Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions, of course, will be directed to the Minister of Education.
Noting the fact that letters and e-mails are vetted through the Aurora College president’s office, which should be a concern just in itself, with also noting that the student rep on the Board of Governors is still waiting Cabinet approval, from my understanding, and furthermore that the student rep’s appointment only lasts a single year and by the time that the Cabinet gets to this perennial appointment it’s half over anyway, this makes it challenging for them to participate in the Board of Governors.
My question to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is: How do these Cabinet appointed Board of Governors demonstrate that they are accessible and accountable to the students of Aurora College and certainly to the public of the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for meeting with the students and also Members as well. We are here as elected MLAs, elected officials. We represent the students as well. We have a Board of Governors, one from each region, that are responsible for their committee, for their regions and they represent the students. So it is not only the students that represents at the Board of Governors level, but all the board members.
This is an area that we are closely monitoring, and having the student representatives has been grateful for the Board of Governors. We will continue to push that forward for those students and I will continue to drive that forward. Mahsi.
Clearly, the question was missed, so I will reword it.
I did not hear one element that demonstrates how these Board of Governors are representing the students in an accessible and certainly in a transparent, accountable way.
In the same vein, will the Minister use his authority under Section 7 of the Aurora College Act, and instruct the college to get these Board of Governors’ e-mail addresses so the students can contact them, and furthermore, would he instruct the Board of Governors to meet with these students as a board to hear their concerns?
I heard three questions in there, so I will answer one of them. My department is listening carefully and taking notes as well.
We have a Board of Governors representing the students. We have a student representative on there as well. Most of the organizations do not provide personal e-mails, but I will be addressing that with the president and Board of Governor chair. If we can allow board members to have their e-mail address and phone number on the website, then we can make that accessible for the general public of the Northwest Territories. I am making a commitment to address that with the board chair. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
There is no student rep on this Board of Governors. I’ve gone to other websites of other universities and other colleges, and they all have an accessible porthole on how to get a hold of the Board of Governors. It may not be a direct e-mail but it’s one that goes to them. Why in this day and age, don’t we have this?
I will ask this question: How does the Minister define accountability and accessibility to their students, because I have yet to hear it today.
We have a Board of Governors that have their meetings in our colleges, in our communities. They are accessible to the students, to the general public. We have an open forum, we have an open dialogue when there is a Board of Governors meeting. There is one coming up in Inuvik in June. It is opened up to Inuvik to residents and students at Inuvik campus. There are meetings in Fort Smith; there are meetings in Yellowknife. Those are accessible to students and the general public. We will continue to open doors to those students.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, defining accessibility by bumping into your Board of Governors representative at the Northern in Inuvik is not accountability. Going to the Co-op in Yellowknife and bumping into your Board of Governors rep is not accountability, and certainly going to the hardware store in Fort Smith is not defined as accountability.
Will the Minister, under Section 7 of the Aurora College Act, use his authority and direct the college to meet with these students at least once a term so people can hear directly their issues and they can understand them, because right now I’ve heard zero today about accountability and certainly accessibility. So, Mr. Speaker, that’s what the Minister could do and he could show he’s in charge. Thank you.
I laid out plenty of accountability that we deal with as the Board of Governors and with my Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We continue to strengthen that into the communities and into the regions. Under accountability of the Board of Governors, again, we have representatives from each region that represents these students, that represents the general public, the regions, the communities. As a department, I work closely with the board chair to make them accountable to the general public and to the students. I have laid out what I have committed already. I will be addressing with the board chair how we can resolve some of the areas of communication with the students. We have had student representatives there for the last several years and we will continue to do that. I will be committing to meet with the board chairs. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
