Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would like to consider Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act, then Bill 22, Bill 26 and Bill 27, if we have time. Sorry, and Committee Report 8-17(4).

Thank you. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We’ll commence after a short break.

---SHORT RECESS

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Before the break the committee indicated that we were going to start with Bill 12. I’d like to ask Minister Jackson Lafferty at this time if he would like to deliver his opening remarks. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I am pleased to be here today to speak about Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act.

I’d like to thank standing committee for their thoughtful and important work on the bill. In particular, I congratulate the committee on going into the schools and speaking with the students and providing us with their feedback.

This is important information which will shape the action plans as we move forward.

Bill 12 speaks to the Motion passed by the Legislative Assembly on February 16, 2012,

recommending “the Government establish a territory-wide campaign to denounce bullying, including cyber-bullying, and to provide information and resources for schools, parents, victims and bystanders, and that the government review anti-bullying legislation measures being undertaken in other jurisdictions and bring forward a bill for consideration by this Assembly within 18 months.”

This bill supports and strengthens clauses already contained in the Education Act requiring school staff, teachers, principals and education boards to take action if they become aware that students are being mistreated or threatened. It defines bullying, including cyber-bullying, and provides for the creation of a territorial school code of conduct and the creation of safe school plans.

The safety and security of our students is always at the forefront of our actions and this bill underscores that tenet.

I would be pleased to answer any questions committee members may have. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. I’d like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring witnesses into the Chamber.

Yes, please.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Does committee agree?

Agreed. Thank you. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

For the record, Mr. Lafferty, if you could introduce your witness.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I have with me Ian Rennie, legislative counsel, Department of Justice.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Before we go to general comments, I’d like to ask the chair of the standing committee that reviewed this bill if he would like to please provide committee’s remarks. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs has completed its review of Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act. Public hearings were held in Yellowknife on September 23 and 25, 2013, and Norman Wells on September 25 and 26, 2013.

For the first time in committee history, public hearings were held in various high schools. The committee thanks the many students and teachers who helped to facilitate the meetings and provide valuable input.

The committee thanks the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. The bill is a reasonable first step in NWT’s efforts to prevent bullying. It amends the

Education Act to establish a definition of bullying, including cyber-bullying. It provides for the establishment of a territorial school code of conduct and a corresponding safe schools plan for each district education authority.

The committee received substantial input from the public, both written and in person. This, combined with the committee’s work, resulted in three proposed amendments to this bill. First, to strengthen the definition of bullying; second, to strengthen the definition of cyber-bullying; and third, to clarify that a principal may establish school rules in the school for which he or she is responsible. The Minister concurred with these amendments during the committee’s clause-by-clause review on October 24, 2013. The committee’s report on the bill includes over a dozen recommended actions, all based on what the committee heard during the review. Following the committee’s review, a motion was carried to report Bill 12 as amended and reprinted to the Assembly as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee’s opening comments on Bill 12. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. We will now go to general comments. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank all involved for bringing this legislation forward. This really addresses a very serious issue that at its most serious, of course, can lead to severe consequences, most extreme would be suicide. It’s a national concern, but it is a concern, as well, in every community.

What is the role of schools and our educational system dealing with bullying is the question, given that they have considerable responsibilities already for educating our youth. I know there has been considerable discussion on that and I appreciate that.

Schools and the education system need to be part of our program, of our suite of programs to deal with bullying. I think it’s appropriate to bring legislation like this forward to help. But I also feel, fundamentally, that really dealing with bullying starts at home and with the parents and is largely, and always will be really, a responsibility of the parents, and school programs will be supplemental to that.

I do recall some lessons when I was a young sprout, which I was once, and participated with a bunch of others in teasing a hockey kid that had white skates, which I shared with committee. The next morning, to my chagrin, I found my hockey skates had been painted white. I had to wear them to three hockey games before I could go back to

the usual skates. Again, very effective measures can be in place at home, and should be. It is an important responsibility of parents.

The school needs some guidance on how to deal with bullying and I would say that this legislation provides a start. I emphasize that it is just a start. I am not aware of dollars going into this, but it is an important first step on a complicated issue. We know bullying is common in our schools, as I mentioned. I believe the national figures are greater than 70 percent of kids have experienced bullying. Simply defining it, in a way, has been challenging. This legislation makes a stab at that including cyber-bullying. It also provides measures, as the Minister mentioned, like code of conduct, safe school plans and other measures. I think it does bring a bit of focus on dealing with the root cause, which is what is needed, not just disciplining with respect to bullying.

