Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Chairman, could the Minister perhaps expand a little bit on how the department would assure it is done? Is it the responsibility of the local board or is it the responsibility of the local education committee? Whose responsibility would it be to assure there is adequate housing for these teachers if you expand the grades?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a shared responsibility. The district education authority is expected to look at the specific needs within the community to make sure those needs are communicated to the division education council. Then our department works with the divisional educational councils and, if necessary, with FMBS to make sure all situations are dealt with.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the community of Holman, for instance, is looking forward to expanding their school up to grade 12 level. I am sure the Minister is aware it is currently only at the grade 9 level. Grades 10, 11, and 12 are being accommodated in Coppermine, Kugluktuk. Obviously, when Nunavut comes into being in 1999, the Nunavut government will not be planning accommodations for students in the western territory. Therefore, it is quite critical to this community that grades 10, 11, and 12 be available April 1st, 1999. I do not see a school extension in this budget for Holman Island, even at the planning stage. In order for it to be in place by 1999, it would have to be in the planning stage this year. Assuming the community gave him an official request, would the Minister consider putting the planning funds into this year's budget for Holman?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one of the areas we talked about a couple of minutes ago was the $300,000 we have for small school grade extensions, which is allocated on an as needed basis throughout the year for those schools that need assistance. We have capital funds planned for Holman, $1.9 million starting to flow in '98/99. If something is needed before then, we would probably have to call on that $300,000 pot to ensure the school was able to handle the grade extensions. We would look at space requirements as being the first priority for dealing with the needs of the community. If there is a need for space, we will find some way to accommodate it and move things around in the capital plan as necessary. Having said that, I am advised the school is at 62 percent utilization, which means we might not have to advance the funds for an addition, but we might have to spend some of those capital funds to move things around in the schools so it works with the grade extensions. I do not want to give the Member the impression we will automatically have to move the $1.9 million around. We might be able to work within the $300,000 we have in the budget. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I want the Minister to understand, the community is not just asking to update the capital plan by one year just for the sake of updating it, but rather to prepare the community so if the students can no longer attend school in Kugluktuk, in Nunavut after 1999, they would have the proper school space within their community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand the Member's concern. I look forward to meeting with the community and discussing this. On March 12th, the Member and I are scheduled to go into the community and discuss their concerns with them. We have made a commitment to put space shortfalls as our number one priority when we are looking at our capital plan. We may not be able to move all of the money around. Within the $300,000 we have the flexibility to make sure we can, in the near term, deal with the concerns of the people of Holman Island.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. High school is available to grade 12 in all regions. Students do not have to travel outside their region to attend high school. For instance, a student in Pelly Bay might go to high school in Kugluktuk or Cambridge. A student in Grise Fiord would go to Pond Inlet. It is within the region.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, no. In the past, the residential school system offered in the Territories was a dismal failure. You only need to look back four or five years at the graduation rate of people from the small communities to see, compared to the numbers who were starting off in school, almost none of them were graduating. They are not going to get to go to southern colleges or universities unless they graduate in the first place. We have more than doubled the graduation rate in the past five years. Our participation rate in high school has jumped from 40 percent to over 80 percent. That indicates if they are not participating in school, they do not have any chance of carrying on. First and foremost, you have to get people to stay in school. We were being totally unsuccessful at keeping them in school when they had to leave their home communities. Now, when they can stay in their communities, they are, for the most part, staying in school. That gives us a much better chance of being successful with them moving on to a higher education, if that is what they choose. Let us not forget there are all sorts of options that do not include going to a southern university. There are probably more jobs in the north related to not going to university, than going to a southern university. Those who do choose to go south, we have to find some way to support them in order to improve their chances of success. In the past, we had almost nobody to support, because they were not graduating. The grade extensions in each community have made a dramatic difference to the numbers of students who are staying in school. That is the first step in seeing a long-term educational success.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The students still have to meet the same requirements to graduate as all other students. The Member asks specifically about science and lab. One of the things the $300,000 is used for is to purchase a lab in a box. It is a modular science lab which can be shipped to a school. As long as we have a few students who are interested in science, we have something available for them to use. We are going to be depending on distance technology to ensure the full spectrum of courses are offered to students in the smallest of communities. It would be difficult to expect in the smallest of communities that one teacher will be able to knowledgeably deal with absolutely every subject, but they are qualified to support students who have access through distance technology to specialist resources. If the Member would like, to graduate a student must still receive 100 credits and there are a number of mandatory courses and optional courses and I could provide the Member with a listing but the answer is, yes, the programs are available. No, not every course can be available in every single school. That is the case even here in Yellowknife, not every course which could be offered in a high school is, simply because even in Yellowknife we do not have the numbers to offer every single course. By and large, the courses needed by students are available.