Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, it was curriculum -- essentially curriculum development dollars for Aurora College. It was dollars that had been previously afforded through a federal agreement, I believe, with CIRNAC. Those dollars had sunset. The college then approached Regular Members letting them know that they wanted that funding reinstated. I believe the previous funding was to the tune of about $534,000, and then Regular Members put back in about 500 -- well, not about -- exactly $500,000. Regular Members were the ones that negotiated that and really fought for it, and so the expectation of what should be received for that I would put back on Regular Members as to what their expectations were to receive for that money that they negotiated. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I'll leave it there for now, and I think it will be a really important discussion that's coming up when we get Aurora College directly in the room to chat with them. Thank you.

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

I didn't have it this time.

Thank you. We sit too close to each other. Anyway, confusing people. So I also have questions of Aurora College.

The Minister just said that one of the -- sorry, when looking at adult education and the closure of the community learning centres -- not just, but earlier said that we need to make sure that their programming meets the needs of ECE. Can she explain what she means by that. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, there's still a responsibility to ensure that adult education is accessible in communities across the Northwest Territories. And so that's what I'm referring to, is at the end of the day we have a contribution agreement with Aurora College that speaks to adult learning and basic education. And if the pieces of that contribution agreement and MOU are not being satisfied to their full extent, then obviously we need to figure out how the funding responds to that. And then if there is a gap left over, how that would be addressed by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

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

Thank you. So how much funding then -- adult education funding is attached to that MOU in dollar terms? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

It's literally sitting on my desk upstairs, Madam Chair. I don't want to say a number and get it wrong on the floor, but I would be happy to ensure that I have those numbers with me when I am in front of committee with Aurora College next week. Thank you.

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

Yeah, thank you. And I think that's the number in question that Members are taking issue with continuing to provide to the college. So I'd like to know it for sure.

Now, the mandate letter that the Minister provided to the college is adult education -- I don't have the benefit of having it in front of me, but is adult education in that mandate letter? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much. Learning for residents is certainly referenced in the mandate letter, but the specific details of what that looks like and with our agreement with Aurora College is found within the memorandum of understanding. Thank you.

I'll go to the Member for Range Lake.

Thank you. So when was the Minister -- so I've heard that -- obviously we were all surprised when the decision was made and caught off guard. But my understanding is that this was not a completely novel idea, that there had been talks about this programming. So when was the Minister made aware that Aurora College was considering closing the community learning centres? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So I was made aware that it was one of the things that they were considering in a huge spectrum of options in December. I asked the department to immediately sit down and ensure that they understood all of the ramifications of that. Because very clearly, as we're speaking about an MOU, there is not an ability of Aurora College to realize all of the dollars from that -- from that choice and wanted to ensure that they were going into this eyes wide open and wanted to make sure that the board as well had all of the information. By at that point, the board had not voted and so certainly, I'm not in a position to, you know, go public or create options based on something that is in an options paper and hasn't been voted on or a decision made. Thank you.

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

Thank you. No, that's fine, and I think that's a reasonable expectation. The Minister can't plan for -- I mean, there could be contingencies, but until you don't know what you know. And I think, again, the board could have been -- well, should, most likely, have been a bit less arm's length than this one and at least given a head's up so we weren't dealing with the mess we're in now. This is a very significant issue, and it's a significant issue in the vast majority of our communities where education outcomes are extremely poor, and there's a very real need for adult education.

We have an upcoming meeting scheduled with the Minister with the Aurora College board chair and president to discuss this. That meeting is going to be in-camera. How can we expect our constituents to understand these decisions in a secret meeting? Like, what are we going to do to actually let people in on what the reasons were for this? Because we're going to know, we privileged few who sit here. But how are we going to let other people understand that, because this is a very significant issue that people are very concerned about. Thank you.

Thank you. Just for your information, the meeting will be public, so. But I can refer to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.