Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the following documents. I wish to table the following document titled NWT Law Foundation Annual Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.

Also, Mr. Speaker, a document entitled Aurora College 2008-2009 Annual Report. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The timing would vary in the communities. At the same time we certainly don’t want clients to wait as long as they could. We try to issue, whether it be manual cheques if the system is down. In small communities we certainly deal with issues pertaining to the technology or the Internet system. We have to keep those in mind as well. If those happen, then we go with the manual cheque run. We do what we can to deliver service into the communities. There are some glitches. There are some challenges before us, but we continue to work with it.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular area has been a real true challenge since the SAM system has been implemented dealing with income support clientele. At the same time, we try to expedite the process itself on to the communities. We deal with 33 communities, so it’s quite challenging. But at the same time I think we are improving our system as we go along.

There have been some certain circumstances where there's been some delays that the Member is alluding to; we’ve remedied the situation, but there are others out there as well. But we’ll do what we can as a department, whether we issue...

Mahsi. That is what we are currently discussing to look further into the actual agreement itself and our policy. We need to resolve this issue, because it doesn’t only impact in that area but also other land claim settlement areas as well. So we’re being cautious of moving forward. So, certainly, that information will certainly be shared with the standing committee as we move forward. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The clawback has been addressed the last several years now, so we made some changes to our existing programming, the policy that we have in place. After numerous discussions that we had in the Legislative Assembly, the standing committee and the general public, we decided that there was an exemption that was put on the table, a $1,200 exemption on individuals that can qualify. The $3,500 that the Member is referring to, there have been payouts by the organization in the Beaufort-Delta, but we are currently looking into that specific area through the initial justice system...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize our two interns who are here in the gallery from the Department of Justice. Mr. Blake Buckle and Emily Ingarfield are here with us. Welcome. Mahsi.

I’m glad the Member raised that issue. Those are the key factors that we’ll take into consideration on a going forward basis. Like I said, there’s always room for improvement and those are areas we will continue to make progress.

Mahsi. This particular issue is very complex. With our caseloads, they’ve almost doubled, dealing with the income support clientele. At the same time we have our resources, experts in these areas that deal with individual clients in the communities and there are certain areas where they need more information. That kind of delays the process itself. We stress to the clients and we stress to the communities in the Northwest Territories that we require all the documentation before we issue, whether it be subsidies or cheques or SFA and so forth. So it’s all depending on the documentation. At the...

Mahsi. We all depend on the agreement that we have in place, whether it be with the Gwich’in, the Beaufort-Delta, within our GNWT system. So, yes, we are going to continue having those types of discussions and we want to expedite the process so we can come out with a solution. Mahsi.

Mahsi. Those are the detailed information that we need to address within our Department of ECE, the Department of Justice and the organization itself. When we talk about chapters, there are different chapters where the funding has been allocated. So, certainly, those are areas that we need to look at. The detail of are they tax exempt and if they are what can we do as a department on a going forward basis, we’ve been having this discussion just since the issuance of the $3,500 has been dispersed. So we are in the process of going forward and talking to organizations. Mahsi.