Again, I will leave it at that. I am supportive of this legislation and look forward to hearing any other comments on this and perspectives and will stay tuned on this issue. I think it is a first step. Ultimately, perhaps, resources might be needed, but I support where we are going right now. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. General comments. Next I have Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to echo what we’ve heard a bit here as well. I would like to thank the schools, the teachers, the school administration, parents and the various stakeholders that we had a chance to talk to throughout the Northwest Territories.

Committee found out, as soon as we embarked on this journey, that bullying was more of a personal issue than we anticipated. While we listened and heard many stories and great ideas, in some sense it was a bit of a healing method in itself for some. To that, I want to thank those who opened up to some very deep, buried scars that had been with people for many years. So I think in itself it was a healing journey for committee.

To start off, I just want to take a moment to review the motion that I was able to bring into the House with support from my colleagues that was passed unanimously on February 16, 2012. Although I wish to commend the department for capturing most of it in their attempt to cover most of this bill, there are areas within this motion that I found that were not addressed to its fullest in the draft of the bill. I will just quote here, and it was one of the “and whereas.”

And whereas, the Members of Legislative Assembly which denounce all bullying behaviour in our schools and our society at large.

It’s determined that society at large seems to be not captured as well within the bill. I understand that we

have to start somewhere and that the Education Act was used as a means to commence this product that, as we heard, bullying is a societal issue, and that was loud and clear in our journey.

The other aspect to this was that it recommends the Government of the Northwest Territories establish a territory-wide campaign to denounce bullying, including cyber-bullying, and to provide information and resources for schools, parents, victims and bystanders. Now, there are implied responses within this bill we would assume through territorial code of conduct or through safe schools plan, but nothing explicit. As a result, I would love to see more that answers to that question. I am earmarking that for the department and hopefully they are listening and that, with time, more of a campaign, a more prescriptive campaign of bullying would be coming.

My first reaction when I got this bill was interesting because, as you are well aware, I went public early on and this is one of the first topics as a newly elected Member that I was going to bring forward even as a private member’s bill. I put a lot of effort and research into this before it even became a motion of the House. So I waited 18 months feverishly to find out the reaction. I have to say my first reaction was that this bill was somewhat playing around the edges of bullying. I think I may have said that publicly as well. I always ask myself, when I look at a bill of this magnitude, does it really tip the scales to help the victim. Even after going through everything we did with this bill, I am still not sure if it does. I think we provide some definitions, we provide some framework, but are we tipping the scales to support victims?

One of the other things of my reaction was the 20-day suspension that, as I said earlier, I treat that type of terminology more as a holiday. I can tell you that some of my early diagnoses were echoed by many stakeholders as we talked throughout the communities. Not that it was comforting to hear, but it was nice to see, as a Member, my barometer was working just fine.

Of course, many were hoping for a bill somewhat to the likes of what we have seen in Nova Scotia. We know it’s a far cry from that. We want to make sure that the department, whether it’s Education or Justice, need to continue to strive for stronger aspects of this bill, whether it’s protection orders, torte laws, and hopefully we can get some assurances from the House that something can be done in the near future.

I just want to take a moment to review some of what we’ve heard from stakeholders. Some of this stuff was captured in committee’s report, but I want to make sure some of the things that were not captured that we can share today here. As I said earlier, bullying was a societal issue. We heard that time and time again, so I can’t stress that enough.

The issue of mandatory counselling was viewed upon differently throughout the Northwest Territories, yet the overall feeling is that it would do good, so there was support for that. Many wanted to make sure the definition was easy to understand and to remove all the guesswork both for bullying and cyber-bullying. I believe, as we heard from our chair, that was captured with the amendments, and thank you, Minister, for agreeing.

From the kids’ perspective, they said snitches get it worse. That was a unanimous theme and yet this bill somehow doesn’t protect the people who come forward. I think that’s something that I’m hoping through the safe schools or territorial code we have to keep that in mind.

We heard again that parents need to play a bigger role here. This came out everywhere, yet the bill does not factor this nor is it implied with it in the code of conduct. Some places we heard that fines or financial penalties would not be out of line, and hitting the issue of bullying at the expense of a pocketbook seemed to be well received by some respondents, and I wanted to make sure that made the public as well.

