R.J. Simpson

Even though YK1 owns the infrastructure, the GNWT is responsible for new schools and major retrofits, so, if there is something that can't be covered with the $900,000 capital surplus, like a brand new school, that is what the GNWT covers.

As the Minister of Education, I plan to travel to lots of different schools, and, of course, I plan to travel to the college. I am not sure what the schedule is for the new year. It has been relatively busy. It is hard to find a free moment. At some point in the new year, at some point, I'm sure, in the first part of next year, I will be travelling to Fort Smith, and I will be having discussions with staff.

I am always open to sitting down with the Member, as well, and having conversations. The Members are the voices of their communities, and I want to hear from the Member about what she has to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague for bringing this forward. I completely understand the concerns. We had a foundational review, and the third party who did the review of the College suggested moving the headquarters to Yellowknife, and so I understand why there was this concern coming out of Fort Smith.

You know, Fort Smith is the headquarters, as they say. It is the home to the corporate services of Aurora College. I believe there are 40 jobs in corporate services. There has never been a plan to move that out of Fort Smith. There is not a plan now to move it out of Fort...

I know there is an internship program that the GNWT had through the Department of Finance, I believe, but the Member is right. We need to do more, I think.

One of the first things I talked about when I got this portfolio was the need to be better communicators and do a better job promoting education and promoting the North as a place to come back to. We need to reach out to our students. We do that through Student Financial Assistance. They have a great advertising program. When I was in school, I always knew when my payments were supposed to come and when my application was supposed to be in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank my colleague for the question. I would also like to congratulate, myself, Ms. Doreen Arrowmaker for her achievement of achieving a master's degree. You know, with this portfolio, that's the goal, to get our residents educated.

The Member brings up a good point: are we keeping track of who is educated? If we don't know, how do we bring them back here? We do know what programs our residents are taking, if they are receiving SFA. We know what institutions they are attending. Outside of that, we don't have that ability. If someone just goes off to school...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document pursuant to Section 21 of the Financial Administration Act entitled " Annual Reports for Northwest Territories Education Bodies for the 2018-2019 School Year Ending June 30, 2019." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think we all know, in 2016, the intake for the social work diploma program as well as the teacher education program was suspended, and those programs are currently undergoing program reviews. These aren't just regular program reviews like the college would normally do. These are academic program reviews that are part of a new framework that are up to national standards. They are, let's see, the Ministerial Statement on Quality Assurance of Degree Education in Canada, released by the Council of Ministers of Education, is what we are conforming to. The college, as it was, has been around for...

I believe we hired around 300 summer students in the GNWT, but I am not sure how many are in their actual field of study. I think the Department of Justice hired all the law students from the Northwest Territories last year, actually, though. You know, we are making some progress, and I look forward to making more, but, you know, these are all good points, and I will continue to advance this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't have those numbers at my fingertips. I can say that Aurora College, however, has recently implemented a new student information system that can track that type of information, and finally in the North we have that capability. It was a long time that we weren't able to do that at the college, and so, in the last two years, we've achieved that. The department has actually come a long way in terms of the statistics that it collects and the information that it has to analyze, and so I think that we're moving in that direction. Unfortunately, I don't have those numbers on me right now. My...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize someone who, as we've just heard, is always looking out for me: my mother, Ms. Betty Lyons. I would also like to acknowledge my constituent, Ms. Donna O'Brien; and, of course she's back, my sweetheart, Ms. Chantelle Lafferty. Thank you.