Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, if the proposal was submitted in September, has a copy of that proposal been provided to APADY and CSFTNO? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The CSFTNO were working collaboratively with the departments when that proposal was submitted and in terms of the schematic designs that did meet our capital standards were put into the designs that were presented to APADY as well as to CSFTNO. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't think the Minister actually answered my question. Has a copy of the proposal that was submitted to Heritage Canada, has that been provided to APADY and CSFTNO, yes or no? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister, yes or no?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did share a letter with them. As mentioned in the questions earlier today that we can share that proposal with the interested parties. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Is that sufficient, Mr. O'Reilly, yes or no? You want the proposal?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, as I understand it then, a copy of the proposal was not shared with APADY or CSFTNO and still hasn't today. So I'm just wondering why there seems to be some systemic problem with this department working collaboratively with CSFTNO and APADY. I don't understand why the department cannot work collaboratively with these two organizations in something as simple as putting together a proposal that would go to Heritage Canada. That would actually save us money so that we wouldn't have to put all the money into the expansion ourselves. So what is the problem with the department working collaboratively with APADY and CSFTNO? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and, as I mentioned earlier today, that we are meeting our court ordered obligations. Anything that goes above the court order has to come through a third party funding, and so, and as I mentioned, if CSFTNO wants to go bigger and better that they've got to come up with a schematic design. As I mentioned to the Minister or the Member earlier, that our staff would be willing to work with their staff and provide some support so that they can work on developing that design, and then we can go back. But our proposal was government to government, based on the court order that we had, had to meet our obligations based on our capital standards throughout the Northwest Territories, and we met what our requirements were supposed to meet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly, being mindful of our fiscal situation and the court order requirements.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I hear what the Minister is saying, and I'm not prepared to accept that quite yet. You know, look, I'm trying to understand why it wouldn't be better to work with these two organizations and submit a proposal that would include letters of support from the two organizations, including one that's actually taken us to court over this stuff. So why couldn't we work collaboratively with them to get letters of support? These two organizations also have contacts in Ottawa, connections in Ottawa, that might help ensure that this money is actually approved. What is the problem in working collaboratively with these organizations? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that CSFTNO has done some good groundwork, has done some good advocating. We also have been meeting with Heritage Canada, as I said. They did get back to us to clarify some questions. We're hoping to find a solution or an answer, a more definite answer, in January or February, but you can't put dollars on the table without having the schematic design in front of you. The design that we developed, based on our standards, the GNWT standards that we make sure that are consistent across the Northwest Territories with every school of the size and the nature, we're following our requirements. There's not a schematic design out there right now that shows the added, the expansions of Ecole Allain St-Cyr, so, once we have that, then we can start working on getting those letters of support and working together. We don't have that right now, and, as I mentioned, our staff would be willing to work with the staff at CSFTNO to work on getting the supports needed to develop that design and go to the federal government with.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I don't want to drag this out any longer than I have to, but I have one other point that I want to pursue. As I understand it, the court order required the new gymnasium and two special needs spaces. It's the GNWT that's actually decided to work collaboratively with the francophone community to add two additional classrooms that are above and beyond the court order. So I think I heard the Minister say that we're going to just do the basics. That's not true. What I know is that this has actually gone above and beyond what's in the court order. Going to Heritage Canada can bring in some additional money to help do all of this at one time, and we could actually save ourselves some money. So can the Minister confirm that GNWT is actually prepared now to go above and beyond the court order with the expansion of the school? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. In meeting with the CSFTNO on the expansion of the school currently, we did see the enrolment rates going up and the utilization rates increasing. These are educational requirements. We know that they're expanding and the enrolments are coming up. We're meeting our educational requirements. There's not a cultural requirement to that. That's what they're asking for. The two extra classrooms are educational requirements because we want to make sure that, when the school enrolment and the utilization rate increases, that they do have the extra two classrooms that meet their educational needs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm glad that the Minister has been able to confirm that the GNWT is already going above and beyond the basic court ordered requirements. What I'm trying to do is make sure that we can stay out of court. I don't understand why this department cannot work more collaboratively with these two organizations, that the proposal for the expansion that's been submitted to Heritage Canada hasn't even been shared with these two organizations, there are no letters of support that went in with it. Can the Minister amend this application now and work collaboratively with these two organizations to make sure that we can actually save some money at the end of the day? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned earlier today, Heritage Canada hasn't even put a call out for these proposals, and, I mean, we went ahead of the game, working collaboratively with the groups to talk about making that connection in discussions with Heritage Canada. But, as I mentioned, you can't ask for money when you don't know what the plan is, and, in order to get that plan, I offered the Member to speak with staff from the CSFTNO to work with our department, our staff, to look at what kind of supports we can give to look at developing that possible design. Thank you.