Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am sure that most of my colleagues in the House know of the highly-publicized and sometimes acrimonious relationship between the Hay River District Education Authority and the South Slave Divisional Education Council. Suffice it to say, Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that the residents and students of Hay River are being well served through this relationship with the South Slave Divisional Education Council. The residents of Hay River elect the people who sit on the Hay River DEA in a fair and democratic manner. The authority, in turn, chooses the representatives to sit on the South Slave Divisional Education Council and to look after the students of the second-largest community in the Northwest Territories.
Hay River's representative on the South Slave Divisional Education Council has been supported by fellow DEA members because of his diligence in pointing out inequities in funding allocation with the community of Hay River, and its students have suffered as a result of the decisions made at the divisional board level. Some would say that his representation has been done so well that the South Slave Divisional Education Council has kicked the Hay River representative off the council by stating that his questioning their decision goes against board policy.
It seems inequitable, Mr. Speaker, for the largest community in the division with the majority of the students to not be proportionately represented on the divisional council. Maybe we need a court challenge on the same basis as the case put forward by the Friends of Democracy, citing the representation by population argument. No matter who the representative of the education council is, we have a problem with the process for distributing resources. Quite apart from whether other council members and the DEC staff like the democratically selected Hay River rep, and quite apart from the exception they have taken to his unrelenting advocating on behalf of the Hay River DEA students and educators.
Mr. Speaker, we are at an impasse. There are two choices: find the money to fund a stand-alone education authority for the resident and students of Hay River, or address the issues that made the South Slave Divisional Education Council dysfunctional in the first place.
Mr. Speaker, sitting on the fence is not an option and I'll be questioning the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment later on this matter to see if he has any suggestions of how we can get beyond this impasse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause