Good afternoon, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to make some comment in the area of education and its value to the Northwest Territories, specifically a couple of things that are going on or have gone here in this Legislature. I would like to refer to the week of February 3rd to 8th when we conducted and supported the NWT Legislative Assembly Youth Parliament, Mr. Speaker.

You, along with your staff, did a remarkable job of coaching and working with representatives from across the NWT that took our places here. Based on my experience with this program for the term that I have been here in this Assembly, I am particularly optimistic about our youth and am very committed to the program that the Legislature has had with the Youth Parliament. This year, sitting as the Member for Great Slave was a constituent, Liselle Cook, a grade 11 student from St. Pat's. She has lived in Fort Good Hope and now Yellowknife. She speaks North Slavey and English, and she has also participated in the Western Leadership Program. She is certainly an example of the leadership involvement and development on behalf of the youth of our Territory.

As a young resident, Miss Cook presents an ideal role model through the Youth Parliament Program. The statement and questions she asked on health care illustrated a good understanding of the concerns on behalf of her constituents and mine, Mr. Speaker. I do not believe we acknowledge sufficiently the successes of some of our resident role models. Young people are much more receptive to absorbing the message from their peers and acknowledged role models. This government should provide greater support to those people who actively support healthy living and active lifestyles. If we can encourage our young people to be more health conscious and take on leadership roles in the communities and participate in sports, this will certainly pay long-term dividends in the future of our health care costs.

In closing, I wish to offer my congratulations to Miss Cook and indeed, all Youth Parliament Members, and again, Mr. Speaker, to you and the staff of this Assembly who make this such a success. Thank you.

-- Applause

What can one say? Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on an issue that has been raised in this House on many occasions, and it has to do with education. Mr. Speaker, it has been some time that this government has moved away from regional centres in the sense of providing high school classes in those centres, and have gone out to extended grades, as they call it, and moved to other communities in the Northwest Territories to provide higher levels of education to try to address the issue of young men and women having difficulties adjusting or moving into larger centres to get a higher education.

Mr. Speaker, it has been some time since that move has happened. I think it is time to see if we are measuring up in terms of providing successes in those areas. The move was not only to have more students going to school, but to have more success in going to school and have more graduates for residents of the Northwest Territories.

What we found in the community of Inuvik was that we were negatively impacted in the sense that when the students no longer came to our community that lowered the number of teachers we were able to have in our schools and that impacted our ability to deliver specialized programs in the sciences and so forth.

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to look up as well since those days, at the success rates we have had in the Northwest Territories amongst grads competing with those across the country to see where we have gone with the numerous changes we have done within education and other sectors in this government. In fact, Mr. Speaker, it was enough of a concern to the Beaufort-Delta leaders in my area that they raised the issue and pushed to have tests start again to measure where students were. Mr. Speaker, we found that when those tests were performed, a lot of our students were not measuring up in the sense of national marks or the national standard, and we found that we had some work to do.

I think those tests show the result, Mr. Speaker. One is the measurement of where we stood in the process of education, teaching our youth, and it is also a help to parents, Mr. Speaker, that we need to be able to measure where our children are. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the appropriate Minister. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, inclusive schooling was introduced in the Northwest Territories to ensure the constitutional right of all students, regardless of any physical or developmental handicaps, to receive a quality educational experience with their peers. This has meant students with learning, developmental and physical impairments are no longer separated from the general school population and attend the same schools and classes as other able-bodied students the same age.

Mr. Speaker, inclusive schooling has changed the way teachers make lesson plans. There is no longer just one lesson plan for the entire class. Depending on the number of special needs children in their class, there can be several different lesson plans for the same class. Between making all of these lesson plans, supervising the work of the special needs assistants and teaching the regular lesson, the workload of the average teacher has increased dramatically since the introduction of inclusive schooling, and I commend teachers for their dedication.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, special needs assistants are expected to deal with the medical issues and needs of students with severe handicaps, something for which most special needs assistants have received very little formalized training. In fact, Mr. Speaker, one can argue that in some cases, the special needs assistants are actually personal caregivers.

