Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much. Has the Minister’s department been working on the new public education materials and will that be ready for the public meeting as well?

We’ll make sure the staff go to the meeting as fully prepared as possible with all the information that is available in addition to the draft strategy and an open mind, and sit down with the community to talk about this particular issue that I know has been a matter for this Member for some time.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of ITI. The Gwich’in signed a land claim agreement in 1992. In that agreement there are several elements regarding the economic measures chapter, protected areas chapter, establishment of the Gwich’in Territorial Park just outside of Inuvik. There’s a lot of protection agreements that we’ve put in place that were supposed to establish a park management plan regarding how that park was going to be managed with respect to the Gwich’in Territorial Park. There was establishment of a park committee to oversee the implementation of the park and ongoing economic social programs that could be run to enhance the Gwich’in’s involvement in managing that park.

Today there is still, regardless of the park plan in place, contracts being let publicly without consulting the Gwich’in regarding those economic opportunities. I would like to ask the Minister of ITI how seriously this government takes the Gwich’in Territorial Park and the park management agreement that was signed between the

Government of the Northwest Territories and the Gwich’in Tribal Council to implement that park.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories takes any agreement it enters into very seriously and certainly if we have entered into an agreement with regard to parks, we would honour it.

Just on that, why is the Government of the Northwest Territories allowing public tenders for work in the Gwich’in Territorial Park?

The Government of the Northwest Territories has a memorandum of understanding with the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the purpose of the MOU is to give first opportunity to the Gwich’in Tribal Council for any contracts that the government plans to enter into, whether as a sole-sourced or negotiated contract basis. My expectation, if we went to a tendered contract, would have been that we couldn’t reach agreement on price and it became cost prohibitive, so we had no choice but to go to tender. Without knowing the specifics it would be difficult for me to conclude that.

The whole reason that we established a park management plan for the Gwich’in Territorial Park in Inuvik was for the plan to clearly spell out how it’s going to be implemented, what economic opportunities would flow to the Gwich’in, and through the park committee they oversee the operation and expenditure of that park. Yet this government, with regard to ITI, has totally neglected its obligations under the park management plan for the Gwich’in Territorial Park. There were not supposed to be public tenders on this park. It was supposed to flow through the park management committee for this park. So why have you not used the park management committee in implementing the Gwich’in Territorial Park with respect to that agreement?

I realize there are a number of parks in the Beaufort and Gwich’in areas. Perhaps the Member could be more specific as to which park he’s referring to.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s only one Gwich’in Territorial Park in the Inuvik region. It is just outside of Inuvik. It is a large area around Campbell Lake designed as a territorial park under the Gwich’in Land Claim. Because the park

was established under the land claim and our protected areas agreement it has special significance. I’d like to ask the Minister why the contracts and tenders of this government have not been allowed to go through the land claim agreements under the establishment of that park under the land claim agreement.

If we had entered into a management plan -- and we have entered into a management plan -- I expect that it would have laid out the conditions under which we would go out to tender and I will endeavour to find out what those conditions were and advise the Member accordingly.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the high school students and the career path they want to take. There seems to be some missing gaps in the education system. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if his department has been looking at this issue in terms of some of the missing gaps, in terms of tracking students who have graduated from our small communities, in terms of trying to enter into a post-secondary institution and failing to meet certain requirements such that they need to receive more education curriculum to get into those schools. Has this department been tracking students, specifically in the Sahtu, who would like to get into colleges or universities and fail to meet certain requirements?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly addressing the community graduation is high on our radar within our department. We are proud to say there has been some real success to date with aboriginal students in the aboriginal communities. I’ll just give you an example. From 2003 to today there has been an increase in aboriginal graduates from 119 to 206. That’s a huge increase. Also, by small communities from 53 to 100 within a five-year period. We identify those as key successes. We do continue with some challenges, as the Member has alluded to. We continue to work with the regional groups and the superintendents and the DEAs and DECs to identify those gaps.

The issue I would like to again ask the Minister of Education, Culture and

Employment about is with regard to the huge increase of graduates in smaller communities, especially with the aboriginal students. Is the Minister dedicating some of the personnel within the region to work with the education board to track students who fall between the cracks with respect to trying to get into a post-secondary institution? I understand there are some students falling in the cracks and not being supported by this government with respect to getting into a recognized institution to begin their career path.

Certainly we do support all students who apply through our education system. At the same time, stressing that we are working with the leadership in the regions and communities, the DEAs and DECs, and the parents on the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. That’s a new initiative that we’re working with. We have dedicated staff working in the regions. Specific to the Sahtu region we have resource staff that are working with our department on identifying the root causes of these challenges and trying to figure out solutions to that. Not only that, we just launched an NWT Literacy Strategy 2008-2018 that will clearly highlight those areas that need support improvement.

Can the Minister inform this House that he will be or is going to work with the federal government, the other governments in the Northwest Territories and this government to look at how successfully we can track the students that finish grade 12, are able to get into a post-secondary institution or college, if that person is not able to get into college or university, and if there are support mechanisms in the small communities to allow him or her to get to a place where she or he is able to enter into a program? In the Sahtu alone with high school diplomas or more there’s 52 percent of young students who receive high school diplomas. In Yellowknife it’s 82 percent. In Hay River, Fort Smith, and Inuvik it’s 72 percent. There are gaps that really need to be closed. I’m asking the Minister if he will consider working with other governments to see that these young students do have a chance at college or university courses.

Certainly the work is underway to find those gaps between non-aboriginal and aboriginal students, the success to date and some struggling and the challenges that we’re faced with. Certainly we’ll continue to work with various organizations, government, universities, and colleges. Not only that, the learning starts at home as well. Taking early childhood into consideration, the schooling, the students choosing the career path with the support of their parents, their guidance and the teacher’s. We need to work within our system, as well, and identify a certain path that students want to go on. Certainly we will continue to work with the federal

government. We’re meeting next week on aboriginal education specifically, so I will be addressing those issues as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At one time I went to visit the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchoko. I understand they, along with the other governments who are involved, had one person dedicated to helping students in colleges and universities. I understand this program is very successful. I understand also that there is the possibility this Minister will sit down with the federal government to have a dedicated person in these small schools to track the students and support them through the system so they can get into college or university.

Will the Minister look very strongly and seriously at working with the aboriginal governments, the federal government, and his department to all who say they want to put a dedicated person in these small schools to help Grade 12 students move on to college or university if they choose? Will the Minister be able to do that?