Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We're looking at all alternatives. In fact, one of the things we are trying to do, as a result of consultations of the department in conjunction with IBC on the matter of technological information networking, is have IBC host a town hall type of meeting right across the Northwest Territories on TVNC. This will be one of the first major items of discussion on the technological networking system that will involve schools and communities. We are experimenting with the idea of a town hall meeting in conjunction with TVNC and IBC, which is coordinating that event.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi. There has been a lot of work done. As the Minister mentioned, it has been two years in the making and we now have a printed document called a strategy. There could be a tendency on the part of bureaucrats to say, we have done the work, here's the strategy and that's it. I say that people in the north want to know what is happening. We've come up with a strategy, we've given our input, we've printed a document, so what's going to happen now with our children, in terms of education?

Can the Minister assure me that there will more discussions with parents about the implementation of this strategy?

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, just so the general public knows, there was even a forum of students who discussed the document. It was our view, and certainly my view, that student contribution to the development of education programming in the north was very, very critical.

And, just so that Members are aware, when we had the national forum on education in Montreal, it was on my encouragement and insistence that we had a representative of the student population of the Northwest Territories. I believe, as the honourable Member believes, that the students are critical to the success of the strategy. I do want to say to the honourable Member that I want to give credit to those people who did a lot of work. Sometimes we have a tendency of saying they are bureaucrats and, as such, they don't pay a lot of attention to the communities. But, in this particular case, I would have to say to the honourable Member that the staff, particularly Helen Balanoff, who was the coordinator of this initiative, paid a great deal of attention to the need of this government to respond to community needs.

I believe that we cannot allow the document to just sit in the government offices, as the honourable Member has pointed out, and we will continue to ensure that communities are a part of the process. However, I want to also say that the time for work has to begin. Some of it has begun, but we cannot sit still and hope that everybody else is going to do the job. We have the instructions and the advice; we're going to get on with doing the job, not at the expense of the communities, but in conjunction with the communities.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. That's nice, and I hope not at the expense of our children, the students in the system. Let's assume that all the work that has been done now is the basis for something. The Minister made reference to the fact that there is a new Education Act being developed. So, my final supplementary to the Minister is, what is the status of the development of the new act?

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Members are aware that during the past session I tabled a document entitled Voices: The Refinement and Establishment

of a New Education Act. That particular document has been discussed with the boards of education and has been sent to all the communities. We have received some very, very good advice. As a result of that advice, we've developed a draft piece of legislation and a summary of the legislation so the people can understand what is in the document. That document will be before the Cabinet, hopefully, within the next two weeks, after which time, I will bring it forward for tabling and referral to the Standing Committee on Legislation for additional public consultation.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to make reference to the direction of improving the Education Act called, "Voices." I understand that this document has been translated and distributed, also. Of the distribution that you did, how many actual responses did you get with regard to this document?

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Madam Speaker, I can indicate that copies of the document were sent to all the chiefs and councils, all the hamlets, CECs, board of education, community organizations, et cetera. I don't know all of them, but they were sent.

On the matter of the detail of how many were received, I will have to take that portion of the question and provide additional information to the honourable Member.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, September 23rd to the 25th, we were in Taloyoak and we saw several boxes of these documents in translation form as well as in English sitting in the hamlet office. One of the boxes wasn't open. The other one might have had one copy taken. I am concerned that even though a lot of copies are sent to the major organizations, the people who are directly affected by the new act aren't getting the information. Does the Minister double check to ensure the documents that are sent to these major organizations are not sitting on a shelf somewhere and they are being distributed to the communities.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am always under the impression that you have to have some faith in the organizations in the communities to distribute the documentation. It is part of the letters that are sent. It is up to them to help us distribute the documentation. We rely on their support and advice on the matter.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education. In 1977, we passed an Education Act. Subsequent to that, in about 1981, we set up a Special Committee on Education to examine in what ways the education system could be improved. The act was changed because it was felt that what would really make the difference is local control of education. That was the theme. If you did that, then all our problems would be solved. Since that was about 10 years ago and we have had 10 years of experience with the results of the work that was done in 1981-82 to make the big changes, what went wrong that required us to set off on another campaign to create another act?

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can't say that anything went wrong. There is always a need to improve. If you recall, as deputy minister at the time, that there was a suggestion by the Assembly that there was a need to re-evaluate where we were going in education. As a result of that, the Special Committee on Education was established to articulate the concerns of the Assembly. What occurred is clear. There was basic core programming necessary for us to deliver programs and to meet the standards that had been set up nationally. What was absent in the core was a reflection of language, culture and heritage that we needed to improve upon.

Secondly, is the issue of the provision of support for authority to schools on a regional basis. Yellowknife had had a board since the 1950s. They saw, in that case, a greater autonomy and more accountability on the part of the people in the community. With respect to that, the assessment that was made was a need to transfer more authority. What is clear, as a result of that, is there has been some very significant success. We still don't want to get rid of the core programming. That is essential. We need to improve upon our heritage culture element. We need to recognize the information networking systems across the north. The whole issue of an early childhood learning system, we don't have. There is the issue of improving student achievement, which all Members have tried to articulate quite clearly in this House. And, there is the issue of the improving access of adults to learning and education. We have done that and we need to move on to the next stage.

In response to that, what is clear is that there is still an absence of authority in the communities. We need to improve upon that.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The issue of programs is really a policy matter and isn't specified in the act. That is something that isn't laid out in an act, otherwise you could change it all the time. Having had experience of 10 years, with the result of a massive inquiry into what things were right and wrong, what is the key element in this new strategy that will redress what was wrong with the act that was revised in 1983-84?