Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to make a few comments to the infrastructure for the Department of Education. I wanted to ask the department, when they are doing their capital planning or their needs assessment, if the community of Colville Lake is in line anywhere in the needs assessment for a new learning centre.
They are operating out of an older unit. They have some pretty good success by having a person in there working with the community and the older people. I think that it’s about time that this community be looked at as a community where a learning centre can be brought in and established to have a proper facility to upgrade, do specific community projects in education or culture and even with employment training, if Colville Lake could be identified as a community where a possible learning centre could be worked in the capital needs or capital planning process.
I know the Minister of Finance has said that money is going to be an issue and I do agree with the Minister; however, we could look beyond these next four years to see if that is something that is possible. …(inaudible)...infrastructure in their existing colleges. There were even discussions in the last Assembly on Yellowknife looking at a campus. There are lots of discussions on those types of infrastructure.
I guess I wanted to ask the Minister to keep your eye on the ball on some of the communities that don’t have facilities such as learning centres or campuses, if some discussion could happen around a new school for Colville Lake and a learning centre combination of a whole bunch of things, how we can move in that type of direction.
I spoke to the Minister of Public Works. Now I want to speak to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on the washroom facilities in this school. There are upgraded washroom facilities – I know a lot of people use them in camping situations – and I wonder if the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment could think about putting some upgraded washroom facilities in Colville Lake School, since the Minister of Public Works says it will be another year for that washroom in Colville Lake portable and the log building school won’t be useable.
I’m asking for some creativity from this department or this government here. Look at other ways rather than saying, well, too late. I think they need to wake up and smell the honey bucket here, on this issue here. There are 53 people that work in this building here. If you bring that situation to this building here for 53 people, you’re going to have a public outcry. You’re going to have a huge, huge demonstration. People will not stand for it. Why do we allow our kids in Colville Lake and say it’s tolerable? Tolerate this. We can’t even use the outside outhouses. It’s too cold. You don’t allow little kids to do that. At one time it was okay, but we’ve moved beyond that.
So I’m asking for some creativity from this department so those facilities, those units…
There’s no proper ventilation in the school for those honey buckets, and I said before, the smell isn’t always great, but we expect the little kindergartens, grade fours and grade threes to live with it and be
okay with it. We also put our teachers in those types of situations. It’s not a very good learning and educational type of environment.
I don’t think any one of us in this building here would want to put our kids through that situation. It would be a bloody outcry from parents and from teachers. So I ask the Minister if he would look at some of those creativities to put proper washroom facilities in the school. If he is so convinced that the Department of Public Works can’t do it and it will be operational next year and MACA can’t put in the sewer lagoon. I already said there’s a sewer lagoon being used right now in Colville Lake, so a sewer truck there right now used in Colville Lake. If you fly there you will see the situation.
I guess I’m trying to put this issue on the table so we can have a good learning environment, because right now they’re not taking it very seriously, because what are they doing about the situation there? It’s almost like a joke. I guess that’s something that I want to ask the Minister here in the general comments.
In Deline they’re looking at doing some work on their school, hopefully, by the people. They want a new school in Deline also, but I want to ask the Minister if he could provide me with the process of the needs to go in to renovate the school or to put a new school in Deline. What is the comparison? What is the analysis? What will it take?
In Colville Lake I know they need one; there’s no doubt about it. There are boxes and boxes of stacked material, written material in the school. They’re running out of space. They should at least put in a proper building there for space to store some of their building supplies, educational supplies. They’re doing the best they can, those teachers in Colville Lake. God bless their souls; God bless their hearts for doing the best they can. I think we need to pull up our socks in the Government and do all that we can to help the teachers help the kids.
So I want to ask the Minister those two big ones. Fort Good Hope is looking for some help with their track and field. They have a brand new school, thanks to the government, thanks to the Minister, but there is a lot behind the school that is not developed and they want to put a proper track and field facility in there. They just don’t have that type of dollars; we heard that already.
Those are some of my general comments to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. The needs are high. The money is not too much. We need to remember our small communities or some of the things that we don’t have that some of the larger centres have. We need to go back and relook at those, and revisit those and put those needs in the small communities. My people, our goals and aspirations are no different than anybody else in the Northwest Territories. We are looking for
help there also. Those are my comments from the Sahtu.