The Village of Burns Lake presented a post-secondary resolution to the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) last week.
The 2016 NCLGA convention took place in Dawson Creek, B.C., on May 4-6. Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold attended the convention along with councillor Chris Beach and city clerk Cameron Hart.
The resolution, which was put forward by Fort St. James and was later endorsed by the Village of Burns Lake, asks for a post-secondary collaboration in Northern B.C.
The proposed model would give northern communities the ability to make more decisions regarding post-secondary education.
“Communities are asking for a different approach to post secondary institute partnerships with communities,” said Strimbold. “We would prefer to be proactive partners rather than reactive to decisions being made for us.”
Strimbold was referring to the College of New Caledonia’s decision to transfer all family programs offered at the Lakes District campus to different organizations last year.
The family programs’ hub model of service delivery, which had been in place for over 25 years in Burns Lake, received international recognition and was regarded by community leaders as one of the college’s most successful operations.
During an event at the Lakes District campus last March, Strimbold expressed his frustration over the board’s decision to transfer the family programs.
“We tried hard, we met with a number of folks, but we weren’t able to influence the decisions that were made,” Strimbold said in March.
The resolution asks NCLGA to work with the B.C. government and post-secondary representatives to implement a new model of collaborative service delivery amongst the region’s current four post-secondary institutions.
The resolution states that while post-secondary education is a key economic driver in north central B.C., post-secondary institutions encounter issues with low enrolment and interruption of programs, ultimately contributing to the inability of communities to rely on satellite campuses.
“Collaboration, resource-sharing and innovation can greatly optimize service delivery in a region like north central B.C., with a vast geography and sparse population,” states the resolution.
Strimbold said he hopes the proposal of a new college in Burns Lake will support this advocacy and change the way post-secondary education is delivered in the north.
The proposal of a pilot regional community college in Burns Lake came in response to the cutbacks and restructuring that took place at the College of New Caledonia (CNC) last year.
Burns Lake has secured funding of almost $170,000 for the creation of the new college and is currently developing a plan and gathering partners.
Earlier this year, the CNC board of directors was invited to be partners in the creation of the new college. However, in a letter dated March 1, 2016, the CNC board says it made the decision to “respectfully decline the request.”
Established in 1955, the North Central Local Government Association is the advocacy body for all local government officials in north central British Columbia.
From 100 Mile House to the Yukon border, and from Haida Gwaii to Alberta, the association represents over 240 elected officials in over 40 local governments.