So where does that leave us? We have a system that does not, apparently, separate the inclusive schooling needs of those students with medical issues from those students with learning or developmental issues. We have special needs assistants who are expected to deal with medical issues that they are not trained to deal with. In some cases, dealing with the medical and physical needs of the child preclude the special needs assistant from actually helping the student with their education.

Mr. Speaker, if we want inclusive schooling to work, the district education authorities must have adequate funding to meet the needs of the students. Funding must be provided so those students who require extensive help to function receive one-on-one support. The DEAs must have the funding to ensure they can either hire special needs assistants with medical training or pay for their training.

For example, has the department considered offering a program through Aurora College to train special needs assistants? I realize the department has increased the funding to the district education authorities for special needs schooling and, as a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, the budget for 2002-2003 that is presently before this Assembly will increase the amount of funding for special needs schooling to the DEAs one year in advance of the legislative requirement. However, I am not convinced that as a government, we are doing enough to support the DEAs in delivering inclusive schooling in our communities.

I will be following up with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment during question period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to rise today to speak about the funding for student support services. I am also heartened by the government's response in the budget, making sure we have achieved the level targeted for student support services in subsequent years a full year early. This was the approach recommended by the committees of this House and I am pleased the government heard our request and acted.

So next year, Mr. Speaker, we will spend the average spent by other jurisdictions in Canada on student support services. Yes, we have done well, but we can and we should do better. We keep hearing stories about the challenges faced in the classroom. We hear that we have a higher number of students with special needs than the average across Canada.

As Mrs. Groenewegen has just said, we have a large number of students who have severe problems in the classroom and require extensive support. We also know we have a higher number of students at different grade levels in one classroom because of the problems they face. With the number of small schools in the Northwest Territories, we probably have more multi-age grouping classes than is average across Canada.

Our kids right now do not have good enough access to assessment for the challenges they face. Mr. Speaker, I know this is true in Yellowknife, so it must be even more of a challenge to get a proper assessment done in a smaller community. I know I have been called by constituents because their child cannot be assessed. Recently, a constituent told me she and her family had to spend $4,000 to take their child south because they had waited and waited and waited for an assessment, and it did not appear to ever be getting done.

Mr. Speaker, if we have more challenges in the classroom than the average, we cannot be satisfied with achieving the level of funding that just matches the Canadian average. We must set the bar higher. We must not be satisfied that we have achieved the level of funding for student support services set in legislation a year early.

Mr. Speaker, let us commit to continuing to increase the funding each and every year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about graduation rates in the Northwest Territories. A few decades ago, even less in some of our communities, families were forced to send their children away to receive an education. This was not always an easy choice or decision, but parents had to decide what was best for their child at the time.

However, today we have an education system that offers grade extensions in the communities, allowing children to stay with their families and receive their schooling. Grade extensions on balance have been a good thing, Mr. Speaker, in my opinion.

Also in the past, the focus of education seemed to be more towards preparing our students for life after high school. We wanted to ensure our youth could move into meaningful employment or continue on to post-secondary institutions. There were also fewer curriculum options at the high school level, Mr. Speaker, and students were required to pass more grade 12 level core courses.

Mr. Speaker, graduation requirements have changed. In order to receive a high school diploma, students must pass the grade 12 English course and two others at the grade 12 level. Subjects such as grade 12 level math, science or social studies are no longer required courses to get a high school diploma in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, it disturbs me to think we may have watered down our academic requirements too much. Our graduation levels may be increasing, but we have to ask ourselves, at what expense? Are our children equipped with the necessary level of education to go onto post-secondary schools? I am not so sure, Mr. Speaker.

I have looked into Alberta education requirements for high school graduation. To a great extent, we are comparable, Mr. Speaker, but there are some subtle differences. In Alberta, students are required to complete grade 12 level English and social studies, along with ten credits in other grade 12 level courses. Here in the Territories, Mr. Speaker, we need only pass a grade 12 level English course, plus 10 credits of other grade 12 level courses.

In Alberta, Mr. Speaker, a student receives a pass mark in a grade 12 diploma course if they receive a blended mark of 50 percent. Also the same here, Mr. Speaker. However, if we get a 48 percent here, we say that we are close enough.

