Could Yellowknife’s Tin Can Hill host a university campus?

An area at the edge of Yellowknife’s Tin Can Hill is under consideration as a possible site for a future university campus, the city’s Great Slave MLA says.

Katrina Nokleby, whose electoral district includes the Tin Can Hill green space – a popular dog-walking area – said at a constituency meeting last week there had been discussion of where to locate a new campus.

The transformation of the NWT’s Aurora College into a polytechnic university is widely expected to involve some form of new facility in Yellowknife, which is one of the college’s three largest campuses alongside Inuvik and Fort Smith.

“I was told that they had been looking at Tin Can Hill for the Yellowknife campus, with some resident housing,” Nokleby told Cabin Radio after raising the subject with constituents.

The proposed site, Nokleby understands, would be at the north end of the hill between the municipal water treatment plant and the trails.

There has so far been no public discussion of potential campus sites, and the size and design of any such building are not likely to be finalized for some time.

However, the MLA said the suggestion that Tin Can Hill might be a contender to host a new facility gave her pause.

“I would imagine that not only my constituents, but others in town would be kind-of maybe not too keen on that location,” she said.

Nokleby understands that options for a university campus will be discussed at an upcoming city council meeting.

Both the Mayor of Yellowknife and territorial government declined to comment when asked if they were able to elaborate.

Nokleby said she was left wondering why, as the MLA for the Tin Can Hill area, she had not been brought into the discussion.

“I wonder why I haven’t been consulted, but perhaps they’re just waiting to see if the city would even approve it,” she said.

The territorial government did state that a facilities plan, expected to set out how the university’s campuses will work, is set to be released this summer.