Thank you very much.
Ms. Idlout, I appreciate your comments very much. You're right on.
It's about sustainable, predictable funding for us to achieve our visions. Certainly, in our communities, in particular, our elders are disappointed that the language is not being maintained by our young ones, who are on iPads or whatever. English is dominant. We insist, in every one of our school programs, that Dene be spoken so it can be revitalized, but the resources aren't there. Our funding is absolutely critical for this success and realization.
Our students in schools in the extreme north, in isolated communities, need the same advantages and education opportunities that students in the south, across the nation, take for granted. Our students don't have any opportunity to realize that. There are no trade programs. There are hardly any technology programs. There are no electives for our high school students. There are no extracurriculars. They can't compete with other schools. They can't have school teams. That's the essence of bringing children into school. We can't do that, because we don't have the funding, but our language is our top priority. We don't have the funding to move forward.
We have all our programs and outcomes laid out, but how do we get there when we don't have the resources? We are pleading and begging: Give us an opportunity and sustained, predictable, indexed funding, so we can move forward. Currently, in our budget ask, we're $34,000 per student short on providing an equitable education program that would be comparable to those in our southern schools. Why are our children in a third-world school? They're not able to get programs so their future can be realized, whatever their dreams are. That's our goal. It's all for the kids.