Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When you break down this Department of Education, Culture and Employment, we have some extremely important issues in regard to education in the Sahtu; very strong in the cultural component of this department and the potential for employment within the region of the Sahtu, and also down the whole Mackenzie Valley. Mr. Minister, your department and staff have a huge responsibility with regard to the Northwest Territories. There are some good people on your staff. I have worked with them before and they work hard. I know in my dealings with them in the issues of residential school especially, that some of the good people there in your department helped us out a lot there.
In saying all of this, Mr. Chairman, the one issue that has come forward is there might have been rumours about the language nest program, and you have confirmed them today. Mr. Chairman, I want to talk about the importance of this, because I had several letters and phone calls from my constituents in the Sahtu region who wanted to have a really good understanding about why this program is being cut and what can this department do in terms of reprofiling or looking at ways that they could continue to support it, because the concerns I have are that this program is worthwhile. A lot of Members have talked about it and even the Minister has commented on looking at this worthwhile project. The language nest programs that we have in the region provides an opportunity for our young people to connect with our elders. That is a very culturally significant point of education in that our young children are going to one day, hopefully, through good training and good leadership, be sitting in our seats.
A lot of our guidance has come from our elders in the Sahtu region, and a lot of our survival depends on our elders. However, today it has changed because of the different lifestyles, yet we still look to our elders for guidance in how we live our life today. In this short time that we have with these young people that we in our communities are exposed to the aboriginal language to our people, and we do it through storytelling, drumming, something that they are very proud to be associated with in terms of our culture.
So, Mr. Chairman, I want to ask the Minister and his Cabinet also there is funding that is there but it is for the Literacy Council, they have their own mandate, they have their own views, and that $251,000 is not very much in terms of some of the aspirations and initiatives that the regions want to do or the communities want to do, especially in small communities where the language nest program has been very successful in terms of what I am hearing, and the concerns from the communities that somehow this language nest program could be looked at again by the Minister and his Cabinet to see if there is any way that they can look at saving the program. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to make those comments because it is important, and I want to hear from the Minister. I may have one more question after this, depending on how much time I have left.