Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 5, 2014, I’d asked the Minister of Education to use some of his authority under Section 7 of the Aurora College Act. I asked him to tell the Aurora College Board of Governors to meet the students and certainly provide some e-mail addresses so people can contact them, but rather, they still appear to be anonymous. Perhaps they like it that way in a sense of governance of the board and the college for the students.
I want to hear what updates the Minister can provide the House immediately to find out has he actually done anything. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that information was brought to my attention even in this House. I did meet with the chair and also the president and addressed that concern to their attention. There has been work done in that area where their meeting is open and they have a student representative. We nominated a student just recently.
So we’ll continue to make that important to the Board of Governors of Aurora College. I’ve always stressed whatever has been brought to my attention from this House, or even the general public, I raise that with the profile for the Board of Governors. Mahsi.
It has been three months and I’m glad to hear that the Minister has met with the board and met with the president, but he hasn’t informed me or anyone else that I’m aware of that he has met with any of them. So what topic did he actually meet with them about, what did he direct them to do, has he had the courage to use Section 7 of the Aurora College Act where the Minister can direct the board to do things such as provide e-mail addresses so students can contact their Board of Governors with concerns and complaints so they can get direct action? There is zero accountability. What can the Minister say about that problem?
Mahsi. When I met with the Board of Governors, I addressed all of those issues. Any issues that come to my attention, I address with them. We work out solutions. When it comes to the contacts of certain individuals, private e-mails of private individuals’ contacts, those are at the discretion of the board if they want to release that information. But they do have a website. All the contact information, phone numbers, e-mails, it’s all on the website. They even have a student representative as well. We are going to a June meeting in Inuvik and I believe the Member will be there as well.
So, we’re looking forward to those exchanges of information as we move forward. Mahsi.
Thank you. So, go to the website; interesting answer. As I brought up before, the website says send all correspondence through the president’s office. So the president gets to handle, control who knows what with the information. So the direct contact and accountability, what is the Minister afraid of to tell them to provide them with an Aurora College e-mail address because if they’re on the Board of Governors, they’re there as an advisory board, they’re there as an administrative board, or are they there for whatever reason? I don’t know. Maybe the Minister will take that initiative on and demonstrate some true accountability for the students. Thank you.
Mahsi. Obviously, we’re not afraid of anything. Every time an issue comes up, I do address those issues with the Board of Governors. What’s being said here will again be shared with the Board of Governors. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
I’m not sure this is getting through to the Minister. I brought a complaint to a particular member of the Board of Governors the other day and they just go, well, it’s part of the policy, that’s the way it goes. Then he sent me to the president’s office with the complaint. What is the point of having a Board of Governors if they don’t do anything? This is frustrating. They don’t represent the students, they don’t represent MLAs when we bring complaints on behalf of the students, and now the only option for us to do is bring complaints to the president’s office, who controls them, whether they meet the Board of Governors or not. So, frankly, I want to know what this Minister will finally do to demonstrate accountability because, frankly, it’s a hollow word around this Assembly, it gets batted around regularly and I see zero meaning behind it.
Mahsi. Aurora College Board of Governors does work with the students. We deliver the best program we possibly can in the Northwest Territories, along with our partners further down south at various institutions. We’ll continue to make that a success. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
