Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my statement, the terms of reference and the group of people to be consulted for the Aurora College foundational review are very similar to the assessment of the college completed in 2013. Why is another assessment of the college necessary at this point? That is my question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are aware of that review. A couple of things, just an update: some of those recommendations have been addressed in terms of working. Another one of those recommendations was to review the college's programs, and also service structure. The foundational review will, I believe, address that. At the same time, in the previous government, that report was also dismissed, but we also still looked at seeing if there was anything we could take out of that report. We also have new NWTspecific data that is going to help guide us into the way moving forward with Aurora College and developing programs and services, as well.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. He started to answer my second question, which is: what has changed within the college and the department in the last four years that makes a new groundup study necessary? It goes way beyond having a new labour market forecast. The original 2013 study looked at governance, strategic planning, relationships between the Minister and the department, and so on, so what else has changed to make a new study necessary?
The Member also kind of answered this. The NWTspecific data and the labour market information report that we have now will help guide us and Aurora College into the programs and services that meet the needs and educational needs of NWT residents and Northerners. It is going to help us make evidencebased decisions once we see the results. Just moving forward, that information is definitely going to help us. We are also going to be looking at administration, operations, governance, and legislation with this foundational review.
Will the Minister table the 2013 assessment of the college by Cleveland Consulting so that the public can assess the value for money of that assessment?
As I mentioned previously, that document itself was not for distribution or not made public. I will have to take this back to my Cabinet colleagues to get some direction on whether or not we will release that report.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take that as a commitment that the Minister will explore each and every way to make this document public. On March 6th of this year, the Minister said in the House, and I quote, "The timeline for completion of this new foundational review is fall 2017, with an implementation target of 20182019 academic year." Can the Minister update the House when the foundational review will be completed? Thank you.
As the Member mentioned yesterday in her statement, we just signed a contract. Right now currently we're working on a work plan with the contractor and our department is working really hard to get that work plan developed. Once I have that work plan I will share it with Members and committee and get their input, as well as Cabinet to get their input into how we move forward. We're just waiting on that work plan, and I can't commit to anything until both the contractor and our department staff have worked on completing it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
