Aurora College has announced that it will close all 19 of its Community Learning Centres by June 2025. In a statement, the Aurora Board of Governors explained that enrolment and completion rates at the centres have decreased dramatically in recent years while the delivery model has become “prohibitively expensive, outdated, and ineffective.” CKLB News reports that many of the learning centres are located in Indigenous communities, including NWT’s northernmost community of Ulukhaktok. Aurora will also withdraw from its partnership with Inclusion NWT and will no longer offer literacy-level programming. The Union of Northern Workers told Cabin Radio that this decision will impact 47 unionized jobs. It has accordingly filed a grievance with the Government of the Northwest Territories, asserting that the closures were “announced as final without giving the union an opportunity to meet with the employer to discuss ways to avoid layoffs.” The college will continue to provide academic upgrading in person at its three campuses and online.
