Wendy Bisaro

Thanks to the Minister. I am frowning over here because the money isn’t necessarily needed after the action plan is done, but the money is needed upfront so they can do the action plan, but I will leave it as it is.

One of the concerns that’s been heard from Members, but I’m sure also from the stakeholders from the development of the Anti-Poverty Strategy and within the Anti-Poverty Coalition, has been, since 2010 we’ve been hearing about the government’s conflicting policies which create barriers to allowing people who are in poverty to advance and to get out of poverty and to become better...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that in accordance with its program requirements, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment should review a selection of income security files periodically, to ensure that clients receive benefits to which they are entitled. The department should establish a framework to identify files to audit, based on predetermined criteria. Results should be reported to the director of income security annually.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister responsible for the Social Justice Committee of Cabinet. I’d like to ask Minister Abernethy some questions around the Anti-Poverty Strategy and his statement today.

I’d like to, first of all, commend the steering committee who have worked so hard to produce the Anti-Poverty Strategy framework, strategy and/or framework, whatever it’s going to be called. I understand, and the Minister referenced it in his statement today, that over the summer, he says Ministers will work together to develop action plans to coordinate responses...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment report to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on the use of voucher systems for income assistance in Northwest Territories communities, noting locations, numbers of clients, features of the systems, monitoring by the department, performance measures and evaluation results. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Jeff Corradetti, Frame Lake constituent. Thanks, Jeff, for coming to listen to us today. I would like to recognize the groups that came here, the seniors group that came. I don’t think I need to go through the names. I’d like to particularly mention the members of the steering committee for the Anti-Poverty Strategy who are here and thank them for their work, and the Status of Women Council group who are here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment clarify the reporting relationships of staff involved in the delivery of its income security programs with a view to making their accountability evident, and provide this information to the standing committee at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Elders make a difference in our communities every day. Elders are deeply involved in our communities and their contributions benefit NWT residents of all ages. I’m really pleased to see so many MLAs wearing purple here today to raise awareness of elder abuse.

June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day and I’m going to do my part today to raise the awareness of elder abuse. Elder abuse is a significant threat to the older residents of our NWT communities, as Members well know, and it is a problem in both small communities and larger centres.

For many years elder abuse...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few remarks. I would like to thank Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this motion forward. I am happy to second it to get it to the floor for some debate.

In my time in the North, I think nothing is a bigger issue for us than alcohol and alcohol abuse, and the resulting effects of alcohol on our residents and on our society. I was thinking about this the other day. I think the word scourge applies best to alcohol. Alcohol is a scourge of the NWT and the North and our society. We have to do something to try and address it, something more concrete, something more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am going to stand and vote in favour of this motion. As stated by my colleagues, it’s quite straightforward. This is asking for an updating of an act which is very much out of date. It’s asking for changes that will allow us to provide better services to our residents. It will allow us as residents to feel a bit more involved to allow us to do sort of the social service aspect of our lives, if we wish to do it, which we certainly can’t do now.

The whereases in the motion talk about specific areas in the current act which are out of date and which need to be...

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I guess I would like to suggest that if we are following a system that we have set up that perhaps is not working very well, then maybe we ought to look at other jurisdictions in a little more detail and perhaps change our system.

In our system, in our process and in these guidelines that staff has, does it identify a standard turnaround time and what that time is from the time the application comes in to when the renewed or new card goes back out to the individual? Thank you.