Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In our SCOF report, we mentioned the Arctic College social services program. During the SCOF review, we asked about the training that is taking place in Arctic College. It started 13 years ago and we asked the Minister and her staff about the curriculum of that program, and whether the curriculum had changed. I know this is an Education-type of question, but my concern here is that the Department of Social Services hire a lot of people who graduate from the social services program from Arctic College. We have people in our communities with two years training from Arctic College.
I asked the Minister and her staff whether the curriculum has changed within the last 13 years. The reply we received was they did not know whether the curriculum had changed, or whether they are still teaching the same curriculum they started off with 13 years ago. Nowadays there are new and innovative ways for dealing with human social problems. I wanted to know if Arctic College is providing the latest training for people taking courses there, so that when they go into the communities and start facing these social problems they know how to deal with them in a very humane way?
We did not get a very satisfactory reply at that time. We have dedicated people in the communities who have taken these programs. It took them two years to take it and now they are in the community, dealing with day-to-day social problems. I'm wondering if the type of training they are receiving in Arctic College is adequate enough for them to deal with the problems.
Furthermore, I would like to ask the Minister whether the people who are presently working for the Department of Social Services -- after completing this two year training course at Arctic College and after being in the field for a number of years -- can go back and get further training, with the experience they have and with the desire to continue in that field? Is that opportunity available to them? If it is, where is this opportunity? And if it is not there, will the department look into this area to see if they can work with the Department of Education to develop further training for the social workers who are out in the communities who desire to go back for more training? Thank you.