Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity to say a few brief words. The subject will be no stranger to the Minister’s ears as I bring it up, which is the independent campus of Aurora College, and spoken many times about how we should finally reach that particular point within our college development and long-term forecasting of our college programming where we should be able to say to ourselves that it is time to develop an independent campus here in Yellowknife.
Aurora College, for a number of years, has been an anchor tenant in the Northern United building, which I think the government has a moral responsibility to be part of, because if in the riding of Yellowknife Centre that building offers itself as a great opportunity for new Canadians, those who are at risk and certainly seniors, to have rent subsidized through the government being an anchor tenant, they are able to focus and keep those rents fair, but that moral obligation shouldn’t hold the Aurora College from building its particular plans to look forward to the future and its potential growth. The college itself is such format that it needs its own residence and companion programming sites. We could probably do so much more, as folks will say.
While I am on this particular topic of Aurora College, I want to use the chance to highlight the leadership provided by Sarah Wright Cardinal, and that is her tenureship as president of the college. I
certainly hope that the department and certainly the Minister as well as the board of Aurora College keep her on and support some of the initiatives she has been bringing. I am very grateful for the work she does, the vision she has and certainly the passion and education and growth she has for the future of the North. The fact is she has such an ability to speak well and see the things and the potential in people that I think she has been a tremendous asset since she has come to the college. If anything, she has become one of the shining beacons of our bureaucracy, where it shows that this woman has risen through hard work and leadership skills and shining very brightly here.
One of the goals that I know she shares similar to mine is to see eventually that Yellowknife has an independent campus. I know it is the goal of the board of the Aurora College, which I welcome. I just wish the department itself would finally send somebody over there to be a decision-maker on this particular initiative, because everyone seems to recognize, but somebody – I don’t know who this somebody is but I would like to meet this somebody – keeps saying it’s a bad idea, or we should have more discussions, or we should talk to our partners more. All I hear is the same standard postage stamp replies to this problem, and the fact is that this college has matured to the point where it needs to be given that opportunity. It is time to unleash it in the sense of give it a chance to spread its wings onto the world.
An institution like our college is an amazing place because it allows the students to interact, not just in school but sort of in the dynamic thinking that you only get at college, and that said, it will be able to set its sights on the longer term goal of maybe bringing more university courses here and maybe eventually become a university through its accreditation. If we do these types of things, we will be bringing fresh university investment dollars of folks who want to do studies up here, who want to partner in the North, whether they want to do studies on First Nation culture, whether they want to do environmental studies. There are a lot of opportunities here for people to look at. The fact is these people are knocking on the doors here in the Northwest Territories but they have no one credited to partner with, so it’s a real struggle going back to the fact that it really ties together with the fact that I think the college continues its growth. It continues to be stifled by the Department of Education. I’m not sure who it is. Again, I would like to meet this somebody, because I think they need to be re-orientated. Its campus is continually being brushed aside and said no, you’re okay in the form you are.
At the same time, I would like to also emphasize that I don’t think this comes at a cost to the other two campuses. I know we have learning windows in other communities, but the main campuses are, of course, being Fort Smith and Inuvik. I think this still
marries with the goals of the broader college mandate. It’s just in this region. It’s time to grow. I fear that is being held back, serious concerns that it may come at a cost to the other places. I don’t believe that being the case. I think each college campus can become an expert in the centre of excellence, per se, in its own specific courses.
That is a big one, but the fact is that Aurora College doesn’t have to be alone. There have been partners knocking on their door saying that they will be interested in dialogue. The Minister knows this. What holds them back? I’m not sure. Again, is it the bureaucracy? Is it one particular person?
