Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now we have a great opportunity for the future of education in the NWT. The last 10 years have shown some encouraging trends in terms of graduation rates. Enrolment in post-secondary programs and academic interest in the North continues to grow. There has never been a better time to take steps to create a northern university.
Aurora College, now over 40 years old, offers degree programs in nursing and education through partnership with southern universities. Enrolment at Aurora College is increasing. There is an opportunity to strengthen linkages with colleges in the Yukon, Nunavut, and institutions in the South and consolidate our efforts towards an aurora university.
The Aurora Research Institute and the new GNWT Science Agenda come with built-in links to universities and scholars from all around the world who are interested in studying the North. University-level studies in science could evolve from the activities of both the Aurora Research Institute and the aspects of a science agenda.
This Assembly could take the leadership of developing that partnership into a pan-territorial university with our sister territories. The timing couldn’t be better.
We do not need a conventional university with lawns and buildings and vines, although that would certainly be nice, but we could use the existing structure to create a uniquely northern academic program with an aboriginal focus following the unfortunate closure of the First Nations University earlier this year.
There is a void in aboriginal-focused programming that the Northwest Territories certainly could fill. University programs in the NWT would attract motivated individuals ready to make valuable contributions to our North. Somebody who came to the NWT to pursue a degree program might choose to stay here, live, work, raise a family, because we have many opportunities and possibilities for advancement for those new graduates that they would not find in the South.
I urge this government to consider the future of an aurora university seriously. We have the opportunity right now to build upon existing infrastructure and northern success to create a unique northern Canadian degree-granting post-secondary institution that could work.
In closing, I’ll say that education... There is no better gift that we can give any future generation. A pan-territorial university would be a legacy and a hallmark for many generations beyond us.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
