Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity. I would just like to wish my colleagues well as we recess for the summer months and do our constituency business. I wish them all safe travels.
Mr. Speaker, on Monday in the House, I questioned the Minister of Education about our government's apparent lack of support for aboriginal language professionals within the education system. Specifically I asked the Minister why the government was not offering programs or bursaries to promote the study of aboriginal languages. I made the point that if the government truly wanted to support aboriginal languages, then they would design the program to encourage or support people who wished to enter the field. Yesterday in a press release, the Minister announced a bursary program for aboriginal students studying law. In that release, he states that this program is an important way of supporting the development of a culturally representative legal community in the NWT. He further states that by providing support and employment to indigenous aboriginal students studying law, these students will make a long-term contribution to the North.
The Minister even goes further in the support of the legal studies program by offering a mentor program to students and also by guaranteeing them summer employment while they are at school. For the record, I would like to state that I fully support the Minister on this new initiative. I believe it will do just what it is designed to do: it will encourage students to study law. How could it do anything else?
I also believe the same kind of support for aboriginal language professionals will promote that sector of education too, and that is precisely the point I made to the Minister earlier in the week. Actions speak louder than words, Mr. Speaker. With the implementation of this new initiative, the Minister has spoken very loudly indeed, despite his assurances to the contrary. With his announcement, the Minister has revealed his priorities for education and clearly the study of aboriginal languages is not one of them.
Mr. Speaker, this is important enough for me to bring up because what happens today is when an aboriginal language instructor is...Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.