Mr. Speaker, Return to Written Question 4-12(7), asked by Mr. Patterson to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment concerning nursing training.
There are two components to the nursing program offered by College West in Yellowknife, a nursing access year and the nursing diploma program. Currently, there are 32 students registered in the access year, of which 31 are from the Northwest Territories and one from the Yukon territory. There are 25 students registered in the nursing diploma program. All of them are from the Northwest Territories.
A total of 10 students from the Nunavut regions are registered in this program. Five are registered in the access year, two each from Baffin and Keewatin and one from the Kitikmeot region. Another five students are registered in the nursing diploma program. Again, two each are from Baffin and Keewatin and one from the Kitikmeot region.
The existing nursing diploma program is available to all residents of the Northwest Territories. There are no plans at this time to offer the program in the Nunavut regions.