Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak also on the home boarding problem. Under the Education Act, section 118(1)(c), where a school program is not available in the home community, the district education council may operate student residences to provide home boarding.
I have received complaints from the parents of students from Tsiigehtchic who are attending high school in Inuvik. I think it’s important that the government does whatever it can to ensure that the education experience is a good one.
The challenges these parents face is they had to go out on their own to find home boarding for their children in Inuvik and also to acquire that educational experience. I think it’s critical that this government does everything it can to ensure that we have a good, healthy education environment for these children to partake in, especially the children from Tsiigehtchic who require home boarding, and as an important part of their educational experience we’re ensuring that adequate programs and services are available and also ensuring that home boarding is available.
Where high schools are not available, the Department of Education must do everything it can to ensure that the high school experience is provided to those communities that do not have high school, such as Tsiigehtchic, and that home boarding must be an integrated part of that education experience. We must ensure these students have a safe and good place to live, but, more importantly, to ensure that their education experience is a good one.
With that, I will be asking the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment questions on this matter, especially as they have been raised by my constituents and the parents of the students in Tsiigehtchic.