Legislative Assembly Briefs
Assembly marks Pink Shirt Day
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Friday, February 24, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The legislative assembly was a sea of pink on Wednesday as 50 students from William McDonald, J.H. Sissons and Mildred Hall Schools gathered in the Great Hall to learn about anti-bullying.
Public Service Alliance North regional executive vice-president Jack Bourassa and Education, Culture and Employment Minister Alfred Moses spoke to the students about the day.
"This initiative was started by two brave young men in Nova Scotia - David Shepherd and Travis Price - who gave away 50 pink shirts after a Grade 9 student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school," Moses later said in the assembly during his minister's statement.
He said the government has been working on spreading the anti-bullying message throughout NWT schools since amending the Education Act in 2013 to include bullying prevention measures. Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart added that bullying - in schools and by global leaders - shouldn't be tolerated. MLAs also wore pink carnations in honour of Pink Shirt Day.
College overhaul pushed
The Education, Culture and Employment minister agreed to look at the possibility of a foundational review of Aurora College on Tuesday, after one MLA suggested the recent program cuts are a result of a larger problem with the school's administration.
While the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has received most of the flack for cutting the teacher education and social work programs, Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson said he blames the department for allowing the college to operate in a way that led to them to needing to be cut.
"These are failures of the college, not the students," Simpson said. "However, again, I put the blame on (department) for handing over tens of millions of dollars over to the college without the oversight to ensure that the people of the NWT get what we pay for and that the graduates of the college get a world-class education and a degree that is respected throughout Canada."
Minister Alfred Moses said his department is working on an accountability framework with the college, has been holding more meetings with its board of governors, and that he has provided board members with mandate letter for the first time to ensure they are moving in the right direction.
"The problem is that government is good at taking half measures, but it is not very good at fundamental change," Simpson said. "I think what we need here is fundamental changes to an organization that has been now entrenched in their ways after decades."
The minister promised to have discussions with other departments and to sit down with Aurora College's chair and president to see what the "next steps" of a review of the college could look like.
Tiny solution for big problem
The minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation committed Wednesday to exploring tiny homes as a solution to some of the territory's housing needs.
"We are looking at developing partnerships with municipalities and aboriginal governments to address their own housing needs within their communities," said Caroline Cochrane.
"And we are already forming partnerships with some municipalities on a form of a tiny house."
Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne addressed the innovative housing idea during his member statement.
He told the story of a man in Deline whose community came together to build him a "16-by-16 tiny house" after the shack he was living in became uninhabitable.
"This story is an example of what can be accomplished with resources you can find in any NWT community - ingenuity, dedication and commitment," Vanthuyne said.
He added the idea of tiny houses is taking off in Yellowknife and across North America, and could help the territorial government meet many of its housing goals and objectives.
"They are inexpensive, have a much smaller footprint, and can be portable, meaning an inventory of tiny houses can be moved to different communities," he said.
