Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department has a policy of inclusion within our school system. It is governed by the philosophy of inclusion whereby all the students have equal rights and access in our school system and can learn alongside of each other, regardless of their mental or physical or learning abilities. I believe that both educators and administrators and also parents alike have recognized that this policy does not always work well. I would like to ask the Minister when his department is going to recognize that there are some flaws in this policy which schools are mandated to follow? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have heard, as well as the Minister has, many positive comments about inclusion and the merits that have come from a social context. I think the flaw is the lack of resources, as the Minister has identified. I suggest that finances and support within the classroom would help to go a long way. I do not, as the Minister has also communicated, have any magic solutions to a shortage of dollars. At the same time, I think it is something that continually has to be looked at, and we just cannot sort of throw our hands up in the air and say, well, we do not have any resources to do a better job. I think we have to find ways to be more creative with the resources that we have. It is important that we do the best job that we can, as I am sure the Minister and the department try. Have there been any creative ideas to alleviate the problem of support in the classroom? Are there any new ways that are being looked at to assist that process that potentially class sizes can be smaller? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My final question, Mr. Chairman. On the question of available resources, there is always a possibility of reallocating resources. I understand that there is a large sum of money contributed by the department to the regions and to school districts to provide bussing. Has there been any discussion with the boards that some of those bussing funds could be used in the classroom? The Minister is probably more aware of how far away most students are from class, but I have always maintained that it would be better to have a teacher in the classroom when the children arrive, rather than having them arrive on the bus and no teacher in the classroom. Has there ever been discussion with the school districts to use some of the resources that are used for activities other than direct instruction in the classroom such as bussing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it has been a long evening, and I believe we have set a record or something for the longest sitting in the history of the Northwest Territories legislature. We should congratulate ourselves on that. Thank you, an enthusiastic response.

But what did we accomplish?

First of all, a short commentary on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and the Power Corporation which is under the Minister. On numerous occasions several times now, Mr. Dent has been able to come to my constituency. He has always been available for questions and concerns. I appreciate that. We have had some major concerns especially with student housing and that. On the Power Corporation over the last couple of years, we have had problems with power outages. We had a generator problem, the Minister responded with information on that when asked. I had an opportunity to tour the power plant with the Minister and I appreciate that.

I would like to begin with some questions on the Department of Education. You have had a lot of questions and commentary on student financial assistance over the past two years. Problems with cheques arriving late, with the amount, cheques in the mail kind of situation; cheques not coming off the information system. Most of those seem to have worked themselves out now that we have Education, Culture and Employment staff facilitating that. My question to the Minister of Education is on student financial assistance and the accessibility and availability of those cheques. I wonder if the Minister could let us know indeed how that system now is working since that change? Is there any talk of devolving more of the authority of cheque writing into the regions? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on the preamble I was introducing the Minister as the Minister for Education and the Power Corporation. In my preamble I brought forward the situation regarding both of those departments under the Minister and said I would start my questions under the Department of Education and later in my four questions allotted to me, I would ask him about the Power Corporation which is also under his mandate, for the last two

years. My question was on the student financial assistance. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My second question concerns the trades programs. On a couple of instances over the last two years, I have asked the Minister about the opportunity of moving the trades programs like carpentry, plumbing that are located right now at the Thebacha Campus, to the east because we have no facility for those types of trades programs and a lot of our students have to travel to Fort Smith.

With the coming of Nunavut on April 1, 1999, we will have to have those types of programs in our region. I wonder if the Minister, through his department, has looked at this situation? Have they got a strategy in place to make sure that after April 1, 1999, we have those programs ready to take place? Is he looking at transferring some of those programs over? I think it is a cost saving to be able to educate our people in our own region. Again, it is one of the main areas that I would like to see occurring. Thank you.