Alfred Moses

Yes. We are always working with our partners, NWT councils with disabilities but in terms of corresponding, in terms of the reductions, there was no consultation on that part. We looked at program services, when we had to go through the exercise and see where dollars weren't being utilized fully and thought that those would be areas that we can look into when we went through the reductions exercise. Thank you.

Thank you. As we are going through our Education Renewal and Innovation Action Plan and running some pilots in some of the communities, that is the amount there that is covering those pilots and some of the work that we are doing with the education and renewal. The budget that we do have fits the work that we do need to do moving forward this fiscal year. Thank you.

Thanks. Appreciate the comment and I know our department works very well with our stakeholders, so any of these changes, we'll make sure that they're passed on to the appropriate previous applicants if they see that funding might not be aware.

Obviously as our Minister of Finance said, the best social program is a job, having job creation. One thing that our department has done was create five positions, employment transition officers, and I think it's the first year that they've gone through it. We're trying to get people out of income assistance and relying on government and getting to the job workforce, and it's been very successful so far. We're hoping to continue to support people getting into employment. In terms of bringing income assistance, we are going to be going through an income assistance review and how we work through...

Yes. The department is always looking at reviewing our programs and services to make sure that they meet the basic needs of our clients in the Northwest Territories. Currently about 15 per cent of our department's budget is actually on income assistance. In 2014-15, we had over about 3,323 families on income assistance. With the low economic downturn throughout the Northwest Territories, it is increasing and on occasion we do bring supplementary appropriations before the House for approval to offset some of those costs. As I mentioned to the Member, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and...

The Member did bring up these questions during business plans. We did direct the department to look at what other jurisdictions are doing from 2014. The Member did mention that Yukon is doing something similar, so we will look into what Nunavut and Yukon are doing in terms of indexing to the cost of living. I think our northern market basket measure is effective when we are reviewing our programs, but we will see what Yukon and Nunavut are doing and if they are in fact indexing their income assistance and programs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, the income assistance was not increased on April 1, 2016. However, they were increased on April 1, 2015. The reason we didn't look at the increase was, obviously, there was a federal announcement of the child benefits and we wanted to look at our regulations. The Member stated it very well in his Member's statement on why we were looking at delaying any type of increases. Currently the GNWT does have a northern market basket measure. We worked with the Governments of Yukon and Nunavut to create this. All other jurisdictions across Canada have a market basket measure...

One thing that the department is doing is that we're trying to make it a little bit clearer for people living with disabilities and the seniors who are on a fixed income to not have to report their income on a monthly basis; making it easier for them to access these programs and services. For other people that are on income assistance, we will have to look at the income on a monthly basis. But for persons living with disabilities and seniors on a fixed income I think we're moving ahead in terms of the reporting that they have to do on a monthly basis, and I think that that's a big improvement...

Mr. Speaker, the income security programs provide for the basic needs whether it's market rental housing, clothing, food, just the basic needs for anybody looking to live an independent lifestyle whether it's a senior or persons living with disabilities. To get into more details, it is on a client-to-client basis on any income that they might have as well. To get into more detail anyone that's applying for income assistance that needs the help that they do need, I would encourage them to go to see a client service officer and work out a plan moving forward.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ms. Crystal Lennie to the House today and take in our proceedings. I believe she's been regularly coming to Yellowknife to take her management and leadership courses and I wish her the best of luck in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.