Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be to the Minister of Education today and it will be a follow-up to my Member’s statement regarding the potential of a pan-territorial university, perhaps an aurora university, that could be either based out of the Northwest Territories or in certainly some partnership with our two other sister territories. Mr. Speaker, my question is: has the Minister of Education given any consideration to the creation of a northern university? Thank you.
The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we have to keep in mind that we are delivering university courses right now. We currently deliver degree programs and masters programs at current stages right now, but we are exploring further to delivering more of university-type programs to our schools, into our institutions, the three main campuses that we have. I just recently met with my colleagues in Nunavut, in the Yukon, on exploring options and how it’s going to look, a university of the Arctic. We realize that more work needs to take place.
At the same time, I just recently met with Minister Strahl as well. It is under his jurisdiction. We talked about the vision of the North and the three main campuses and also the three territories as a united approach. We did agree that we need to expand on our campuses. We are exploring those options right now, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to update the Members as we move forward. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, if I understand it, our college presently offers university courses, but it is not necessarily university based. It works in partnership with other universities. I will let the Minister correct in the record if that is not quite accurate. Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear what the progress milestones are that we could achieve. Are there any types of roadblocks stopping the potential of an Arctic university emerging here in the Northwest Territories? As I said in my Member’s statement, education is the best gift we can offer any future generation. Certainly, I would like to see us plant the seeds on a project like this. Again, Mr. Speaker, what progress to date really has been made? Are there any substantial roadblocks bowing this evolution down towards a northern university? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I do agree that education is the best gift that we can provide to the Northwest Territories. I did provide to the Member that one can look at it as not a university base, but we are delivering university core courses and we are graduating teachers with degree programs. A Member can look at it as not a base but we are expanding on our programs.
The three main campuses that we have, the goal is to expand further so it is recognized as a university of the north or the university of the Arctic. That is the vision that we have with Minister Strahl. The three jurisdictions, Territorial Ministers’ Meeting, we met on this. We are making progress in this area. Some may question the bricks and mortar if we are going to have an established university in the North. Due to the economy, it may not be feasible at this time, but we are focussing on what we can do now, expanding more partnerships or approach the universities across the country, the Northwest Territories, across Canada and also internationally.
Mr. Speaker, we are doing what we can to be recognized as a university institution so we can access federal funding on scientific research through the federal government. That has been a discussion at the federal level and we will continue to discuss that. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, just working in this direction, I am not necessarily sure bricks and mortar needs to be our first stop on this future goal to bring in a university to the Northwest Territories working in a pan-territorial way with Nunavut and the Yukon. I think when you have excellent examples like Athabasca University, I think that shows that you can create courses and a system that works well for everyone. It is really about the designation and the quality of education that we can provide people to the next step. As the Minister is quite correct, we are aiding people in their pursuit through a nursing and Teacher Education Program through university designation, but the designation seal doesn’t come with the university of the Arctic because we are a college.
Mr. Speaker, the last point I just want to say is, with the gap created by the loss of the First Nations University, this could be the opportunity for us to seize that brass ring to bring that education level to the Northwest Territories, that type of education level to the three territories in a pan-university style. Would the Minister look at it from that perspective and tell me what he sees as roadblocks in taking advantage of this and does he see the opportunity I am presenting? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I did touch on that. That is our vision with the federal Minister for the territorial jurisdictions. We see this coming. Definitely that is an area of vision that we have in our target, is to establish an Athabasca University type here in the Northwest Territories and supporting the other two Nunavut and Yukon campuses as well. Mr. Speaker, those are the ongoing discussions that we are having.
I think we definitely will see a light because what we are discussing here, there is a university of the Arctic funding flowing through Saskatchewan. Of course, yes, the money has been scaled back by the federal government, but I don’t see any obstacles. I see challenges, but at the same time, there are opportunities for us to move forward with the federal government. That is why the federal government met with us and discussed opportunities. We will be following through the federal Minister, probably in the beginning of the summer, and discussing further on the action plan on where we need to go, develop a business case scenario. Mr. Speaker, we are developing a business case scenario between the three territorial jurisdictions and present that to the federal Minister. We will update the Members as we move forward. Mahsi.
Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister started to ask my last question, which is simply and ultimately the obvious question, which is when can we see something? I think that is an important factor for the public trying to follow this issue, because there are a lot of people in the public who would like to see this go forward. I think the timing couldn’t be better, especially on the sad news that another university is no longer in existence. We could fill that gap.
Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Education have anything he can offer and share to Members, be its vision, be it timelines and certainly in the area of public engagement on this particular issue? Does the Minister have anything he can provide us to show this initiative is certainly moving forward and that demonstrates that the federal government is interested in this concept? I know I am very interested. I know other Members are very interested and it is very important. Thank you.
I would just like to recognize the clock. Time for questions has expired, but I will allow the Minister to answer the question.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I will be more than happy to present the current status of what has been happening to the standing committee. They can certainly share with the general public as well. We can certainly do that, too, and put it on our website. Just updating on where we have been, Mr. Speaker, this is all preliminary at this point. I am not sure how far we will be, but certainly what we have talked about is still in the preliminary stages. We need to develop a business case scenario between the three jurisdictional territorial governments. We will be meeting with the federal Minister as we move into the summer months. That is the plan as it is now. Mr. Speaker, yes, I will be more than happy to present to the standing committee. Mahsi.
Item 8, written questions. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on our orders of the day. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Hawkins.
