Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to ask some questions about the student financial assistance client satisfaction survey that was held last year. The survey indicated that in general the student financial assistance staff are doing pretty well, but I was really struck by the answer to one question where 11 percent of the respondents were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the way staff explained their answers. I’d like to ask the Minister what action the department is taking to lower that percentage to improve the customer service for this particular measure.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That information that we received we are following through with the various comments that were initiated. The customer satisfaction is, of course, our first priority. We need to rectify if there’s an issue or concern or challenge that’s before us.

My department has been instructed to look at it seriously on the comments that came to our attention. We will follow through with that.

I thank the Minister for that response. I appreciate that the department is taking action. I would hope for a little bit more specific response.

I would like to talk a bit about the results of another question. This was a question asked about the usefulness of the student handbook. The answers there were very disturbing to me: 71 percent of the replies were negative; 32 percent of them said they never use it; 39 percent of the students said that it was somewhat useful. It seems to me that it’s obvious that a revision is needed. I’d ask the Minister what plans the department has to revise the handbook.

This particular issue has been addressed, as well, by some students; the usefulness of the student handbook. We are looking at a revision. It may not be useful to some students because a lot of information is on-line right now. This is an area we are making some changes to. As you know, there will be review of the SFA overall as well. This could be part of that. It’s been brought to our attention, so the revision, seriously we are looking at that as well.

I’m pleased to hear that the revision is going to be part of the overall evaluation of student financial assistance.

One other result struck me as probably not the best. Table 5 in the report shows the results of student financial assistance service objectives. I was really surprised by the measurements used there. They asked whether or not appointments were met within 15 minutes of the appointment time, whether e-mail replies were received within two days of them being received, whether phone messages or voice messages were replied to within two days. I thought those were pretty lax measurements. As the Minister mentioned, this is a customer service-oriented program. We should be seeing people at the appointed time and responding in the same day.

Can the Minister explain to me why these particular measurements are so easy, I guess? So lax, to put it another way.

Again this could fall under SFA review. As you know, we service over 1,400 students for the Northwest Territories. There are some issues that may come before us. There might be some delays in responding, depending on the certain days. Customer service has been addressed here in the survey. We will do what we can as a department to rectify the issue, because expedience is, of course, our priority. We want to respond back to the students as soon as possible, but there are occasions that there may be some

delays. Our priority is to respond back to the students, each and every student, as best as possible.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that they try to respond to people but I guess, you know, as soon as possible, in my mind, if I have an appointment, I want to see my person at the appointed hour.

The Minister says that things are in the works. I’d like to know -- with a school year starting again, they want applications in by July of this summer coming up -- when can the Minister tell us that we will be able to see some of these revisions? When will there be some concrete action for us to look at?

The school this fall is just around the corner. A few months. I can’t guarantee that all the revisions are going to be in accordance with what’s been said, but we’ll do what we can as a department to follow through with the issues that are brought to our attention as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and lay that out. It will be shared with the Members as we make progress on these matters.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today was on the housing situation and the high school dropouts in my communities that I represent in Nunakput. Given the current way the government provides high school to students from the small communities and it’s so problematic that many students all together leave high school and go back to their home communities, will this government immediately commit funds and resources for one high school teacher per community so that the students can at least get high school courses in the community and not fall so far behind?

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do provide funding to the district education council which flows down to the district education authority. They decide which staff they’re going to be hiring. I’m not in a position to say you should hire these positions. We gave them the authority to do that. We empowered the DEA to make those decisions, the DECs. I have to respect their decision. If there are issues or concerns that the Member is raising that information should be shared with the DEA and DECs, I will do my part as

ECE to share the Member’s concern with the local school board.

Mr. Speaker, will this government conduct a thorough review to identify why so many high school students from small, isolated communities are dropping out of school? Mr. Speaker, we know the reasons already. It’s not worth going and getting another review done. This government is failing the education system in the small, isolated communities. Kids are staying home and not going to school.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister send a Minister’s directive and tell the DEAs in the Beaufort-Delta region to work with the community of Sachs Harbour to get something done on this issue? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do have boards that represent those small communities. I also meet with the chairpersons that are responsible for each region. That information is brought to our attention and we work together collaboratively. At the same time, there is the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative that’s underway and we will be going to the Beaufort-Delta. Those issues have been addressed in other regions, as well, similar to what the Member is raising.

It is clearly our discussion around the table on numerous occasions already, Mr. Speaker, since we started in September. At the end of the day, we will have a package. The plan of action will include that and I’m sure what the Member is referring to will be addressed in that format. Mahsi.

It’s one thing of being addressed and one thing about getting something done. Mr. Speaker, we’re failing the students of Nunakput. Not only Nunakput, all small communities. Will this government allocate appropriate resources to address the serious problems regarding the high school dropouts to ensure that quarterly reviews and benchmarks are carefully monitored for the future on this issue, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that is the very reason why we’re doing this initiative. Concern was raised by the parents, the community members, the leadership, the educators in the communities, all communities of the Northwest Territories. That’s when the Aboriginal student achievement has been undertaken. That’s been identified where the students’ attendance is an issue and the quality of education has been brought to our attention as well. There is a strategy that’s been developed through the action oriented coming from the people of the Northwest Territories. It’s not my department saying this is good for you; it’s the voice of the North. We will be tabling the document in this House, as well, with an action plan.

Similar to what we had done with the Languages Strategy, Mr. Speaker, I think this is an opportunity for the Beaufort-Delta to provide us with the ideas and suggestions on these matters as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I’ve been here for three years and I’ve been trying to provide that information. Mr. Speaker, if we have a house in the community of Inuvik that is able to take students from the small, isolated communities and put them in a safe house to have a safe place to stay where they could do their studying and stuff to get their education in Inuvik, will the Minister commit to putting resources and dollars behind that unit in Inuvik? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, again, the funding does flow through the school boards. What the Member is referring to, we will talk about that as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment with the school boards and with the ASA, the forum. That’s an ongoing discussion that we’re having. We need to find a solution. We can say throw money at these different schools and different areas. We need to find out where we need to focus our priorities. I understand where the Member is coming from, so I will follow through with that with our ASA and the school boards as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.