Thank you. I say this in order to indicate publicly that I am one of those people who are not in favour of having a heavy penalty placed upon a relative of a non-attender in communities. Quite the contrary, Madam Chairperson. In my culture, we have never penalized or punished anyone for their wrong behaviour. I think we have to try and get feedback from the communities on what is working and what is not. One area that I was told about, one of the penalties - I understand I can speak to that - I support is a parent of a non-attender should not be a part of the local education council, and should be removed from that body in the community. The monetary penalties and other penalties, I am not in favour of.

I think we can prescribe something in the community and have, to a degree, some penalties that the people in the small communities can handle. This is sufficient as long as it has nothing to do with having to place a heavy penalty on a parent or having a jail term. I think that is a bit heavy. Having listened to some people and talked about what is working and what is not, I think compulsory education as we know it has never worked in the past in the small communities where local teaching staff is related to everyone in the community and where the local education council is related to everyone in the community, where a person who is charged with the responsibility of talking to parents of non-attenders is related to everyone in the community. There is little hope of having whatever penalty being enforced in the community. I think we have to step back a bit, reassess the situation and come up with something that can, in fact, work in the community. I hope the Minister will now communicate with communities and see what is working and what is not. Thank you.

Thank you. I signalled that I was not going to ask further questions, but I thank the Minister for outlining what is the ability of a local or district education council. My understanding, Madam Chairperson, is that what is prescribed in the Education Act is what that group in the community is able to enforce. That was my understanding. What is not prescribed in the Education Act is not what the community group is able to do. That was my understanding. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. My question to the Minister is, are there any programs in place that identify students with FAE/FAS so that the teachers can know who they have in their classes and what level of students? Thank you.

Mr. Dent, I am Mr. Chairman. We have just had a changeover. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome. Mr. Dent, I am sure you realize that there probably are a number of these children in the classrooms who have this problem, and it must cause a great deal of concern for the teachers trying to sort out, in some cases, why certain children are not learning as fast as the others, and so on and so forth. Is there any thought or idea of how you might try to address this? I realize we do not have doctors on staff or medical practitioners, but is there some other type of testing that can be done so that we can at least identify some of the individuals who may be affected with some of these disorders? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just switching gears a bit here now and speaking of truancy. The number of children that do not attend school or attend it on a very irregular basis, hanging out on the street corners, in local stores, and so on; I remember years ago when we were going to school that if you did not show up at school the truant officer showed up at your door and spoke to your folks and you were basically told to have your children in school. Is there any thought of reintroducing some type of system that would force parents? I know you may say, well we should not have to do that because they are the parents, they will do what is right. As we all know, that is not always the case no matter what part of the world you are in. My question is, is there any thought of reintroducing some type of a truancy officer program where there would be more pressure on the parents to make the children attend school on a regular basis?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think to a large degree, and I know I am speaking of my communities that, for example, the arcade owners will ensure that children do not hang around the arcade during school hours, the store owners at the Northern Store, the Co-op Store and other areas that the children may find attractive to hang out when they really should be in school. I think that is being done and I know that is what is happening in my community. There are other areas, I guess, and locations that the children tend to go and it is not necessarily known at the time whether they are in somebody's store or home. My question is related to the parents, how do we make the parents more accountable, without involving the hamlet? I think the onus is on the parents. I think that the communities are doing what they can to ensure that the children do attend school. Going back to my original question, would you not consider reinstating a truant officer program where someone would be in charge to make sure that the children did attend school and that if not there would be some type of a penalty or warning or whatever? Thank you.