Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a program a few years ago to, you know, encourage kids to go to school. I think it was maybe relatively successful or somewhat successful but nothing to the level that we need.

The rate of attendance in the Northwest Territories is low, and for the past seven years, it's been getting lower every year. Here in Yellowknife, it's pretty stable. I think it's probably around 87 percent attendance rates. You go into the regional centres, you're looking -- you drop down to the 80s -- or sorry, the 70s, and it's even lower in the small communities. So what we need is community-led initiatives. It needs to be people in communities valuing education and wanting their kids to go to school. The education system has to make them want that. So we do have a part to play but it really is grassroots are. If kids aren't in school, if they're missing, you know, one out of every four days, they're years behind by the time they get up into the upper grades. So I agree that we do need initiatives, and we work with the education bodies who are really the ones on the ground to help them, support them when they advance those initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.