Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have received a number of letters from constituents who are concerned that education costs in Yellowknife are higher than in other communities of the NWT. They have two areas of concern. It appears that with the new Education Act, all educational boards, divisional or Yellowknife, now have the same fights and responsibilities. There seems to be a significant difference in the tax and financial burden for educational purposes for Yellowknife, as compared to the other taxbased municipalities and the non-tax-based communities in the NWT.
The second concern they have is that Yellowknife is used as a base for many services and resources in the Territories. As
a result, some children move to Yellowknife for certain time frames to receive these services. The Yellowknife school system, as a result, tries to accommodate the children who arrive. These children often have special needs because of the circumstances surrounding their temporary move to Yellowknife.
The school districts do their best to provide the incoming students with the support that they need, but there is little funding provided for those added demands on the school system. Again, the constituents asked that we look into ways to help finance the support needed for these students while they are in Yellowknife and away from their home communities. Later today, I will table a document containing the letters of concerns expressed by my constituents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.