Can we all agree Aurora College board chair Joe Handley鈥檚 resignation signals the polytechnic university concept for Aurora College is dead?
This comes a year after the public board was reinstated, after seven years of wasted staff time and funding.
When consultants first introduced the idea in 2018, deputy ministers jumped on it, convincing ministers, cabinet members and even MLAs to dare to dream rather than determine the hard truth of where the real barriers to educational success were.
Our current education minister may persist in pursuing the polytechnic. Based on Handley鈥檚 assessment, 鈥淪he (Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland) just wants me to be positive, almost like a Pollyanna approach to things,鈥� he told Cabin Radio. 鈥淎nd I say I can鈥檛 operate that way.鈥�
Handley stated that the Department of Education never truly wanted an independent college, nor is the GNWT committed to funding one properly. Coming from someone who came North from the education system in Manitoba, who headed the NWT's education department in 1985 as deputy minister, and later as education minister in 1999, before becoming finance minister and eventually premier, Handley knows what he鈥檚 talking about.
By cutting $1.8 million from the college鈥檚 budget this year, the GNWT demonstrates, with Trump-like transparency, its indifference to educational outcomes for the Dene, Metis and Inuvialuit. The closure of community learning centres was a knife in the heart of education outside Yellowknife.
When I first wrote about the polytechnic in February 2020, I said it was 鈥渕ission impossible.鈥� Fixing foundational education problems 鈥� particularly the substandard outcomes of the NWT鈥檚 community school system 鈥� is crucial before a polytechnic university can be viable. Otherwise, the new institution will be built on a 鈥渇alse foundation鈥� of unmet educational needs. I urged readers and decision-makers to recognize that without improved Indigenous education and significantly higher graduation rates in communities, a polytechnic university simply cannot survive.
It strikes me now that Aurora College has come to reflect the experience of many Dene, Metis, and Inuvialuit students in our community schools. Like them, the college has continually struggled with poor funding and crumbling infrastructure, leading to declining enrolment and, ultimately, failure to reach the goal of higher education 鈥� all under the heavy hand of an education department unwilling to acknowledge the barriers to Indigenous education.
Now, Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland stands at a crossroads. She can continue with the polytechnic scheme, unconcerned by consequence, for as our former education minister and current Premier R.J. Simpson knows, failure doesn鈥檛 matter if one has enough votes in the assembly. Or Cleveland can choose to rebuild our community education system for the good of the territory and future generations. It鈥檚 a political decision.
If she chooses the polytechnic path, she鈥檒l need to find someone willing to accept they can accomplish nothing meaningful as chair of the Aurora College board 鈥攕omeone content to pad their resume and enjoy the prestige in the face of persistent failure. That鈥檚 been done before.
But if she chooses to make the college truly work, she can start by presenting her cabinet colleagues with a clear picture of education in the North. Show them accurate data on graduation rates, attendance and real outcomes for students. Only when the department accepts that what they鈥檙e doing now isn鈥檛 working can they begin to build a true foundation for a future Aurora Polytechnic University of which all 快盈v3ers can be proud. They can start by launching cohorts of Dene, Metis and Inuvialuit teachers.
The answers are out there 鈥� we just have to ask parents in the communities how to make education work for them and their kids. We must listen. We must make a plan. And we must scrounge for resources and funding 鈥� as a government with a $2.5-billion budget, not as an under-resourced NGO 鈥� and begin to rebuild our community education system.
