Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Committee would like to consider Committee Report 5-17(4).

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very glad that this motion has come forward and I’d like to thank the mover and the seconder for bringing it to the floor.

I’ve spoken to the issue of new resource revenues, yesterday, when I was speaking to the devolution motion and the debate that we had there. This motion particularly identifies four areas where these resource revenues should go. Certainly, one-quarter is going to aboriginal governments and I find no fault with that whatsoever.

The other three areas I think need to be debated. I don’t necessarily agree with these four priorities as they are laid...

From what I hear from the Minister, it sounds as though there is no standard. When an application comes in, there is no turnaround time of, say, five days, from the time that it is received on the desk to when I as a worker have to send it back out. I would suggest to the Minister that that is not a good situation.

He has heard many complaints from Members, and I am sure he’s heard from residents as well. I would like to know whether or not the Minister has done an evaluation of the workload in the Inuvik office to determine whether or not there is adequate staff there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister again. We made a change to the process of health card renewals. It started, I understand, in December of 2012 or January of 2013. Prior to making that change, I would like to know from the Minister what other jurisdictions were reviewed to set up this new health card renewal process. How did we evaluate what we were doing and what we are now currently doing? What other jurisdictions were canvassed to see what kind of a system would be best for us? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I have held off on the health card debate, so to speak, but I have been listening to my colleagues’ comments, questions and concerns, and I have some questions for the Minister with regard to the inability, it seems, of the department to handle health card renewals, for some people at least.

My first question goes to the process that is used by the department and the office in Inuvik. I’d like to know from the Minister what kind of a process is used when a renewal application comes in. Is...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

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.