Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education. Mr. Speaker, I have been speaking a lot about the quality of education. Recently, the Minister was on tour with me to Fort Liard. We spoke with the community members there. They brought up a lot of issues regarding the quality of education and getting the children to school. They spoke about graduation rates. Our government probably says that we have close to the national average of 44 percent. But, if you take Yellowknife out of the equation, Mr. Speaker, we are looking at communities with very low graduation rates, up to about 20 percent. That will be a stretch, I would imagine, because, in Fort Liard alone, we had one graduate last year. That is for a community of around 600 people. I just wanted to know what plans the department has to address this concern in the smaller communities. Is the department looking at options for addressing these needs in the smaller communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, the Honourable Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department does have a small schools project underway to examine, in concert with the boards across the Territories, how we can improve schooling in the smallest communities. One thing I would like to point out is that the graduation rate over the past couple of years has, in fact, increased most in the small communities and regional

centres. It has dropped in Yellowknife. So the small communities and regional centres are showing the best improvement at the moment, but we are examining how we can continue that improvement, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentions a small school project initiative. It is the first I have heard about it. Perhaps, if I can ask the Minister to expand a bit on that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been a little while now since we recognized that there were challenges in the smaller schools that are more difficult to address than in larger schools. Because of that, the department has started a project to work with boards to identify how we can better support boards to deal with the problems that they face in the smaller schools and see if we can find ways to help improve the quality of education that is offered in those schools. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is very interesting because, about a month ago, I went to the Minister with an idea. I found a nice unique program down south that works in the smaller reserves. It is called the Sunchild E-Learning Community. I proposed to the Minister that I would like to bring up this group to explain to the communities what they are doing, because one of the things that really interested me in what they were doing, Mr. Speaker, is that they had course completion rates up to 80 percent. They have graduation rates of 80 percent. These are in very small reserves. That is something that I would like to bring up here and have our people look at it. The Minister was resistant to it; now he tells me that we have a small school project. If anything is going to fit the small school project, this is the exact type of program. I would like the Minister to have a look at this program, bring these people up, and at least have an overview of their programming and bring it up to the North, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Minister's commitment for that.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The project that I am speaking about included working with the boards, because what has to happen is that the boards have to be involved. The Department of Education doesn't keep a pot of money in the centre to fund new initiatives like the one the Member is speaking about. We would have to find a willing partner among the boards to fund that sort of process. That is what I have suggested to the Member; that he see if his region may be interested in this. Having said that, we are examining the request that the Member has forwarded to me. It is certainly something that I can bring forward to discussions with the chairs of the boards with whom I will be meeting in April. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I am astounded by government. There are real needs coming from the communities, and they are just not listening, Mr. Speaker. I just cannot believe that they keep putting things off and off when the government speaks about taking care of the needs of our communities. In fact, the principal wanted it. The mayor wants it. The principal is in favour of this proposal, and yet the government fails to do anything about it. In fact, Mr. Speaker, here in the February 10th issue of the Deh Cho Drum, the parents are there to entice their children to go to school. They have a lunch program going. In fact, they are getting corporate donations, Mr. Speaker, from Yellowknife. Even the businesses out of Yellowknife want to take care of the needs in our community, so I want our government to take care of the needs in our communities, too, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to help us explore some ways of improving our quality of education in the communities?

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Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do that very well with our partners in the divisional education councils. That is what I have committed to do. I have committed to examine the proposal the Member has given us in concert with those who run the education system in the Northwest Territories. We don't impose things from the centre that we don't have support for. If Members want us to start keeping money back at the centre for initiatives, we can do that. We can cut the amount of money that goes to the schools and keep some at the centre for these initiatives, but I think it is the wrong way to do it. We have a lot of examples where schools are being successful in the smaller communities. You take a look at the Tlicho region. We are seeing a lot of success in the smaller communities there with young people coming out well qualified to move on into post-secondary education. What we have committed to do is examine why we are having success in that area and try and share those successes with other people. We are prepared to take a look at initiatives like the one the Member has offered, but we have to examine that in concert with our partners and make sure we have willing partners at the education councils. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Justice. It is with regard to the $1.4 million in additional funding to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I would like to ask the Minister today, what input or direction is this government capable of providing to the RCMP in terms of how this money is spent? Have we got any input at all, or do we just give them the money and let them call the shots in how it is spent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this money has been allocated in response to a study that the RCMP provided to this government several years ago indicating that they needed an extra 26 positions in the Northwest Territories to meet their service requirements. This is in part a fulfillment of that request. To finish off the provision of positions will require us to again increase the number of officers in next year's budget. It is the RCMP who proposed where the officers will be stationed and how they will operate the service in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the primary concerns that residents here in the Northwest Territories have are the amount of drugs that are coming illegally into our territory, mostly by the road system. I have a great deal of concern when you weigh a three-person traffic unit as opposed to getting some more money to combat the drugs that are coming into this territory. For the territory not to have any input on how that money is spent, I don't believe that should happen. I think we should tell the RCMP that we want some more resources put into combating drugs in our territory, not a three-person traffic section. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question I have for the Minister is, maybe he can shed some light on why we are getting a three-person traffic unit as opposed to more money to go in to fight drugs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suspect it is because we don't have enough money to respond to all of the requests for personnel that the RCMP have provided us. We are hoping that, in next year's budget, we will be able to improve on the numbers of RCMP officers in the Northwest Territories. I would like to remind Members though that all we are talking about with those 26 members is providing service at the level the RCMP says we need in those communities where we have members already. The RCMP won't deal with communities like Tsiigehtchic or Sachs Harbour, where we don't have members at all. There are a number of communities in the Northwest Territories that have no service, and it would take a significant amount of money from this Legislature in order to accomplish that.