Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Engineering has been around since the first humans walked on this Earth and began altering their physical environment in order to improve their comfort, safety, and food supply. As mentioned earlier this week, March is National Engineering Month. Hosted by Engineers Canada, the national regulatory body, it is intended to spark interest in the next generation of engineering professionals and celebrate the role engineers play in shaping society. Next week, the NWT and Nunavut chapter, NAPEG, will be hosting their virtual symposium themed "Powering the North of the Future," and registration is free for anyone.
Engineers take four years of university, followed by another four years of mentorship and experience, in order to become professional engineers, or "big E Engineers," as we like to call ourselves, but there is more to this profession than just those of us who have "banged the anvil" and wear the ring. Engineering techs also play a crucial role in our industry, and when I look at our planned polytechnic university, I'm excited for the opportunity it could bring to this field.
In the North, like many of our skilled labour positions, we often bring engineering techs up from the South to work on our projects. By creating an engineering tech program at the university, we will create an opportunity to train Northerners who specialize in circumpolar engineering. This, to me, is an engineering field that would incorporate traditional Indigenous knowledge as well as permafrost experience and climate change adaptation, to vastly improve our understanding of cold regions engineering. With this type of program, hands-on training could be provided by local engineering firms who would also provide mentorship for students, a key component of the engineering philosophy. This would produce successful northern engineer techs who will remain in the North and contribute to the profession.
There is no shortage of national and international research studies being performed in the Northwest Territories; however, there is a shortage of northern-raised professionals to execute them. In 2018 alone, there were 13 engineering projects listed in the Aurora Research Institute's Compendium of Research in the Northwest Territories. Some were local groups, such as the Nihtat Corporation in Inuvik, which performed a geotechnical investigation for the GNWT in support of a wind study, but several were from overseas, such as the airborne radar program performed by the German Aerospace Center to monitor vegetation, soil, and permafrost conditions in the boreal forest, or the University of Helsinki, which studied the short- and long-term effects of forest fires on carbon pools in the Arctic permafrost and subarctic forests.
Mr. Speaker, can you imagine the wealth of knowledge that participating on international projects like these could bring to our local expertise? How they could help us to better understand our own backyard? By ensuring that engineering tech programs are part of our new university, we will be better equipped to deal with our northern, remote climate by retaining knowledge, expertise, and experience in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.