I have also had the opportunity to compare student final grade marks, diploma exam marks and blended marks of the grade 12 level diploma courses. Mr. Speaker, our students' marks are falling short. I believe we need to be up-front about our performance and set out to address it. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Bell, you may conclude.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and colleagues. We need to ensure our education system is preparing our youth for meaningful and fulfilling lives. We need more focus on setting performance goals, measuring that performance, publicly reporting on it and striving to improve it. Graduation rates as we currently measure them may not be meeting our needs.

Mr. Speaker, some of these issues are difficult and uncomfortable to address, and we certainly do not have all the answers and have to be careful not to point fingers at our schools and teachers. Certainly parents need to shoulder as much responsibility for supporting the goals and aspirations of our youth. It is hard to imagine that our performance will improve, Mr. Speaker, if we assume no learning takes place after 3:00 p.m.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to continue to support improvement in our education system for the sake of our youth. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Mahsi, Mr. Nitah. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in honour of Education Week this week, I would like to join my colleagues here and speak on the education issue. I want to talk about the PTR versus class size.

Mr. Speaker, I am a product of the local education system and I am very proud of what it has offered me. It has given me a lot, especially in higher grades and post-secondary education. I believe we are second to none, but I am worried about the class size in the lower grades.

Mr. Speaker, I know we are proud of our record of putting more money and legislating the PTR ratio to 16:1, but the fact is that as we speak, there are a lot of lower grade classes where there are up to 30 kids in a classroom.

I am really tired of hearing people do not understand the difference between PTR and class size, and then some parents getting upset that we are being funded at the territorial national average. I think in some ways, it is creating division between bigger communities like Yellowknife and other communities. I think that in the communities, schools are crowded as well. It is not right for some people to think there are ten kids sitting with one teacher in a smaller community and 30 kids to one in Yellowknife.

I think we have to revisit what is included in terms of staffing for the PTR. The very pamphlet that the department has sent out shows there are a lot of essential positions that are not included in the PTR formula. The Minister has even communicated in writing to us about what is not included, such as the librarian position, the special physical education position, consultant positions or counsellors.

I understand it is up to the local boards to decide how they are going to use their resources and that affects the class size. To me, Mr. Speaker, that is just passing the buck. It really does not matter who is making the decision. We have to look at the classroom size and these are positions that are essential. If that is bringing up the class size high but keeping the PTR rate low, then we have to revisit that.

I think in the end, what matters is what is happening in reality, not what is happening on paper or what the average is or anything like that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to address our education system. I would like to start off by stating, Mr. Speaker, that we owe a large debt of gratitude to our teachers throughout the education system. Our teachers are to be commended for the work they do on a daily basis to encourage our children to receive quality education.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the Minister of Education and his departmental officials for the obvious increased focus they are placing on the education system...

-- Applause

...as evidenced by events like Education Week, currently in full swing throughout the North.

In Hay River, Mr. Speaker, Harry Camsell Elementary School is holding a scholastic book fair this week, along with a geography challenge for the students. Those students are also hard at work on their science fair projects.

Mr. Speaker, Peter Grimm, the principal at the Princess Alexandra School in Hay River, has said that the theme of Education Week, Changing Land, Changing Peoples, is very relevant to his school students. As most of you are aware, the school has been undergoing renovations for some time now. Peter remarked that the students have been very tolerant with each other and with the teachers and have performed wonderfully under the changing working conditions. In addition, parent-teacher interviews are being held this week at Princess Alexandra school to discuss student progress.

Mr. Speaker, I firmly believe we as legislators have an inherent responsibility to ensure our students continue to receive the highest quality of education possible. To this end, I was very disillusioned to learn of the low rankings of students in the South Slave region on the Canadian and Alberta achievement tests.

Mr. Speaker, a three-year summary compiled in November of 2001 showed that over 50 percent of the South Slave region grade 9 students scored below the acceptable standards on the Alberta test for mathematics in the years 1999-2001. I find these numbers unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. The numbers are slightly more encouraging in language arts, as only an average of 28 of the students scored below the acceptable standards on the Alberta achievement tests.

