Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear that I have no issue with the particular individual whose name has shown up on the short list. I'm sure they are a very intelligent person. But the thing is we want people who have a vested interest in how this development is going to impact us for many generations to come here in the North. I think that's the idea of having a northerner. If the federal government and the federal Minister overrules us, I'm sorry, I take it as a slap in the face. What's the Premier prepared to do? Is he prepared to speak to the federal Minister to ensure that our voice is registered on this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I was last in Ottawa I raised this issue with our MP and the Minister responsible for Northern Development and also with Minister Scott. Mr. Roland, the Finance Minister, and I raised this issue with him. He knows our views on it and, Mr. Speaker, I've written to him as well on it and intend to follow up with him next week when he is here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Premier have any knowledge that the appointment of this chairman or chairperson is going to be imminent and perhaps actually take place prior to Mr. Scott's visit to the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Good question.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I'm hearing through the grapevine that the appointment is imminent. In fact, I'd heard that the security checks were already underway and so on. But I've had nothing from the Minister of DIAND's office formally to tell me that this is going to be happening soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the very important nature of this appointment to northerners, I would like to ask the Premier then, he has previously spoken to the Minister, he intends to speak to the Minister next week, will he take the opportunity to speak to the Minister today? Would he attempt to get his officials to get a hold of him by telephone and register the concerns raised on this matter in the House today? Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I will ask my staff to try to find out today if they can get any information on it at all. They have been trying to follow this one almost daily, but we will make that effort again. If I can't, then I assure the Member and this House that I will speak to the Minister on this when he's here next week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment stated that forcing them, meaning children, to be there when their parents don't support them being in school is a waste of time. I'm concerned that the Minister would consider developing programs and services to encourage children to do well in school is a waste of time. Does the Minister actually stand by that statement he made in this Assembly yesterday? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't say that it was a waste of time to develop programs to encourage children to be in school, nor did I say it was a waste of time to encourage families to make sure that their kids attended school. But there's a big difference between finding a family that isn't sending a kid to school because he hasn't got any shoes and finding a way to support getting some shoes on the feet of that kid so that he is comfortable coming to school.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to admit I was lost there because we're not talking about shoes; we're talking about making sure that kids go to school here. Maybe my question was too fast. Mr. Speaker, I got these comments from research, who read the blues which are the unedited Hansard. I put a lot of faith in their questions, or their development of some of these questions.

Mr. Speaker, will this Minister agree to look into the problem of dealing with absentees and truancies by putting a community liaison such as a social worker in each educational authority in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If an education authority wanted to put their money into providing that kind of service within their school area, they could. Mr. Speaker, I just want to be clear about my previous answer. Many of the kids who are not attending school tend to come from poorer families and we need to address that issue before we start addressing finding those families and making them even poorer to put them back in school. The Member has been recommending that we use the law to try and enforce attendance at school by finding families if their kids don't attend. What I said yesterday was that that's the wrong approach. We have to be supportive of families and kids, and make sure the families are supporting their kids to be in school. But there is nothing in the Education Act that would stop a school district from putting their funding into providing a liaison person within their system. Thank you.

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

Okay, Mr. Speaker. I can see we're playing an interesting game because yesterday the Minister was challenging me. Now I challenge him back by saying that these kids are poor. Now he's saying the poor kids are coming to school from the regions. Well, who knows where these facts are coming from? So I challenge him to prove that the poor kids can't go to school because they don't have shoes. We live in the North, everybody knows we have shoes and boots here; we're not talking about who knows where. Mr. Speaker, I didn't say yesterday to use the law. I asked about why we aren't using the law when we have truancies. Mr. Speaker, we have a law in the book that we don't even use, so let's just take it away. We're wasting paper space by having it. I'm talking about innovative approaches, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister consider innovative approaches by helping our DEAs with implementing a community liaison social worker in their schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.