Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my statement, I spoke about the importance of the transition of the Aurora College to a polytechnic. Mr. Speaker, I spoke about the funding for the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Innovation that the college has been doing for the past three years. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. I'm wondering if her department would consider funding that centre to continue the important work that they're doing? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. So the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Innovation was established in May of 2020, closed in 2023. That centre was actually funded by CanNor, a project through CanNor. As far as I am aware, there has not been any additional funding through CanNor that has been given to the college for this centre. And I as Minister have not received a request for additional funding for that centre for Aurora College. It's not something that we could fund from dollars from within at this time. But if I were to receive a request, it is either something I could work with the college on either supporting them through negotiations with CanNor. CanNor has been very generous in their diversity of programs they have supported in the Northwest Territories, or I can have a conversation with the chair about what funding is required and if they even want to reopen the centre. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I can tell you the funding, I believe, was in the neighbourhood of about $500,000 per year. They did apply but did not receive the continued funding CanNor on that program. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I've also addressed in my Member's statement the actual transition team and the important work that that team had been doing up until such time as the board of directors were put in place, understanding now that the college is an arm's length organization, but still much important work that we could do as a government to assist them, would the Minister consider funding a transition team, either with the college allowing them to get the expertise they need to continue this work to get back on track, or as a combination with GNWT employees as well?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transformation team for Aurora College was in place until 2023 at which time it was disbanded. At that time or sorry, in the life of the transformation, the $1 million that I've been speaking about with Members on the floor of this House this week and last week was agreed to by ECE senior management, along with Aurora College senior management, to be used for the purposes of transformation, and that's where it's at right now, is that Aurora College was going to use those dollars for that purpose. As far as putting kind of putting the band back together again, that's not a request I've received from the board of governors for Aurora College. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. Yes, I'm aware of the $1 million in funding that was received. It was received and was to be used to develop the new Bachelor of Education program, which hasn't been rolled out yet. So what the college has been using that funding for was to develop the general studies program, which will eventually then turn into years one and 2 of the Bachelor of Education program and, if I'm not mistaken, the social work program as well. So that's what that $1 million is currently being used for.
My question is, and I believe the transition team at that budget was around $3 million per year. I think a little over $2 million in salaries for expertise and O and M. So would the Minister consider a request from the college to, again, look at funding that over and above the $1 million that's given for the Bachelor of Education program?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I absolutely welcome any conversation with the college about supports that they need in order to continue forward with transformation, which is a key part of their mandate and a key part of the mandate document that was agreed to between Aurora College and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment of the day. That mandate document expires in July of this year, and I have no doubt that transformation will continue to be a key part of that mandate document and therefore, given that up like, for the last six months, we've had a great working relationship. I happily have had a great relationship with the chair for many, many years, and intend to continue that. So by all means, I welcome I welcome any dialogue whatsoever. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister. And, listen, I appreciate I know the Minister's passionate about this project, as we all are.
One final question, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to given that I said in my statement that the timelines are delayed, they're going to miss some of the milestones that was originally laid out in a GAN chart that we've all seen, where they wanted to be. Can the Minister commit to tabling where they are and how those milestones have changed? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely, I think that that is something that will need to be publicly shared and reflected. I think it's also important that we reflect on the good work that has been done by the Aurora College transformation team as well as Aurora College. There are a total of 80 deliverables in this transformation, of which 66 of them were completed by the Aurora College transformation team. And since Aurora College has taken over, they have continued on the along on those milestones, and they've completed an additional three milestones in the last few short months. And so good work is still being done on that. And so I think it's really important that we also celebrate our good milestones as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Colleagues, we're 18 minutes in. Three people have asked questions. So, please, shorten your answers so we can get everybody through with the process. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
