The roots of the Northwest Territories’ college system begins with the adult education programs offered by the federal government, usually out of the federal day schools in communities across the NWT. During the late 1960s, Frontier College was also contracted to create a system of community-based adult education, with accompanying legislation being passed in 1974.
Responsibility for education, including adult education, was transferred to the territorial government in 1969. Also in 1969, the Adult Vocational Training Centre (AVTC) was established in Fort Smith, following a Heavy Equipment Operators course offered at nearby Fox Holes 1968. Canada Manpower/CEIC began sponsoring programs at AVTC in 1971 and in 1981, AVTC became Thebacha College.
However, there was recognition that program delivery at the community level was desirable, creating Arctic College in 1984 with campuses in Iqaluit and Fort Smith. Campuses were eventually established in each region of the Northwest Territories with headquarters in Yellowknife. The Arctic College Act was passed in 1986, making it an arm’s length corporate entity and giving it the mandate to deliver adult and post-secondary education. The Aurora Campus in Inuvik was established in 1987. By 1990 the community learning centres were also rolled into the College system.
In 1992, the head office of Arctic College was decentralized to Fort Smith and Iqaluit to prepare for the creation of two colleges as part of the preparations for division with Nunavut. On January 1, 1995 Nunavut Arctic College was established for the Eastern Arctic and Aurora College for the Western Arctic. The Science Institute of the Northwest Territories (SINT) was also rolled into the colleges to provide an in-house research institute for each.
Aurora College has transfer agreements and partnerships with a wide variety of technical schools, colleges and universities throughout Canada and the circumpolar world. It offers trade and apprenticeship training, certificate, diploma and degree programs, adult literacy, and basic and continuing education courses.
Aurora College is governed by a Board of Governors, appointed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Board determines policies for the administration of the College, recommends priorities to the Ministers for programs and courses, and manages the College’s finances, among other duties. The head of Aurora College is the President, who is appointed by the Minister and is a non-voting member of the Board. The President supervises, administers and directs the operation of the College in accordance with the Board’s direction. There are currently campuses in Inuvik (Aurora Campus), Fort Smith (Thebacha Campus), and Yellowknife (North Slave Campus), with Community Learning Centres in most of the NWT’s other communities. Headquarters is in Fort Smith.
The Department of Lands was established in 2014. It is responsible for the management and administration of all public lands (Territorial and Commissioner's land) in the Northwest Territories, including inventories, dispositions, valuation, survey applications, and mapping. Key functions include: land use initiatives, sustainability standards, guidelines and policies, project assessments, land use planning and administration, and compliance and enforcement.
John U. Bayly was born on April 20, 1945 in Toronto, Ontario. He has enjoyed a long and varied career in the North and worked as both a Crown Attorney and private counsel in the communities of Kuujjuarapik or Great Whale River (Quebec), Rankin Inlet, Inuvik and Yellowknife. He was the founding partner of what later became Bayly Williams where he practiced between 1983-2000. Between 1984 and May 1985, Mr. Bayly chaired the NWT government's Task Force on Spousal Assault. Between 1981-1987, he served as Counsel and Negotiator for the Dene/Metis Land Claim Agreement-in-Principle. He served as the first Executive Director for the Legal Services Board of the NWT and was responsible for the delivery of legal aid public legal education and services throughout the NWT. In 1990, John U. Bayly was retained as Inquiry Counsel for a Judicial Inquiry into the conduct of Judge R.M. Bourassa (the Bourassa Inquiry). The inquiry was established following public outcry to remarks attributed to Judge Bourassa in a 1989 Edmonton Journal article suggesting that sexual assault among northern natives was less violent than in the south. Mr. Bayly was also a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Public Complaints Commission for 12 years and he has represented a variety of aboriginal peoples organizations, including the Dene Nation, Committee for Original People's Entitlement (COPE), Inuit Tapirisat and Nunavut Tungavik Incorporated (NTI). Before there was a Law Society of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Bayly was the president of the NWT Bar Association for two years. He has been an active member of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories since 1978 and for 21 years he was the Chairman of its Discipline Committee. He is also a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Law Society of Nunavut, the Canadian Bar Association and a director of the International Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism. He is a past chairman of the Denendeh Conservation Board (1988-1991), a past member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (1988-1991) and the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (1986-1989). Mr. Bayly served for seven years as the Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic. In March 2000, he was appointed to the position of Principal Secretary for the Government of the Northwest Territories. John Bayly died in Yellowknife February 17, 2004.
B.C. "Bart" Hawkins was born at Harrow, Ontario on June 30, 1933. He joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on January 14, 1952. Following training in Ottawa and Regina, he was posted to Vegreville, Alberta. While in Vegreville, he applied for northern duty and was transferred to Yellowknife on May 22, 1954. In December 1956, he was transferred to Port Radium as I/C (in charge) where he remained until July 1957.
On July 17, 1957, he married Catherine Marshall, who had been a nurse at the Yellowknife hospital. Following his marriage to Catherine, he was transferred as a married Constable to Fort Simpson, where he served from July 1957 until his transfer to Fort Liard in June 1958. In August 1958, Mr. Hawkins was posted to Hay River where his wife was ill in the Hay River Hospital. Following the death of his wife, he was granted compassionate transfer to Regina, Saskatchewan in order to better care for his infant son, Bruce Carlisle.
On September 17, 1960, he married Jean Baker and was subsequently transferred to several RCMP detachments in Saskatchewan. On december 26, 1961 his second son, Bradley Drew was born. He was promoted to Corporal in October 1962 and on May 12, 1964 returned to the NWT with a posting in Arctic Red River as I/C. Following the closure of the school in the fall of 1964, he was transferred to Fort Normanas I/C. He was transferred to Whitehorse, Yukon in July 1966, to Aklavik as I/C in April 1967, and returned to Whitehorse in June 1970. While in Whitehorse, he was promoted to Sergeant.
On July 17, 1971, he departed the north for Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba as I/C. He was subsequently transferred to Winnipeg General Investigation Section as second I/C. In August 1975, he was transferred to Brandon Sub Division West Section NCO and promoted to Staff Seargent. He remained in Brandon until his retirement from the RCMP on October 31, 1983. He accepted the position of Chief of Police of the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council Police Force, which he held until his retirement in December 1988.
Fred C. Jackson was born in England on December 2, 1894. He first came north as a school teacher for the Anglican Mission in Hay River. He was a bookkeeper with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1920 to 1931, and during that time travelled to various Mackenzie River Settlements. He left the service of the Hudson's Bay Company on March 23, 1931. Late in life he became a member of the clergy with the Anglican Church of Canada.
Peter Lockhart Gordon and his brother, Hugh Donald Lockhart Gordon travelled down the Nahanni in the summer of 1961 by canoe. Hugh drowned while on the trip.