Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Aurora College has said closing the CLCs will save $8.29 million. Can the Minister say what it would cost to keep the centres open.Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the college identified a total of $8.29 million that they would, first of all, have for their staff retention policy; second, the delivery of their online programming; and then third, further work to be done on reinstating their bachelor of education and social work programming that we've heard a lot about in this House as well. And so I would have to assume that maintaining the CLCs would continue to cost upwards of the $7 million figure. Thank you.
Thank you for the information. Can the Minister say what plan is in place with the Department of Infrastructure to maintain the CLC building after programs stop in June? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is absolutely right. These are still assets of the GNWT, the ones that are owned by the GNWT. The Department of Infrastructure does have asset policies so that if there is a need to pass the facilities on to another owner, there is a policy for that. And infrastructure and ECE will be working together on this work, and we have had some phone calls already from Indigenous governments or NGOs that are wanting to have a role to play in the future of the CLCs and have identified that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister say whether students in small communities without computers will be able to continue working in the learning centres once everything moves online? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I couldn't comment as to what those facilities will become used for down the road, and so certainly if it's a situation where an Indigenous government chooses to have a facility like that, then that would certainly be an option depending on what that choice down the road is. My understanding through the presentation from Aurora College president and the chair is that in order to support students across the Northwest Territories through online learning that they would have wraparound supports not only for student life but also for student learning. They would be set up with the hardware required for online learning and have access to somebody who would show them how to use that hardware as well. And that would not just be a computer, it would also be headset, it would be internet. And so Aurora College intends to ensure that students have access to the technology that they would require. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
