Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot stand today to do my Member’s statement. The reason being is I’ve committed to being in a wheelchair for today, and although I did stand when the Mace came in and during the prayer, I did that out of respect for the House and the rules of the House.

The reason I’m in a wheelchair today is because I’ve committed to creating awareness of a different kind: awareness for people with disabilities. This week is Disabilities Awareness Week and the theme is Disability Awareness: Creating an Accessible and Welcoming Community for all People.

As I sit here in a wheelchair...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment establish targets and outcome measures that align with the overall objective for its income security programs; review the data it currently collects on income security programs, to ensure it has the data required to measure whether targets and outcomes are being met; and develop a plan to identify when it will evaluate its programs, to determine if the objective of those income security programs is being met. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment ensure that regional managers and supervisors formally monitor client files. This monitoring should include regularly scheduled reviews of client files as well as the use of standard templates in all regions to help ensure a consistent approach. In cases where monitoring uncovers deficiencies or other issues, regional managers and supervisors should follow up formally. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, it has been a long day. We did read it in the 21 page report earlier. Being new to the government, I do feel that there are a lot of areas that needed to be fixed. We wouldn’t have had to read a 21 page report with 21 recommendations into this House if the Department of Education, Culture and Employment were on top of things. I would have rather read it in a five page report or no report at all that said everything was good. We had a lot of unsatisfactory areas that deal with a lot of people that have come to my office and we actually had people in the gallery who had to express...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You’ve heard my colleagues. They’ve all expressed reasons why we need to invest more dollars. Over our last couple of budgets, we’ve asked for those dollars, we fought for those dollars to be put into these areas. You’ve heard me in the House speaking in favour of the Mental Health Act, how we need to get more dollars for detox beds, treatment centres. This motion speaks to that. Plain and simple, we’ve heard it before over the 20 months.

Just for the record, I want to say I’m in support of this motion. I will support my colleagues moving forward and getting 10 percent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year on October 31st, I made a Member’s statement and asked questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services on stem cell donation, dealing with cancer and leukemia and those types of cancers and how it can be prevented, how we can increase our database so we get more people signing up to be donors to save people’s lives. This goes along the same lines of something that I had pushed for last year, so obviously, I will be voting in support of this motion.

It’s a motion that shows action needs to be done to update and modernize the current act that we have...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister made a comment there that some of these recommendations were not applicable. How can this government have the NWT Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities when we have barely even discussed or even brought it up in the House, and have recommendations on the government document that is on the website, have recommendations that are not applicable to NWT residents, NWT residents that are living with disabilities when we try to talk about dignity, respect for all individuals of the NWT? How can he make the statement such as some of these not being applicable? Can he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister responsible for Persons with Disabilities. Last year at some time, I made a Member’s statement on reports that this government does, and sometimes doesn’t take any to them, and sometimes these reports get shelved. Looking at the reports dealing with persons with disabilities, I’ve come across two here on the website. One is the NWT Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities, even though it deals with so many different areas: disabilities, education, employment, income, disabilities, sports, housing. I could each ask each one of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Dolynny.

The Auditor General found that the majority of income security client files reviewed were not managed according to one or more program requirements.

The Auditor General’s staff sampled client files from April 2009 to June 2012 to determine if applicants were assessed and benefits paid according to requirements. A random sample of 65 client files from all four programs was used, from both regional and small community service centres. The file review focused mainly on compliance with eligibility requirements and timely and accurate payments.

On the...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment identifies income assistance overpayments, it should comply with the Financial Administration Manual requirements for collecting them. It should follow collection procedures by issuing invoices and written notifications per the required schedule, and forward outstanding debts to the Department of Finance for collection when required. Thank you, Mr. Chair.