We heard different ways of restorative justice, especially from students. Again, we hope that gets filtered down to the department. However, I want to shed some light that aside from trying to find the root cause of bullying, which I’m very supportive of, I believe there was equal weight given to the punitive aspect of one’s actions. Community service was such an option, as was a sentencing circle, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that many times clear consequences and process must be known and practiced.

It was also mentioned that all the legislation should depict the maximum consequences. Schools should still have some flexibility and some type of tied judgment model or process.

Ironically, in small pockets of the Northwest Territories there appears to be gender-based bullying, which was a surprise, I think, for some Members here, especially amongst girls. The ideas of a girls talking circle seemed to be well received as an option for redirection, and again I’m hoping the department is capturing that.

I guess from the teachers’ perspective, they were wondering how protected were they as teachers. It came up many times in our deliberations, because many teachers and ex-teachers did participate in the stakeholders meeting. Again, the other concern that teachers had was how much time will this take out of my day already. So, clearly, committee heard concerns from teachers being bullied as well. Again, they’re really concerned what tools they’ll have at their disposal. We’ve heard in many circumstances that most schools only have a 0.5 position for councillors. Again, I think we need to take a look at that model.

It is also clear that the department has to really strive to work positively with the NWTTA, all school board authorities and teachers to balance teacher workload and the options to deal with bullying. Many schools already have been addressing the issue of bullying. In fact, just recently Range Lake North School, in my riding, just had a great day dedicated to this topic, yet we’ve seen other schools with little programs. So my hope is that with this bill we don’t eliminate the great programs that were working well in regions, but we need to enhance or standardize those best practice errors that we are seeing.

The issue of a territorial confidential help line came up a number of times, and we think committee captured this in the recommendation; however, I would challenge the department to review this one with the help of technology. That is with almost 70 percent of our territory with 3GB and soon to be almost 100 percent, with the proper app technology, we could, in essence, use smart technology to modernize our unique messaging to our students. Let’s face it, the days of calling in to a switchboard is about as old-fashioned as they come. So I’m sure the department will find the right way to bridge mechanisms and bring the message home to the students in a way that they’ll receive it.

In conclusion, I think these are great first steps that the department has brought forward. I know there’s been a lot of time and energy from many people who brought this draft forward. On an equal footnote, there’s been a lot of equal work done by the committee, from Clerk’s staff to bring that report forward. As you heard from our chair, this is the first time I think in legislative history in the Northwest Territories we took a bill on the road to the schools and had the schools’ and the kids’ input on effects. I think that should echo loud and clear, the fact that the committee did a very thorough analysis in preparation for today. I want to commend the Standing Committee on Social Programs for thinking outside the box, and I hope that’s the tone for future bills to come.

Madam Chair, we know this is not the end; this is the beginning to bullying and denouncing of bullying. I’m strongly looking forward to seeing future amendments or future legislation to help stop and curb one of our worst traits as a human being. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. General comments. Next I have Ms. Bisaro. Oh, I’m sorry. Minister Lafferty.

Madam Chair, with your permission, I’d like to ask one of the witnesses to join me at this table.

Does committee agree?

I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witness into the Chamber.

Minister Lafferty, for the record, could you please introduce the additional witness at your table.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Thank you for allowing that. This is Sam Shannon, our ECE legislative policy advisor.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next for general comments I have Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At the outset, I want to thank the Legislative Assembly for giving me the opportunity on this committee to travel and to look into this particular bill and this issue. It was certainly an issue that provided us with a lot of input and a created a lot of thinking amongst committee, both individual and us as a group. I want to thank the Ledge staff for the work that they did setting up our travel, setting up our meetings and so on, and looking after us as we travelled. And I would like to thank all the presenters that we heard from. They were many. I particularly want to thank the students. It’s been mentioned before, but it was novel that we heard from students, and our public hearings there were a little bit less formal, a bit like pulling teeth sometimes to get the kids started, but once they got going we got some really interesting perspectives from the students. It was a new process and it was an experiment. I think that’s been mentioned already. But I think it’s something that certainly the various committees should think about doing again. It certainly gave us a different perspective on the issue.

