Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the external working group, some members were selected. Going forward, seeing as all the safe school plans still have to be developed and submitted by October 1st, we will go look into those. We are also creating a safe and caring schools manual. In that manual, there is a section that explicitly focuses on the LGBTQ education, history, and concerns, addressing such topics as sexual identity, gender bullying, suicide, social and emotional learning and diversity. I can get to the departments and ensure that the two organizations that have been identified, we will reach out to them and see if there is any specific areas that they would like to see incorporated into the manual seeing as they are being developed. Obviously, we want to make sure that we have the best manuals, education, curriculum out there when we are providing safe and caring schools. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his reply and his commitment. Much appreciated. Alberta, Manitoba, B.C., and Ontario have amended their education acts to make LGBTQ students safer. Can the Minister explain why the NWT didn't take advantage of the most recent research to add similar provisions to the NWT regulations?

Yes. As the Member does know, the Safe and Caring Schools Act is new. It is something that was brought forth in the 17thAssembly, and I had the honour to sign off on it earlier in this term. We also have a territorial school code of conduct within this Act. The territorial school code of conduct states that it is the responsibility and the right of the school communities to promote equity and fair treatment of one's self and others. It also states that the school community is to refrain from discriminating against others on the basis of race, colour, ancestry, nationality, ethnic origin, place of origin, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, family affiliation, political belief, political association, or social condition. We wanted to put everything in there in these regulations so that we can protect as many people as we can and provide the best and the safest and most caring schools possible. That was all done through the consultations.

Thank you again to the Minister for his reply. Mr. Speaker, 85 per cent of teachers nationally support LGBTQ-inclusive education but say that they are held back by a lack of direction and resources to apply this subject. There is a wealth of resources available created by publishers, school divisions and teachers' organizations. Will the Minister commit to making some of this excellent material available to NWT teachers, and if yes, how will it be made available?

Currently, we have an NWT health curriculum already in place, as well as we are going to be doing work under the education, renewal, and innovation. Within the current NWT health curriculum, we are addressing outcomes of skills for healthy relationships as it is mandated, and one of the components of this program is a unit on challenging homophobia. It is actually linked to the website. Also, it is in the K to 9 curriculum, as well as we have other initiatives that are committed to ensuring that some of this work in the curriculum will address some of the concerns that the Member has brought up. We will also look at a scan of the resources, what other jurisdictions are doing that are a little bit further ahead. As I said, this is a new act, and we want to make it right, and we want to make it the best act possible. So we will look at the resources that are out there and see how we can bring those into the NWT schools as well.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you again to the Minister for his reply. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, gay/straight alliances help create awareness of gender issues in the school and provide an important support network. There are examples at Mackenzie Mountain School in Norman Wells and at St. Pat's here in Yellowknife. Can the Minister comment on how the Department of Education can work to encourage and support the development of GSAs and other supports for inclusiveness in NWT schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the gay/straight alliances in the two communities that the Member has brought up, we have to do a school visit with those two schools. I will make it a point that when I do go to those schools for a school visit, that we will sit down with the group and see what we can do as a territorial initiative and have them on board to initiate that and be territorial-wide leaders, not just in the communities but for the whole Northwest Territories. I look forward to working with them on that. I will get the department to look into that, and once we get a chance, we will do a school visit and look at those groups. I am very excited to see what they are doing.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Barging schedule was on my Member's statement. I ask the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, what is the current arrangement between this government and the resupply courier, NTCL? There are a number of rumours out there about the courier's financial position. I know that we are going to see the sailing service acknowledged by the current courier, but are we quite confident that they will fulfill the season's sailing schedule? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Public Works and Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This situation of NTCL came as a surprise to the GNWT as well. We did our due diligence. We looked at alternatives. We made sure we had a backup plan. We have a strong working relationship with NTCL and through our talks and the negotiations, we have actually got their confirmation that they will be sailing for this fiscal year. The court process that they went through, that they initiated, a restructuring process, kind of gave them some leeway to be able to operate for this season. People may be aware that within the current newspapers we do have a new release or request for proposals for the next sailing season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the RFP, could the Minister confirm that there are additional requirements, I would say seven in the RFP, to isolate, I would probably say, all couriers in this northern territory underneath the business directory? For example, does the RFP require that all vessels, be it the tug itself or be it the barge itself, that they have to be double hulled? If that is so, Mr. Speaker, then it restricts anybody and everybody that is currently operating right now because the current operators, I am not too sure, have that standard. Would the Minister confirm, please?

The Department of Public Works and Services does recognize that there are some issues going into some of our northern communities. So we have taken that into consideration within our request for proposals. There are companies within Canada that actually do have the ability or have the ability to purchase what they will need to be able to provide the service to the Northwest Territories.

Given that there are companies with that additional qualification, such as double hulls, and it is also this government's mandate to acknowledge BIP and capacity building for Northern operators, are there avenues to work with the proponents out there in that marine sector?

Yes, the GNWT is always interested in working with people to support businesses within the Northwest Territories. However, the request for the proposal has gone out. So we will be seeing what comes forward to us. At that point, then we will make a decision on what we need to move from that point forward.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is, if the Minister could supply me with information related to this season's schedule and the future plans. I know the RFP is out, I just saw that a few hours ago. I am not familiar with the document itself. But if I could get some information to pass on to the leaders of the Sahtu and any other interested leaders down in the valley that gets resupplied by the marine barging season. In one case, in Fort Good Hope in particular, they are only getting one barge courier per season. They have no other options other than air support. That is really not an option in some cases. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am more than committed to trying to keep the Members as informed as I can, although sometimes I may need a reminder on that. I acknowledge that. We will commit to speaking to the Member at his convenience on that. Also if the committee would like to, we can provide a briefing on that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. Does the Minister agree that the family violence survey from 2007 produced valuable insights into attitudes held in the NWT? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.