Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, later today I will table a report on progress the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has made toward achieving the goals set out in its strategic plan. Four years ago, the department set out to work more closely with communities to help them develop quality, community-based Education, Culture and Employment programs throughout the Northwest Territories. The first step was to consult with a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including community district education authorities, community governments, Arctic College as it was known at the time, and aboriginal organizations.
The information gathered during the consultation was used to develop the plan called People: Our Focus for the Future, A Strategy to 2010. The strategy describes the vision we developed with our various partners as well as a plan for achieving that vision. That vision is built on seven strategic points: to improve support to communities to achieve their culture, heritage and language goals; to provide people in all communities with access to public information networks; to build a comprehensive early childhood learning system; to improve student achievement; to improve access for adults to learning and work; to develop a flexible, comprehensive Northwest Territories system of post-secondary learning; and to ensure a lasting impact from learning and human resource development.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform this Assembly that the department and our partners have already made significant progress towards these goals. But the report also shows that there is still much work to be done. When the Strategic Plan was being developed, we recognized that the world would be a different place by the year 2010. The creation of two territories, self-government and community empowerment have the potential to change many of the current programs. The evolution of information technology will also continue to change how we do our work. The strategy was therefore designed to be flexible enough to accommodate the changes northerners will face, yet enable us to achieve the goals we set ourselves.
Mr. Speaker, the key to reaching these goals will be the continued cooperation of all stakeholders as we work to help northerners develop the skills and knowledge they will need to meet the challenges of the next century. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.