Fort Smith protests Aurora College cuts
Future students face uncertainty of studying outside the North
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Friday, February 10, 2017
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Aurora College students in Fort Smith say cutting the bachelor of education program will force future students to choose between their families and their eductions.
Protesters brave frigid weather Feb 4 in Fort Smith to protest program cuts at Aurora College. - photo courtesy of Margaret McKay
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"Having to go down south is going to be a tremendous obstacle for a number of people," said Karen Lepine-McFeeters, third year bachelor of education student and president of Thebacha campus' student association.
During budget announcements the week of Feb. 1, the Government of the Northwest Territories stated it would be cutting funding to both the bachelor of education program at Aurora College's Thebacha campus and the social worker program at the college's campus in Yellowknife.
The bachelor of education program will run until 2020 and the social worker program will be eliminated in two years.
In response to the announcement, students and Fort Smith residents held a rally on Feb. 4 to protest the cuts, said Chris Westwell, one of the event's organizers.
More than 30 people attended the protest, which included a march from the Canada Post office to the Aurora College campus.
Lepine-McFeeters said the majority of students enrolled in the bachelor of education program are female and many of them are mothers. With that trend expected to continue, women who want to become educators will have to move south to access bachelor of education programs.
Lepine-McFeeters is speaking from experience. When she decided to become a teacher, she had considered attending the University of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, but decided staying in the North was the better choice for her family.
"On top of me having to worry about my studies, I'm going to be worried about the health and well being of my children," she said about moving to the city.
Fellow student Brenda Tuckey agreed.
"Without this program in the North, I can absolutely tell you I would not be finishing my education degree," she said. Tuckey, who is also a Fort Smith town councillor, is the mother of three children and said her situation is not unique.
"We have so many families who have children," she said. "Eighty to 90 per cent of our participants are women."
Moving south adds a variety of other challenges for students, especially if they are from smaller communities, Lepine-McFeeters said.
"Going down south would be insurmountable for some people," she said. "They feel lonely, they feel that they don't have any supports."
Eliminating the program has far-reaching consequences, Tuckey added.
Northerners who take the bachelor of education program in Fort Smith tend to stay in the North, she said.
"We need northern teachers that are connected to the communities, that are connected to these kids," she said. "If they're from here, they stay here."
Having made-in-the-North teachers provides direct benefit to classrooms throughout the NWT, Tuckey said.
"Taking the North out of our teachers, we are going back towards colonization, back toward institutionalized education," she said. "That doesn't work for our students."
Losing the program will also have long-term impacts on Fort Smith's economy, said Westwell, a former town councillor.
The bachelor of education program usually has about 30 to 40 students each year, many of whom bring their families to live in Fort Smith while they're in school.
"A loss of 30 to 40 of them and potentially their family, their children, the loss becomes exponential," he said. "In such small communities in the North, we are all very dependent on every person who lives here."
