Certainly, Mr. Chairman, if they were able to have those school situations where they had the numbers, they would be eligible for that. In the case of two communities working together, it was our intent to enable those scenarios to occur, to be more supportive rather than restrictive. The interpretation might have gone the other way, but that is certainly not our intention.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Regarding section 84.(1) (Translation) I don't understand the meaning of these French words. (Translation ends) I don't know what you guys are talking about. I don't know the terms, I might as well put Inuktitut in place of them. What do these mean? I can't even pronounce them, it's getting very frustrating. I don't understand French.

The conseils, so there's no confusion, are committees. In the case of a board, where there are French parents who have rights to have their children educated in French, there is the ability to set up a council within a district, or within a board. It is basically a subgroup of a board. From the councils where you have two or more, you can combine them to form a commission. The commission is basically the board, a board. They will have the authorities that would normally be extended to boards, such as the Keewatin Divisional Board of Education. They would have those types of authorities with regard to the education of their children. So that's the basis on which they would work.

I must say that the conseil would also have the authority to manage the affairs of their French programming and the facilities in which their children are educated, but that would be dealt with through regulations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I understand it, in the Keewatin we have a Keewatin divisional board, if the French wanted to set up their own divisional board as a subdivisional board besides our divisional board in the Keewatin region, they can come in and establish their own divisional board. Is that what you're saying? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. They could establish a commission or a board, where the numbers warrant. In other words, there is a criteria where numbers have to be considered as part of the basis on which we move from one category of comite to a conseil to a commission. But that's already been determined.

What we are trying to do here is to make it permissive that two or more can get together and form a commission. It can be a territorial organization, or it can be one that's located in a particular community, depending on the numbers and the circumstances. The conseil would have delegated authority on behalf and through the district education authority, but they must clearly have responsibility for managing the programs and the facilities in which they are involved in delivering programs. That is very clear. Thank you.

Agreed.

---Carried

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this concern has been brought up in committee and been brought up to the Minister before, but I would like to put it on the public record here in the House. There has been a fair amount of concern expressed right across the territories about the use of the new terms: district education authority, divisional education council. Specifically, the school board of Yellowknife Education District No. 1 would really like to keep that nomenclature of "board of education." I wonder if the Minister could explain why it was necessary to make these changes, and what advice he would have to the board to be able to use "board of education."

If I could ask Ms. Joyce to answer, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In answer to Mr. Ballantyne's question, legally they would be called district education authorities and divisional education councils, but they could call themselves the board of education if they so choose. As they do now, their name is not exactly the name that is reflected in the current act, so they can continue to do so. The reason we have chosen different names is because the system is so entirely different. Also, we wanted to use one name for a district or a community education authority so that legally Yellowknife, as a community, is a district education authority as is Coral Harbour.