Frieda Martselos

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times, Fort Smith is the education capital of the NWT. Our community is proud and honoured with this distinction. Therefore, I am sure people can understand Fort Smith's concern with anything that might threaten the ENR technology program at Aurora College Thebacha campus. Can the Minister provide clarity on what exactly this new environmental program will be, which campus will it be offered at, and whether that will in any way undermine or threaten the ENR technology program in Fort Smith? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as mentioned in my Member's statements, Trent University's applying to provide a new program of Indigenous environmental studies and sciences at Aurora College starting in the fall of 2023. Can the Minister of ECE explain who's pushing for and leading the efforts to introduce this new program at the college? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak about the future polytechnic university and some of the actions taking place at Aurora College as it transitions into a territorial university.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to once again reiterate that there are several positions within Aurora College that are currently on loan to the Yellowknife campus but, in fact, they belong to the headquarters office in Fort Smith, and that includes the office of the president. All of the positions in question are entitled to be based in Fort Smith, and they must be returned as soon as...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, take my job very seriously. You know, I've been I work very, very hard for the constituents of Thebacha. And I also ensure and I'm sure every one of my colleagues do too. We take our jobs very seriously. When you put your name forward on a ballot, you take things seriously. And you do everything in the best interests of your constituents and the people of the Northwest Territories. I do not take things seriously when we have to start putting things in the bill to start telling people how they have to do the operations of a bill, okay. That's a no no. If I...

I don't have any comments on it.

Just a short comment. Since this is our first process convention and it's with Bill 74 with both our government and Indigenous groups, I too want to thank all those that participated. I think it's a first step in ensuring that we hear from the people that are keepers of the land.

I also want to know I also want to say that we all know that this was a bad forest fire season, a terrible one. I mean, I was some of us were away five weeks for evacuation. We know that there's going to be a What We Heard report, hopefully. I just want to ensure that when we do that, there is public consultation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide assurances that the existing and highly regarded ENR technology program is not going to be dissolved or replaced as a result of this new program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with an upcoming territorial election happening very soon, does the Minister believe that the timing of this new environmentalbased program is questionable and that it should instead wait to be introduced until after the election? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize the grand chief of the Tlicho, Jackson. I'm sure that he's finding it easier to make decisions in one day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(audio) because things change. People change. After the next election, things change. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all I have, too