Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier in my Member's statement, truancy is becoming a serious issue in the Northwest Territories. My questions will be to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Would the Minister tell me if the Education Act that permits a parent to be charged up to $500 has ever been enforced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not aware of any parents having been taken to court because their children were not in school.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken to some educators out there and they have said that when they recognize truancy and they phone these parents and there is no answer, there is nowhere for them to truly go. Why has the Department of Education, Culture and Employment never stepped in to own up to their responsibility to deal with truancy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to challenge one thing that the Member said and that is that truancy is becoming more and more of a problem. In fact in the last 10 years, the attendance at school has increased dramatically across the Northwest Territories.

---Applause

Ten years ago the attendance rate for high-school-aged children in the Northwest Territories was less than 40 percent; this year it is well over 70 percent. We are making impressive strides in getting children all across the Territories to attend school.

If the Member wants to look into it, I have been asked this question previously; I have looked all across Canada and have found that no jurisdiction is charging parents for not having their kids attend school, because it is not effective, it doesn't help. What we need to do is we need to work with kids and families to encourage them to get kids into school. If the families don't support what the kids are doing, whether you force the kids to be at school or not, it's not successful. We have to have family support for kids to be successful.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate what the Minister said. On that note, what resources do we provide the schools and the district education authorities to ensure that we get these truant kids into school? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The chairs of the divisional education councils and I have talked about attendance as one of the crucial areas that we want to increase. The education councils know that if they don't have the kids in school, they don't get the money for them; so attendance really does impact on the amount of money that is available to a divisional educational authority for schooling.

I have talked to principals who go out and knock on doors to talk to families to get the kids in school. DEAs are working out all sorts of different strategies within their communities -- whatever works for them -- to encourage kids to be at school. We have land claims organizations and community corporations that provide cash incentives to get kids to attend school, so it is a community-driven initiative across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister left out one specific area. As I understand it, funding is linked to attendance in roster enrollment, but that is only checked, I believe, once a year. In a certain period, that sets the funding rate for the whole education period. That being said, what is the Minister willing to do to address the truancy issue through legislation that empowers either Health and Social Services to go in and check on what is happening with these children or allow the education system and the DEAs, as he has pointed out, to go in and knock on those doors to make sure these kids are okay? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't believe we need anything further to empower anybody to follow up on things. A DEA has the authority now to ensure that kids are attending school; it could become a child protection issue if parents aren't ensuring that their kids attend school. We already have the tools to do it

from that side, but that is not going to work. That doesn't help the kid to be successful. Forcing them to be there when their parents don't support them being in school is a waste of time. We have to work with families to make sure that the families are supportive of kids being in school, so that the kids are there to learn. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister responsible for Seniors. Mr. Speaker, in the Sahtu region there are 199 elders who are over 60 years of age. Mr. Speaker, there are numerous government departments, services and programs that are for the elders; for a lot of them English is a second language or they do not speak English at all. A lot of them communicate in the aboriginal language of North Slavey. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors whether this government is planning any type of program that he oversees which can work with other departments who are dealing with seniors, in terms of having a one-stop shop for elders to do their business, rather than to run in all different directions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the seniors' action plan was done, it was done with that kind of concept in mind, where we had a number of departments -- Education, Health and Social Services, Housing and MACA -- work to come up with a strategy for seniors.

We are anticipating being able to have some federal money to better fund those different initiatives. There is an intent to try to make it as convenient as possible. We work with the territorial Seniors' Association here, we assist them with funding, we assist them with their help line where seniors can call and get services, and help sort out any questions they may have. We have some resources in place and some processes in place to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct; I see in the federal government budget, there is $13 million provided to create a national seniors' secretariat to serve as a focal point for collaborative efforts to address new challenges facing seniors. Would he consider a territorial secretariat for seniors, so that the seniors could look forward, within this government, to see a territorial secretariat set up for them in the regions in the Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently I am the Minister responsible for Seniors, which gives a focal point to the issues related to seniors. We have a strong working relationship and a funding arrangement with the territorial Seniors' Association. We have in place the pieces we need. We also have a very close working relationship with all the authorities and the boards within the regions that work on mainly seniors' issues. We have processes in place to do that. Thank you.