That sounds promising, and I look forward to the Minister's work in the years to come. Mr. Speaker, there are NWT residents who have remained on waiting lists for public housing, sometimes for years at a time. It is essential that new units are built to meet these needs. Mr. Speaker, what plans are there to construct new units and expand housing options in Nunakput communities?

As you heard in my Minister's statement, one great project, that's a pilot project that we're rolling out in these four communities, is the Northern Pathways to Housing Program. It's not only going to be housing some of our homeless residents, but it's going to give them the opportunity to get the wrap-around services that they need. We also will be expanding our home ownership supports, which includes launching a new home program targeted at public housing tenants, which has been mentioned by the previous Minister, and how we can work with our tenants who are in good behavior, in good standing, and help them look to owning their new homes, which is also a very great program.

We're also exploring direct delivery, repair, and maintenance services so that we can get some of our housing units back up to code and standards, so we can get our residents and tenants in those programs, into those housing units, as well as other programs and initiatives that I've mentioned in terms of a Core Housing Needs Action Plan.

I know working in partnerships with our Indigenous governments, in particular in the Beaufort Delta and Nunakput region, we are working with invaluable regional corporations, where 12 new units are being constructed; four in Paulatuk, four in Ulukhaktok, two in Sachs Harbour, and two in Tuktoyaktuk. Additionally we have the community housing support initiative, where communities have come forward with innovative ideas on housing for single individuals, and we'll continue to support a lot of these programs, but it's going to take partnerships, Mr. Speaker, much like with IRC, and working to address these housing concerns.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on May 25, during our oral questions, I asked the Minster of Lands about lease increases and consultation with the communities, and he said: "I think the proper consultation was done, and the changes that we have made are reasonable." I find this very interesting, to say the least. After devolution, Lands actually increased rates from $100 to $150, which was a 50 per cent increase, but now the Minister and the department has raised leases up by 336 per cent to 560 per cent. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how he feels this is reasonable, to see lease payments go up this high? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had mentioned previously, these rates have not been changed for many years, and we wanted to have consistency with our leasing rates, so therefore these changes which the Member opposite is alluding to were felt to be reasonable. Costs have increased considerably over the last 15 or 20 years, and we thought that these increases, which are significant, are reasonable. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess his definition of "reasonable" is not what my definition of "reasonable" is, so maybe we will have to get his dictionary and I will compare it with my dictionary. Can the Minister please explain how this huge increase is helping residents in my riding deal with the high cost of living when some find it very difficult to pay the lease payments as they are presently?

As mentioned previously, there had not been an increase in a considerable amount of time. Listening carefully to the concerns that had been raised in this House, we did implement a reduction of residential lease fees to 5 per cent of assessed value, down from 10 per cent, so we felt that that was assisting those residents, most of whom would be living in their own houses on those properties, so that was an actual reduction in fees.

I will probably have to follow up on what he was saying in his answer there. So, Mr. Speaker, when I compare both Commissioner's and NWT leases and the department trying to bring these two leases together, will the department be looking at a 50 per cent reduction for seniors and elders in regard to NWT land, similar to what they do with Commissioner's lands?

There is, of course, no seniors' discount currently on territorial lands, but the department is looking at implementing similar provisions for residential leases on territorial lands as is currently available on Commissioner's lands. So it's a question of, really, bringing together the two types of leases, and they should be similar, at least, so we certainly are looking at the change which the Member opposite has proposed. Certainly, there have been increases, but, as I mentioned, there was a reduction in residential lease fees on Commissioner's land from 10 per cent to 5 per cent of assessed value.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I understand we reduced Commissioner's land from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. Great, but the seniors still get a 50 per cent reduction in that, so I am hoping the department will actually look at that and start implementing it, as they are doing it right now for Commissioner's lands, for NWT lands. My next question, though, is in regard to the engagement. How did the department engage these people, the 170 lessees in the Nahendeh riding? How were they consulted about this change of fees?

As I mentioned previously, there had been, in questions asked by the Member opposite last week, considerable discussion about this issue and including, I believe, a story in the press. Each leaseholder was advised in writing by the department of the changes to lease fees, so they were advised on an individual basis. Now, the fees will be determined by the nature of your lease, so, if there is a lease for a period ending, let's say, in the year 2020 at the current rate before April 1^st, that will still be in effect until the year 2020, so the increase in rates will not occur until that time.

