Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I spoke of the Thebacha Campus in Fort Smith and the fact that we may not be meeting all the needs of our Northern students. It really is a question of safety and effectiveness. We cannot have a 67 per cent drop in our trades program without that raising a warning flag.
I’ll go a little further and say that we had a Social Worker program offered in that community. For two years in a row it had little or no attendance. It had to be cancelled and was moved to Yellowknife. There it was picked up, and it’s being subscribed to quite fully.
My question really comes down to safety and effectiveness. Would the Minister of EC&E be willing to commit to this House to do an independent survey of current students, and students from the past two years, to find out their concerns about the program being offered at the Thebacha Campus, and to make sure we can look into solving some of these issues?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, indeed, safety, effectiveness and efficiency are our top priorities as a government and, more specifically, the trades programs that we offer in the communities.
We do have campuses that deliver various programs in the communities — Inuvik, Fort Smith, Yellowknife — and in other smaller campuses at the community level. We do provide pilot programs as well, all leading towards certification or diploma programs, and also towards a teacher education program. We are very proud of the programs that we deliver on all campuses.
With regard to a review, there is one currently being conducted. It’s in the works as we speak, and our department is looking into that as well. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, if there's a review going on, I'd like to know what the review means. Does the review mean you're going to go to an independent survey? Does it mean you're going to create questions, or you're going to check with students? What is the definition of a review? Does it include the staff, the management and the bureaucracy of Aurora College, to make sure we're delivering safe and effective programs for our students?
Mahsi. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is working closely with Aurora College to perform a thorough review of apprenticeship and occupational certification programs. The review is being undertaken right now on a final technical report. There are surveys happening, and we're trying to get input from different sectors about what is working and what is not working. Then we will provide recommendations on moving forward. That is currently under review, and it will be brought forward for our department’s discussion. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I heard nothing about review of students past and present to find out about the students’ safety. I heard nothing about — if I may quote from the Minister’s statement today: “Students are most successful when they have many supports….” I want to make sure we're supporting our students.
Would the Minister be willing to make sure that the terms of reference are provided to Members? Would the Minister be willing to accept more questions as to what type of survey questions should be out there, just to make sure that we're doing the right kind of review at this time?
Mahsi. Mr. Speaker, like I said, there is a review undertaken right now. The communities want to have some input into this review.
On the trades sector, the programs that are being delivered, the trade apprenticeship programs, the management programs and distance programs are out there. We want to find out what’s working. What kind of programs are we delivering successfully? We are getting input from the students and program staff about how to deliver effective programs to our communities. We are listening to people out there in the community. We serve 33 communities, and we are certainly taking into consideration all their recommendations. Mahsi.
Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, let me say it very clearly: MLAs want input on this survey. Rather than doing a survey without any consultation in this House…. It’s nice to hear that a survey is going on, but I didn’t hear when this was going to come forward. I didn’t hear about consulting MLAs or any details about that. These are some important issues that need to be decided in this House, and if we are going to do a survey, we should be having input from this side of the House to make sure it is effectively done.
Would the Minister ensure that MLAs such as myself have input on this survey? If this is done in isolation and we’re handed a report — and even if we are handed any reports — by that time there is no chance for input and there’s no way we can influence some of the direction it should be looking into.
Mr. Speaker, we accept recommendations and input from our Regular Members as well. We very much appreciate their input.
This review has been undertaken for just under a year now. It will be brought to the attention of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. The results of these recommendations will be brought forward. Any recommendations and advice from Members will certainly be taken into consideration in our discussion. Mahsi.
