Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the end of January I had the opportunity to meet with North Slave students who are attending Aurora College in Fort Smith. I had the opportunity to hear their experiences, to learn of the various programs that they are enrolled in, and to discuss the challenges they face in getting a formal education.
One of the common frustrations that many students have is with the student financial assistance. The biggest frustration the students I spoke to have with SFA is the lack of communication that occurs between themselves and the department. They find they were given a person to contact within the department, and yet when they tried to contact this person, the contact person was on holidays. Answering machines were the most common and most frustrating contact that they had with the department when they were trying to find out about the status of their applications.
Some students returned to college without even knowing if they were going to receive funding or not. They paid their own way down with the hope that things would be sorted out. I am sure that there is a more organized way to operate.
Various MLAs and students brought many of the same concerns I just heard to the attention of the Minister in the fall. At the appropriate time, I will have questions for the Minister of Education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause