Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to speak today: I’ve encountered an Aurora College policy which causes me grave concern. A student at Aurora College Yellowknife Campus in the third year of their program, one who is achieving excellent marks and doing very well, has run into a housing policy which I believe, quite frankly, is discriminatory.
My constituent has been subjected to unfair treatment and inconsistencies in regard to how the housing policy is applied and to its lack of timely and personal responses to all inquiries and appeals. There are many inconsistencies between the Aurora College housing policy and the actual application of that policy. The policy is lacking in clear definitions and often contradicts other GNWT generally accepted policies; the GNWT Affirmative Action Policy, for instance.
Unlike other learning institutions across Canada where students are treated on a first-come, first-served basis, the Aurora College housing policy is written to specifically exclude local students from Aurora College housing without any consideration for the student’s financial situation and whether they are a local resident or not. Why is household income not part of the student accommodation evaluation procedures criteria? Why is it not a consideration as an extenuating circumstance?
The Aurora College housing policy unfairly affects all students, not only in Yellowknife but in Inuvik and Fort Smith as well. Why do we expect local students to be able to afford market rent housing when we don’t have the same expectations of non-local students?
To quote my constituent, “The policy states that Aurora College is committed to providing an equitable process for allocating student accommodations. From the perspective of a born and raised northern student enrolled in a northern program funded by the Government of the Northwest Territories, this would seem to be untrue.”
I appreciate that housing cannot be supplied to every student, but to deny Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife residents even the chance to apply for housing in their community is unfair. The response from the college to my constituent’s appeal freely admits that the policy is lacking. That letter said, “The change in policy does not meet all students’ needs, but we are required to follow the policy.” That tells me that there’s a recognition that the policy is not working but there is no will to act to correct it. An organization that recognizes a gap, as indicated in the above letter, should be acting to fill that gap and provide equal opportunity for all.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
