Grouard gets final AVC input

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GROUARD - Local residents had their last opportunity last week for input before a joint working committee makes recommendations to the provincial government on Alberta Vocational Centre (AVC) Grouard.

The committee, jointly chaired by Robin Ford, assistant deputy minister of Alberta Municipal Affairs, and Grouard's Jeff Chalifoux, has since last July studied Native issues in adult education and the role of AVC Grouard.

Next month, the committee expects to report to the ministers of Advanced Education, Municipal Affairs, and Economic Development.

At the Grouard public forum, the committee shared the findings of a study conducted by a consultant with about 50 local residents.

The committee had told the consultant to look at Native involvement in the operation.

Peter Nichols of Nichols Applied Management told the forum that he was asked "to provide a background analysis that focussed on the expressed needs of Native people and how AVC addresses these."

Nichols said his firm researched existing documents, interviewed about 20 experts, and surveyed staff and current and past students.

"For disadvantaged"

Some of the key findings of the study indicated that when AVC Grouard was established in 1970, it was "to provide education and training for disadvantaged people in the Slave Lake area." The perception at the time was the majority of disadvantaged persons were Native and that the school's program would be focussed on Native needs.

Nichols said that "there is no written statement that AVC was to be a Native institution. However, early goals included training for Natives to become "instructors and administrators" at the institution.

Today, added Nichols, "most people see a change from the Native focus. And although there is no objection to non-Native students, it is felt that the original mandate is still valid."

The subject sparked much discussion and comment from the floor. Nichols noted that since the original mandate was ambiguously stated, "there is a pressing need to clarify the mandate."

Of the institution's student population, about 70 to 80 per cent are Native persons. The present administration, Nichols said, "feel AVC's role is to adult education regardless of race to meet a regional need."

The committee realizes, noted Robin Ford, "there is a problem. The mandate of AVC Grouard is not clear. The joint committee intends to make recommendations on this problem. Native interests are to be properly represented in a policy statement.

Programs and staff

The study found a high level of satisfaction among both students and staff about the programming provided at AVC Grouard.

Concerns stated, however, that there seems to be less emphasis on meeting the educational needs of Native adults.

Noted Jeff Chalifoux: "Unemployed Native people, educated at AVC, with a certificate, have told me that employers tell them it does not mean anything."

Also at the meeting there was some talk about the role of AVC President Fred Dumont in the diminishing of Native involvement. Dumont, it seemed, continues to be somewhat distrusted by some in the local community, with one woman calling for his removal.

This caused Andy Hendry, assistant deputy minister of Advanced Education, to complain about "nit-picking."

Said Hendry: "There is a deep and caring feeling to make AVC Grouard better for Native people."

Staffing at the institution generally was found satisfactory by students but there is a continuing concern that there are not more Native instructors and especially Native counsellors and community liaison workers.

A successful education technician program that ran in the early seventies should be looked at as a model for developing needed qualification in Native people who want to work at the institution, the meeting was told from the floor.

Facilities

The attempt to have married student quarters built in High Prairie probably was one of the primary causes of the protest that resulted in the blockading of the schol last summer by Grouard residents.

As well, there has been considerable concern in the local community that such a move would be the fist step toward moving other facilities to extension campuses and diminishing the central role of the facilities at Grouard.

As Nichols noted, the issue of the location of facilities relates to the institution's mandate: "If it is one of regional service, then facilities should be in other major centres."

As well, there is a shortage of instructional space at Grouard for a number of high-demand courses.

It was recognized that the location of the married student quarters is symbolic of the concern to have an institution in the Grouard location continue to focus n Native education.