I don’t think it’s any secret, and certainly I expressed right from the time that the amendments were brought forward that I don’t feel… I did feel and I still feel that any legislation that was brought forward – and I said this at the time – to address bullying should be more comprehensive than what we have before us, and that was my major disappointment. I think Mr. Dolynny suggested that, as well, that there’s not much in these amendments to address bullying. It’s been said that it’s a societal issue. I absolutely agree. It is an issue that goes well beyond schools. We can’t deal with bullying and/or cyber-bullying within the four walls or the six or eight walls of the school, however many they have these days. We can’t deal with bullying within the walls of the school. You know, then the kids leave and, basically, how do you monitor that once they’ve left the school? That’s my concern with this legislation, with these amendments, that it doesn’t deal with the whole issue, it doesn’t deal with the community and the issue of bullying within the community. That’s my concern there.

However, I am glad that we have got something here. As much as I wish it were a lot larger and more comprehensive, I’m glad that we do have

something. I think, though, and I’m going to say this more than once, but these amendments, this bill should be considered as no more than a start to address bullying and to try to deal with bullying in our society.

A big focus of the bill is establishing a territorial code of conduct and a safe schools policy, both of which I agree with, but both of which were not available when we went and did our consultation on the bill. They’re still not available even at this point. And we heard from quite a few people who said, well, I can’t really comment on the bill because I haven’t seen the code of conduct. It’s referenced a number of times in the amendments, but I have no idea, basically, what it contains and what it means. I haven’t seen a safe schools policy so I don’t really know what that is, so it’s very difficult for me to comment on the bill. We heard that from a number of people. Probably more so from trustees of boards and, you know, sort of people at a higher level, at a superintendent or a board level, but it certainly was mentioned a number of times.

I have this question for the Minister. At some point these two documents are going to be developed and my question to the Minister is: How will the stakeholders be involved in the development of these two documents? There was a recommendation in our report from the committee that says – if I can find it – “the code of conduct in the safe schools guidelines and regulations should be provided to Standing Committee on Social Programs and other education stakeholders for review and feedback in advance of their enactment.” I feel very strongly that this is a very core piece of these amendments that are going to be used to address bullying through discipline and so on. We’ve consulted on the act. We now need to consult on the code of conduct and on the safe schools policy. It needs to be a broad, across-the-board consultation.

I’ve also said before that this legislation cannot be considered the end point. It’s not going to work if we just put these amendments in place and don’t do anything else. We’ve heard from quite a few people in the presentations that these amendments must be backed up by a number of other things, and one of them is to address root causes of bullying. Bullying is a way of somebody acting out and they are acting out for a reason and we need to treat the reason. That’s what I’m calling root causes. If we don’t provide programs or we don’t provide staff within the school who can deal with the root causes of the bullying, disciplining is not going to be the answer and it’s not going to make it go away.

Mr. Dolynny mentioned the public awareness and education campaign that’s referenced in the motion that was passed by this side of the House. That needs to be put in place as well. It needs to be part

and parcel of these amendments to the Education Act.

There needs to be increased support either for the boards and/or schools, and when I say increased support, I’m talking about financial support so they can hire more staff and human support. They need more teachers in the school or counsellors within the school, either one or both, in order to deal with bullying. Teachers have extremely full days already and we’re now requiring that they take a portion of their day whenever bullying occurs to deal with it. That means they are then drawn away from whatever they’re doing in their classroom or whatever they are doing at that point in time in school.

So we can’t expect this to be lumped on top of teachers’ duties already and say here you go, here’s something else to do. We heard that, I think fairly loudly, from a number of teachers.

The other thing that I think is absolutely required, and this, again, is referenced in the recommendations from the committee, is we need broader anti-bullying legislation. As I said, this is a start, but we need to, as a government… It needs to be a separate bill because it has to work across our society, but there needs to be broader legislation which deals with bullying in the workplace, deals with bullying in the community, any place other than the schools, which isn’t now covered.

I think that’s about it, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate again, as I said before, I think this is a first step and I appreciate the fact that this first step is being taken. I have to put my faith in the department and the government that they see the other things that are necessary to support these particular amendments, and I have to put my faith in the department and the government that they will take the necessary steps to make sure that these amendments work, and they don’t just sit isolated and not do the job that is intended. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. General comments. Next I have Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First off, I just want to say that I was very honoured to be on this tour with committee, and the hard work that the Social Programs committee put forth and the staff that travelled with us, as well, to these communities. They did a really great job, as well as the department staff who came on this tour with us. So it was a lot of hard work and I listened to a lot of community members, educators, as well as youth, which was very unique and I was very glad to hear the students speaking up on such legislation.

