Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ecole Allain St-Cyr is a French-first school located on Taylor Road here in Yellowknife. It is one of two schools administered by the Commission Scolaire Francophone, the other being the Ecole Boreale in Hay River. This school has been at its current location on Taylor Road since 2000, when the then $4 million school was built with support from both Heritage Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Department of Public Works and Services was responsible for the overall project management on the federal government's behalf.
The school is named after Mr. Allain St-Cyr, a former French teacher at both J.H. Sissons and William McDonald School here in Yellowknife and I actually had the honour of having Mr. St-Cyr as my Grade 9 French teacher. He was very well-respected both as an educator and as a promoter of French schooling.
Today the school is home to 110 students. It also houses a daycare centre for up to 30 students and acts as a cultural centre for Yellowknife's French-speaking community.
Mr. Speaker, in the past few months Members and Ministers alike have received letters from parents of students at that school disagreeing with the government's decision to postpone the funding of phase two of the expansion, which would include a gymnasium that was left out of the original design of the school until 2012-2013.
Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that discussions are currently underway with Heritage Canada on securing funding for the expansion and I want to state again today that it is my belief that this government must immediately enact a policy when it comes to the construction of any new school in any one of our 33 communities across the Territory that the new school has got to have a gymnasium incorporated into the facility.
The statistics don't lie, Mr. Speaker. Youth today are not as active as they were in years past, so why would any government build a school or help build a school, where children spend eight hours a day, without a gymnasium? It defies any logic, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to call on the government to do everything they possibly can to expedite the discussions with Heritage Canada and finally get a gymnasium for the students, the parents and the staff at Ecole Allain St-Cyr. Merci beaucoup.