Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Hamilton has been recognized several times, but I certainly have to rise to my feet to acknowledge his presence here. He’s always been a mentor I’ve strived to aspire to and he’s known me since I was a little kid, and certainly my family. So great appreciation that he’s here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Jamie Kimiksana, escorting the Junior Rangers from Ulukhaktok here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment just in reference to my Member’s statement. There’s a young Dene woman from a small community in Nahendeh who wants to continue her high school and graduate at the Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson. She’s unable to be supported by the educational system to live in residence. I think the biggest single reason was that her parents had to leave the North for work. However, she remained behind under the guardianship of her auntie. They had returned, the parents and the daughter had returned for about 10 months yet the decision for home boarding refusal was that her parents had left the region for work. I believe that being flexible with our guidelines will give our students a chance to complete their studies in Fort Simpson.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister explain to me and the concerned community members, what is this policy that prevents us from providing educational services in this particular case? Mahsi cho.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular situation is quite unique on its own where we do work with the district education council at that level and same with the district education authority. They do have certain policies in place that I have to respect, as the Minister of Education, because they are following the guidelines of the Education Act, which gives the DEC the power to operate a student residence and make policies regarding operation of that residence. We are following those policies and I have to respect their decision as well. So we continue to work with the DEC. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Aboriginal education is an entrenched right, as Mr. Krutko quoted. We as the GNWT do have legislative requirements for home boarding. Aboriginal hunting is a universal right. Aboriginals can hunt anywhere. This is the same type of universal right that we must extend to our NWT aboriginal students, Mr. Speaker, who choose -- I repeat, who choose -- to have their education in the NWT. Their parents’ particular circumstances should not be a determinant to our support for our students.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Education explain how can we get so bureaucratic that we cannot do the right thing, review our guidelines and procedures and be flexible enough to support our students in remote communities? Thank you.

We are supporting the students in every way that we can that are in schools throughout the Northwest Territories. We provide the curriculum into the schools and funding to the school operations. The district education authority, the divisional educational board are the ones making these decisions. It is not just a bureaucratic decision; it is the board elected officials that make these decisions. I have to respect them, Mr. Speaker. I continue to work with them to improve in those areas. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, there has been some correspondence back and forth on the parents and the superintendent and also the divisional education board as well. There was a clear indication that a letter written to the parent, that the student does not qualify because the parents were down south. There was a policy that they have in place. That is what we have, Mr. Speaker.

If the Minister of Education is not the guardian of our education system and policy, I would like to know who is. Mr. Speaker, we cannot fail our aboriginal students, especially those in small and remote communities who have the biggest disadvantages as they have to leave their home community for education. Will the Minister review the situation as it has occurred more than once in other jurisdictions, as well, as it has implications throughout the NWT? Mahsi cho.

In other jurisdictions there are different circumstances where an individual from a small community goes to a regional school within a respected riding. They would qualify once they meet all the criteria of the policy. We do support the policies that are in place. We are allowing the powers onto the regions. That is what we were given as a mandate a few years back. So I continue, as a Minister, to work with the board chairs, the board directors, the superintendent and the principals. Those are the individuals that work within the system. We can certainly look at this from their perspective to the district education authority. We can have our staff

look at the policy itself. The decision is their decision. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have reiterated again and again that earlier I said that this student was here for 10 months, Mr. Speaker. I think the requirement that the Minister is quoting is not really the parents but was a one year requirement as well. Like, 10 months, Mr. Speaker. There has to be some flexibility with our guidelines and procedures. Thank you very much.

I didn’t hear a question there. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That would leave 23 percent without any kind of service at all. That is a concern of ours. We would like to be able to assist in providing the service, but we have to also ensure that this service or any basic service is available to a lot of remote communities we have out there. Thank you.

I guess I thank the Minister for that response. He and I will have to agree to disagree again, I am afraid. I would like to ask the Minister whether or not he understands that we will not get phone infrastructure in the communities that hold 23 percent of our residents for a matter of five to 10 years? Does he understand that? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I understand that fully. Thank you.

I will consider that the Minister… I was lobbying him an easy one but if he does understand that, I really have to ask him again, why then is the department and the government -- because I think this is a government decision -- so against starting implementation of 911 on a phased approach? The report indicates that it has to be a phased approach no matter when we start. We cannot implement 911 in all of our 33 communities at the same time. I need to ask the Minister why we

cannot start with a phased-in approach, why we cannot start with the seven communities that have been recommended. Thank you.

I will go back again, that we would like to be able to provide a basic service to all of the Northwest Territories and I think that this is kind of a priority right now. I want to ensure that people that are driving the winter road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk can phone 911. If they are driving from Fort McPherson to the border, I want to ensure that they can dial 911 and get the service required. So this is something that is a recommendation that came from a couple of reports and the coroner’s report, but our goal was to try and ensure that we have basic service to all of the Northwest Territories so they can all enjoy the same comforts that they would in some of the seven larger communities that would have this service and the comfort of knowing that they can phone 911. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister’s logic escapes me. I do not understand why we must wait 10 years in order to start an implementation project which is going to take a further five years to get done. We have to start at some point. I appreciate that there are some communities who do not have the amenities that I happen to enjoy here in Yellowknife, which is a large community, but I still maintain that the government must more seriously consider starting the service somewhere. Will the Minister consider re-evaluating his decision and his communication to the City of Yellowknife? Will he reconsider that decision and think about starting 911 phased in with our seven largest communities? Thank you.

As with most concerns that are brought to our attention from communities and from residents out there, we have to do our due diligence and consider all options before us if it is partial implementation. I think in a conversation with the Member, I kind of made reference to the fact that we haven’t closed the door on this particular issue. It is something that we’ll continue to work on. If we can find a way to partially implement this, then I think it’s something we should seriously consider.