The students I know from Sahtu, there is quite a significant number that went to Aurora College programs this year. Some went to other institutions, post-secondary institutions. We’ve provided them a lot of support. The communities support them. We need them back in our communities. I don’t know if the Minister had a quick hand in this in terms of getting some support into our communities by offering the practicum back into my community.
I talked earlier in the House about someone who was doing some programming in Grande Prairie and now there’s a possibility of her doing her practicum back in Tulita and work with some logistics with some support from this department and the Sahtu educational board. That’s the type of leadership we are looking for in our department. That’s what we’re looking for: getting our people back into our communities to be a good role model. So I do want to thank the Minister for whatever support he offers to me in that area.
It’s not a done deal yet, but it’s something that gives me some hope to open up some of the doors to support our young people. If we provide the support there for these young people, these nursing, social worker, teaching, we have to have the infrastructure there to bring them back. Some of these students that come out of these schools, they fight really hard just to get back into their communities while other students come out of their institutions down south and we open the door for them. We even throw the red carpet out for them to come to our community.
We’ve got to do the same thing with our students that we send out. We’ve got to also help them out there. That’s what I’m hoping to look for. Make sure we treat them all equally and fairly and especially with our northern students who are finishing these programs. That’s what they want. That’s what I’m asking this Minister to make sure that the mechanism is there to support our students. Once they finish the first year, second year, third or fourth year, that there’s an opening in the community for them. I just want to say that. Thank you.