Mr. Speaker, the scores for South Slave grade 6 students writing the Alberta achievement tests in mathematics showed that only 51.4 percent of the students attained the acceptable standard. The numbers were slightly higher in language arts, Mr. Speaker, as 53.5 percent...

Mr. Delorey, the time for your Member's statement has ended. Mr. Delorey.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. The numbers are slightly higher in language arts, Mr. Speaker, as 53.5 percent of grade 6 students achieved the acceptable standard.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the problem with these low test scores are systemic. We must do everything in our power to encourage our students to aspire to higher test results in order for them to be able to pursue the opportunities that a quality education provides.

Mr. Speaker, I previously raised the issue of low student test scores in this House in October of last year. At that time, Mr. Speaker, the Minister responsible stated in this House, "When something like this is brought to our attention, we are very concerned about the results." I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that I too share the Minister's concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, today, as part of Education Week, I would like to announce an initiative sponsored in part by the Deh Gah School. Mr. Speaker, the Fourth Annual Mackenzie Regional Youth Conference will be starting tomorrow in Fort Providence. Our 2002 Northwest Territories Youth Parliament delegates, Robyn McLeod and Courtney Squirrel, will be present with opening remarks on behalf of myself and Mr. Jim Antoine, the Minister of RWED. I want to thank them for performing this duty for us.

The theme for this year's event is Honouring Our Gifts. This three-day conference will consist of presentations by many well-known keynote speakers. Mr. Speaker, the keynote speakers are both northern and southern role models. They include Sharon Firth, Meika McDonald, Pauline Plamondin and Travis Dugas, to name a few. All of these presenters have developed their gifts to the fullest potential and some have even built careers around them.

The Deh Gah Elementary and Secondary School conference organizers are Julie Elleze, Maxine Lacorne, Laetitia Levavasseur, Margaret Thom, Jane Arychuk, Cliff McLeod and Shane Thompson. These people have committed themselves to ensuring that each participant will come out of this conference with the ability to recognize and honour the gifts they have.

The 160 youth participants range from communities across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The programs will give insight to spiritual, mental, physical and cultural aspects of well-being, which is the basic foundation of traditional teachings.

Mr. Speaker, this conference has been made possible by cash contributions from MACA; Deh Cho Health and Social Services; Fort Providence Brighter Futures; Diavik; Paramount Resources; Evergreen Forestry; Stittco and other donations were supplied by the Northern Store; Fort Providence DEA; Zhati Koe Friendship Centre; Education, Culture and Employment; Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development; the Legislative Assembly; my Deh Cho MLA office; Territorial Beverages; Fort Providence Health Centre; Ethel Blondin-Andrew; ILE Holdings; and the Snowshoe Inn.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all the organizers, volunteers, sponsors and role models for offering the youth the basic building blocks for self-improvement through this conference. I also would like to wish all of the youth, visitors and presenters a safe and enjoyable stay while in Fort Providence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to written questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question at this time will be directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It is in the area of education and results. I would like to know if the department has done any work in the area of looking at the achievements that have been made since significant changes were made in the programs. There have been numerous changes, Mr. Speaker. I would be interested in whether the department has looked at the results since going to extended grades, for example. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I appreciate the opportunity to be able to answer questions in the education area. I should point out and pass some compliments, Mr. Speaker, to those who are out there in the education field, our educators, many of whom have devoted many, many years to the education system and have helped make it a success.

With regard to the question posed, Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention that probably one of the largest impacts on the education system recently with regard to participation rates has been the grade extension program. That particular program resulted in many more individuals coming back into the system, Mr. Speaker. Graduation rates did increase for a period of time. The result of that was achieved probably in the last two or three years. There was some leveling off last year of graduation rates. We feel that is because all of those who had come back into the system, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has given me some information, but I would like to know, has the department tracked the achievements being made since these changes? There are numbers in different areas, but I am more interested in the extended grades.

