Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Aurora College foundational review paper, Breynat Hall is described as an outdated student residence which does not conform to generally accepted student housing standards. The paper also mentions the fact that Breynat Hall is a former residential school which has a discouraging effect on students attending Aurora College Thebacha Campus. Can the Minister tell us if he considers this point to be problematic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if the fact that Breynat Hall, as a former residential school, is considered in its future planning use for polytechnic university and the Department of Education. If so, how does the department contend with that fact? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As was identified in that foundational review, it is problematic, and the future plan is to hopefully build a new residence. Officials have raised this issue with the Government of Canada, I raised this issue with Minister Vandal directly. As part of the transformation of Aurora College, we need a suitable residence and that's not a suitable residence for the worldclass institution that we are creating. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, would the legacy of the Breynat Hall, being a former residential school, would the Minister consider building a new single student residence for the future polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as part of the work to transform Aurora College into a polytechnic university, we are undertaking a facilities plan which is going to look at the existing facilities across the territory of the college as well as the needs for the three campuses as well as each community four community learning centres. That work will begin shortly. The final product will be a short meeting and longterm plan for the infrastructure and that residence has clearly been identified as one we need a new one of. You know, and I'm not breaking any news here. I've stated this before that there are a few infrastructure requirements for the new polytechnic and a new residence in Fort Smith would be one of those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know if I should ask the next question but I'll do it anyways. Mr. Speaker, considering that Breynat Hall is one of the few residential school buildings still standing in Canada, would the Minister seriously consider replacement of this infrastructure as a priority for technical assessment and evaluation with 100 percent federal funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'd love 100 percent federal funding. We do have to pay for this somehow. You know, that's the big question obviously. We want a new residence. We understand that it's not suitable for what we want to do with the polytechnic. And so how we're going to pay for it is the question yet to be determined. So I can stand here and I can say we need a new one. I can't say that I have it in the budget yet, but we have already begun approaching the federal government and we will continue to do so aggressively until we get something on the ground. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
