Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement from yesterday, I am going to carry on with the same subject with focus on Breynat Hall at Aurora College.
As I said yesterday, Breynat Hall is a structure in Fort Smith that has a heavy history of colonialism and abuse, and that's because Breynat Hall is a former residential school. And, again, the structure is one of the last remaining former residential school buildings that is still in active use in the Northwest Territories today.
Mr. Speaker, Breynat Hall was built in 1958 and was run by the Catholic Church as a residential school until 1975. And according to the National Centre For Truth and Reconciliation, at least one student died there in 1960. From 1975 onward, Breynat Hall has been use by Aurora College as a single student residence in Fort Smith.
Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear about this, and I know the Minister of education is already on side with this, but Breynat Hall must not continue to be used when Aurora College transitions into a polytechnic university. There is far too much historical baggage attached to that building. Therefore, it must be inappropriate for it to be continued to be used for the future headquarters of the polytechnic university. And it appears that the need to dispose of Breynat Hall is understood by the university transition team because it was stated in the polytechnic university master plan released in September 2022 that Breynat Hall would be removed and replaced with a new student residence.
Also I strongly hope that the future student residence building will have Indigenous accents built into its architecture.
Mr. Speaker, during its time as a residential school, Breynat Hall was used by students from various NWT communities including Lutselk'e, Behchoko and Fort Res, among others, and over the years numerous constituents have told me that they feel uncomfortable and even disturbed by the continued use and existence of Breynat Hall at Aurora College in Fort Smith. There has also been several former NWT politicians who attended Breynat Hall, and most have all agreed that it has had a very troubled past and it must go. I am sure there are even some students attending Aurora College in Fort Smith today who are descendants of former residential school survivors who attended Breynat Hall in the past. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
In closing, Mr. Speaker, for these reasons it is essential that the new headquarters of the future polytechnic university in Fort Smith be built without Breynat Hall on its grounds. I think it also might be a good idea to have a memorial placed near or on its former site to act as a permanent reminder about the history that occurred there. I will have questions for the ECE Minister later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.