Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS people with post-secondary education are six times more likely to have employment, and completing post-secondary education dramatically increases the lifetime prospects of having well-paid, stable employment;
AND WHEREAS post-secondary education programs require secondary school graduates to have earned specific course credits for entry to programs;
AND WHEREAS students may not learn or realize early enough that they are not taking the courses needed for specific post-secondary programs;
AND WHEREAS students who are lacking courses required for entry to specific education programs must take upgrading courses if they are to be accepted into their chosen programs;
AND WHEREAS student financial assistance is available to attend post-secondary educational programs and for certain intake programs providing upgrading for entry to a limited number of post-secondary programs;
AND WHEREAS some students in some programs are able to access other territorial and federal funding programs to support their upgrading, such as Income Support and Employment Insurance;
AND WHEREAS the lack of student financial assistance to take secondary school upgrading programs is preventing students who want to pursue higher education from earning required credits;
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Motion is on the floor, motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This motion is partly in response to the results of our educational programs, which have created a situation where we have students graduating with a diploma which does not prepare them for the post-secondary education that they wish to take on. Unfortunately, when I went to school we had vocational and matriculation diplomas and it was very clear what they prepared you for in terms of post-secondary. Today we don’t have that.
I know the Minister is aware of this and is working with committees and others, his staff, to make sure that we plug that hole, but in the meantime we have created a bolus of people of various ages now that have these deficient Grade 12 diplomas. There is a federal program UCEP, which is available for students to help with their upgrading, but it’s insufficient for the demand that has been created, and it’s only applicable to status Indians and Inuit under the DIAND program.
There is overwhelming evidence, Mr. Speaker, that investing in education pays big dividends. We’re facing issues of poverty and unemployment and participation in society. These will all be benefited and resolved through this action. I look forward to any other comments, but I will be supporting this motion, obviously, and will be requesting a recorded vote.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting this motion. I’d like to thank Mr. Bromley for bringing it to the floor.
The statistics show, the numbers show that students who take on a career by advancing their educational knowledge, greatly contribute to the Northwest Territories and the communities. These educational programs that we offer in secondary institutions will certainly be busier if we had the proper funding for students to take advantage of upgrading their skills and educational knowledge by having them being supported through Student Financial Assistance.
As Mr. Bromley has indicated, there is a federal program under the UCEP program that’s only geared for Dene Treaty Indians or Inuit and certainly cuts out the aboriginal people. Sorry; the Metis people who have to once again fight and scrape and ask for equal rights as any other aboriginal people in Canada.
The upgrading courses that are now being chosen in the communities, a lot of our Grade 12 students who are leaving high school have to take upgrading programs. Right now they are not being funded or supported. The only program I know of that has support is called the Access Program, which there are four programs in the North that students can take funding.
I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of this motion here to see that there is a strong emphasis to the student financial services to support Grade 12 and give the students a chance in their career, let them know we are there for them, and when we have students graduating from Grade 12, we know that for certain they can go to a post-secondary institution. Right now the joke is that once you’re finished Grade 12, make room for Aurora College because you’re going to do your two years to get into an access program.
We are severely lacking any type of quality standards of education in the North and it’s certainly shown by having a motion like this on the table to support our students. This is an indication as to where our education in the Northwest Territories is.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting this motion today and as a result of Mr. Bromley’s and Mr. Yakeleya’s interest in this topic, it certainly identifies a gap that we must address.
Throughout the last couple of weeks we’ve talked about poverty and helping our people, and giving them access to education by filling this one gap is one of the most positive and beneficial ways that our government can give our people the hand-up and not a handout.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to speak to this motion, but, unfortunately, I can’t support the motion the way it is written. I’ll explain why.
I certainly believe strongly that the path of independence is sought through education. I think independent people who are self-sufficient through their education and that gives them the strength to go on and take care of themselves and their family and their future. I feel very strongly that the benefits of education help people in every generation. Education does not hold a single person back once you get that.
As the program is designed now, post-secondary education funding is for post-secondary education. It’s not to replace high school. People who decide not to complete high school, people who do not decide to complete high school in the right way -- and that means the upper level courses to qualify for university. This motion says that we should be funding high school, in essence, in another location through the post-secondary process. I disagree with that.
I would ask the mover if he has done any work in the Social Programs committee. He has told me no. If he wants to change his answer today, I’m curious if his answer is new today. I recently asked him this question not two days ago. I’d like to know what the demand is of this particular case that people, whether they’re aged 25, 30, 35, 40, have decided that they want to go to university at this stage and that they need high school upgrading.
There are options out there. I’ll tell you the options and I’ll start with the free ones. If somebody wants to go back and do upgrading, they can go to the high school; the local high school that this government and past governments have worked very hard to ensure are in every community. I believe they exist. Why aren’t we taking up that option first? Someone may say that they may be too old. Okay. I’ll buy that. If they’re aged 21 or older perhaps and they feel uncomfortable going back to Grade 12 in their home town. I’ll respect that. There’s an age factor there. What about using one of our 33 learning centres in the Northwest Territories? What about accessing one of our three campuses in our major communities? You can go back there to take high school upgrading so you can pursue those post-secondary education dreams, which I support. Right now with the existing pillars we have right here is a fantastic Aurora College that provides us access to anybody who wants to proceed.
Now, is the cost burden too heavy to go to Aurora College? Well, I’m glad I put that question out there, because I went to the Aurora College program and I noticed the heavy burden of the cost to pursue Aurora College programming is $40 for an application fee -- that seems overwhelming -- $25 for student fees, $40 for computer lab, and the $20 fee for recreation; $125 is not considered a burdensome levy that somebody now has to create a new program through Student Financial Assistance that we have to create to provide high school.
I feel very strongly about our Aurora College. I feel, clearly and unequivocally, that they are going in the right direction providing opportunities for our northern students. Certainly the ones that come along a little later can be defined as mature students. They are the pillars of our education and they are an access point.
There are a couple of other options. If a person happens to be down on their luck and working through the income support system, income support will support them as a productive choice going back to the learning centre and accessing it that way. Amazingly, that’s not all.
A person can access the distance education system while they’re at home here in the Northwest Territories. Yet again more options for these people. And they’re not very expensive, because I’ve pursued to find out the cost of some of these things.
Lastly, but not least, is if a person is of the age that they feel a little uncomfortable again approaching the schools... And by the way, the schools do welcome students who want to return to high school to do upgrading. As a matter of fact, I’ve helped constituents in my riding in this school year to consider those options and look at those options. But you know, someone of an older age may feel uncomfortable pursuing that option, which I respect. They could apply as a mature student at a college. That opportunity exists for them.
I don’t think this motion has been well thought out. I’m not convinced in any manner that the work has been done to consider options that exist on the table. I think if we pursue this option, what this is, is creating an incentive to either drop out of school early and know that the system will pick you up through distance education later or not provide motivation to focus in on the right courses.
I feel very strongly about the existing process we have. I feel strongly that our school systems are good. They provide good education and good guidance to students. I believe Aurora College is a strength that we should be continuing to embrace. Certainly in every single community we have here there’s an access point.
The motion, again, speaks to education. I support the concept but I don’t think it’s well thought out. I’m very disappointed that we’re not treating our Aurora College...
Mr. Jacobson has a note for me here. Perhaps I’ll table it. Thank you, Mr. Jacobson.
You’re welcome.
So we have enough access points in this system that exist today that anybody who wants to increase their education can access them without any sort of denial.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to repeat what the Member for Yellowknife Centre had to say. There are a lot of things that he touched on that are working in the Northwest Territories; the facilities we have in the Northwest Territories and the benefits of living in the Northwest Territories, the amount of benefits that we have here in the Northwest Territories.
Just touching on something that Mr. Bromley alluded to, the UCEP, the INAC funding is there. The free horse, the programming that’s there for the Northwest Territories that do not qualify for Student Financial Assistance. They are there to assist as well when they’re down south. There are a number of different programs outside SFA programming.
