Mr. Chairman, over the weekend a few of us Members went to Tulita and we were there on a celebration. Mr. Chairman, the speaker there at one of the sessions was a member from the B.C. Aboriginal Society out of the southern part of B.C. I don't think I could pronounce the name right. Anyhow, one of the strong messages was, Mr. Chairman, go to school or get a job. That was his plain message.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister, is responsible for education and employment and culture. The point I guess is, I want to ask the Minister in terms of if there's any type of directions or suggestions and instructions looking at something that's plain, for me, and simple that if you don't go to school, you get a job. You're not working, go to school. This is more for the younger generation. I want to ask the Minister if he's working with his other departments to look at education career counselling. A lot of our students do really well at the beginning of the year and somehow, through some process by their own means, seem to drop out of school or leave school for whatever reason. They make their way through the income support system and live in the communities. Some of them do go back to work. When they leave school, they go to work, I should say. Lately, Mr. Chairman, some of our students who have left school after many years have completed their Grade 12, they've gone back to school. I experienced that at several graduations. I believe the Minister may have some of that type of experience, also. It's really a good feeling when you see students who left at 18 or 19 who are graduating at 25 and 26 or even 30, with children. There's even a parent who graduated with her children. I mean, that's really exciting. That's very good. More power to those students.

I guess the message I wanted to get out is that for the younger students that do not want to, we do not want to see them walking around town and living off the government or living off their parents. There are lots of capable bodies here. So go to school or get a job. I think that's a really good message and I'm not too sure how we can implement something like that. That's something I'm asking and I think I want to ask more in terms of future business plans, future planning, future thinking with the

chairs of the divisional boards and give some thought to this type of message that we are doing some good things and by having this type of message, really we're going to do some good for the students who decide to leave school that it's going to be real tough and they have to get a job. They can't just live off of what we call welfare programs. When I was younger, my mother said that to me when I was going to quit school at 14 years old; she said, you're either going to go to school or you're going to get a job. So I didn't really want to get kicked out of the house and I didn't know how to get a job or where to work or live on my own, so I went back to school. So I think that type of strong message needs to be reinforced and the parents need to step to the plate, also. I know they are and sometimes it's very difficult for them. So it's that type of support that's needed. So I'm advocating for a strong message to our children. You're either going to work or you're going to get an education. It's as simple as that. But I may be wrong on that point there. So I want just to look at that point here, Mr. Chairman. I don't have any other questions. I just want to ask the Minister if he would give some thought to that type of message going across the North. Thank you.