Mr. Peter Dyck (Pembina): Madam Speaker, I ask for leave to make a nonpolitical statement.

Madam Speaker: Does the honourable member for Pembina have leave? [agreed]

Mr. Dyck: Last Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Pembina Valley Language Education for Adults spring get-together. This is a community-based learning centre program in the Pembina constituency. This organization provides literacy training to adults and English as a second language instruction.

The program has been extremely successful. In fact, last November the Lieutenant Governor, Yvon Dumont, recognized the Pembina Valley Language Education for Adults program for its achievements in language training. The program received the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Literacy.

The program was initiated back in 1984 in response to the English as a second language needs of Kanadier in the area. Kanadier--their first language is Low German--are Mennonite people who left Canada between the 1920s and '40s for South and Central America. A number have since returned and settled in this region of the province. Many have a lack of formal education and little knowledge of the English language.

The program has since expanded to include immigrants from Bosnia, Chile, Russia, Lebanon, China and El Salvador, as well as Canadian-born students. Programming encompasses a broad range from beginning reading and writing to university-entrance courses. The program also gives learners the opportunity to enhance skills that create independence, build self-esteem, increase employability and facilitate access to other training and education.

A learner-centred approach to adult learning is the foundation of the learning environment. Individual needs are assessed initially and on a continuous basis and a program of study is designed to help the individual meet his or her needs. There are approximately 150 people who are currently participating as learners in the program held in Altona, Lowe Farm, Miami, Winkler and Morden. I would like to commend the teachers, students and others involved in making the Pembina Valley Language Education for Adults program such a success. Thank you very much.

Madam Speaker: Does the honourable member for Radisson have leave to make a nonpolitical statement? [agreed]

Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): Madam Speaker, I invite the House to join me in congratulating Sisler High School for another first. Last Friday on International Women's Day, Sisler students, staff and other members of the community officially opened their women's centre, the first ever student-initiated women's centre in a Winnipeg high school. This centre will be a home base for students to plan other firsts, other things that have never been done before.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. I wonder if I might ask those members having meetings at the back if they would do so in the loge or outside the Chamber. I am having difficulty hearing the honourable member for Radisson.

Ms. Cerilli: This centre will be a home base for students to plan other firsts, particularly things that have never been done before by girls and women. It will offer women students a place to go that will be a resource centre and for peer support.

The staff and administration deserve recognition for supporting this idea from the students of this women's studies course, particularly the commitment and vision of Gemma Gay, the teacher of the women's studies students. Also deserving of recognition is the role of the Legal Education and Action Fund in providing financial support to purchase materials for the resource centre, particularly Betty Hopkins who was also, along with the Minister responsible for the Status of Women (Mrs. Vodrey), at the official opening of this women's centre.

I enjoyed meeting with the students and was impressed by their enthusiasm and look forward to good things to come from the women's centre and the women's studies students at Sisler High School.