I’d like to thank Mr. Dolynny, Mr. Yakeleya and Ms. Bisaro for bringing forward their motions to support federal cyber-bullying as well as getting this

legislation to the point now and the hard work that’s gone into it. I was very honoured and pleased to have that as our first real bill as committee to take on the road and have such a positive outcome. It was tough, listening to some of the stories. It did open up some personal stories from some of the residents and students. It is great that now, as legislators, we can do something to affect the outcome or even detour bullying happening in the communities and schools, and having this in the schools is a good first step. However, taking it bigger into the workforce and into society and how we can make that step work for us and for the residents of the Northwest Territories is our next step after this one.

What we did here was the cyber-bullying… I thought I was up to date on a lot of things that were happening in the cyber world, but some of these youth brought to our attention some websites that are just anonymous and it was just unreal what we heard from some of these students and what was going on in the communities, but that also kind of filtered out into the hallways and playgrounds of the schools.

We heard a lot of great ideas and one thing that was taken into account was lack of counsellors in some of the schools and that does need to be addressed when we put this legislation through. I like the idea that it’s unique in the sense that each authority will work on developing their own safe school policies and when we do put our territorial code of conduct together, it is one that will allow some flexibility with the schools but also be there strong in the sense that we prevent bullying, Madam Chair.

I just want to say thanks to the committee. It was a long process. There was a lot of discussion behind doors leading up to the motion, after the motion, right to the end, and we did our report and brought it back into the House. I thank the Minister and his staff for all the work they’ve done as well.

Not much more to say, Madam Chair. We did introduce the report into the House. We read it last week. I just want to thank committee for all their hard work. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Any further general comments? I have no one else on my list. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to say thanks to the students in Yellowknife and Norman Wells, and the Diamond Jenness students. I didn’t go to the one in Hay River, but I understand that they had some good discussions. It’s the first time that we’ve taken this piece of legislation to the ones that we are mostly gearing this to that affects them, the students, and to the students for being brave enough to allow us into their schools and speak to us. I haven’t seen this ever in my life growing up and going to school in

Inuvik. I never saw legislators come into our school at Samuel Hearne High and talk to us. This is pretty cool. Going into the schools, Madam Chair, I realized how old I am. Sometimes I think we are still in high school. It brings a lot of memories back to us, getting together with friends.

I want to say thank you to the committee and to the students for this opportunity, and certainly the parents for sending us notes or talking to us when we’re in the communities. We certainly had that in Norman Wells. They thought that was right on that we were going into the school to get feedback and talk to the kids, even though they were shy, but they certainly told us. That’s something that is bothering society.

My colleague Daryl Dolynny says it’s a society issue, something such as this word we call “bullying” that’s happening. I think there was a different name for it when we grew up in our time.

Our parents or grandparents usually got a good old willow out and straightened us out pretty fast. We didn’t really have time to hurt other kids. We had to work because our lifestyle was different. We had to either haul wood or pack water up the hill or feed dogs or clean the house. We had a lot of work to do and look after little brothers and sisters. We had a lot of things to do. The school of hard knocks was pretty enforced and implemented. So we had some things we had to pay attention to or otherwise mom and dad would come down on us on how we should behave as brothers and sisters or even within the schools.

I certainly want to say to Mr. Minister that we have to give hope to those children and parents. We need to support teachers who are going to be in this environment mostly. I’m not too sure what the graduate teachers that are coming out of university to expect this, the life in the classroom. I’m not too sure if they’re trained for that or if they know about that, or how much they know about the culture and psychological issues of addictions and impacts of the grading process and all these wonderful things, and they’re aspiring to be a good teacher on top of that. They have to deal with that. We have to really help the teachers when they come into this environment. We’re putting this legislation in force so that little Johnny can come to school and not be so concerned about something that is happening to him, like being pushed around. We have to really help the parents. It has happened even in our own homes. It’s not out there. The legislation is about us, about legislators and how the students spoke to us about this, because they’re carried on in life.

