YELLOWKNIFE (March 13, 2015) – More than 160 delegates attended the first Skills 4 Success Symposium, held on March 10-12, 2015, to discuss how skills and postsecondary education strategies can better align with NWT labour market needs and demands.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment provides a better quality of life for some of the most vulnerable residents of the Northwest Territories through its Income Security Program. I’d like to speak today about a significant improvement that is being made to the Income Assistance Program, as well as two very important initiatives that are underway.

Mr. Speaker, it makes me very proud to share an important milestone with this Legislative Assembly. At the Truth and Reconciliation Commission event in Inuvik in 2011, I committed our government to educating students and teachers in the Northwest Territories about the history and legacy of the residential schools.

Mr. Speaker, Aboriginal Languages Month is an opportune time to reflect on past successes and the work that lies ahead in continuing to promote, revitalize and preserve our nine official Aboriginal languages. We are all burdened by the truth that some of our Aboriginal languages are struggling, not because we are not doing enough to support them, but because the challenges they face are complex.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has approved five traditional Aboriginal names for the Mackenzie River under the NWT Geographical and Community Names Policy.

As the Department responsible for community and geographical names in the Northwest Territories, we place a special emphasis on traditional Aboriginal geographical names as they are important to the culture, history, and languages of the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I have often talked about the Education Renewal Initiative in this House and have updated Members a number of times as to its progress.  In our discussions last year, Members said that unless children actually go to school it does not matter what programs and supports are provided. Members encouraged us to create a school attendance advertising campaign, and, Mr. Speaker, we have acted upon that advice.

YELLOWKNIFE (March 2, 2015) – Experience the stories, culture and heritage of the Northwest Territories through the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre’s dynamic new website.

On February 1st, the Northern Heritage Centre launched a redeveloped site that includes innovative technologies, expanding the museum’s virtual presence.

The new site allows visitors to engage with the Heritage Centre’s programs, objects and archives, essentially becoming an on-line library of the territory’s rich cultural offerings.  

YELLOWKNIFE  (March 2, 2015) – Minister of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) Jackson Lafferty congratulates the first NWT students awarded a $5,000 Right from the Start Early Childhood Development (ECD) Scholarship to support their full-time studies in Early Childhood Development.

YELLOWKNIFE (February 27, 2015) – Former  Justice Thomas Berger will be visiting the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to officially open theThunder in our Voices exhibit currently on display until April 30, 2015.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Ms. Lea Lamoureux, Principal of Kaw Tay Whee School in Dettah, on being recognized as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals for 2015.

She is the most recent in a long list of Northwest Territories recipients, who have been recognized for their dedication and passion for teaching our students in the Northwest Territories.