(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we offer positions to the teachers, the hiring is done by the divisional boards of education; they are interviewed by the territorial government as well as the divisional board members. Cross-cultural workshops can be provided and acknowledgement of our culture can be provided through those workshops. For instance, they hold them in the Denendeh region and the Inuvialuit regions, and they are usually given cross-cultural workshops by their divisional boards of education to improve cross-cultural awareness and the differences between these cultures; however, if they are actually provided long-term education concerning cross-cultural awareness, that is something that I am not certain about. That probably falls under the jurisdiction of the divisional boards, and the regional centres take care of things like that. Thank you.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we come to the capital items in the budget, I will be bringing up the matter of the request for a school in Lake Harbour. Once we get approval and it becomes concrete, we will find out from that point on whether we will be giving you a school in Lake Harbour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There have been a number of questions this week about a request by teachers at Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School in Inuvik for additional days to take more in-service training and

to handle administrative duties. Mr. Speaker, the teachers' request to the community education council was turned down last November. As a result, the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association is supporting a work-to-rule situation. This means that teachers are not participating in school activities that take place outside of normal classes until they get what they want.

This is unfortunate, Mr. Speaker. Under our Education Act, teachers are required to spend 190 days -- or just a little more than six months each year -- teaching our students. The collective agreement provides them with an additional five paid professional development days each year. Now the teachers at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School want an additional one and a half in-service days and one more day at the end of the year for administrative purposes. School would be closed on these days.

Mr. Speaker, there is a public process for establishing the school year in each jurisdiction. School calendars and schedules are developed by divisional boards of education and are based on our criteria of 190 teaching days. The development of the schedules involves consultation with parents through community education councils. That is the way it should be done, and I do not see any reason to change this practice.

As a result, I was pleased to learn yesterday that the Beaufort/Delta Divisional Board of Education will be reviewing this matter. Once the review has been completed, the board will be presenting a recommendation to my office.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Education Act, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill would amend the Education Act to set the fiscal year of boards of education and divisional boards of education and to change the fiscal year of boards of secondary education.

Mr. Speaker, I will have to take the question under advisement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will consult with the community next time my department feels it needs to be done.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know of the situation that the Member is referring to. I was not briefed on the Fort Providence access road. What I can only guess is that the department did that for safety reasons. I can assure the Member that next time we do the project we will consult with the community.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a department, we have not been pursuing this aggressively, I agree. What we try to do is to get the CEC, community education council, in each community -- if they want us to

pursue that particular area we can, otherwise we will not pursue it until we are asked by the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member knows it is only within the last few years that the communities have been getting involved in the educational system; I mean the aboriginal people in the communities as well as other people who are living in the communities. They can get involved through education authorities, through divisional boards of education in the regions. That has been happening only within the last two years. What we have here in the NWT is a system borrowed from the southern system that southern Canada uses.

I hope to see that sort of development taking place while we include the community members who know their principles in terms of life and what sort of things we should get our kids ready for after completing grade 12. So far the communities that I know of in the whole NWT have not been developing curriculums; they have not got that far.

Also, I would like to give the Member assurance that we will try to pursue in that light, once we take control of the educational system at the community and regional level. At this moment the department has no measure of how ready these students are after they graduate from the school system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.