Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Earlier, I spoke about the link between post-secondary education and people's ability to get good jobs. We are all aware of the earning disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories, yet this government is cutting Aurora College programs and failing to expand support for other growing institutions, such as Dechinta Bush University. Why has the government taken this course? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we want to ensure that any programs that we provide to residents of the Northwest Territories have the supports and that they have the skills necessary to be into the labour market within the Northwest Territories. We also want to make sure that, when we are investing dollars into our programs, we are getting a good output of skilled, trained workers to meet the labour market demands.
We also support a lot of our other programs. We support College nordique. We signed a multi-year agreement with Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, and we also increased funding with Dechinta over the past couple of years.
We are continuing to support our post-secondary institutions, whether it is Aurora College, College nordique, Dechinta, and we are also looking at ways that we can invite and bring other post-secondary institutions up to do research and provide other services to our residents. We are continuing to work on our agenda for post-secondary education, and I think we are doing a great job on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I clearly understand the Minister supports all of the initiatives that he has outlined. Yet, Mr. Speaker, Ontario has nine Indigenous governed and operated post-secondary institutions. New legislation provides a pathway for them to offer post-secondary degrees, certificates, and diplomas. The province will spend $56 million over the next three years to expand the capacity of Indigenous institutes. Will the Minister look at this model and revise his discussion paper to reflect best practices?
We see the important work that Dechinta is doing, as well as other organizations here in the Northwest Territories that promote culture and language, and we work with those organizations to continue to support it.
Although there is none such as the Member has mentioned here in the Northwest Territories, it is unique, and it is something that we do need to look at it, because we are already doing it in our JK-to-12 system, and that is something we can look at moving forward as we embark on our post-secondary agenda, looking at improving some of the work in that area that the Member has specifically identified.
It may not be possible for institutions like Dechinta and College nordique to grow and prosper without more public funding than they get now. This funding could open the door to much more investment beyond our territory. For example, this summer, Dechinta went on the river. What is the Minister going to do about this and live up to the mandate commitment to expand post-secondary students for our students?
I do know that College nordique as well as Dechinta are looking to expand their roles. I think that was a great program that they did this summer, travelling up and down the Mackenzie River. We continue to support these post-secondary institutions, as well as looking at ways we can help sustain the work that they do. That is one of the reasons that we did enter into that multi-year agreement with Dechinta and increased their funding.
As I have mentioned in this House, over a period of time we are creating this overarching legislation that is going to look at accreditation, quality assurance, and also look at opportunities that will give Dechinta and College nordique more opportunities to expand and have accredited courses.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this time of the year, there might be students out there listening to this debate and discussion, and more than likely, those students are looking for ideas and assurances that when they enter, perhaps, Aurora College for programs this fall, that there will be programs; there will be a classroom; they will have a desk; they will have resources; they will have professors. My question to the Minister is: what kind of hope can he give to students that potentially may enter, say, Aurora College for the Social Work Program this fall? Mahsi.
As we mentioned, we are going through the business planning process, and I did say in this House that this fall we won't be taking any more intakes into the Social Work Program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
