I would like to thank the Minister for leaving me a few seconds to add on to my thoughts and questions. Thank you, Mr. Minister.
I agree that the approach is through the school system. I think we need to address that. It is at a fundamental level. All studies point to the home for language revival. I understand the history of the Northwest Territories with the residential schools. Written language, there are a lot of adults and young adults that do not have those skills.
It is great that the students learn the language at school, but if they do not practice it at home with their parents, it defeats the purpose. I think we need to address the issue head on, the two-prong issue or three-prong issue. We not only have to deal with the students in the schools, but we have to deal with their parents so that they are compatible when they are using the language in the homes.
To that end, I think we need to address the problem at the community level, not only at the school level. I think we have to find the dollars, $6.4 million is quite a lot of dollars for approximately, I would say, 10,000 people that want to learn language.
If you take half the population of the Northwest Territories, which is about 20,000, you take away the people that are already speaking the language, then $6.4 million is quite a bit of dollars for that many people. I think you should be able to find resources that are needed that you say there is a lack of, and be innovative. We are talking partnerships all the time. The federal government has programs and services in this area, as well, and if you work with the language communities and the federal government, I am sure you could find the resources to do that.
I would strongly encourage you to follow up on that with all parties involved. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.