Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to clearly state for the residents of Fort Smith that it was not my intention to portray all residents of the community of Fort Smith in a negative light. As we all know very well, it is usually the actions of a few individuals and not the community that causes this type of issue to rise to the surface. Those are the people to blame for this problem. Those who have chosen to make the lives of others miserable need to be brought to task.
Since I have made the concerns of my constituents public, I have been approached by even more people with similar concerns and stories about their experiences regarding incidents that have either occurred to them or their loved ones. Yesterday I had 15 messages from around the North on my phone from people who wanted to share their experience and talk about it.
Mr. Speaker, a real opportunity is before us. There is clearly a problem that needs to be addressed. It cannot be swept under the rug or ignored in hopes that it will go away. The issue is real, and it must be confronted. As I mentioned yesterday on CBC radio, I am working on a survey of former students relating to their experiences. I want to hear both good and bad experiences. And with that, I’ve had several offers from our community to help make sure that this survey gets off the ground.
Mr. Speaker, I commit to sharing the results of this survey with the local MLA for Thebacha, with the Minister of EC&E, with the town of Fort Smith and the council, and certainly with the management of Aurora College.
I quickly spoke to Mayor Martselos this morning, for whom I have a lot of respect, and I assured him I would make that statement today to make sure that the concerns are not about the community as a whole but needs to be focussed directly at those that are causing the problems. I agree with his concerns, and I certainly am making that statement to make sure he knows I have heard his statement.
Mr. Speaker, my goal is to work with all parties to find a collective solution to address this concern. It’s about the students and safety, and that’s all it is about.