Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm quite frustrated with the responses from the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the social work program. Mr. Speaker, it was a political decision to cut that program based on the government's decision that we needed to have extensive budget cuts in the first two years of our mandate. On that basis, Aurora College was told to cut programs. They cut the social work program. Now, the Minister is not making a political decision to reinstate it. She's hiding behind the bureaucracy and saying that it's up to them to restore it. So my question for the Minister is: this is a question of political will. Do you have the political will to reinstate the social work program? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the political will to make sure that we have quality programming for our students based on the credited standards. I have the political will to know that the social work program and the Bachelor of Education program are in our top 10 needed skills within the Territories in the next 15 years. I have the political will, Mr. Speaker, therefore, to tell the person who takes the position, as I've stated many times in the House, that the first programs to be reviewed within the context of the Aurora College is the social work and the degree in education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I wonder what the Minister thinks will be left of that social work program by the time she hires her expert and the expert comes up with a plan and an evaluation that has already done is redone. What will be left of the program that is there today?
What I'm hoping will be left when this is done is that we will keep the strengths that are offered within the social work program currently and also address the weaknesses that have been identified in both reports.
The thing that I find difficult to understand is: what of those strengths will be left in a year from now? For sure, it's going to take a year. Things move very slowly in government, I've learned. So what will be left of the strengths of this program to preserve by the time the new person gets around to working on the social work program?
One of the greatest strengths within the program that was identified in the internal review was that it takes a northern context; taking people on the land, bringing others, et cetera. That will be there because, Mr. Speaker, thanks to a previous Minister of Education who was really focused on language and culture, we have language and culture programming throughout our education system, including our post-secondary. So I can't take credit for that. I do have to give credit where it was deserved. That was a previous Minister, Minister Lafferty, I believe, at the time, and so we will make sure that the strongest component, that it is culturally based, will remain.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for her response. Of course, it's not what I want to hear because it lacks the specificity of telling students who are interested in social work and instructors who are teaching social work that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Ever since this upheaval was created by the previous Minister by implementing cuts at Aurora College, the goal posts just keep moving and moving. We have to wait for the review; we have to wait for the management response; now, we're waiting for an expert. So I really encourage the Minister to expedite the response to the program evaluation and the retooling of the social work program as soon as possible. Will it happen in the life of this Assembly? Thank you.
Yes, like I said many times, as soon as that person is in place, the first priority of all the evaluations is to be the social work program and the degree in education; that will be a priority. So, yes, that evaluation had better happen in the life of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
