Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, Mr. Speaker. The only requirement that an education authority has, as stipulated in the Education Act, is that it sets out the number of instructional minutes that the students must receive. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Then can the Minister confirm for me that the education authorities can decide on their own when spring breaks will occur in the year?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is absolutely correct. Right now, spring breaks occur at different times of the year for different school district education councils. A lot of councils will take into account what cultural and on-the-land activities they could participate in and will set their spring breaks to reflect those. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if the citizens of the Sahtu region wish to change the dates of the spring break to take advantage of the traditional on-the-land spring hunt activities, they would then have to contact or lobby the Sahtu educational board. Is that correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is correct. One of the reasons that we have DEAs and DECs is to allow that sort of local control. We expect that the school year will reflect what the communities and the families in the region want and expect and need to make sure that their cultures and traditions are reflected in the schools. So, yes, the school dates should reflect that. One of the other ways to do it would be not just by setting different dates for spring breaks, but would be, as some communities do, starting the school year close to the end of July or the very beginning of August, and then ending early in May so that the school year for many communities does leave a lot of time in the spring for people to get on the land. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if he would look into having children who may wish to go out on the land during the spring breaks as part of their educational curriculum so that they are not dinged for missing certain days of the school year, so that is maybe an educational social issue or health issue that is part of the curriculum. Would the Minister commit to look into some type of option that would support this initiative? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, Mr. Speaker, I have already talked to the board chairs of all the DECs about this kind of programming. We have had a number of DECs that have implemented on-the-land programming as part of their regular educational program. Lutselk'e, in the last year, has had a very strong program. There have been a number of other ones. I know that there will be more in the coming school year. So that is an approach that is already welcomed and supported by the department. We encourage the Sahtu DEC to work with families and communities to explore the opportunities for doing so in that region, as well.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the heels of my Member's statement, I would like to pose questions to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. As we all know, the Minister is well educated in Japanese tourism so I don't have to go into the value and the dollar amounts that they bring to the Northwest Territories. With all of that said, Mr. Speaker, in brief, would the Minister look at the feasibility of creating an NWT office in Tokyo, Japan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me first start by applauding the Member's efforts to take the local company up on its offer to accompany them on a tour of Japan. I think it is important that we seek to better understand a number of different aspects of our tourism industry. I think this is certainly a good start. In terms of what we need to do going forward and how we look to develop the Aurora tourism industry, I met the other day with the new president of NWT Tourism. We have agreed

that -- and this has been ongoing for some time now -- we are pretty close to being able to roll out a proposed new model for tourism that will separate and make distinct the industry advocacy function of the organization, separate from the destination marketing aspect. I think this is a real departure from the current state of affairs. I think it will be a marked improvement. We need to come forward to committee to have discussion on how that might operationally work and what it will mean. I think we are scheduled to do that either late in the week or early next week. I look forward to that discussion.

All of this is building toward additional support, I hope, in the business plans for tourism and for the industry. There are a number of things we can do. The proposal, such as the one that the Member has made, sounds very interesting. I would like to learn more about what would be required to increase our presence on the ground in Japan. I am sure there are a number of options ranging from a full-blown office to probably contracting some support on the ground in Japan. I would like to talk to the Member more about that and to the committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's perspective on that, because it sounds very positive. On a further note, when I was in Japan, I noticed that, speaking to people and I heard from the Japanese people, a presence of Canada and the aurora as a concept has a very low to minimum or, even further, non-existence profile. That is really what I am concerned about. We have an opportunity for a major impact. With all of that being said, would the Minister look at creating maybe a joint working group between industry, Regular MLAs and himself to help maximize our aurora opportunities in the North for all of the North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would certainly consider a range of options. I think the Member raises a very good point. After we sit down with committee, any initiatives moving forward would have to involve industry quite clearly. I think we recognize as a government that we can do more in terms of destination marketing. If our presence is very limited on the ground in Japan and we don't have much of a profile, then we need to do something to address that very quickly. I would like Members' thoughts. I would like committee's thoughts on this, and also industry. So we do have to find a vehicle or mechanism for making sure that our government can work closely with Regular Members and the committee and, indeed, the industry association. What form that might take is certainly something that is up for discussion and up for debate. I am prepared to have that discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again on the heels of my Member's statement, I spoke about visiting the Canadian pavilion. It wasn't my intention to go to the pavilion, but I happened to be in the area so I made the extra effort to pop over for a few minutes and see the enthusiasm about the aurora. What I noticed key was the fact that the enthusiasm was built up to such a peak, then there was no one to send them in a direction of booking tours or acknowledging where to go, other than pointing to a map. Would the Minister take those types of comments and look into and investigate an opportunity that we can help promote the Northwest Territories as a destination of choice, rather than letting that enthusiasm fizzle away when they return home after visiting the Canadian pavilion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bell.