The goal was to write about what may be the most important issue in the Northwest Territories right now: the scheduled closure of almost 15 campuses by Aurora College in the outlying communities. 

For the communities and people involved, this is huge and is being done with little or no consultation with the many user groups impacted. Like the now-delayed tariffs imposed on the weekend that were meant to be punitive, not to mention disrespectful and ill-conceived, so, too, are the closures of these campuses which offer a lifeline and hope to those who use them or want to. 

The significance of the strained Canada-U.S. relationship should not take away from the importance of this issue which similarly saw a board, entrusted with the health and well-being of Northerners, make a unilateral decision without consulting Northerners. In fact, the board failed to talk to any of the Indigenous groups who make up the bulk of the communities or talk to its own staff to understand why numbers were low. It made no attempt to find out what it could do to better meet the needs of the people and the community and opted for closure because it said it had the right to.

It seems that it forgot its raison d'锚tre, which is to provide education to all Northerners. 

On the face of it, it would seem preferable to dismantle the board and appoint one more transparent and willing to work with user groups. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) is not innocent. In fact, ECE Minister Caitlin Cleveland said she had heard of the closures a month before they were announced publicly. As someone who is also supposed to be concerned about the provision of education here, why didn't she ask what was being done to better meet community needs?

Maybe if someone would have done a proper study, they would have learned that the colleges were simply not offering the courses that would help or interest students prepare for higher learning or be job ready. Maybe if the board and the department would have done their homework, they would have discovered that they were the problem and not the people who showed little interest in what the college offered. The education levels here are dismal and the college is doing nothing to change that. 

The system is failing Northerners.

To suggest that learning can be done via internet shows a disconnect between the satellite centres and the powers in Yellowknife. Internet reception in the outlying areas is poor or non-existent at best and most people simply cannot afford it. Again, the institutions responsible for the well-being and growth of Northerners fails to understand that this service will be denied to the most vulnerable among us because they do not have access to the tools it plans to offer. 

In addition, the learning centres offer employment in towns where there are few jobs so Aurora College will be removing some of the few work opportunities available. Those jobs are the only means out of poverty. In its decision to shut the centres, did the college take the human cost into consideration or just the economic ones? 

Further, if decision-makers had any understanding of the communities, they would know that many people there live in hopelessness and despair. They feel isolated, alone and forgotten. Aurora College just contributed to the downward spiral. Addiction and suicide rates are skyrocketing there because people see no hope. Shutting these campuses removes one more lifeline. Surely this is not the mandate of the college. 

Lastly, if this is an attempt to move people out of the communities and into Yellowknife to pursue schooling, where does the college expect them to live in a city with no housing? And if that is the goal, it shows a real lack of understanding about the importance of community supports to these people. 

Those small towns are their homes. It is where their extended families and support systems live. To force them to larger centres where they may not adapt is to sentence them to failure. Surely this was not the goal of the Aurora College board or ECE. The world is in such turmoil now thanks to the crazy leader in the south and we are all on edge. Nevertheless, that should not cause us to forget the importance of some local issues that are of real importance to the North. 

Let's hope ECE and the board rethink this move and make a better-informed decision.

SA国际影视传媒擭ancy Vail is a longtime Yellowknifer concerned with social justice.