Yes, they show numbers. There has been an increase in the number of students, but has that lead to a better graduation rate and quality of education? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly the tracking system that is in place, and has been there for several years, of course, the one that is used is mostly graduation rates. Those graduation rates did increase in the 1997-1998 year. That was significant because of the extension of grades to communities.

There are testing systems by schools. They are not all reported centrally to us. I do not have that information here, Mr. Speaker, as to what other testing systems and the results of those testing systems. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the department does not have that information, but they seem to track the increase in graduations or the graduates out there, can the Minister inform us, when those students graduate from our schools and carry on to further education in college or university, do they indeed meet the requirements of those schools in the south? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will speak specifically, perhaps, on some of the graduates from Aurora College who, after high school, went to the college system and then went on to university. We have experienced with the Teacher Education Program, for example, that those students who went to the University of Saskatchewan were high in recognition in marks and were being recruited, as a matter of fact, by most of the Saskatchewan education system. It is an example of the kind of level our students can match. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I asked a question earlier because I am aware a lot of students from my region who go down to school have to take almost a year in university prep courses to be able to enter that field. Is that what the Minister is finding when they are looking at these results? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a lot of students who enter the university system directly. Many go on to other fields, as we know, into apprenticeships or occupations. Some return to school in later life. Our experience has been with the college, which is our system, and it is easy to track how students do.

As I stated, our students, both in TEP and in the nursing programs, are performing extremely well academically, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since I have been elected, I have been trying to track the number of committees that are formed and what their mandate is. I would like to ask the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development if he could tell me what the mandate of the NWT Economic Development Advisory Forum is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for not taking steps to inform the House that the Minister for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Jim Antoine, will be absent from the House this afternoon. Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Premier has explained that the Minister for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is not able to answer the questions. Perhaps he will answer the questions. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Speaker, I will take that question as notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Premier is taking the question as notice. The Chair has to be informed that is what is happening. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke of the fact that some special needs assistants were actually personal care attendants. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment tell this Assembly whether his department differentiates between special needs assistants and personal care attendants in the school? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we do not. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell us whether there are any special education requirements or training offered to special needs assistants who have to deal with students who have profound medical issues? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the DECs, through the DEAs, look at this issue and seek assistance wherever possible, and the most appropriate person. We do not have a formalized program on this.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister give any consideration to offering a program at Aurora College to train special needs assistants for the schools?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think this is an area that would be a next step in our whole program. Our emphasis has been to put the funding into place, get the funding into the school system. Certainly with the increasing use of special needs assistants in classrooms, classroom assistants, there is a need for us to address the issue of training. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if he has contemplated whether there is any need to have concern about liability issues surrounding the care of students with serious medical needs who are cared for in the school by people who are basically unqualified to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is always a concern, of course, with regard to ensuring safety and proper care of individuals. I do believe that principals have guidelines with regard to school operations and individuals that are working within the school. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our act currently requires that by a year hence, we spend 15 percent of our education funding on student support services. If I remember correctly, we set that figure because that was the average that was spent by Canadian jurisdictions. I would like to confirm that is still the case.

Can the Minister confirm that the average Canadian jurisdiction currently spends about 15 percent of their education budget on student support services?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot confirm the amount of funding for special needs. We do have comparisons of PTR, the pupil-teacher ratio. With regard to the amount spent by other jurisdictions in special needs funding, I cannot confirm that here, that it is consistent with other jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker. We may be higher or we may be lower.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If memory serves me right, we were told that was the average when we were talking about Bill 1 right after we were elected. That is why we set the figure at 15 percent. I will ask the Minister, will he find occasion to confirm what the average is across Canada that is spent not just on special needs, but on student support services, which includes a much broader spectrum than special needs, and report to the House what the average is across Canada, please?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will be glad to do that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister also at the same time, perhaps not at the same time, this might take a while longer, could the Minister also undertake to find out what percentage of students in southern jurisdictions are requiring of services that would be provided by student support? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I should state that we would be glad to do the research on that particular question, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure that other jurisdictions might have the kind of comprehensive information that we have. A student needs survey was done, Mr. Speaker, two years ago, which provided us with a great deal of information on student needs. From that, we developed the student needs implementation of how to address the issues facing our students. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am certain the Minister would agree that we probably face bigger challenges in our classrooms in the North than are found in the south. In spite of whether or not he has the figures, will he commit now to champion for the next budget further increased funding for student support services?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the Member stating this, because it was certainly my hope to be able to, once the MOU that had been signed and what we had put into legislation, that we could carry on with that.