I look forward to looking at one day erasing this word, when we put the word “respect” back in there. We need to erase that from our vocabulary and put the word “respect” and “goodness,” have a strong teaching in a learning environment, give some leeway and flexibility. Like I said, when we were

young, there were nine of us in my family and mom ruled. If you did something wrong, like I said, the willow came out. But you know what, Madam Chair? I never did that again. It was good. That’s what we need. I know it’s a different lifestyle today. I may sound rough, but it certainly saves a lot of headaches. My mom didn’t sit me down and say, well, quiet time, how did you feel then? No, it was wham, wham. That’s it. We’ll talk about this later when you think about what you’ve done. That’s counselling. The counselling was done by what she thought was good for us. We need to think that again, because we are helping the students. We are helping by it’s not okay to do this to other students or other people. It’s not okay to be this kind of person. You’re going to have a hard life when you grow up. That’s really hard, especially when it comes close to your own home. That is very difficult.

I like this legislation. I think that it still needs to be fleshed out and there are some really good, dynamite teachers working in our system. Sometimes we just like, come on guys. I think they went to university to become a good teacher. I’m not too sure if they went to university to become rich. There are lots of entrepreneurialships they can get into. They have good minds, so they have a really honourable profession and career and they believe that. They went to university to get their degree so that they can pass on something. Someone inspired them to be a teacher. And you know what? You can become a good teacher and you can also make good money. That’s the payoff, the discipline. This legislation is a bigger picture. Like someone said, it’s a societal issue. We’re just focusing on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We need to really help the students who are willing to help us, and they are.

This legislation is good legislation. I do hope that, with your staff, you do look at it very, very seriously and look at it as to one day maybe there will be a territorial code. I always thought about this and had some good discussions with my significant other on a territorial code, even for something that is as radical as a dress code for our students that brings pride and you don’t have to worry about expensive brands of clothes or whatever. Just like us. We come in here; we have a code. Why not have that in the schools? That will save a lot of parents a lot of money to not have to buy expensive runners or jeans or pants, and have the schools in our communities celebrate that in our regions and in our schools. It works wonders when we are together as a team. That may be helping out in some of the incentives to this thing here about bullying. I don’t know, but I’m willing to do anything.

I would like to say, once again, thank you to the school here, Sir John Franklin, Diamond Jenness School in Hay River and the Mackenzie Mountain School in Norman Wells for allowing us, as

legislators, to come in and listen to them on this legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Next for general comments I have Mr. Bouchard.

Madam Chair, I would like to thank the Minister for bringing forward the amendments and obviously the department for all their hard work on this endeavour. I also would like to thank the standing committee, who had an opportunity to come to Hay River. I know they took extra special effort to make sure they got to Hay River and I appreciate that. I think the students in Hay River appreciated giving them their two cents as well as the general public.

Most of my colleagues expressed some of the issues and concerns that came out of what I saw in Hay River, was that the changes and the amendments towards bullying is just the beginning, that bullying is not just in the schools for students and general public, bullying is throughout the general public and out there. These are the beginning steps. I think we had support. Definitely when they came to Hay River they had support, but they indicated that this is just the beginning. These students are seeing bullying out in the community as well as the general public sees bullying out in the general community, so they wanted to see it go to another level somewhere down the road.

The other area was stress and we had a lot of educators that were in Hay River at the general meeting. They had indicated that, yes, this was something that they knew needed to be implemented, but the difficulty is how it was going to be implemented. There are no additional dollars currently being implemented for it and they’re under the gun. The educators, especially that were giving feedback in Hay River, said we’re stressed to the limits of our capacity now for energy, for finances, so they were wondering who is going to implement all of these regulations and how the anti-bullying is going to be implemented in the schools.

I know that Diamond Jenness spoke of their system that was in place right now. They indicated that they have a procedure, they have a process, but if these amendments were implemented, what impact did that have on what they were going to have to do in the future. I mean, that’s just some feedback that I see in Hay River. I thought I’d pass on the words, and like I said, some of the former Members that have spoken, especially some of the committee members who are up to speed on other regions, but I think a lot of the same issues were expressed. Again, I’d like to thank them for coming to the committee, because I think they did give lots of feedback and interaction with the community.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Any further general comments. Does the committee agree that there are no further

general comments? Clause by clause, review the bill?

Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I’d like to thank the Members for their hindsight of all the discussion that’s been taking place, even the three communities that we’ve talked about and even beyond that. Even thanking the students that have been actively engaged. It does take courage for these students to stand up and speak their mind, so I’d like to thank them for that as well.

