Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment regarding the next steps in the development of an NWT polytechnic university. Any future development of the university must be carried out in close cooperation with stakeholders, particularly municipal governments. Can the Minister tell us what formal and informal mechanisms the department has established on this specific file to ensure close collaboration with municipal governments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I try to learn from my mistakes, so I am not going to try to pronounce a big word, but we don't have a formal MOU with any of the cities. In fairness, what we have been saying all along is three strong communities, three strong campuses, and 21 strong community learning centres. We can't ensure that we have three strong communities if we don't work closely with community governments.
I have met twice with each of the three communities while we were doing the review. When we were doing the government response, I went into all three of the communities myself. I have met formally twice with each community government during those meetings. I have also met with Indigenous governments during those meetings, as well. My commitment to them has been that we need to work together. To make the polytechnic university a success, it cannot be made in isolation by the Government of the Northwest Territories. We need the community governments along with us to make this successful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for those remarks. I participated in one of the events that she held here in Yellowknife, so I will vouch for what she says. The Minister has probably by now had a chance to review the City of Yellowknife's University Feasibility and Benefits Study. Can the Minister say how this report will be taken into account in future work toward the establishment of a polytechnic university for the Northwest Territories?
In all honesty, as soon as the City of Yellowknife's University Feasibility and Benefits Study was produced, I wanted it right away. I wanted to see what it said so that I could be defended if I needed to. I was really, actually, quite happy to read it. It backed up a lot of what we had found in the review. Not only did it back it up, it actually expanded on some of the areas in justifying why we need to move into a polytechnic university. Yes, I have looked at the feasibility study. I know that the City of Yellowknife took that initiative. I am not telling other communities what to do, but it would be wonderful if the other communities actually did it, as well, because there are strengths that are unique to not only all three communities, but all regions within the Northwest Territories. Having that paper that identifies the strengths is a bonus for the City of Yellowknife, and we need to be cognitive as we move forward that we also look at the strengths and benefits that other communities have, as well.
I want to thank the Minister for that. She has probably opened the door for the towns of Fort Smith and Inuvik to come and knock on her door for some funding to help with their own work, but I think it is a great idea. In both the government's response to the Aurora College Foundational Review and the city's report and presentation to the standing committee, the need for a vision for post-secondary education was loud and clear. Can the Minister tell us how the visioning for post-secondary education renewal is being pursued, including a mandate for the new associate deputy minister, and how the stakeholders, including municipal governments, are going to be involved in setting that vision?
Our visioning exercise is happening now. I just want to put that out to the whole public. I am supporting for every individual within the Northwest Territories to take the time out to answer the survey. It is available on our Education, Culture and Employment website. You can go into an Education, Culture and Employment service centre in your communities or a government service office, or you can access it online through our website at ECE. It is important that all voices be heard, so I am again urging everyone to do that.
Within that survey, there is a spot where people can also put their feedback in as an organization. Not only the municipalities, but also organizations, such as Chamber of Commerce might want to; the Chamber of Mines might want to; the arts community might want to. There might be a lot of organizations. We are hearing that, as well, but again, you have the opportunity. You can put it forward as an organization, or you can put it forward as an individual. I believe that, the more people who fill out that survey, the better it will come. How does that relate? Once that survey is done, all of that information will be assessed, looking at the strengths of where we should be focusing our post-secondary education in the Northwest Territories. From that work, once we develop our territory-wide vision statement, then the polytechnic university will take that piece and develop a visioning exercise for the polytechnic university itself.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Certainly it is exciting times here in the North for post-secondary education. I know that the Minister is also setting up a series of seven talks in various communities, and I want to commend her for that, because there are some really interesting topics. Unfortunately, we are stuck here for some of them, but I know that I have been working with her office to get some public broadcasting of that done, as well.
I want to get back this issue of how the Minister sees herself and the department working more formally with municipal governments. What kind of mechanisms has she started to think about in that regard, about how the department should work with municipal governments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
As stated publicly, in this House, behind closed doors, I have constantly said throughout this that it is important that we work with the community governments to make this right. I do want to commend the Member for actually saying that we have made a lot of progress on our polytechnic university. We have been talking about this for 15, 20 years. I am really honoured, as the Minister, to be able to, as one older politician told me, "get 'er done." It is time that we move forward with this, and it is not only time that we move forward in isolation with the Government of the Northwest Territories; we need to work with the communities.
Communities have a stake. Students do not just stay on campus. They expand throughout all of the community when they are accessing training or services education. We need to work closely with them. We have a commitment to meet regularly. We sit on the City of Yellowknife's education committee; I am not sure what it is called. We have committed to including them when we develop the strategic plan, the implementation plan. All three communities will be involved in that work.
It is important, whether I am in this chair next Assembly or not, that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment work very closely with all three communities to make sure that we get this right, so that the best services within the campus and in the communities as a whole are provided to students of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
