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Fort Smith fights to keep Aurora College HQ

On Tuesday, more than 100 Fort Smith residents turned out to a public meeting to discuss the foundational review of Aurora College, released last week, that recommends the massive overhaul of the NWT’s only post-secondary institution.

"We are not opposed to the idea of Aurora College becoming a polytechnic university,” said Mayor Lynn Napier Buckley. “What does concern us is taking the head office and moving it to Yellowknife (from Smith, where it is now).”

Sir John Franklin High School student Yeddah Rodriguez shows her support for Aurora College's social work program during a rally against the school's program cuts. NNSL file photo

Napier Buckley said that if the new school’s presence in Fort Smith is reduced to just a regional centre with a focus on trades, the town thinks perhaps upwards of 70 positions could be on the line, which would be a huge blow to what is one of the community’s major employers.

Education minister Caroline Cochrane said that, at most, six to a dozen positions may move from Fort Smith to Yellowknife if Aurora College is overhauled to become a polytechnic university.

Cochrane said she was surprised to hear that number and that the number bandied about in her department has been “half a dozen – maximum, maybe a dozen” jobs that would have to relocate to Yellowknife and that they would be looking at ways to replace them in the Fort Smith campus.

She said the only job that definitely needs to move to Yellowknife is that of the administrator, or deputy minister, in charge of the school and their support staff.

“That person needs to be able to find resources, so they need to be able to build partnerships with industry and most of (the headquarters of) our mines, et cetera, are located in Yellowknife,” she said, adding that the government services that person would need to access are there as well.

“The goal is not to centralize and not to take everything into the capital,” said Cochrane, adding that the levels of administration below the head could remain outside of Yellowknife.

She said she wants to see three strong regional campuses, the third being in Inuvik.

Cochrane will be in Fort Smith this week to discuss the issue and she said the next steps are to work with the MLAs to figure out how to make the polytechnic university a reality.

Most importantly, Cochrane said she will be assisting the premier in looking across Canada for the right person to fill that job of administrator or deputy minister in charge of the school as soon as possible.

She hopes to get into the planning stages and program evaluation before the election next fall – and then Cochrane hopes to be re-elected and continue the work after that.

Napier Buckley said the town has a good working relationship with Cochrane and is optimistic they will find a compromise that works.

She said much of the coverage so far has been based on what Fort Smith could use, but she is also focused on what Fort Smith could gain if it retains the administrative centre of the new school.

That said, if the change does end up causing major job losses in the community, Napier Buckley said it would be devastating.

“It's not just loss of jobs. It would really affect every facet of our community, from property values to monies that we would get from the territorial government to money that goes to businesses throughout the community.”

The educational centre is a huge, integral part of what Fort Smith is today, she said and the loss of that would be felt everywhere.

“Even just looking at the high school, we have 56 students in the high school whose parents either are employed by or are attending that campus here in Fort Smith. That's just at the high school.”