Item 6, acknowledgements. Mr. Blake.

Mr. Speaker, one of the highlights of work in our communities is celebrating success. Today I want to acknowledge Annah Hanthorn from Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories.

Nineteen-year-old Annah has captured gold in the 7.5 kilometre cross-country skiing at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George.

Annah has trained in the Yukon for the past few years and is at the Canada Winter Games representing Team Yukon; however, we share in her accomplishments as her roots are in the Northwest Territories.

Her younger brother is competing for Team NWT. Judah Hanthorn is at the Games for cross-country skiing, and her mother, Lynn Hanthorn, is a manager for Team NWT cross-country skiing. So, with a family gathering, this was a wonderful experience to share for Annah.

Fort McPherson is a very proud and excited community celebrating the success of Annah and her gold medal achievement.

Mr. Speaker and Members, please join me in giving Annah a huge round of applause and in sending congratulations and best of luck for future races. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 7, oral questions. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start off with questions today in follow-up to my Member’s statement about the great work that the Dechinta University is doing. I know our government does partner with them in terms of getting research brought up to the university and also in terms of some of their programming.

In my Member’s statement I talked about the 100 percent completion and not having enough funding for all the applicants. What concerns me is the number of applicants that don’t get into the university. What options do they have and are they able to get into Aurora College or another program? Even the enrolment rate at Aurora College has been declining over the years with more interests going into Dechinta University.

One way that we can offset this and support such a strong program that not only focuses on achievement but focuses on the traditional knowledge and culture, as well, is to increase some of this funding and actually look at ways that we can create core funding for this university and the work that they do.

Would the Minister be willing to commit and willing to look at the work that this university has done and commit to higher core funding moving forward given the success of this program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With Dechinta Bush University, it has been successful to date, since 2009. I was just there last fall and I wanted to meet with the staff, meet with the students, and it was a very well-experienced visit. I’ve always been supportive of the Dechinta University Program and I will continue to do so.

When I met with the staff at the Dechinta Campus, they highlighted some of the challenges we are faced with. I expected the proposal that’s coming down, so this is an opportune time to discuss some of these aspects. We will be entertaining a discussion on this. Obviously, Aurora College will be a partner as well as U of A. Those are some of the discussions we are currently having. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’m glad to hear discussions are in the works and moving forward. I haven’t seen government work so hard in terms of education and developing this Education Renewal and Innovation, working with Aurora College and making changes in our education system. We’ve done a lot of work in the last three years. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m looking at ways we can move forward.

We have already got a very unique university looking at unique ways to educate our people. One of my colleagues mentioned Canada not having a university. When we met with the Norway ambassadors for NWT Days, they mentioned they have the most northern university in the circumpolar region. They are doing a lot of great things as well.

Would the Minister not only work with the organizations here but look at how Norway has worked and created a university and help promote Dechinta at the same time and get those talks underway as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Most definitely. I believe Dechinta is a foundation we can build on as well as working with other partners. There are other countries that have established universities, even in a small population. So we are currently exploring those areas and doing a thorough research because we want to compile the information, sit down with Dechinta, the college and see where we can fit it in. U of A is part of the process as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, one of the highlights that Dechinta University does is they have relationships with the U of A, U of Vic, UBC and McGill and have brought millions of dollars of research to the North. I know the Minister is aware of that as they’ve also worked in partnership with Dechinta. Within the Education Act, would the department look at committing, possibly by the end of this term, to making an amendment to the Education Act to recognize, along with leading universities in Canada, the Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research?

Would he look at amending that act so we can recognize the work that Dechinta is doing and all the research they are doing and keeping that here in the North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are a lot of things on the go right now, a lot of discussions happening. There are also Skills for Success within my department that Dechinta is engaged in as well. We want to engage them. We need to find those individuals with the talent. Not only that, but if we need to change within our Education Act, obviously that will take some time. Those changes have to reflect our engagement with the general public as well. We are currently in discussions with the Dechinta and also the president of Aurora College and the U of A. There is a proposal that’s been discussed and we are moving forward on that. I will be updating the standing committee in due process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, 90 percent of the alumni go into the NWT labour force. I made a comment yesterday about the NWT Labour Force Framework.

