Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken in this House in the past about absenteeism and the great cost of absenteeism to the education system and the great cost of absenteeism to our society and to our government. The one thing that I have been told in Tu Nedhe is that this Food First Program is something that actually had the kids come to school. We had kids that were absent on a regular basis that were now coming to school. Another thing that the Food First Program has done is that it allowed a lot of the students to show up on time because the kids knew that there was a certain window in the morning where they could come in and have something to eat and then they were off to class. They were in class on time, Mr. Speaker.

I support this motion. I don’t think the government should cut it. It created all kinds of positive things in one of the schools in Tu Nedhe. There was heavy parental involvement. The parents would come in

early, get up early with their kids, bring their kids to school, cook for the rest of the school. It was very positive for the kids to be with some of the parents and to have a good meal. It was also good for educating students. There were a lot of students that were assisting. The older students were assisting younger kids to cook. They were in the kitchen. They were learning that aspect of life, at least. It was something that was done and, also, for healthy food, the schools made sure that the breakfast was serving healthy foods. That was beneficial so that at least the kids were getting one good healthy meal per day. Most of them were getting more than that, but this was something that was guaranteed.

As Mr. Jacobson indicated, the one aspect of the small communities is the cost of living. The cost of living is high here too in Yellowknife, as it is right across the Territory. This was a little opportunity again for people to feed their children. Their children were fed in the school. It was doing what it could. Lastly, I think this is leveraging our future. If we keep kids in school by giving them one good healthy meal, it would pay dividends in the future for many years. Thank you.