I know that this might have been a passing fad 10 or 15 years ago when they introduced it, but it’s not working.

I’d like to ask the Minister, does he have any statistics or can he show any productive results that show that peer passing is working in our system. I know that the parents who approach me say it’s not. Thank you.

I certainly will share the stats and information that we’ve received from the experts over the years. They are telling us that peer passing is the best way to approach these students. Not only that, research that we’ve done, stats address those areas as well.

The peer passing, when we talk to parents or parents talk to us, there are some mixed messages. Some are in favour; some are not in favour. Based on that, we’ve done some additional research throughout Canada and even throughout the States. I will be sharing that information with the Members. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I know that we have a huge opportunity to review social passing or peer passing strategy. How extensive will the review of the education system be when the department undertakes the additional review? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we’re currently doing an educational review. It is complex. When we talk about the overall review of the NWT education system, that means we have to amend the Education Act. There’s going to be engagement with the general public, as well, and then also the MLAs to provide their input where the changes should be occurring.

With inclusive schooling, there’s a comprehensive study that’s going to be happening, engagement, and also education renewal. That’s going to be slated for this fall. I’m hoping to complete it by this fall so I can present it to the standing committee and before this House as well.

It does cover all areas. There are six pillars within education renewal and I can certainly share that detailed information with the Members as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just in terms of the review, I know that there are some successes from the Aboriginal Student Achievement Strategy, and if the Minister will review that, as well, and take some of the best practices. I know my colleague Mr. Bromley brought up an excellent program out of Finland. I just want

to know how extensive this review will be. Will it be just internal? Will it be looking at other jurisdictions in Canada? Will it be looking at other jurisdictions throughout the world? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it will be extended out to other jurisdictions as well. We’re doing research in this area from our counterparts across the country, and not only that but with ASA what we’ve heard from the general public, and through addictions there’s the forum that’s happening. There are all these different forums that are currently occurring in the Northwest Territories. We’re hearing the same common thing. Based on the six pillars I addressed earlier, system accountability; professional capacity, that deals with the teachers and educators; assessment practices, so based on the various assessments within the school system; small community schools and most isolated communities as well; and early childhood development research. Those are the key factors I will be taking into consideration within the renewal. I’m really looking forward to the outcome from the stakeholders’ input. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, any funding that we get is very much appreciated. CanNor funding has been allocated to the Northwest Territories through the Aurora College campus. We are going to utilize all of it to the best of our ability. Any funding that we receive, we need to exhaust all avenues.

We’ve been working closely with the college to identify what they’re planning to deliver, when it’s going to be delivered, how much it is going to cost, how ECE can get involved in that, how the community can get involved. It all takes partnership.

It’s not only the college that will be delivering, but with the assistance of ECE and the assistance of the community. The community has to come on board as well. They are the true partners. They have the facilities in the communities. They have the resources in the communities and the people.

I can say at this point that we’re going to be exhausting the funding that’s available to us through those venues, through the various partnerships. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks for the Minister’s comments there. I hope the Minister will report to committee on what was achieved with the $2.5 million expenditure this year.

Funding is aimed at upgrading people who lack basic skills to get them to the point where they can enter regular courses or get entry-level jobs. These are often people who didn’t complete school but could get back on the road with a little help.

Unfortunately, ALBE and upgrading students are not eligible for student financial assistance. SFA, as it’s called, recognizes that people going to college and university need room and board, but apparently ALBE students don’t have these needs. With all this programming being funded to get people back to school, why is student financial assistance not available to adult learning basic education students? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this is one of the recommendations brought to our attention during the SFA review. We are currently reviewing it, how we can best fit it into our programming. As you know, there have been several recommendations that were brought to our attention from the general public. We have initiated three or four of them already as a priority set by our government and also the general public, which is the most pressing need. It is before us and we are evaluating that.

You can rest assured that there are other fundings available, whether it be Labour Market Agreement. Individuals who do not qualify for EI can get trained. If those individuals want to upgrade, they go through various upgrade training programs and get ready for the workforce. There is also the ASETS program in the community. All of these different programs in the communities, as I stated, we need to work with them, the college, ourselves, ECE and also the communities. The more, the merrier; the bigger pot it is to train more manpower for the workforce. Those are areas we are continuing to work on with the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister once again. We have indeed had several reviews that have recommended that this funding be extended to adult learning and basic education students. We’ve received $8.6 million new funding

to concentrate on upgrading and adult learning. Obviously, we want the intake of these students. It is also obvious that they need shelter and food as much as college and university students. The Minister recognizes these recommendations and mentions that there are many other programs.

Will the Minister act on the recommendations of the SFA and the ALBE program reviews, taking into consideration what else is available to make sure and bring forward a program for supporting ALBE students as these recommendations suggest? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, there are other programs that can support these ALBE students. We’ve done that in the past. Some students can qualify for three or four different programs. SFA may not qualify for that, but at the same time, the Labour Market Agreement and other agreements are out there that can qualify. Those individuals can qualify. We also work with the Mine Training Society that delivers, whether it be underground training or surface training and various training initiatives, HEO and so forth. Those individuals qualify for training funds through my department and other various departments, as well, even at the community level. I can share the list of potential sponsorship that may be available to those individuals that want to get trained. Mahsi.

Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. This government talks fiscal restraint in the first two years of the mandate, before program expansions in the third and fourth years. We will have $4 million more in our federal ALBE funds to coincide with our return to funding, apparently, in response to human needs.

Again, will the Minister advance his case to provide the essential complementary support to make sure there are no gaps in these various programs of support for ALBE students? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, a short answer will be that we are going to address all of those gaps that may be available in between various funding. We need to identify those. Again, I will be sharing that information with the Members. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice. I want to commend him and the work that his community have been doing in terms of making all of these drug busts and bootlegging busts in the

communities; actually, more involved with the Not Us! campaign and empowering our residents to speak up in the communities and get justice where it needs to be. I commend the hard work that the department is doing with this program. Specifically to the Not Us! program, I believe it is probably in its third year now of running.

I just want to ask the Minister, with the success of this program, is the Minister going to be allocating any new dollars in the future for this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Not Us! program is actually quite a successful program. We have it in 20 out of the 33 communities. It starts with a $10,000 start-up and a $5,000 ongoing fee or ongoing allowance to help maintain the program. Right now we have enough money in the budget to cover the communities and there is no plan to increase the allocation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I was going to ask how many communities are receiving funding and the Minister answered that. We have 13 other communities that can potentially have alcohol and drug-related problems. I want to know – and the Minister did state that he has enough funding to cover the communities that we have now – what about these 13 communities that continue to have these issues. How is he going to address those issues if he’s not committing any other funding?

Can the Minister let me know, and let the government know, and people in these other 13 communities, how is he going to address empowering the residents to speak up specifically for the Not Us! program in these 13 communities? Does he have a plan to address them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, the program starts off with a $10,000 initial payout and then $5,000 in subsequent years. Because we haven’t had all 33 communities come on at one time, they have been coming at a staggered approach, the budget that we had is, actually, we are able to use that to cover the $10,000 where a few communities start in a year and then the rest are $5,000. So we actually have enough money to maintain them. Right now, as of January 13th , we have three more communities who

have indicated a desire to start a Not Us! campaign. That is Fort Simpson, Norman Wells and Tuktoyaktuk. Currently, they don’t have programs, but they’ve expressed an interest and we’re going to move forward with them to get them started up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.