Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Fort Smith, the community I represent, is a multicultural community where there are three main political organizations, the town, the band and the Metis. Over the years, as we have worked on fine-tuning a relationship among those three key organizations, agreements have been reached on how local services and programs should be run and governed. For example, a number of years ago it was agreed that the hospital, the health board, would go to an appointed structure with three representatives from the band, three from the town and three from the Metis. A similar process was agreed to with the local housing authority where they were appointed seats and within the last year, the community turned its attention to the local district education authority.
Over the years, like many communities, it had been almost impossible to get a full slate of elected representatives. Steps have been taken in the last year, working with the Minister and the department through the new Education Act, to look at changing the structure in which appointments and people are put on the board. The request from the community was, in fact, that we move to an appointed board, similar to those used in the health board and the local housing board. It is my understanding that the process is almost complete and that after slightly over a year, the Minister and the department are almost ready to sign off that request and that direction from the people in the community that I represent. This was done over the course of the year where there was consultation, public meetings, meetings with the community leaders on this particular issue. I am very pleased at this juncture to have us almost ready to bring to conclusion this next step with the community of Fort Smith as we once again continue to improve and fine-tune how we do business as a community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.