Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that was considered, the administration costs. A review of the college's operations deemed several support positions non-essential, and any remaining duties of those positions will be reassigned to other staff. To meet the target reduction, there were three administrative positions that were affected. With this reduction, Aurora College will be required to be innovative and become more efficient and effective in their administrative process moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, when looking at these cuts, can the Minister advise this House: did the college consult with the students on ways to improve the program and save it, or did they just go out and make these cuts without consulting the students?

No, the students were not consulted about reductions moving forward. It was the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that was working closely with Aurora College to identify where reductions could be coming from. Evidence-based decisions on low graduation rates within these two programs were identified. Sometimes tough decisions need to be made, and those were the decisions that were brought forth to this government.

I just want to let Members know that Aurora College is continuing to support the students in these two programs to completion, working with them, supporting them to make sure that all the students in both programs do graduate to completion over the course of the years.

I thank the Minister for his answer. However, I would like to inform the Minister that the access program students, they are not accounted for, to graduate in the North, and that is a challenge. Mr. Speaker, with the majority of the TEP and social work students tending to be young parents, did the college or the department consider the effects of making them uproot their families and lose some of their family support system here to attend school in the South?

The Member did bring up the access students. The Aurora College staff has worked with the access students to look at the next steps for them in their career path, so they are working on that side of things. As I mentioned, we still continue to support families and students wherever they want to get their post-secondary education. As I mentioned earlier, we spent $12 million in Student Financial Assistance, and that affects over 1,200 students who are getting post-secondary education at this moment. Any families that have dependents, there is an increase in the Student Financial Assistance that they receive, as well.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I thank the Minister for his answer. Dependents are one thing. Family support is another, and that is the biggest challenge for us people living in the north. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that, in the fall of 2015, the Aurora College Board of Governors signed an Indigenous Knowledge Declaration. Mr. Speaker, some of the students are not sure that the college was sincere when they signed this document. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how cutting this program helps Indigenous people share their knowledge among their peers if they are attending a southern program where people may not recognize, respect, or share the same process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, Aurora College and the Department of ECE take that declaration very seriously, including the respect for and importance of Indigenous knowledge. Aurora College will continue to seek new ways to incorporate Indigenous knowledge, world views, and approaches in all of its programs. All Aurora College programs serve Indigenous learners, not only in social work or the TEP program but through all the programs that it does serve. As well, the department has done a lot of work around residential schooling as well as cultural training for our Northerners but also for southern workers who come up and work in the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. In my statement, I talked about the importance of training Northerners as social workers out of Aurora College. The program has been in place for 35 years, and some of those who completed the training when it began are still working in the field. My first question is: what kind of information and analysis on the low completion rates for the Aurora College Social Work Program have been used by the Minister in making the decision to cut the program? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, the department had worked with Aurora College to identify reductions. On average, there are about 38 students who are enrolled within the program. Over the last three years, we have graduated four every year. This June, we are expecting to graduate three students out of the social work program, as I mentioned in this House before; two of the students in the TEP program, as well as the students in the social work program. I encourage them to work hard, study, and complete their programs through the course of the years. We are slowly phasing out these two programs, but we looked at the enrolment rates as well as the graduation rates when we were making these decisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rather than cutting the program, what does the Minister think he could do to help the college remove barriers to completing the social work program and improve graduation rates?

I am not really too sure of what a lot of these barriers were for students who enrolled in both programs, and we got low graduation rates out of the two. We also currently support students who are going down South, I believe 19 students who are taking a social work degree. We continue to support them. I am not too sure what some of the barriers were. Obviously, everyone has their own challenges when they're going to school, and some of those are probably taken into account. Our department, they have a great Student Financial Assistance program that supports students financially, and the Aurora College also has support staff who try to work with the students to help them succeed and get the best outcomes.

I am shocked that the Minister is not sure what the barriers are and that he didn't spend or have his department spend any time looking at what they are in order to understand why both graduation and enrolment rates fall off so dramatically over the period of time that the students are in the program.

Will the Minister commit to looking at these barriers so that he can make an informed decision to reinstate the program?

As I mentioned, I know the Aurora College does have a good support staff to help their students graduate in whatever program that they are currently enrolled in. We can take a look and see why students weren't graduating from the social work program or the TEP program as well, and what the successes we have down south are in terms of the 19 students who are going to school down South. We can take a look into it, and definitely with the Aurora College strategic plan and review coming into place, or the strategic plan, hopefully we'll have some good outcomes of that and get better supports for the Aurora College.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it seems like an exit interview for people who are dropping out of the program would really facilitate collection of information about what the barriers are. In my statement I noted that social workers with degrees and diplomas will be in high demand over the next 15 years, a total of 600 jobs, so we want people who live here to take these jobs, not come for two years and then move away. Doesn't the number of people required in this profession make the case that social work training is, in fact, a going concern? Masi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are going to be needing social workers over the next 15 years. It was recognized in the in-demand jobs that are going to be needed here in the Northwest Territories, and we continue to support students who want to go get that degree education, and the students who are currently in the program, we want to continue to support them should they want to come out of that diploma and go and seek a degree down South and help them with that smooth transition. We are continuing to support them as the program itself gets phased out to make sure that all students who are in that program can complete the social work program and become part of the public service here in the NWT.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Masi. Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can advise that we have been having sessions with the public; we've had one in Fort Smith, and several days ago one in Hay River. So we're waiting to hear from the public as to what their concerns are and ideas are, and once we've accumulated that information we will be bringing forward a policy. Thank you.

I guess I've got to continue to elaborate on this line of questioning just for a moment and maybe ask the Minister if he can explain a little bit more to us as to how much more public consultation is going to take place on this and when does he, in fact, anticipate a draft coming forward to the House or to Members?