Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, the Minister of Education did a Minister's statement on the response to Aurora College foundational review, and in there she talked about that the associate deputy minister will guide the college in the formation into a polytechnic. Among the first steps will be including an overall vision for post-secondary education in the North. Can the Minister please advise: is this the direction of the department and Cabinet as we move forward, that this associate deputy minister will be the one coming up with the vision? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The territorial-wide vision is actually a political decision that will be made, but it's really important; we actually want the associate deputy minister of post-secondary renewal to be with us during that process because that person has to understand really clearly what the vision is, because the next step from that is to be able to do the post-secondary vision based off of the territorial vision. So it's a political decision, but that person will be helping to facilitate it.
I appreciate the answer from the Minister. How long is this going to take, then? If we are talking about a vision, and I strongly believe we should be starting that here in the House, talking to committee and other Members to see where it is, but when will we be able to have this person in place to start this process?
The competition for the position closes at the end of this month, and then we will be starting the interview process as soon as that's done, so we are assuming that the person will be hired before the end of this calendar year.
I appreciate the Minister giving us that answer, and I am looking forward to the end of the calendar year so as we can move forward. I guess we wait a little bit longer. A little bit of time shouldn't hurt us. So the next question I have for the Minister is: what's happening to the advisory committee? When will that voice, the voice of the Northwest Territories, be brought back?
In the government response that we tabled yesterday, it was stated that the advisory committee to the regional board will be set up and an advisory committee, or senate, or whatever we call it, will also be set up. One is to have regional representations from all of the regions in the Northwest Territories. The other one is to actually provide expert advice to the administrator on specifics regarding the post-secondary education. Those two boards, committees, are very critical, so they will be one of the first priorities. We did commit to that at least in the first two years, but I am hoping to get it done in the next fiscal year.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's commitment in moving forward, because that is very important. Those two committees are very important. The advisory committee has a regional and territorial voice, and then the academic advisory council, that there is new, something that's new, and I think it would be very beneficial as we move forward through our post-secondary. So in the meantime, what is going to happen? Who is going to replace the advisories? Is it still going to be the public administrator? Is that person still going to be in place, being the voice of the NWT at this time?
The act does state that we have to have an administrator in place, so that position will stay until we get the new advisory committee initiated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
