Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all acknowledge the importance of education to the development of our society. Equally important are the friendships, associations and events that we have experienced through our years at school. On June 30th and July 1st of this year, there will be another historic gathering in Yellowknife, one which we hope will see hundreds of participants. The event I am referring to, Mr. Speaker, is the reunion for Akaitcho Hall students and staff.
Mr. Speaker, since its opening in 1958, Sir John Franklin School and Akaitcho Hall, as the companion residential facility, provided very high academic and vocational standards. Education made a positive difference in the lives of thousands of students who passed through those doors and hallways.
Students from 37 communities have attended Sir John and many Members of this Assembly, Mr. Speaker, have been residents of Akaitcho Hall. With the proposed demolition of the residence in the very near future to make room for new development, now is a fitting time to have a reunion.
There is a small organizing committee putting the plans in place for this reunion. Some of the activities include a dinner and dance on June 30th, combined barbecue on Canada Day, along with other festivities. The committee, which includes yourself, Mr. Speaker, is putting promotional plans in place and looking for sponsors.
The committee is also working on 37 years for a commemorative gazette covering those decades of operation. Contributors and researchers and a variety of production staff are now being put together from existing students at Sir John Franklin School. We will need volunteers to help make this happen. I hope former residents of Akaitcho Hall and Sir John Franklin School will join me and others in marking this reunion at the end of June and on Canada Day. I look forward to renewing friendships from my younger days when I went there and exchanging views on how we shall all continue to successfully meet the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause