Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment following up on his Minister’s statement this morning on Student Financial Assistance review. I just want to start by confirming that this review will indeed include some additional support for upgrading as per the Minister’s commitment in earlier discussions in the House.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to Student Financial Assistance it is a subsidy for post-secondary institutions, so college and university. In cases where upgrading has been brought to our attention on numerous occasions but there are other programs and funding, whether it be from local organizations or federal, there is also federal funding that individuals can access. I’m sure this particular area will be brought to our attention through the SFA review. Any concerns or issues that will be brought forward will be considered through the review process.
I appreciate the Minister’s response there. The previous Minister of ECE did indeed commit to including the upgrading in this review, so I’m assuming that it will be done.
The second one I would like to confirm is happening is there’s a well-known deficit and need for veterinarians in the Northwest Territories. The Sahtu has a particularly unique and fortunate agreement, I think with the support of Environment and Natural Resources, if I recall, with the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon to occasionally bring up veterinarians. Most of the NWT suffers from a great lack and there are a few outstanding individuals who are expressing a desire to go out for that training. This has been brought up again with regard to this review. I’d like to again confirm that this review will include consideration of the provision of a seat for a veterinary student from the Northwest Territories. That’s beyond a vet assistant. It’s specifically for a full-fledged veterinarian so that we can build our veterinarian staff in the NWT from the one or two that there currently is.
When it comes to this particular program, it has been in the works for a number of years now. I believe there has only been uptake of one or two over the last several years. We did have a guaranteed seat within the GNWT for this particular veterinarian training through the college. It is upwards of $25,000 for the one particular program. It is somewhat expensive. At the same time there has been little uptake on this particular program.
Again, if this is an interest from the general public as a whole, then we can certainly consider it through our review process as we move forward.
Thank you for that response. My understanding is that, indeed, we have not had that opportunity the last few years and, thus, it is not surprising that there have not been updates, but I’d love to stand to be corrected on that.
My third question is: Looking at the composition of the steering committee working on this review, I don’t see any representation from user groups. I think that’s something we always want to include when we have a steering committee. Why is there not representation from user groups, a student association or something like that on this steering committee for the Student Financial Assistance review? Mahsi.
This particular review has been undertaken for the last couple of months now and we will be going through until next year. We’re at the preliminary stages, so those are options that I can certainly take into consideration. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that from the Minister, and I think it would be great if it was just routine practice from now on that we include a member from the public.
My last question, Mr. Speaker. I see the Minister is bringing it forward to submit in the House and, again, I’m hoping this is standard practice but I’d like to confirm. Will the committee have an opportunity to review and comment on this report so that the Minister can consider their input before it is tabled in the House? Mahsi.
With any review that’s been undertaken by the GNWT, it’s always been brought to the standing committee for their review as well. Once the report is finalized we really can’t speak to specifics until the committee is under review, and then we can open it up for a general discussion to the general public. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
