INUVIK - The traditional arts program at the Aurora campus is being moved and a new course will be offered in the fall semester.

It was announced last month that the Inuvik-based traditional arts course would be taken out of the campus in Inuvik and instead run in the communities where it is desired.

Marjorie Ovayuak was one of the students in the last year of the traditional arts course at the Aurora campus in Inuvik. In the fall, the course will be replaced with an office administration program. - NNSL file photo

Aurora College manager of public and corporate affairs Tim Gauthier said the change does not mean the traditional arts course is being axed.

"It will be delivered in a different format now," he said.

He said the course will be taken into Northern communities, based on consultations and registrations.

"We want to make the program more accessible to those in smaller communities," he said.

"Now, people won't have to leave their homes to take a course, it might be offered closer to home."

This was the third year the course was offered through the Inuvik campus.

"It was delivered in the past. It comes and goes in demand cycles," Gauthier said.

He added that the traditional course could be delivered in the fall - it all depends on who wants it where.

"For example, we might offer moose-hide tanning in Deline this spring," he said.

The college will be hosting public consultations over the summer months in various communities.

"All appropriate material will be sent and shipped to the community where the program is being held," he said.

He said the change was requested by a local aboriginal group.

The traditional arts program was jointly-funded by the Inuvialuit, Gwich'in, Education, Culture and Employment and the college, said Gauthier.

"The Inuvialuit said they were interested in training their people for office administration," he said.

"That will be the course being offered this fall."

The course will be a two-year diploma program, not a one-year certificate course.

"We see this as a positive development for the college and for the North," Gauthier said.