Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We spent a lot of time this sitting debating education. I'd like to ask the Minister of Education now how the ambitious plans for post-secondary education are rolling out of the departmental level and if he can give an update to the House on the work to date on developing a thorough post-secondary education regime to the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, we are currently going to conduct the foundational review. I believe we're still waiting for feedback on the terms of reference that's before committee, and as soon as we get those terms of reference back on this foundational review, we'll go ahead and move and see the structure within our Aurora College system but also looking at utilizing our community learning centres a lot more and taking direction from our Skills 4 Success focus and also working with our partners' continued support with our other partners that run post-secondary programming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Sadly, it sounds like not much has changed. I'm particularly interested in post-secondary academic education. I think the community learning centres do an amazing job, but I'm more focused on the degree granting institutions. I know that the Minister committed to doing a bit of work on this, developing some legislation around it. Can he provide an update on that legislative process and when we're going to be able to grant northern degrees from northern institutions here in the North?
Yes, we are currently working on that legislation. We are going to be doing some consultations during the summer months and then get the feedback from our stakeholders and partners on that and then proceed forward. However, we're still going to have to look at the foundational review of the port where we are going in terms of post-secondary, which I made a commitment to the House to look at that foundational review with the Aurora College but also getting feedback from other institutions and other stakeholders in the Northwest Territories regarding the legislation that the Member has been bringing up.
We're still at the consultation stage. I think that's helpful for understanding our progress to date. In addition to northern institutions, their willing partners are very close to us in northern Alberta who have been trying to make inroads with our student population. Has the Minister had any interaction with these institutions in trying to bring their programming into the North and make it more accessible to Northerners?
Yes, and we also support our students going to those institutions for post-secondary program. In 2016-2017, there was over $60 million paid in Student Financial Assistance benefits supporting our students to go to post-secondary education down south. We continue to work with partners at the University of Alberta, University of Regina, University of Saskatoon, University of Victoria, for some programs that we currently are delivering within the Aurora College, and we will continue to enhance and build on those partnerships.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that. I appreciate that the government provides probably the best support in Canada for students attending university down south. I am going to re-ask that question with just a bit of different language. Rather than send our students to these institutions, can we bring these institutions to the North? Can they establish a campus or a branch here? Has he had those discussions, and is he working toward that goal? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and yes, we have had discussions with the partners that we are currently in agreements with, and as I mentioned, we are going through this foundational review right now. We are just waiting on the terms of reference feedback from standing committee. We will go ahead and proceed on that foundational review, and hopefully in the early new year, 2018, we will be moving forward and hopefully have some good structured programs in the 2018-2019 academic year.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
