Mr. Chairman, the honourable Member mentioned the fact that I was shaking my head. I was shaking my head because we have been delivering adult programming for literacy for many years, both in English and aboriginal languages. What concerns me is maybe we haven't been talking to each other or maybe we have misunderstood these issues. I would be most willing to help the honourable Member try to access the appropriate program and give ideas for programs that could be implemented in his community. We have been running programs, in terms of aboriginal language delivery. We have even been in situations where we don't have individuals who could run a program; for instance, in lifeskills development in the community. If there is a situation where we need that kind of support, I would be prepared to give the Member advice as to how we might be able to address that issue. Maybe we have been saying the same thing, we just didn't have access to the right information. I just wanted to articulate that, on behalf of myself and my department.

I do want to deal again with this issue on excellence. Maybe I will go back to a statement that was made by my colleague in 1993. When I became a Minister, just before then and coming into the first session at that time, I think through the standing committee, he made a very important statement that dealt with the whole issue of leadership. The honourable Member said: "Too many departments do not have adequate plans. And the plans and the planning process must be initiated by the Minister." If the honourable Member recognizes that, through the strategy we now have, we have laid out a framework by which we can try to address the concerns the Member has raised. It isn't a simple thing and the Member is very knowledgeable of how difficult it is in our small communities to try to bring some sense of importance to the value of education, particularly in the situations where parents may not feel it is an important issue. Most Members value the importance of education. Many Members here are parents. Like many here, the honourable Member has had an opportunity to go to other post-secondary institutions and see the importance of quality education. So I don't think, Mr. Chairman, that anyone here or myself, as Minister, would argue any of those issues.

What often happens is we have different ways of solving the problem. We have given much support and encouragement to the boards to develop what might be the best approach they could have for them to encourage more students to attend school. The first time I recall the honourable Member raising an issue in this House was regarding high school programming in Fort Simpson. Without that kind of support, he wouldn't see the number of students graduating from his high school since that argument came into the House. The value of high school programming in our communities will get better results in the long term because our children are staying in school longer.

There are some people who question the quality, but I will never question the quality of the student who now comes out of Fort Simpson, because there is commitment to that program. That same result will happen in every other community.

In the last five years, the high school enrolment has increased over 50 per cent. It has gone from 1,675 students to 2,575. That is an incredible amount of work for us to take recognition for. We are graduating more. We have to be proud of the direction that we have received from the Standing Committee on Finance, Members of this Assembly and the support I have been given, since I have been Minister, from Cabinet.

Mr. Chairman, on the issue of language education, my view is that both the Dene Kede and the Innugatigiit are going to be a part of our educational curriculum. It will not be an option. It is going to be part of the curriculum delivery. It enforces language and cultural education. I think it will pay its dividends in the long term, particularly if the teachers who are teaching the program are aboriginal. We won't have to have separate cultural inclusion programs when our teachers are aboriginal. The honourable Member has supported the teacher education program. I do hope that we are successful in accommodating the Deh Cho and the Sahtu this year. We have done it in every other region so far. So we will see the results.

Mr. Chairman, the honourable Member's region, through some very willing individuals, has produced a lot of teachers from the TEP program in Fort Smith. In fact, one of the individuals I think the honourable Member knows quite well: Mr. Andy Norwegian who plays a significant role in the development of language and language programming throughout the western Arctic. I think he's got a lot of expertise and my view is, if anything, there can be no doubt that his region is going to provide some good leadership, in terms of ensuring the success of the TEP program, once we get into it. But, it does require some planning.

The other issue, Mr. Chairman, is the income support program. I just want to say one thing, income support and social assistance are the same program. What we're trying to do in this area is to be more constructive about the use of social assistance in terms of education and training. We've heard about that issue a number of times. It could also be helpful, Mr. Chairman, to those individuals the honourable Member mentioned earlier, for those who don't read or write. We don't want to create a situation where they end up on social assistance; we want to find a way to encourage them to go back to school to get those skills. There could be incentives in that particular area. We're doing that in a number of cases already.

I don't want to go on too much longer. I think, generally speaking, I realize the importance of the comments made by the honourable Member and take them as suggestions and advice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.