I totally agree with the Members when they say this is the first step, an NWT safe schools plan. We also need partnerships, building on our success, the program that is being delivered. I agree with all those, and the code of conduct that is in play. It has been raised that it’s a societal issue. It is a society issue, bullying. In my role as the Education Minister, I’m responsible for the schools. Members indicated that this is the first step. We will do what we can with the school boards, DEAs and DECs to make this a very successful project in their schools.

We’re fully aware of the societal issue, so I will be working closely with the Justice department. They do work closely with federal legislation, as well, on the cyber-bullying and other legislation that is out there. This is an area that we will continue to push further to deal with the societal issue.

We’ve heard a few recommendations in areas such as mandatory counselling, restorative justice or a sentencing circle. Just some of the key areas that have been highlighted, and those are the discussions that we will be having with the DEAs and DECs, along with the NWTTA, and several of the interdepartmental discussions that we’ll be having.

Another area that, again, we talked about is involving stakeholders. We have done that in January 2013. TCSA and all DECs and DEAs have been involved. We formed a group at that time. NWTTA is part of that, Justice, Health and Social Services, MACA, NWT Human Rights Commission. That has been established. Just recently, in May 2013, we introduced amendments to the Education Act and also completed the territorial safe schools action plan. This is the hard work of the members, and also all the DEAs and DECs. All the partners that I’ve identified, I’d like to thank them for that as well.

The education awareness, it is an area that will be a prime focus, especially for the students. We want to utilize their expertise. The students will be developing videos, the media, education awareness to showcase to the community, to their schools and to the regions that they cannot accept bullying

anymore. It’s not allowed in their schools, in their communities in the Northwest Territories. So those students will be innovative in crafting up those videos.

Mr. Chair, again, I agree with the Members about providing support for teachers so they can be prepared to deal with these bullying issues. We will be providing resources, training for these teachers and other professions so they can be prepared to deal with that. One of the areas is elders in school. Member Yakeleya referred to having respect put back into school again. So this is an area where we think elders can provide a lot of respect, so that’s what we initiated and it’s in schools right now.

I agree; we need to help the students. Mr. Chair, those are some of the key areas that the Members have identified and we definitely will be moving forward on this with the school boards and all the partners identified. We will keep Members up to speed as we move forward on the progression plans. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. With that, are we prepared to go clause by clause?

Thank you, committee. Clause 1.

---Clauses 1 through 11 inclusive approved

Bill as a whole?

Does committee agree that Bill 12 is ready for third reading as amended?

---Bill 12 as amended approved for third reading

Bill 12 is now ready for third reading. Does committee agree that we have concluded consideration of Committee Report 8-17(4), Report on the Review of Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act?

Thank you, committee. That concludes consideration of Committee Report 8-17(4). I would like to thank the Minister today and thank the witnesses for joining us here this evening. Thank you.

Does committee wish to begin review of Bill 22?

Thank you, committee. With that, we’ll go to the Board of Management representative here to introduce it, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly, I am pleased to present Bill 22,

Territorial Emblems and Honours Act. This bill will establish an Order of the Northwest Territories to honour current and former residents of the Northwest Territories for outstanding service and achievements.

The bill also formally recognizes the official emblems of the Northwest Territories. Those include the armorial bearings, the shield of arms, the flag, the tartan, the mountain aven, the gyrfalcon, the Arctic grayling, the tamarack, the mineral emblem, which is gold, and the gemstone emblem, which is diamond.

The Flag Act and Floral Emblem Act are repealed, as their provisions are included in Bill 22.

Mr. Chair, I welcome any questions and comments Members may have.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Bouchard, do you have any witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?

Pardon?

Do you have any witnesses? Committee agree? Please escort the witnesses into the House.

Mr. Bouchard, if you would like to introduce your witnesses to the Chamber, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have Mr. Ian Rennie, legislative drafter, to my right; and to my left, Ms. Collette Langlois, Acting Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Rennie, Ms. Langlois, welcome to the House. General comments, Bill 22. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are brief. I just want to say that I’m very pleased to see that this bill has reached this stage, and I would like to give credit to a constituent of Frame Lake, Mr. Jeff Corradetti, whose idea it was to push this forward. He pushed me, I pushed the Board of Management, and here we are. I’m really pleased that we have this bill here and that we will be putting in place an NWT award. I’ve forgotten the term, an Order of the NWT. Thank you very much, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro, for that pushy comment. Any other general comments? Is committee prepared to go clause by clause?