Now, last week, in dealing with this question and dealing with questions from the Member opposite, I referred to a pre-gazetting period that had taken place and a period of consultation. I may have misunderstood the note I received from Lands on that. It appears that the pre-gazetting period and the items filed in the pre-gazette or noted in the gazette in the pre-gazette period did not refer to the increase in lease fees, but rather other fees. I am looking into this further and certainly will deal directly with the Member opposite if he has any questions concerning that. So, again, there has been considerable discussion in the House. There have been discussions in the press. Again, individual leaseholders were advised in writing by the department of the changes to lease fees. Thank you.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For over a decade, the NWT has had problems with student achievement. After five years of education renewal, there is still little improvement in student achievement. Can the Minister comment on the state of the situation for student achievement and whether or not she believes education renewal is working? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The education renewal was to take place over a 10-year span, from 2014 to 2024. Some of the initiatives have been implemented; some of them are just in pilot stages; and some of them are still in development. Are they working? I think that, yes, some of them are working. Do I think that it is acceptable that we have a low achievement in the territories, still? No. That is absolutely not acceptable. It breaks my heart when I hear that children are dropping out, that people are having to do upgrading, so, no, Mr. Speaker, I don't think it's acceptable that we have low achievement rates. I think we still have a long way to go.

You know, I appreciate the Minister is relatively new to this portfolio, and it's good to hear that she believes it's unacceptable. So what is she going to do? What kind of tangible, quantifiable changes can the Minister point to that have taken place, specifically in the way we approach student achievement, that the department has undertaken to date?

I did take note when the MLA did his opening comments and he said that success isn't only academic; it's also succeeding in life. He is absolutely right, Mr. Speaker. It's not just about whether you get an A, B, C, or a D, or if you drop out. It's about can you succeed in life, and so there are some things that we have done that I am really excited about.

We have done a Healthy Food for Learning. There is a direct link that says that children who are not fed properly do not learn well. Every school in the Northwest Territories now has food in it. That is incredible for me. The northern distance learning, I am going up to a graduation in Ulukhaktok, I think it's next month. I have lots of grads. It's one of the most exciting communities I am going to, not because it's a special community, but it's special because three of those students, through the distance education learning, are graduating and going to post-secondary education in the South without taking upgrading. Yes, it's incredible.

What else are we doing? The community mental health pilot project; we know that mental health is linked to student success. We are expanding that in partnership with Health and Social Services. We are getting counsellors into the schools to work with children. Great initiative; I could not ask for better.

Supporting teachers, the instructional practices, I mean, that is just new. We still have to wait for it to come out, but teachers cannot be overworked and expected to do everything in an eight-hour day. It does not work, so we need to give them space. I am excited to see what will happen with that.

The Northern Pathways, one of the most exciting things I have heard yet, we are working on it. We are expanding it. We need to reach children younger, before they drop out, to kind of see where they want to go in life and give them the tools to get there. So there are initiatives happening. I could go on all day, Mr. Speaker, but I know I have to wrap it up.

The Minister is very passionate about that file.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, I agree, the Minister could go on all day, but let's get back to the business at hand. Another comment, you know, perhaps when the media is enquiring into the low achievement, the Minister could be the one to respond instead of her department, because that is a lot more optimistic than the message that the public is getting, which is things are not moving as far as they should. The action plan for education renewal is extremely ambitious. It has around 200 targets that were supposed to be met by this point in time. Of those 200 targets, how many targets have actually been met, Mr. Speaker?

I take that as a compliment, that I could go on all day. I am excited about this portfolio. How many of the targets have been met? As the Member stated, I am just new to the portfolio. I have talked about a few that I have heard about that I am totally passionate about and said, yes, let's go further with those. I have not yet gone through the whole 200 of them, but I am working diligently to go through them, and I promise, I will go through every one of those 200 ones and make sure that we are on target. Keep what's working, expand what's successful, and throw out what's showing not to be successful.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to getting an update on those results. On to the reporting of the action plan. There has been little to no reporting of this action plan that ended in 2016-2017. Will the Minister commit to providing Members of this House, and also the public, with an update that clearly articulates what education renewal has achieved and what the department is going to do moving forward? There are no updates on the website, which is where the public are going to get their information. Can the Minister commit to fixing that, and getting information out to the public? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.