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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do have those stats from the small communities and also the larger centres in comparison and also southern jurisdictions, as well, because they do serve isolated communities sometimes.

We have done a lot of research in this area and we have been working with other provincial jurisdictions. We realize that a lot of our communities, especially the isolated communities, small communities, are not up to par on their educational paths. Through the Education Renewal Initiative it will certainly capture those areas, and even the Early Childhood Development Framework that we have been talking about. All those tools that we have been providing will offset and enhance the program that we’re going to be delivering as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I agree with the Minister that we do have a lot of challenges in our smaller communities, especially ones that are isolated.

The Minister and committee have had the opportunity to work with the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority on their e-learning program that provides education tools and education to the small communities using teleconference.

Would the Minister agree that this new e-learning structure is working and is very successful in the Beaufort-Delta region, and is he willing to look at providing additional resources to this project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all I would like to commend the Beaufort-Delta Education

Council for working diligently on this particular e-learning initiative that they have embarked on. It has been very, very successful to date, even though it has been a short time frame. At the same time, we have been doing our research across our great country of Canada and there is other e-learning that’s happening throughout the other regions, but this particular one captures the most isolated communities.

I agree that this is an area that we need to invest in more and then how we can deliver that as a test pilot project through the Beaufort-Delta region to other isolated communities. Those are just some of the discussions we are currently having. Mahsi.

Thanks for the Member’s statement, Mr. Moses. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for addressing this important subject. We are, as I stated, working very closely with the BDEC – Beaufort-Delta Education Council – exploring various ways on how we can expand on their initiative that has been highlighted as a success.

As the Member indicated, part of the coastal regions are not covered. This is our goal, to capture those isolated communities, reaching out to those isolated communities. We are discussing that at this point. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to be pretty blunt about this, I guess, would the Minister be willing to fund the e-learning program with new dollars so that Beaufort-Delta Education can use their allocated funding for other programs and projects that other regions have? Is there new

funding in the ERI Initiative coming down the pipes in the 2014-15 fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

E-learning will be a key component of the Education Innovation Action Plan, so as we move forward, evolve into action plans, this will be captured to reach out to the most isolated communities. So, yes, that is part of the plan. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bouchard, Hay River.