Will the Minister work with Dechinta University and work with our alumni to get them into the labour force within the Northwest Territories as well as create jobs in our small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Not only the Dechinta alumni but others as well. We have a great deal of graduates coming out of our college in the Northwest Territories. The Skills for Success will highlight those individuals and what kind of credential and qualifications industries or GNWT or the private sector needs. We want to train those individuals as well. Yes, those are the tools that we need to deliver to those individuals. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement as well as Dechinta University.

When the organizers began Dechinta University, probably more than five years ago when they were dreaming their dreams, they were focusing on establishing a university in the Northwest Territories.

What is our strategy, our position on establishing a university in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When I first met with Erin Ballantyne in 2009, I believe, or even sooner than that… No, when I first was elected as Minister of Education, she presented to me and I told her you had me at hello.

---Laughter

This was a very exciting project at the beginning and I still have a vision of where Dechinta University is going. It is before us now and we are currently discussing it. We have to work with all the partners as well. There is also the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik with Skills for Success as well. All the different initiatives have to come into line with the Dechinta University and the programs they offer and all the stakeholders we need to engage with. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I’m glad the Minister has a working relationship with the Dechinta University since its formation. Where they are heading these days is they’ve proven themselves in the last five years and their name is out there, not only in the Northwest Territories but right across Canada and internationally, as well, in that people are interested. They are saying you’ve got a university, but I think, yes, it’s a university in name but I think the request is to get the name, Dechinta Bush University into the Education Act so it can be accredited to offer their own major and/or minor diploma to our northern students or anyone who is attending.

I asked the Minister earlier about the strategy for getting a university and now this question is about recognizing that we can and should be the Dechinta University into the NWT Education Act so that they can be accredited in issuing their own diplomas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I stated, there’s a variety of parties that we need to work with. With the college campuses we have in the Northwest Territories, obviously we deliver degree programs, we deliver master’s programs and Dechinta also offers university programs. So we are doing very preliminary work with the work that Dechinta has done to date and what programs the college is offering at this point. There is a variety of partners that we have in southern institutions and how can we best put that into perspective as a northern university program deliverer. Those are some of the areas that we are currently discussing today and we are involving the Dechinta team as well. They will be part of the process along the way because they provide valuable information as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I know the Minister is talking about it being a longer process than we expect. Of course, it’s like many things in government, it takes a while to change initiatives or steer the ship.

In terms of that, what’s the department’s position on increasing support and funding for the Dechinta Bush University programming that’s out there? Mahsi.

Within our Education department we have contributed, over the last three years, our contribution, because I feel that Dechinta can go places with the program that they are currently delivering. They are very unique compared to other programming that we currently deliver in the Northwest Territories. So we will continue to subsidize them; we’ll continue to support them. In 2013-14, obviously, we provided $153,000 as a kick-start. In 2014-15 it went up to $415,000. So these are the discussions that we are currently having, what kinds of resources that are required. Again, they’re very different. They’re very unique. So, those are considerations that we are talking about, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Also, since we’re also talking about representing Canada with the Dechinta Bush University program, I’d like to ask the Minister on his next visit to his federal counterparts, or if there are any others – perhaps CanNor can be approached – about having a federal investment in our Dechinta Bush University and federal supports.

I’d like to ask the Minister, can he do that the next time he meets with his federal counterparts? Mahsi.

Most definitely. These are discussions that we need to have at a higher level as well. CanNor could be a partner in this. They have been a partner in various initiatives within the GNWT. So I will be presenting that, as well, where they stand with a northern university.

I believe it was around 2008-2009 when we presented the idea of a university in the North. Obviously, they want to focus on the program delivery, the federal perspective. We need to get an updated status on that. If we can expand on that, by all means, I’ll be pushing that Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.