Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Dechinta, with leading indigenous professors co-teaching with northern leaders, is celebrating the fifth anniversary of a pilot project to test delivery of original northern university courses designed and developed in the North. It’s been a resounding success for the only land-based and independent university-accredited education provider in the Northwest Territories. It is now time to transition to an operational program in all regions.
The unique Dechinta model has no infrastructure expense. It is designed to be land-based and to use and support already built private regional lodges and camps. It focuses resources on student places and employing local First Nations people and elders as instructors, thereby supporting local and regional economies.
From their start-up in 2009, Dechinta established long-term research partnerships with the University of Alberta and McGill University, bringing hundreds of thousands of research dollars into the North. The Dechinta model works. It’s cost-effective; students love it; and First Nations support it.
Courses are focused on critical northern issues and topics, including an original minor in native studies. With equal weight on both academia and traditional land-based learning, there are now seven courses accredited by the University of Alberta and McGill University. Dechinta courses are now grossly oversubscribed with 97 applications for the 30 spots available so far this year. The fact that 100 percent of their 250 course graduates have gone on to either further post-secondary education or employment further reflects the success of their approach.
Currently, our students must travel south to get a university education, at both extra financial and social cost, but this may be changing. One prerequisite, though, is meeting the demands of the Education Act and recognizing Dechinta in legislation.
Dechinta has done the planning work needed to enable continued development and expansion into all regions of the NWT, which also makes strong economic sense. Establishing regional programs will provide six full-time and 32 part-time positions in each region comprised of elders and other community residents and meet the interests of students unable to secure a course place in the North Slave program, all while supporting existing private lodge and camp infrastructure.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted