This is page numbers 4831 - 4856 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was housing. View the webstream of the day's session.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As I mentioned, all of our partners that we work with do take their responsibilities very seriously when working with our youth and our athletes. That's something I'll have to take a look into in terms of the policy for having that information shared with parents and the general public, as it is in a legal term, but it's something that we need to look at. Next week or later this week I will be meeting with my federal, provincial, and territorial counterparts in Red Deer prior to the Canada Summer Games, and we will be discussing it. One of the agenda items, actually, is prevention of harassment, abuse, and discrimination in sport, with this article being released and with the support of Minister Duncan and some of the work that she has done vocally through the media. I will be bringing this up as something that we need to discuss and look at creating some type of policy and what we can do at the national level.

The article was very hard to read, and the stats that the Member did share that are shown in the article are very tough to read, and we want to make sure that we address them. I will assure Members of this House and our parents and our residents that I will be bringing this up at the federal-provincial-territorial meeting and seeing how we can have an impact on this, address it, and ensure that our youth and our athletes are safe.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Again, I appreciate the Minister's response. I understand that this is a very sensitive topic for all of us. One of the things that the federal government has done is tied funding to sports to policies and prevention around sexual abuse of amateur athletes. Is there any equivalent in place for territorial funding of sports organizations?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

One of the opportunities I will have this week is to bring up such concerns as that with our federal government to look and see how we can access more funding for education, creating awareness, a promotional campaign, and I think that all jurisdictions will probably have the same type of focus when we have the meeting on that agenda item. We are also going through a territorial sports strategy and working with our partners, as well as our territorial sport organizations. I think this is the time to have those discussions and I encourage anyone who might be going through something like this. It is a very sensitive topic, but I do encourage anyone who might be going through this experience to speak up. I really thank the Member for bringing this to the attention of the House, but also I am sure all of our sport organizations, our partners, our TSOs, and our schools are listening as we are having this discussion right now.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it sounds as if the CBC series was timed very well in terms of having this issue already on the radar of various government officials, such as the Minister. My final question is: if there is a young person in a small community who feels victimized by somebody who is a sports official or coach in their lives, where would that youth go now, today, to report that abuse, and what would the follow-up to a complaint like that be? Does the Minister have that information? Mahsi.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I would encourage the child, as I mentioned, to speak to somebody who they trust, who they can speak up to, whether it is a teacher, a parent, a close friend, or perhaps somebody of adult supervision in their lives, whether it is a care provider, but I encourage them to speak up, as I mentioned in the previous response. Anybody who is going through this doesn't deserve it, any type of abuse. I will be bringing it up at the national sports meeting that I will have later this week and see how we can address that, look at getting funding, and how we can create more awareness and prevention education within the school system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to assure the House that I gave these questions to the Minister in English beforehand.

[Translation] My notes show that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment was at the meeting of Yellowknife MLAs with the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 on December 13, 2018. We discussed the need to change the term of office for trustees. Has the Minister received a formal request from the Yellowknife district education authorities requesting changes to allow for a four-year term? Thank you. [Translation ends.]

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I was at the meeting with the Yellowknife Education District No. 1, so I did hear the concern brought up there. It has been raised to me verbally. At this point, though, I know that the Yellowknife Catholic School Board is also interested in submitting a similar request, but they haven't formally requested this until after their February board meeting, so I am expecting these to come forward immediately. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

[Translation] Thanks to the Minister. Does the Minister agree that the significant additional costs for the Yellowknife district education would be better spent on our children's education rather than holding their own elections? [Translation ends.]

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Absolutely. We need to really look at where we are spending our monies for education and make sure that we are giving the best supports to not only school boards but ultimately to the students, because they are the ones who we are impacting and they are our future. I do want to say it is a little bit difficult because currently our act is structured so that the terms fall within the municipal government. Right now, it is structured within a two- or a three-year term, so it will be a little bit of a challenge.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

[Translation] The situation for the Francophone school board is different in that its commissaires now represent two communities with different terms of office for their respective communities. The best solution may be to allow our district education authorities to set their own terms of office, with the approval of the Minister. I am sure the Minister is aware of this complication, but I am wondering whether her department has contemplated a solution for the term of office issue? [Translation ends.]

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Yes, as soon as the issue was brought to my attention actually, we have been discussing it and how we can actually make it more efficient and make it work for the population. We do recognize, like I said, there are a few glitches within that that we have to figure out. For one, the Commission scolaire has a different schedule, being with two communities. That makes it an issue.

The other thing is that, if we change it right now, the current term for the Yellowknife ones are three years. Our municipal government is four years. Then how do we bridge that gap, or how do we let the public know that that is going to happen because these are elected officials. They were only elected for three years. We know that that can be a problem. We are on it. We are looking at it. We are going to start consulting, but we need to figure out a way that can protect the interests of all stakeholders.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

[Translation] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the answer. I understand that there is a heavy legislative agenda finally before us. I am wondering whether the Minister is of the view that what should be a small change to the Education Act can be made during the life of this Assembly, and if not, how do we make sure it gets dealt with before the next election, which is due in 2021? [Translation ends.]

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

At first, I agreed. I thought it was a small change to an act, too, and I thought, "Can we get it done?" Then I asked the department. Wisely, the department kind of put me back a bit and they told me the reality is that we're dealing with, like I said, a couple of issues. One is that the Commission scolaire doesn't fit within the package as it is now. Two, how do we deal with the three-year term moving into a four-year term, addressing the gap and the public perception?

We are looking at it seriously. I cannot commit that it will be done within the next couple of months, but the good news is that we have a couple of more years until the next election. I think it is a point that should be brought forward in the transition report to keep doing this, so that we can actually have it dealt with before the election. It is not appropriate to be wasting our money and making school boards spend extra money when they don't need to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently I had some parents reach out to me in regard to the lack of library books in the Liidlii Kue Secondary School. It is my understanding that the previous principal had the majority of these books removed from the library. This is a concern. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of ECE: why would a school remove books from the library? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a variety of reasons that things actually get thrown out, or books get taken out of libraries. It is a normal procedure. I just want to ensure that, when I first heard the concern, this wasn't a book-burning exercise; that wasn't happening. It is regular that teachers and principals have to go through their books in their libraries to make sure things are still current.

Books get outdated very quickly, covers of books get ripped up very quickly, and cultures change. We are really aware of that. It is very common, actually, to go through books to make sure that we are still appropriate for the generation that we are in, and the students that are accepting that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I would like to thank the Minister for that answer, and I am glad we are not burning books, because I think we need to worry about our education and the history of it. Can the Minister explain how the principal decided what books were to be removed from the library?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

The first thing that was brought to the principal's attention was actually brought by staff members who were complaining that the books were outdated, that the resources weren't being used, that they were old, and they were sitting in boxes for years. They wanted better access to them. Then the principal actually went to the superintendent of the board to get their approval and was approved, and so then the process began.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for that answer. Can the Minister advise if there are any steps to replenish the books that have been removed from the library?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Yes. There is a yearly fund that is given to schools to actually purchase more resources, such as library books, if that is their wish. I should note that, within that region, also, the District Education Council is in the process of setting up a virtual library called OverDrive. The current plans will see this virtual library up and running before the end of March 2019, so I am excited to return to the region and actually take a look at what that virtual library will look like, because it will be my first experience, as well.