Thank you, committee. Bill 22, Territorial Emblems and Honours Act, Clause 1.

---Clause 1 through 33 inclusive approved

Committee, the bill as a whole.

Thank you. Does the committee agree that Bill 22 is ready for third reading?

---Bill 22 as a whole approved for third reading

Thank you, committee. Bill 22 is now ready for third reading. I’d like to thank Mr. Bouchard and our witnesses here for this evening. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.

Is committee agreed to proceed with Bill 26?

Thank you, committee. With that, we’ll go with the Board of Management representative here, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly, I am pleased to present Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. This bill amends the act to modify the allowance and expense entitlements of Members of the Legislative Assembly. The main changes are:

a new option for out of town Members to move

their families to Yellowknife and still receive a capital accommodation allowance if they keep their home in their constituency;

it will no longer be assumed that Ministers live in

Yellowknife;

clarifying the travel benefit that was intended to

allow out of town Members to go home or bring someone in every second weekend during long sittings or meeting periods.

There are a number of housekeeping amendments in addition to these changes. I welcome any questions and comments Members may have

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake, do you have any witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Does committee agree?

Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Mr. Blake, if you would be kind enough to introduce your witnesses to the Chamber this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Ms. Kelly McLaughlin, director of the legislation division; and Ms. Colette Langlois, Acting Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Ms. Langlois and Ms. McLaughlin, welcome to the Chamber this evening. With this, we are on Bill 26 and we are going to open it up to general

comments. General comments, Bill 26. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for clarification, Mr. Blake and the Board of Management, I just want to ask for the definition of home. There are some people who have homes in their communities. Some are leasing it; some are renting it. Some don’t have homes. Some, of course, have their own homes. Is there just a definition for myself?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the definition, I’d like to ask Ms. Kelly McLaughlin to answer that.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Ms. McLaughlin.

Thank you, Ms. McLaughlin. Mr. Yakeleya.

That’s fine. That’s good. No more questions.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. General comments, Bill 26. Is committee prepared to do clause by clause?

Thank you, committee. Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. Clause 1.

---Clause 1 through 16 inclusive approved.

The bill as a whole?

Does committee agree that Bill 26 is ready for third reading?

---Bill 26 as a whole approved for third reading

Bill 26 is now ready for third reading. I’d like to thank Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Langlois for joining us this evening, and thank you Mr. Blake. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.

Is committee prepared to do Bill 27?

Thank you, committee. With that, we’ll go with the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Ramsay.

I am pleased to present Bill 27, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act.

The reason for this amendment is to increase the Fur Marketing Service Revolving Fund from $900,000 to $1.5 million.

The Government of the Northwest Territories supports the fur industry in the Northwest Territories through this fund and the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Price Program.

It often takes a month to six weeks for the fur to be sold at auction after trappers deliver furs to the GNWT under the program. The advance payments made to the trappers from the fund allow them to continue trapping in the interim period.

Due to the increased popularity and steady growth in the NWT fur industry, it is anticipated that the current authorized limit of $900,000 will be reached by February 2014 and that the full increase in the authorized limit will be needed in the near future. Fur sales for the 2012-2013 fur-trapping season were the highest amount recorded in the last 30 years.

Failure to increase the limit will result in the GNWT not being able to make the advance payments for fur to trappers.

This amendment is designed to address the issue and support the traditional economy of the NWT. This increase in the fund will ensure uninterrupted program support to hunters and trappers so that they gain maximum benefits from strong market conditions.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Minister Ramsay, do you have witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Minister Ramsay, if you could introduce your witnesses to the House, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce the guests I have with me here. We’ve got Nancy Magrum to my left, director of shared services, finance and administration; and to my right is Mr. Thomas Druyan, legislative counsel. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Mr. Druyan, Ms. Magrum, welcome to the House. Committee, we are on Bill 27 and I will open up to general comments.

Is committee prepared to go clause by clause?

Thank you, committee. Bill 27, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act. Clause 1.

---Clauses 1 and 2 approved

Bill as a whole.

Does committee agree that Bill 27 is ready for third reading?

---Bill 27 as a whole approved for third reading

Thank you. Bill 27 is now ready for third reading. Thank you, witnesses, Ms. Magrum, Mr. Druyan, for joining us this evening and thank you, Minister Ramsay. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses out of the House. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

I will rise to report progress.