Thank you. In our business plans, we naturally will address all areas of our responsibilities, including adult education.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to pick up on something that Mr. Miltenberger left on. I am very concerned about the sunsetting of the Community Skills for Work program. I guess to a larger degree the whole monies available for adult basic education. I think in committee, we heard either the Minister or the deputy tell us that it is possible, if you live in a small community, to wait two to three years for adult basic education.

We have heard the problem in Yellowknife, as I believe the deputy told us, is not so much a problem of waiting lists, but whether or not the course is offered at a given time. I would argue that this is essentially the same problem for students who are looking to upgrade their education and get their high school diplomas.

Now, if I am 24 or 25 years old and I have left school without graduating and now I want to go back to get my high school diploma, I would like to ask the Minister what options are available for me? As I understand it, there is nothing available in the evening for me to get my high school diploma if I choose to go that route.

So, what I am saying is, if I would like to stay employed during the day so I can pay the bills, and go to school in the evenings, this is not available. Essentially, what I have to do is quit my job, go on income support and attend the college. The Minister has told us, even though the community skills for work program has sunsetted or will sunset, they are going to look at possibly reinstating it. That is great. He reassures us that there is $2.5 million a year for ABE available through the college, but as Mr. Miltenberger mentioned, this typically addresses programs like nursing or business, or specifically programs like this that allow you to do some upgrading to get into college, but does not provide the necessary course to get a high school diploma.

If I am interested in just getting the basics, just getting a high school diploma but I missed the boat, quit school for whatever reasons when I was younger, I am now really stuck if I am in my 20's or 30's. I can go back to high school, but how many 30 year olds really feel comfortable going back to high school during the day? I do not think this is realistic.

I think we can see that we need some evening programs available for people who would like to get their high school, and I would like to have the Minister address this concern and tell us what he plans to do about ABE, especially to allow students to get a high school diploma. The very basic, simplest thing here, nothing fancy.

I would also like to discuss student financial assistance. In this regard, I understand we are looking at various semesters that we might allow students to access funding for. We do not provide any student financial assistance for those who might be middle aged, have to leave work to go back to get an education to get a high school diploma. That is my understanding. If the Minister could address a couple of those questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member raises a good point, and there are some challenges here with respect to individuals being able to access programs. In regard to the evening courses, I met with the college last Saturday to discuss this. Part of their problem is their ability to fund these programs. As well, I did raise a concern as to whether they can offer evening courses. Their response was that they could not offer evening courses without additional funding. In the high school program itself, you understand that there are 250 adults in the high school system. With regard to the student financial assistance, it is not available to students who are in the ABE program. However, they can access income support in case of need.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are 250 adults over the age of 20 enrolled in high schools.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Bell

That is great and I am glad to hear that. However, I would suggest that if I am 30 or 40 or 50 years old, I do not really want to be in high school during the day with 15 and 16-year old kids. I guess it would be necessary if you want to access a physics lab or a chemistry lab, then I guess that you have to suck it up and head back to school in order to get these kinds of courses. We know they are not available in the evenings.

I do not think that this makes sense. I think we have to make a real effort to focus some of our money on ABE, specifically getting adults up to that basic high school diploma level before we start worrying about these other things that may just be icing on the cake.

I am not at all knocking the programs the college has. The nursing program and the business program are all very valuable. However, there are people who just want to get a basic high school diploma. I think it is important that we focus some more money in this area specifically for night programs. My understanding is that, in the past, when these things have been offered, they had to turn students away because there has been such a high demand. I would like us to take a closer look at that.

I would also like to ask the Minister, on March 31, 2000, when the funding for community skills and for this ABE sunsets, can the Minister tell us exactly which programs and which communities this funding sunsetting will affect?

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the issue of accessing high school versus night school, you know that there is a broad base of needs amongst adults. There is no question that it would be nice to be able to meet all of the needs. However, it becomes a question of balancing the use of the funds we have available to us, Mr. Chairman. Sometimes there are difficult decisions to be made. For the second part of the question, perhaps I could ask Mr. Cleveland or Mr. Devitt to answer that question.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Cleveland.

Thank you, Mr. Cleveland. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This line of questioning is going to spark interest in many communities. I think that hopefully that information will be available as we are going though this process today, because it will have a significant impact in many communities, I fear. I am particularly wondering about the program being held in Inuvik and how that will be impacted as of Friday at midnight. There are other areas as well, Mr. Chairman, that I have questions on.

In the community of Inuvik, there has been an alternative school program started up. That has been assisted by the community in a number of ways, as well as the school board, to try and put and keep students in school who are having problems in the main system. Students who would otherwise end up suspended or put out of school and become a burden in other ways. There are a number of students attending this alternate schooling program.

My understanding was that funding was going to be made available in the upcoming year to provide them a teacher and so on. I want to know if there are dollars identified in this area. It is pretty hard to tell by the numbers provided here, because they are fairly big numbers and I would not be able to pull them out of here. I think that it would fall under the area of education and culture. I would like to know how would I identify that, and then I will go on to the capital side of that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Funding for this particular program is done through the district education council, through the formula that is devised by the department with the education council. I understand a small contribution in the area of $20,000 was made this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know it received some funding from a number of organizations, including the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board. Many volunteers have worked hard to make sure that this program stayed operational, even in difficult financial times. Is there any other way, if communities took the initiative to try to make sure students stay in school, that they could access funding? Or is it all directly from within the transfers to the board? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The funding is done through a formula with the divisional education councils. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Roland.