Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members on this side of the House have received variable answers about the future of the Social Work Program. We have heard both that the program is phased out, and will continue to be phased out; and we've also heard that the results of the foundational review are important to the future of the program. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is: which one is it? Thank you.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The foundational review was a process that we took on as a government, and we are looking at a whole bunch of different areas, and it's not all focused on programs. There's governance. There's operations and administration. There's recruitment, retention, just give a direction of where the college is going. We are going to use that information to help set the long-term strategic plan for Aurora College. That review, the internal review that Aurora College is doing on their own, that will also possibly help us set the direction moving forward. The main focus right now is to get that foundational review complete with the management response, and help us move forward with other supporting documents such as the Skills 4 Success, as well as our labour markets needs assessment and information that we have that data will all help us plan a good direction for Aurora College going to the future.
The Minister has given me another and/or answer. He said that the results of the social work program review will possibly figure into what happens to the program there. For the second time, I'm asking: how is the Minister approaching the results of the foundational review and the Social Work Program review with respect to the future of this program? Does it have a future?
We don't know what's going to be in the internal review of the Social Work Program. We don't know what's in the final report of the foundational review. Once we get those, we are going to develop a management response, as I've mentioned in this House, that's going to work on looking at the recommendations. It's going to give us an opportunity to consider the feasibility of each of the recommendations. It also is going to talk about the analysis of the recommendations, and how we implement them so that all our stakeholders, that all Members of this House can make evidence-based decisions. Until we know what those are, we can't really make a decision here, and everything will be taken into consideration. As I mentioned, the main priority right now is to get this foundational review complete.
I'm going to ask the simplest question possible: is the Minister committed to phasing out the Social Work Program?
With the current budget and the current steps we've taken, we are looking at phasing this current program that is currently at the college out after this year. That's why there are no intakes. What comes out of the foundational review, the direction of the college, we will use that information to make evidence-based decisions, and whether or not they will have the degree granting program, or whether they are going to change direction and do other types of degree granting bachelor programs, but we'll have to get that foundational review complete first.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I was one of the students in this program, I would be very confused about what the future held for me in September at Aurora College. The Minister is trying to have it both ways; that it's phased out, but the foundational review is going to be important to its future. I'll just ask this from another direction. The Minister says he's all about the evidence, which is great. What evidence does the Minister need to reinstate the Social Work Program?
Mr. Speaker, the students who are currently in the Social Work Program were given all the information that they needed in terms of moving forward. They are also getting the supports they need to graduate and to complete their program. Once the whole discussion started about the Social Work Program, they understood it, the staff understood it, and Aurora College senior management understood it. The kind of data that we need to look at is evidence-based decisions that are coming out of this foundational review. We'll look at the recommendations. I said, that's the most important piece of work that needs to be completed first. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
