R.J. Simpson

As the Minister of Education, I plan to travel to lots of different schools, and, of course, I plan to travel to the college. I am not sure what the schedule is for the new year. It has been relatively busy. It is hard to find a free moment. At some point in the new year, at some point, I'm sure, in the first part of next year, I will be travelling to Fort Smith, and I will be having discussions with staff.

I am always open to sitting down with the Member, as well, and having conversations. The Members are the voices of their communities, and I want to hear from the Member about what she has to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague for bringing this forward. I completely understand the concerns. We had a foundational review, and the third party who did the review of the College suggested moving the headquarters to Yellowknife, and so I understand why there was this concern coming out of Fort Smith.

You know, Fort Smith is the headquarters, as they say. It is the home to the corporate services of Aurora College. I believe there are 40 jobs in corporate services. There has never been a plan to move that out of Fort Smith. There is not a plan now to move it out of Fort...

I know there is an internship program that the GNWT had through the Department of Finance, I believe, but the Member is right. We need to do more, I think.

One of the first things I talked about when I got this portfolio was the need to be better communicators and do a better job promoting education and promoting the North as a place to come back to. We need to reach out to our students. We do that through Student Financial Assistance. They have a great advertising program. When I was in school, I always knew when my payments were supposed to come and when my application was supposed to be in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank my colleague for the question. I would also like to congratulate, myself, Ms. Doreen Arrowmaker for her achievement of achieving a master's degree. You know, with this portfolio, that's the goal, to get our residents educated.

The Member brings up a good point: are we keeping track of who is educated? If we don't know, how do we bring them back here? We do know what programs our residents are taking, if they are receiving SFA. We know what institutions they are attending. Outside of that, we don't have that ability. If someone just goes off to school...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document pursuant to Section 21 of the Financial Administration Act entitled " Annual Reports for Northwest Territories Education Bodies for the 2018-2019 School Year Ending June 30, 2019." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think we all know, in 2016, the intake for the social work diploma program as well as the teacher education program was suspended, and those programs are currently undergoing program reviews. These aren't just regular program reviews like the college would normally do. These are academic program reviews that are part of a new framework that are up to national standards. They are, let's see, the Ministerial Statement on Quality Assurance of Degree Education in Canada, released by the Council of Ministers of Education, is what we are conforming to. The college, as it was, has been around for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome a constituent who came up from Hay River today for this, Ms. Beatrice Lepine, and I want to thank her for all of her work that she has done for me over the years and all of the work that she does for the community, most recently helping with the families of the fishermen who came up to Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

I will rise and report progress.

I will now call for the last time Committee of the Whole to order. "What is the wish of committee" is how I would usually begin, but today is the day for speeches. I will keep it brief, committee. No worries. This is the last time the 18 of us will sit together as Committee of the Whole, so I just want to say a few words.

Prior to becoming an elected Member of this House, I really had no political experience. I hadn't really attended any formal meetings, let alone chaired any. It was a little intimidating to come here and chair Committee of the Whole right off the bat, but I have to thank all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is the last day that these Members will gather together on the floor of this House. Like everyone else here, I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to be a Member of the 18th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and to represent the people of Hay River.

To say it has been an honour is an understatement. When I speak at high school graduations, I always tell the graduates it is okay if they don't yet know what they want to be when they grow up. It wasn't until I was 35 and was elected to this position that I really figured out what I wanted to be when...