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.