Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that, as was mentioned many times during my time as a Member of this legislature, education is fundamentally important, not only to the government, but to the people in the small communities. It is so important that we should not lose sight of getting the parents and communities involved. In this report, under the heading partnership, more community control should be given to the communities. I agree with that 100 per cent, Mr. Chairman. There are many times in a community when the parents should be involved in the educational system, but because they are not able to spend time in school, they don't seem to be a part of the education system, although they are very sensitive to the type of education that is given in their respective community.
One of those is an important factor of educating the young people, especially in predominantly native communities, in traditional skills. I don't see that in the report here. I think this is fundamentally important to all the people in the small communities, in the west and in the east.
During my time as a Member of this Legislative Assembly, I travelled quite extensively in the Kitikmeot region, meeting with divisional boards, the Kitikmeot regional council, the KIA, and those people involved in traditional activities in that region. At just about every opportunity, what was brought up by the people who do not have the benefit of having gone through an elementary type of education, was the importance of young kids knowing how to survive on the land, especially in this harsh environment.
There are people who have full-time jobs, but on the weekends they go out hunting, not really knowing how to survive in the event that the elements have not taken a liking to the person who is out there. Especially to young people, survival is very, very important. I thought that traditional skills should be part of the system, not only in the classroom but out on the land as well. I think Mr. Gargan has mentioned that many times. I should give the Member credit for that .
When I spoke of the utilization of high schools in Yellowknife by students from other regions, I may have sounded like I am not supporting the high schools in the regions. Quite on the contrary, Mr. Chairman, I think that the best thing that has ever happened since education was introduced to smaller communities, is that the government is finally building high schools in the regions. I hope the small communities will be the next step so that every community will have their own education system including high school and post-secondary education. If we want to academize people -- maybe I can use a new term here -- then we should really bring education to the community. Not the community to education, but education to the community. This is very important.
In question period earlier, I mentioned that I know the Minister is trying his very best to try to get quality education but there are overflows in the regions. I know that because of the kids in my community, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there was a fair amount of interest shown by the Ordinary Members' Caucus in Tabled Document 3-12(5), Towards a Strategy to 2010: A Discussion Paper. Most of the Ordinary Members' Caucus are not able to be here for this debate because of the other function they're attending. So, if I may, I wish we can wait until we have other Members in attendance, people like Mr. Patterson and other people who I know are interested in this particular document. I wish they could be here during the time when we discuss it.
Again, I would like to commend the Minister and his department officials for the initiative they have taken. I think most of the speakers in this particular debate recognized that the Minister, Mr. Richard Nerysoo, has done a remarkable job in putting this strategy together. I would like to commend the Minister for that. Thank you.