as a result of past experience we can indicate to honourable Members that there are those kinds of problems that we have to try to deal with. There is nothing to suggest that in the changes that have been made that we will not deal with situations where people come and say we would like to go to university, we have an application, not only in but we have a location, we have ourselves organized. I think it is important to recognize that we have to set some deadlines and say we cannot have students rushing to institutions any longer. There has to be a bit more organization.

There is another aspect to this. When we know students are accepted at post-secondary institutions, as a government who is providing employment to students who are either in post-secondary institutions or going, then we make an effort to find employment for them so they can have the dollars. If they, in fact, submit an application at the last minute then we never get a chance to help them out and I think it is a bit unfair for them. All I am saying to you is that there are a number of ways we are trying to deal with this particular matter.

We are going to be sending out a newsletter to all students who are in post-secondary institutions and all students who are going to the high schools. We have info brochures which are going to the regional offices, we have newspaper ads and we are also going to be using CBC and TVNC to advertise these changes. It is not our intention to make it difficult, but to improve and, in fact, if anything I think we are going to be able to help the students much better if we know who is going to post-secondary institutions and what location they are at because our association can be helpful as well either at the University of Saskatchewan, University of Alberta or the University of Calgary.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Last year we never really dealt with this. I feel the same way as Mr. Dent does about this. This is going to change, quite drastically, the funding which is going to students. Having been a student from 1985 to 1988 I know it is already fairly skimpy. In order to change it, it is going to get even worse for the students who are going to universities and post-secondary institutions. It says you are going to change the rate structure, and at the same time you will remain one of the most generous assistance programs in Canada after these changes are introduced. Could you explain that to me, Mr. Minister? Thank you.

Thank you. I will ask Mr. Pilon to answer that specifically.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The supplementary grants which aboriginal students receive includes a number of support services. They include child care, return for airfare for students' dependents, special equipment and clothing allowance, tuition allowance, special accommodation allowance, special transportation allowance for emergency purposes, and also a maintenance allowance where the student's dependents maintain separate households.

The current structure would change that into one basic allowance. On top of that not only would the students be receiving a basic allowance, they would still be able to access an accommodation allowance. An accommodation of the basic DIAND rate, any accommodation allowance still keeps this program as the best support program for aboriginal people in Canada in terms of student financial support. If I just go through an example, if you had a case where an individual is a single parent going through a program outside of a place of residence, right today they would be receiving $15,268 from the Government of the Northwest Territories. If they were an aboriginal student in western Canada funded through the provincial system they would be receiving $10,500. If they were funded through our program as we currently redesign it, they would be funded at the level of $16,471. So, there are some adjustments on the upward side for particularly students who have dependents.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On an individual basis, is the rate going to be lower that the current level?

I will ask Mr. Pilon to respond.

In certain cases it would be equal to what they are receiving current, and in certain cases they would be receiving a little more than what they are currently receiving. Again, I can say, assuming a student is from the Northwest Territories and is an aboriginal person, what they would currently receive would be $7,495. If they were under the INAC program they would be eligible for $9,141.

I was going to talk about the rates, it would be nice to get that information. Publicity is the other area I am concerned about. Your document basically indicates the program is kicking in this year. It is nearly April 15, so we have approximately two months for students for the upcoming year to apply and this is going to require a massive publicity campaign to hit the high schools and our existing students.

The other area of concern and it is not mentioned in here is the area of post-secondary programs. Staff and employee training, how do they apply for training and what programs are in place? I know it was quite restricted last year, there were cutbacks made. It is more or the same level, or what is the case with employee training programs and post-secondary.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the matter of publicity, I agree with my honourable colleague. You have to also understand that I did not, in fact, intend to proceed with this, and probably could have proceeded much earlier but decided to delay this matter. I think it was important that Members had some advice which they could give to me. On the matter of publicity, we are going to utilize TVNC, we are going to use CBC radio, we are going to use newspaper advertisements. We are now concluding the information brochures of the high schools and for counsellors. We are concluding information brochures to all regional offices for advanced education. We have done a newsletter. Whatever the decision is here, I have a newsletter which I am ready to sign to send out to all of our students immediately after this session.

On the matter of the increase to staff training, the budget indicated that there was no changes in that particular area in terms of numbers.

Thank you. Are there any general comments? Is this committee agreed that Minister's Statement 88-12(3), Changes to the Student Financial Assistance Program is concluded. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. I would like to thank the Minister and his witness. What is the wish of the committee? Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can we address Tabled Document 2-12(3), The Justice House - Report of the Special Advisor on Gender Equality.

Is this committee agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed