Thank you. No further questions? Please turn to page 59.

Education, Culture and Employment, languages and culture, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $16,567,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Are there any -- there are additional information items on page 63 to 69. Are there any questions? Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I just have a couple questions, one on the Aurora College programs and services.

Obviously, as you read through this document, you can see they, you know, highlight the 21 community learning centres. It speaks about the college providing community-based adult literacy and adult-based education programs. So given the recent announcement by the board of directors for Aurora College that they'll no longer be supporting the adult learning centres, I'm wondering if the Minister now has a plan on how that -- the department will be taking on that mandated item to assure that those -- that important work continues to get done? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, certainly appreciate the Member referencing that the community learning centres are still captured within our main estimates book. Certainly the announcement from Aurora College came after the books were printed and in all of our hands, so that change is not reflected here.

So regardless of whether or not Aurora College plans to operate the 21 community learning centres, there is still a responsibility for adult learning and basic education across the Northwest Territories and from the perspective of the department of education, a mandate to ensure that education is accessible in communities. And so currently we're working with Aurora College to understand if their plan does still basically accommodate the mandate. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll go to the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, and I appreciate that, but I think the college made it fairly clear that their mandate does not to support that, that they are going to shut down, indeed, the adult literacy and basic education programs. So I guess further than waiting for the college to say, yes, we are going to do it, because they basically said they were, is this something that the department, the Minister's going to commit to ensuring that if that's the case that we do continue to use these learning centres and keep them open? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what the Aurora College has said to this point is that the existing mode of delivery for courses through the community learning centres has not been working and that they want to reenvision what this looks like. So they've not said that they are completely vacating the adult education space. They have said they are going to be doing it different. So where I'm at right now is determining if their plan does meet the needs of the mandate of education, culture and employment. So I can't answer that here on the floor of the House right now. But they have not said that they are completely vacating the adult education space. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you. No, and I appreciate that. I think the information that was relayed to myself and certainly the information that we read in the media certainly said that the programs were going to be shut down. If, indeed, the college is looking at either working through NGOs, working with Indigenous governments to continue that program as it exists but maybe through different bodies, I'd certainly be interested in hearing that. But I guess, then, Madam Chair, then if the -- you know, if that's the case, if they are not indeed committed to shutting it down, and I would have hoped that, you know, the college would -- even if they were considering shutting it down, rather than making an announcement that they're going to be closing the learning centres, it would have been nice to say take a year if they want to evaluate it and evaluate it, and see what other options are out there. But that certainly wasn't what was presented to us. It was that this is not working. You know, we have three options. We could continue as it is, we can review it, or we can shut it down, which is basically the nuclear option, and that was the perception that's out there that that's the option they're taking. So if that's not the case, I'm happy to hear from that the Minister, and I'm hoping we can move forward and ensure that we continue to keep these centres open. So I guess my next question would be, then -- I mean, obviously we fund Aurora College to the tune of $35 million. $34 million last year, 35. A portion of that funding, Madam Chair, obviously, it goes towards to keep these centres open and to fund these centres. If, indeed, the college does decide that they're not going to be funding these learning centres, are we going to be looking at pulling certainly a portion of the funding that would be -- that would be directed towards these learning centres? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, I want to be clear that Aurora College indicated that they would not be keeping the bricks and mortar facilities open as part of their new plan. They have yet to divulge what their plan will look like going forward.

I also know that myself, along with the Aurora College board and chair, as well as the Aurora College president, will be at a briefing with standing committee I believe next week, next Thursday, and so certainly look forward to sitting with Aurora College as they inform committee of what their plans are.

As far as the dollars, so for adult learning and basic education, there is a memorandum of understanding between education, culture and employment and Aurora College that money -- sorry, it does come with money that is disbursed to Aurora College in the form of a contribution agreement. And so once we see exactly how Aurora College intends to fulfill that memorandum of understanding and what parts of it they intend to fulfill, then we can determine how much of the contribution agreement is appropriate for them to continue to receive and what, if any, is not. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you to the Minister for that. And it's good to hear that she's -- the department or the Minister's at least considering that may, indeed, be an option. Certainly, you know, part of the funding is for bricks and mortar and bricks and mortar cost money to maintain, so certainly part of that budget, I assume would be included for bricks and mortar. And I as well look forward to the update from the college to the justification as to why they made this move and to kind of shed some light because it certainly, Madam Chair, has caused a lot of concern, certainly not only through my riding, through my colleagues' ridings as well, and certainly through some of the ridings of the Members across the House as well. So I look forward to that presentation, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Would the Minister like to respond to that?

Thank you. Next, I have Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Continuing a little bit along that line in terms of the transfer -- or the allocation of funding given to Aurora College, so last year we -- this Assembly provided an extra half a million dollars to Aurora College to support the transformation process to a polytechnic. Does the Minister know what we have to show for the half a million dollars that was given in the last fiscal year in terms of what progress has been made by Aurora College? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's certainly annual reports that do come out of Aurora College every year where they show a breakdown of their revenues and they also show a breakdown of, for example, what is spent on transformation versus what is spent on number of students at the college.

As far as the -- well, first of all, I will note it hasn't been a full year that they have had that funding either so that funding would have been appropriated around November 1st following our fall sitting, and it would be worthwhile during our meeting next week asking about that because at this point I would not -- I would not yet have received reporting on that. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member for Yellowknife North.

Okay, thank you to the Minister for that response, and I do think we should follow up in our direct meeting with Aurora College.

Does the Minister have an idea of what we should expect to see in terms of value for money for that extra half a million? I know in total, Aurora College transformation in the last fiscal year it was just over a million but Regular Members lobbied for, you know, bumping it up from what it had been budgeted for because we have said over and over again that the Aurora College transformation is important. Does the Minister even know what we're -- what we should expect to see for that, say, million dollars in total from Aurora College? Thank you, Madam Chair.