Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Within the traditional and cultural activities, and pertaining to that is also language, we provide over $12 million specifically in those areas. The funding is allocated to the school boards, as well, and at the community level to deal with the cultural preservation and promotion of the culture. The money is available in that respect. It is a group that deals with the funding as well.

When it comes to hand games tournaments that are happening in almost every region, there have been a lot of requests that have come to our attention. We always refer them to the community level, the school boards or cultural agencies that we work with.

It has been the case where they have been turned down with their requests and they have had to fundraise on their own. Especially for a small community that has little or no income, it’s very hard to fundraise. They did manage to support their culture and I’d like to ask the Minister if we can design some type of programming or be flexible with our program to include hand games cultural activities just to get people travelling around.

This could be part of the discussion. We haven’t heard much in the regions. The forum on Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, that is part of the cultural preservation, as well, and deals with the language. This could be part of the discussion that we will have with the group. As we move forward where we

could, identifying within the $12 million I’ve already identified, maybe we could work with that. I need to get some feedback from the language expertise at the community level that we deal with at the forum.

Sounds like some hoolay for the specific initiative. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can look in his department at the different types of programs to see what can fit to support this type of initiative. It’s very important to the community of Wrigley, very important to all our communities in the North, and interactions amongst the different communities is something that we should support as a government.

One thing that we can possibly look at through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is the training aspect where we’ve had some requests in the past for training. We’ve provided in-kind contributions. This is an area we could possibly look at. But when we talk about the huge regional hand games tournament, it’s very difficult to put money towards that where it’s much broader. We want to focus on the youth that are getting involved in the hand games demonstration, hand games training. That’s an area we could probably explore.

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

I’m certainly glad that the Minister is looking to the youth aspect of it. I think that’s a huge component of what’s happening in Wrigley.

Can I also ask the Minister if he can work with the Department of ITI? I know that we sponsor hand games at the Olympics and national events. Just an extension of this and that’s what the communities want. If we’re funding it anyways, can we bring it home? Can we bring it to the small communities?

Whether it be the tournaments, the Vancouver demonstrations -- and we’ve sponsored those participants to be at the function to demonstrate what the hand games are all about so we can show the world -- those are areas we can sponsor through the GNWT as a whole that we’ve done.

With respect to the Dene hand games in various regions, in the past those organizations have been very successful conducting those events with or without the help of organizations or sponsors. Like the Member has stated, they have raised money. This is an area especially with the youth that I like to focus on those areas.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about early childhood education. UNESCO says early childhood education is defined by the years of birth to eight years old. They believe that it makes a remarkable difference on the brain development of young people if early education is offered early in the beginning of school years, before the traditional time of grades 1 to 4.

I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment what his government and department can do to help support schools that wish to offer junior education programs.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do currently provide funding to the school boards but it is at their discretion if they want to provide pre-kindergarten throughout the summers as the Member has alluded to. Last year this was successful. It was their own initiative. It wasn’t our department saying they should have that. We provide funding for that, but this could be also part of the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative because it covers all areas of the Northwest Territories, the students, and junior kindergarten has been an option that’s been identified through that venue. There is ongoing discussion. We still have two more regions to attend. I’m sure this will be part of the discussion as we move forward.

The problem with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Program, although it’s a fantastic program, it doesn’t fit all the students. I’m talking about programming that school boards can offer for all students.

We have schools that are presently taking on this role of junior kindergarten and I think it’s a significant advancement of the education of a young person and giving them the right start. Would the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment investigate the opportunities on a proposal basis trying some pilot projects of funding junior kindergarten?

Again the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiatives focus is on the sector of what’s happening within the education system. I’d like to find out the results of that discussion at the forum. That gave us guidance as we explore different areas. Whether it be junior kindergarten that the Member is referring to within the schools in the Northwest Territories during the summer as an option, those are the areas that we will likely explore once we get the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiatives finalized and then

recommendations will come out. It does reflect overall on the department as well.

The Minister keeps pointing at the Aboriginal Student Initiative but it doesn’t fund non-Aboriginal students. I’m referring to junior kindergarten for all students. I see them as all students that we should give a good chance to at the beginning of their early education years. Does the Minister, in his leadership of the Department of ECE, see a way that all students could be funded under this initiative, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal?

All students are funded. We provide funding to all the school boards, and at their discretion they can provide various programs as they have done in the past, like last year for example. So we do provide funding for all students.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s not quite correct because the Education Act says that students aren’t funded unless they’re age five by the end of the school year. They are not counted under funding per basis. The issue is drawing in early children who can use the literacy and numeracy development over the long haul on those early years. Would the Minister look at and consider the position and proposal that I’m putting forward, which is redefining the act or redefining the mandate of the department that can provide junior kindergarten by accepting those students as students and funding them?

This is, as I stated, the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is a great strategy that’s out there and is getting a lot of positive feedback from the community members. Again, it’s for the whole Northwest Territories. It will reflect on how we deliver programs in the Northwest Territories on the education factor, whether it be junior kindergarten or other areas. It will give us some guidance within our department to move forward on various initiatives.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Maximizing Northern Employment program still exists, I’m happy to say, and I expect it will continue for some time. We’ve had this program for quite a few years. It’s gone through a few iterations but it’s probably one of the most successful programs that we have. It provides students and graduates with work experiences within the government. We have three principal programs within the Maximizing Northern Employment program: the Graduate Internship Program; the Graduate Placement Program, which is focused primarily on teachers, nurses, and social workers; and of course the Summer Student Program. My expectation is that we’ve been very successful so it’s going to continue for some time.

To the Minister, thank you so much for that response. I think it’s important that people know that this program is going to continue to exist. I know there are a lot of people who are accessing this program who are very pleased with the supports they’re getting. Could the Minister tell me how much the program is and how it’s administered within the Department of HR?