Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a document with the title "Review of the Social Work Diploma Program Final Report, April 5, 2018."

I just want to make sure that we're doing an apples-to-apples comparison. So on the Stats NWT website, there is a list of NWT community surveys that have taken place back to 2000, and what happens is the NWT Bureau of Statistics staff collects the information about housing conditions and produces this report every five years. Is this report going to be completed in 2019?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for her response. Of course, it's not what I want to hear because it lacks the specificity of telling students who are interested in social work and instructors who are teaching social work that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Ever since this upheaval was created by the previous Minister by implementing cuts at Aurora College, the goal posts just keep moving and moving. We have to wait for the review; we have to wait for the management response; now, we're waiting for an expert. So I really encourage the Minister to expedite...

I wonder what the Minister thinks will be left of that social work program by the time she hires her expert and the expert comes up with a plan and an evaluation that has already done is redone. What will be left of the program that is there today?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I regret that the Minister has had a full glass of mumbo-jumbo for lunch and we are not getting anywhere with trying to understand how to preserve the strengths of this program within the time that is still allotted to it. It's not too late to have the remaining staff start working on how the implementation of the reports' recommendations could happen, and so what is standing in the way of this? It cannot be the hiring of this associate deputy minister. He is working at too high a level to start worrying about which elective social work students are going...

Thank you to the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that there is already a loss of one of the three instructors and that the college is now down to just a handful of students who are finishing up their program. What is the Minister's intention for this program in the meantime, before the review is implemented?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a former constituent, Jack Sigvaldason, who died this summer.

Beginning in 1971 with the feisty Yellowknifer newspaper, "Sig," as he was known, built Northern News Service into a consortium of seven newspapers across two territories, running the NWT's largest printing service with a payroll approaching 100 people.

In June 2012, Jack Sigvaldason was awarded the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to journalism and democracy across the North.

Please join me in applauding the life and work of Jack Sigvaldason...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the external review of the Aurora College Social Work Diploma Program. I obtained the review last month, not through the Minister but through an access to information request. I believe that one of the reasons this review has not been made public is because it contradicts the government's line. The review shows the program is worthwhile. It should never have been cut. Instead, it must be redeveloped to improve student success.

Mr. Speaker, the decision to end the social work program came in response to the government's decision to cut...

This isn't an esoteric point. If we don't measure core housing need and determine which communities need which segments of core housing addressed, then we're going to jeopardize our federal funding. This is the baseline measure used across the country for determining core housing need, and so I appreciate the Minister's commitment to get back to me. I want to underline how important it is to have this proper statistical survey done next year. That was a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for recognizing me again. This time my questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. In an exchange last week with my colleague from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, I was left somewhat confused about whether the every-five-year community housing survey would be completed in 2019. So my question is: will that community housing survey take place in 2019? Thank you.