At the same time, there are certain programs such as the NWT Labour Market Agreement that provide incentive and assistance to NWT residents. I think we really need to be careful in dealing with this particular subject. We are currently dealing with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, as you know. We have been to the Sahtu region already. We heard over and over about the students that are upgrading. We are dealing with that right now.
I don’t know why this motion is before us as we pursue a new initiative that will come out with a solution at the end of the discussion that we’ll be having. It will be addressed here in the House, as well, as we move forward.
I’m afraid that there will be a number of students out there that are just waiting for us to say yes to sponsor SFA on upgrading. We’re not talking about 10 or 20 students. We could be talking about over 100 students. Students that are down south currently already.
There is also a disincentive where school boards will lose their money as well. The money that’s been provided to them, the funding and investment is based on enrolment. Those students, once they leave school they lose the funding as well. If the students return to the schools or the community learning centres that are there as well in the communities that can provide various programs. Once you leave the Northwest Territories, there are cost factors. Where you live, tuition, you have to eat. Here in the Northwest Territories we have that advantage.
I just want to reiterate that there is a new initiative that’s underway. I think we just need to be patient with that. We are currently reviewing our SFA program as well. That will reflect on what we’ve heard from the students, the parents and the community members. There are other things that are on the way within the Northwest Territories that we are pursuing and reviewing different perspectives.
With the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative we are going to cover all regions. We’re going to share with all people, people of the Northwest Territories giving us solutions, guidance and suggestions as we move forward. This is the very topic of discussion that we’ve had in the Sahtu and that we will have in other regions as well.
With this as a direction to our government, Cabinet will abstain on the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. I’ll go to the mover of the motion for some closing comments. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments of all my colleagues who chose to speak today. Of course I think it’s well established that UCEP does exist out there, but it runs out early every year and is insufficient to meet the need.
Mr. Speaker, I realize that because of our failed educational system and our lack of adequate counselling so even parents don’t realize that their students are getting an inadequate education or diploma until long after they graduate, this situation where we have been responsible creates a responsibility for dealing with it. The Minister has made some reference to upcoming action, which I think we all look forward as a solution and in response to this motion, but there are clearly gaps out there. As those of us that listen closely to our constituents have heard repeatedly, Mr. Speaker, I assure the Minister and all in the House that we have not picked this motion out of the air.
We have slowly achieved greater graduation rates. We are now up to 55 percent in the Northwest Territories, and I think that shows that we are working hard on this. We still have a long ways to go. However, if our students are graduating with certificates or diplomas that are hollow in terms of their potential to pursue post-secondary, it’s not getting them where we want them to be able to go. That’s exactly what this motion is attempting to address.
We need an extra effort and a fund specifically to address this. I’m not expecting that we’re going to be able to fund all those 100 students in the first year, Mr. Speaker. What I’m saying is we have a gap here. We do not have sufficient funding for the demand that’s out there. Let’s improve that. We have this bolus of people… I’m hoping that the department will actually deal with this problem so we don’t have it any longer. In the meantime, we do have this situation where we have perhaps half a generation of graduates with inadequacies in terms of their ability to pursue their goals.
As the motion recognizes, there are some options out there, as we’ve heard and as the motion points out, but these are insufficient options for a number of reasons: financial capacity issues, barriers to accessing programs, young people who are starting out with their families and facing unique problems associated with that. Those that would speak out against this motion show a lack of insight into the issue that people in our small communities are facing and are bringing to our attention. This motion is specifically to respond to that.
Mr. Speaker, this is particularly good timing in recognition of the Minister’s comments that he’s conducting a review of student financial assistance, so I appreciate his mentioning that fact. I would expect that solutions will be included in that review to this situation. I look forward to those solutions.
Once again, Mr. Speaker, this motion is all about giving people the opportunity to pursue their goals in terms of learning and the opportunities to fulfill their potential as human beings and members of our communities. I appreciate the support of the House. Mr. Speaker, I do request a recorded vote. Mahsi.
