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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to confirm, Mr. Speaker, what the Minister said. Is he telling me there were no cuts to that line item in the budget this year compared to last year or previous years? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the information I have, as I indicated, is that the money this year is the same as last year. In addition, there is also, which I neglected to mention, about $6,600 for hiring high school students as well. The total allocated is $23,400. Those are the numbers as I have them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if they are hired as aboriginal language teachers who are teaching in the classroom, they will get a teaching certificate and thus, they will be regular members of the public service. The only ones who might be employees of the board would be if someone is hired on an hourly basis or on a casual basis for a short period of time for a specific exercise. If they are teaching in the school, then they should have teaching certificates and be regular employees, the same as the other teachers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, has the department followed up on a question that was asked in committee, which was to look at the whole area of language specialists in light of the amendment to the Education Act that allowed the French school here in Yellowknife to be accepted into that process in which they fall within the Public Service Act.

I would like to ask the Minister, under the present Education Act, there is a definition of a teacher. Teacher is clearly defined as an employee, a teacher who teaches from kindergarten to grade 12. The aboriginal language specialists are teachers in that term. I would like to ask the Minister, when will these teachers be able to see the same benefits as all other teachers in our schools?

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

Mr. Speaker, if they are teaching in the school, if their responsibilities include teaching, then they will have a teaching certificate. As such, they will get the same benefits as any teacher in the school. As I said before, if they are just hired on a casual basis or for some specific project, then that may not be the case, but we would have to look at those case by case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the present act that is in place, the Department of Education, the department responsible for teachers, is clearly aware that the aboriginal language specialists cannot be hired outside the public service in regard to their status as being certified teachers. Has that directive been given to the education boards, that they have to hire certified teachers and pay them the same wages as other teachers in the public service?

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

Mr. Speaker, if the boards are hiring anyone to teach in the classrooms, then they have to acquire a teaching certificate for those individuals. In some cases, they will hire individuals who have the skills who may not have the teacher qualifications, so they will not necessarily go and hire someone who already has the qualifications. They will hire someone who knows the language and can teach it.

All of the boards have been advised that if they are hiring teachers, aboriginal language specialists as teachers, they have to have a certificate and they have to be paid according to the salary scale. The salary scale for teachers varies a lot, depending on the qualifications, but they will be put on that scale. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regard to this issue just coming to light lately, and knowing the response from the Minister, will the Minister look into retroactive pay for these individuals, knowing they have been unjustly paid at a lower level than teachers with similar qualifications?

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

Mr. Speaker, I will certainly look into any cases where people have been hired as aboriginal language teachers and have not been paid on that scale. We will look at what has happened in that case and try to come to some arrangement.

I am not familiar with any, so if there are individuals that the Member is aware of, I would appreciate knowing so I could follow up on that. Thank you.

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

Mr. Nitah, could you get to a question? I just want to remind Members that I have a full slate. Everybody just wants to ask questions. If we go on with long preambles, we will not be able to get it all done. Short questions, reasonably short, Mr. Nitah.