Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Henry, do you want to make general comments?

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The answer to that is yes.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think what we are trying to do is ensure people are prepared to make productive choices in their lives, and they can do that better if they are better educated. Those productive choices could range from being better prepared to make a living off the land to being able to move to a different community and participate in the wage economy if that is their choice. If people are not well-educated though, they are not in a position to make productive choices.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Do you have further questions or comments, Mr. Henry?

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have better statistics for Nunavut, right off the top of my head, than I do for the West. For instance, as far as we know, there is not a single Inuit person who has postsecondary education who is unemployed at this point in time. There are almost none who have completed high school who are unemployed. The problem tends to be at the lower levels.

In the East, there is a significant opportunity for growth in the numbers of people who could be employed in the Nunavut government as it is set up. As things stand right now, we don't have enough people trained to take all those positions, so rather than bringing in people from the South, our goal should be to train as many people as possible to make sure that northerners can take the jobs.

In the West, I believe we have a significant opportunity coming up in terms of the non-renewable resource sector. I think there will be hundreds of jobs available in mining in the West in the next few years and, as things stand right now, we don't have enough people in the North trained to take all of those jobs.

So there are opportunities, and I believe that if we get to work and train people that we can help our residents take advantage of those opportunities. I think that there are other opportunities in the course of the next few years my honourable colleague responsible for Economic Development and Tourism will be presenting to northerners. I want to make sure that we have as many northerners as possible prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Do you have further questions or comments, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Considering the time, does the committee agree that we are through with general comments and could we possibly report progress? Mr. Dent, would you like to respond to Mr. Henry?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, five years ago, we had a terrible graduation rate in the Northwest Territories. It was absolutely embarrassing. We tried the residential school solution in terms of bringing students into larger communities for high school and found it to be a dismal failure. It is early in the process of providing grade extensions to the communities to point to conclusive and resounding success, but I can tell you that the participation rate in high school has gone from about 40 per cent in 1991-92 to over 85 per cent this year. That, alone, indicates a significant promise in getting students to graduate. We have, in the last five years, doubled the numbers of aboriginal students who have graduated in the Northwest Territories. I am not as proud of that because the number is still dismally low, but it does represent a start. I would submit that the start has happened at the same time as the policy of extending grades to smaller communities was put in place.

The Member may also be interested to know that we have demonstrated that it is more cost-effective to extend grades in communities than it is to move students around. It actually costs this government less money to provide the education in their home community than it does to move students around. I would say that, given the lack of success we have had with a residential system in the past, we need to take some time to see whether or not this change in policy has some long-term benefits and effects.

The early indications were very positive, so I think we must continue down the road that we have started and give it a chance. Much in education will change as technology changes, as we become more users of distance technology and we can provide improved education to all communities in the Northwest Territories, including the smallest of communities.

So it looks like we are on the right track. We need to spend the time and the effort to follow through with the process that has been undertaken. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ningark, do you have further general comments?

Thank you, Mr. Ningark. Mr. Dent, would you like to respond?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that the first Member was recommending that we invest more in providing grade extensions in the Nunavut region. I think that our policy is to provide grade extensions across the Northwest Territories, and we are putting as much effort into it as we can. The problem we face is that in the difficult financial times we have right now, it is impossible to come up with any more money than what we are proposing for schools. But I think the Member can be assured that we are working as diligently as possible in the department to encourage grade extensions across the Northwest Territories, and will continue to do that.

The Member asked about graduation rates, and I have some numbers available by board that I could provide. I don't have the total for the Nunavut region, but I can provide it by board in the Nunavut region. For instance, in the Baffin region in 1991-92, there were 21 graduates; in 1994-95, there were 39 graduates. In the Keewatin region in 1991-92, we had 20 graduates; in 1994-95, we had 14. In the Kitikmeot in 1991-92, we had six graduates; and, in 1994-95, we had seven. So, as Members can see, we certainly don't have significant numbers of graduates up till now, and I think that there needs to be a continued emphasis on getting students to stay in high school and to complete their educations. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Are there any further general comments from the Members? Mr. Picco

I have a motion on the floor to report progress. Do we have a quorum? We have a motion on the floor to report progress. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

--- Carried

I shall now rise and report progress to the Speaker. I thank the witnesses.