I am certainly there to ensure I do what I can to carry forward with the program of the PTR and the students needs requirements. That is a very important element for the success of our school system, if we could continue to bring down the PTR. Ms. Lee spoke about the class sizes. It is having an effect on class sizes. The issue of student needs is also a very important element for us to have success.

There are challenges in our school system that we have to address and a lot of it does depend upon the amount of resources that we can put into that whole area. I think we are making a good dent into it, but we have to continue that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no question, Mr. Speaker, that it takes educators, it takes a community and it takes parents' involvement and parental support in the system to get success for students. When we can provide students with a home situation where there is support, and it does not necessarily need to be doing homework, but it just requires a good home situation, support and encouragement. That does make a difference. There is no doubt. That has been proven time and time again. Similarly with community support. Wherever we can, we need to ensure that communities provide the support as well as, of course, the school itself. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A very important area, Mr. Speaker, and the department did a student needs survey two years ago, as I mentioned earlier. There were a number of elements in that report that contributed to the success of students. It was school counselling, et cetera, but one of the areas was parental support and parental assistance. They identified this as an issue. The department is in the process of designing workshops that would involve parents more in programs. One that has been designed is called Nobody's Perfect. It is a situation to allow parents to become more familiar with the school, bring them into the school and become comfortable with the school system. There needs to be a partnership between the parents, the school and the students.

Additionally, we have worked on the Early Childhood Development Plan, whereby we are working with parents to come in with children when they are very young, into areas like language nests and into resource centres. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Early Childhood Development Plan is allowing us to focus on the need that Mr. Nitah spoke about. Certainly we see that as an area that can help.

We are also teaching, just by way of reference, a course on residential schools to grade 4. We have piloted that in Fort Providence. Issues like that we are bringing more and more into the schools so parents start to identify and start to become comfortable.

Mr. Nitah's concern about having materials and kits available for parents is a very good point. I believe we do some in a limited way now to try to make people and parents familiar, but certainly a good issue that we should follow up on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question has been asked before, am I willing to continue to champion the need for funding for special needs? I think there is a need for championing and continuing that role, which I feel I have played for the last two years, hopefully fairly well.

In order to continue to improve the resources available to schools and school systems and put it into a permanent place and continue to improve, I think it is okay to introduce programs. It is important to start them, get them going but then start to refine these programs. Like our student needs assistants in the classrooms, we need to move forward again with that. We have introduced it and we need to move on and refine it and improve it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for Education. As I indicated earlier, I do not believe the Department of Education is solely responsible for student performance, but I do believe they should be accountable. For some time now, I think our students' marks going into Alberta exams have been higher than when they come out of the Alberta exams. I would like to ask the Minister if we are able to determine why our students' marks on the Alberta exams are generally lower than the term marks they have going into the exams? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There may be a variety of reasons for that, Mr. Speaker, but I do not have that information here at hand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have thought that it was a fairly general question that the department would be analyzing quite closely. I am wondering then, since we compare ourselves so often to Alberta, why is grade 12 social studies not required for graduation in the Northwest Territories the way it is in Alberta? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the school system has set up a requirement for 100 credits to graduate from high school. This can be one of the requirements. You do require two years of social studies in order to graduate, but I am not sure that it requires the grade 12 social studies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister can take my assurance that we do not require grade 12 social studies. I do have one other question related to graduation rates. Although it is limited in scope, I would like to keep the variables fairly low so I can get an answer I can compare across jurisdictions. I am wondering, what percentage of our high school graduates enrol in universities immediately after high school graduation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These are technical questions I do not have at hand here. I can certainly get this for the Member and would be glad to follow up on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister would not have that level of detail. I am wondering, when he does get that information, if he could also, if he has it handy, show us a comparison across other jurisdictions as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.