Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last November, this Assembly passed the Public Colleges Act, which directed the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to establish two colleges; one located in the western Northwest Territories, and one located in the eastern Arctic. I am pleased to announce that these two institutions were established on January 1st of this year. I would like to take this opportunity to bring Members up to date on this initiative.

During the last session of this Assembly, I indicated that I would work with the college board of governors to identify names for our two new public colleges. Since that time, there has been considerable consultation across the north to identify college names. Throughout the fall, Mr. Speaker, the Arctic College board actively solicited recommendations for names for the two new colleges.

They undertook advertising and direct consultation with communities, students and staff as well as a number of other groups and organizations. As a result of their work, I received a list of three possible names for each college.

Selecting a name for a college is an important decision. The name should reflect the communities it serves, it should be distinctive and it should be a name of which we can all be proud as the institution grows and develops. In making a decision on this matter, I have also been guided by the comments and recommendations of the Members of this Assembly. In the past few months, I have received comments from a number of Members indicating their preferences.

I am pleased to announce today that the college serving the eastern Arctic will be known as Nunavut Arctic College. The college in the west will be named Aurora College.

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Mr. Speaker, investment in adult and post-secondary education is a key element of my department's strategic plan, and the establishment of two colleges is part of the overall strategy to strengthen adult and post-secondary education across the north.

With two colleges it will be possible to better focus on community needs, particularly as we move towards division of the Northwest Territories.

Nunavut Arctic College and Aurora College will continue to operate three campuses and a network of community learning centres. As well, science and technology activities previously carried out by the Science Institute have now been consolidated within the colleges. The colleges will include new offices to guide science and technology activities and to manage the four territorial research centres.

The new colleges are currently finalizing corporate plans which reflect the department's strategic plan and which will guide activities over the next five years.

Nunavut Arctic College and Aurora College replace Arctic College, but they will build on Arctic College's success. Since 1988, when Arctic College was incorporated, considerable progress has been made in offering additional college programs to the people of the Northwest Territories. Over this past year, Arctic College experienced 1,500 full-time and more than 9,000 part-time registrations.

Mr. Speaker, my department and the two colleges are committed to providing northerners with improved access to high-quality programs, which are designed to address their needs and are delivered close to home. The establishment of two colleges is an important step towards this goal and will help prepare northern residents for the division of the Northwest Territories in 1999.

I would like to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Nunavut Arctic College and Aurora College on their establishment and to wish them every success in meeting the educational and training challenges of the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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