R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also received dozens and dozens of emails from students, staff, parents, perhaps other people in the community who were concerned about this issue, and I appreciate those emails because it brought it to my attention.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment became aware of this issue just prior to the flooding in Hay River, and that was really the first time that we knew about it.

So the issue that we've learned, in consultation with the Department of Infrastructure, is that there have been ongoing sewage backup issues. This goes back to -- the original issue goes back to when the portable was installed. The sewer line was hooked up to an abandoned sewer line. The sewer line from the building was hooked up to an abandoned sewer line instead of the newer sewer line which it should have been hooked up to. There has been a temporary fix in place for many years and from what I understand, it had been working but over the last -- over this year in particular, and perhaps over the last few years as well, there have been increasing issues. Thank you