Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am one who is eager to share my -- even my personal cell phone number with the people that I want to be working closely with. That is something that the chairperson certainly has. We also have a joint mandate agreement and the ability to get together on a regular basis and definitely try to get together on a regular basis or as much as possible.

In regards to the Member's comment about a mandate agreement, that is something that will be released within the coming week, and Members do have an embargoed copy within their inbox today.

And then in...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I absolutely hear the Member, and I agree that the goal is to have a strategic plan go out where, you know, we're answering all of the questions that we know that residents are going to have about the forward looking of a program and what the future holds. Ultimately, ECE will remain responsible at the end of the day for ensuring that residents have access to quality programs that support education and employment, and so right now, the work that ECE is doing is gaining clarity on, you know, what parts of adult learning and basic education Aurora...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is in luck. The Minister of housing and I really enjoy working together. We have already had multiple conversations about this and have already provided direction to our departments and look forward to sitting down with the departments, continuing those conversations, and then being able to share the outcomes of those conversations with Members within probably the first or second quarter of this year. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is something that we've definitely heard from CDETNO, Chamber of Mines of the Northwest Territories, as well as -- or, sorry, Chamber of Commerce of the NWT and Chamber of Commerce of Yellowknife as well. But I want to be able to deliver the entire program and package to people so they're not getting information piecemeal. They're able to sit down, look at what the entire program will look like on relaunch, and be able to digest that information all at one time. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad that the Member asked the clarifying question because that's not what I said. So I want to be very clear that what that looks like going forward, I cannot say. I cannot say how those opportunities are going to be afforded to communities. I know that, for example, one of our community learning centres is currently being used as classroom space for some high school students in a community that very much needs it and very much needs that that part -- for that community learning centre to continue as that type of space. I can say that some Indigenous...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely part of the calculation. I have heard from an equal number of residents, probably to the Member, who have said this needs to be part of it. But to be honest, I've also heard from an equal number of people who have said that's not fair. So we're seeing both sides of it. We're considering everything, and I'm certainly considering that piece of it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, whatever program we decide to put in place for the Northwest Territories, we have to have it approved by IRCC. And so at the end of the day, I can't commit either way because I do have to have our tactic going forward and our way that we plan to roll this out approved first by the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, at this point we don't have the clarity we need, based on the plans going forward of Aurora College, to understand what parts of the adult learning and basic education components they plan to continue to fill and which ones and how they plan to roll some of those back. And so without that clarity, we can't put a plan in place going forward. But I can say that some communities have reached out as well to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment because they have plans as to how they'd like to see the community learning centres used...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So within that MOU that I spoke of, it is a contribution agreement that does go to Aurora College to be able to deliver the adult learning and basic education throughout the CLCs throughout the Northwest Territories, so that funding ultimately would -- any that was not used through the contribution agreement and the MOU with Aurora College would then come back to the department of education, and the department of education would still have the responsibility for ensuring that we're enhancing those opportunities within communities. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I couldn't speak to the methodology that Aurora College took in coming to this conclusion and what kind of engagement that they did do. But given that it was very much a shock for the Northwest Territories when this information was released, I would venture to say that many people didn't feel that they felt that they knew that this was coming. Thank you.