Ottawa launches northern post-secondary education task force

Ottawa is launching a task force on northern post-secondary education with an aim to close the gaps in education and skills training between the North and the rest of Canada.

The task force consists of 13 members nominated in part by northern governments and Indigenous organizations, according to a Friday release from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

The members will lead public engagement sessions and produce a report making recommendations on how to improve education outcomes in the North. A first draft is expected to be completed by next winter.

The 13 members are:

• Malerie Bayha, a member of the Délı̨nę First Nation in the Northwest Territories.
• Shozrё Melanie Bennett, the executive director with the Yukon First Nations Education Directorate. 
• James Cook, a business administration student at University College of the North in The Pas, Man.
• Ashlee Cunsolo, the dean of the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies at the Labrador Institute of Memorial University.
• Florence Kushniruk, a post-secondary program officer at Champagne and Aishihik First Nation's education department, in Yukon. 
• Jodie Lane, Nunatsiavut's director of education. 
• Erika Marteleira, a manager with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's Post-Secondary Education Secretariat.
• Rebecca Mearns, the acting president of Nunavut Arctic College. 
• Peesee Pitsiulak, the dean of the Nunatta Campus of Nunavut Arctic College. 
• Angélique Ruzindana Umunyana, a director with the Collège Nordique Francophone in Yellowknife. 
• Tosh Southwick, a consultant and former associate vice-president of Indigenous engagement and reconciliation at Yukon University. 
• James Takkiruq, a Nunavut Law Program student from Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. 
• Kelsey Wrightson, the executive director of the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning in Yellowknife.

The federal government is spending $1 million on the task force, which was proposed in the 2019 federal budget.

"Every Canadian deserves a real and fair chance at success, no matter where they live," reads a statement by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal.

"As we look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, the recommendations of this task force will be critical in shaping that recovery."

In an interview with CBC, Vandal said the goal is to invest in post-secondary education.

"Whether it's in institutions, making institutions better, maybe it's infrastructure, maybe it's individual support. I'm really not going to predetermine what those recommendations are. That's for the group to go out and talk to other northerners and submit their report to me by early 2021," he said.

"I think the era of decisions coming out of Ottawa for the North is over. We want to hear directly from the people in the territories about what we can do."