To be frank, I get sick and tired of hearing we need to have more discussion. It’s all we do is talk. Well, let’s talk about when we are going to talk again. When we get there, we will talk some more because we have to plan ahead and we will talk more about that too. Let’s not talk about it all at once. It just gets nothing but frustrating. That’s some of the biggest ridicule you will hear from the public when they talk about politicians. They know how to talk themselves out of something. They talk themselves to avoid something. All they do is talk but never listen. Well, quite frankly, I wish the department would listen and hear the voices within the college, be it the system, be it the board of governors or even in the Territories saying that it is time for an independent campus If we put the can-do hat on as opposed to the can’t or won’t hat on. It would be a weird fit, I’m sure, for awhile, but let’s not be afraid of change. I think we can embrace it and we can do well.
The last part of this little story of Aurora College, I will call it the narrative of Aurora College, is the fact that there are willing partners out here to discuss. Some we don’t even know about yet, and the fact is we should be shopping around and talking about this. We should be talking about this idea about expanding the college maybe with the City of Yellowknife. What better opportunity to be talking to the city about maybe a new library? We can marry these things into some of the city’s goals. Bring this idealism to the city to say, look, what do you guys see as the future in Yellowknife? How could you and your partners work together to tie this down? Aurora College could be quite a hive of activity that brings such energy to the city, and not just to the city but to the Territories as a whole. I think we are really missing out on this great opportunity.
Again, I am sorry to harp on it but the reality is the reality, which is all we hear is we have to have discussions. I’ve been a Member and this is my ninth budget. Guess what we’re going to hear. We better have more discussions. Nine years later it continues to be the same saga. Nothing has changed other than the fact that just the players change. The answers still remain the same, more discussions and more discussions. All I keep saying
is eventually someone is going to have to take a leadership role on this. It doesn’t just frustrate me, it frustrates a lot of people out there, the fact that somebody has to be showing that they’re in charge in this department.
No one believes that Aurora College, in an independent form, will happen overnight. I first and foremost do not believe that, but it starts with a commitment of saying we are going to do this and all of a sudden that has changed the paradigm of how we view the world. If we grabbed the excitement of that, all of a sudden synergy of the department would change, and the enthusiasm would happen and people would say how could we do more. Could we move our trades in there? We could all be part of this. Maybe we can join or partner with community school, community government. Maybe we could do more. People would be looking at it with pride and saying we could do more. The college itself would be so exciting. Just the enthusiasm, then someone would say if we’re going to do it within a decade, maybe we’re going to do it within eight years, maybe we’re going to do it within five years. I mean, it’s just that type of focus and commitment and we can get out there and pound the pavement. I know a lot of Yellowknife MLAs, as well as I hope our territorial MLAs, would get behind this and I bet we could find the partners. Whether it’s speaking to a federal counterpart or even just local folks.
As I mentioned earlier about the City of Yellowknife, we have a strip downtown on 50th Street where the
city has been trying to reinvest and rebuild. It’s doing every effort they can to help redevelop the downtown. Is that the answer? I’m not an expert, I’m not going to say it is, but I certainly am not going to quickly say it isn’t, either.
It’s about long-term focus and what we can do for our students. It’s so easy to relax and go back to our standard answer, which is well, let’s have some discussions and we’ll be safe. Well, unfortunately the safe answer makes us look bad and the safe answer never gets anything done, and the safe answer discourages people as they look towards their political leaders for leadership.
There is no bold thinking and that’s the problem. We need someone finally with the courage to make this happen. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but that’s just being honest. But that type of honesty is welcome enthusiasm from our public. Just saying look, I don’t know how we’re going to get there, but I’ll tell you what, I’ll buy the gas, the car, we’ll all pile in, we’ll figure out how we’re going to get there, we’re going to find out where we’re going, but by golly we’re going to go. There may be some bumps, but we’re going to have a good time doing it, and yes, there will be some challenges, but the fact is we’re going and we’re committed behind this adventure.
Mr. Chairman, as I close off my point, there are many subjects such as early childhood education, inclusive schooling and, as I mentioned the other day, first aid should be a requirement as part of our high school programming, but I’ll find the specific page that I’ll raise those particular subjects on. It’s amazing how fast 10 minutes goes when you just get warmed up.