INUVIK - Floyd Roland held a meeting with constituents Tuesday, prior to leaving for Ottawa for his first Premiers' Conference.

This was the first time that Roland met with the residents of his Boot Lake riding since being acclaimed again in October.

Premier Floyd Roland was in town to hold a constituency meeting earlier this week. Being the first meeting he has had since being re-elected, Roland explained his new responsibilities to the crowd and addressed some concerns about education. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

Inuvik resident Gerri Sharpe-Staples asked what would be done about improving education in the region.

"Standardized tests show that our students are lacking in the Grade 4 and Grade 10 levels," she said.

"Our needs are being met for health transportation and housing, but education is lacking."

Roland said that during the last assembly, education was given a bigger budget than health and social services.

"You're right, for the money we are spending in the North, we need to see results we can measure," he said. "We're making an investment here and we should have something to show for it."

Staples added that when funding was increased for early childhood development, an improvement was shown.

"Inuvik was the first with full-day kindergarten and it has shown good measurable results," she said.

Roland agreed that the most impact in a child's education is during the early years.

"To seriously impact the child's life, we need to get them in preschool, through Grade 2," he said.

Roland said the constituency meetings are important because they give him questions and concerns to raise in the legislative assembly.

"These meetings are a good way to meet with folks and to find out what to bring back to the table," said Roland.

The meeting was also a last chance for Roland to meet with his constituents before the assembly starts it upcoming February session.

"As a regular member, I would take information from the community into committee meetings to make questions to bring to the ministers," he said.

"In my role now as a minister, I get information from the community as well as other members to help me with my briefings."

Roland said the community input comes from meetings as well as from people he meets on the street.

"It's a good mix, from the meetings, run-ins with people on the street and Floyd's on Friday," he said.

Floyd's on Friday is an open community discussion meet and greet that Roland hosts in his office when he is in town.

During the meeting this past week, Roland explained that he planned to be in Inuvik twice a month to meet with the residents, but due to his schedule, he may only be in once per month.

"I'd like to be back as often as possible," he said.

Even if residents aren't voicing their concerns during these meetings, Roland wants the community to know that they can still reach him trough his office in town.