R.J. Simpson

Thank you. That number is relatively consistent because it is based on the school funding formula which is based on the number of students in the territory. And so that number hasn't varied greatly so that's why you see that consistency there. The Member is pointing out that, you know, there's often discussion about the need for more supports for inclusive schooling. And so the department is, early in the new government I understand, going be undertaking a review of their supports. You know, we've run into a number of issues. And as we face some of the labour market challenges and we can't get...

So I believe those are for the we have rolled out a child care fee reduction subsidy, and we provided child care operators with administrative funds so that they could hire administrative support to help them with some of that reporting. So that would account for those increases. Thank you.

Thank you. And yes, we did look at that initially. Again, as I told as I told the Member before, we shoot for the stars and we get chopped down at every juncture. So we still wound up with an excellent program but we couldn't get everything in this program that we wanted given our financial situation. But I think we wound up with I would say we already had we already currently have the best student financial assistance program in Canada, and we're just going to leave everyone in the dust come the next school year. Thank you.

Thank you. So when the money goes into the pot, that's the money we have. So it doesn't matter where it comes from. If it's from a carbon tax, if it's from, you know, permit fees or anything like that. So we look at what we have and what we can do with it. I have not instructed the department to spend their energy working on guaranteed basic income given that we are expending a lot of energy working on the income assistance program changes. I did try to take the approach of lessening the reducing the number of times that an individual might be cut off from income assistance. You know, as MLAs...

Thank you. So there was funding for that, like in this current fiscal year but that is sunsetting. Originally, this project was supposed to be completed by the end of this term and so that funding is sunsetting. But going forward, from what has been learned during this process the department has a better handle on how things work and will be able to fund that work internally going forward. Thank you.

Thank you. The corrections service has representation on the NWT transitional housing advisory committee. The committee is also represented by staff from the NTHSSA and ECE. The committee supports transitional housing for additional recovery program, which is a transitional housing program designed to provide aftercare services and supports to individuals returning from addictions treatment. However, I will say that whether you are being released from jail or you are just a resident who is not in jail, there's housing challenges in the territory for you. And so the department does not provide...

Thank you. That would be the five additional members. Thank you.

Thank you. So that's a decision for the, I believe, 20262027 budget year, because that's when the agreement will expire. It expires in 2026. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So for people who are in the system, their case worker can help them with those types of things. It's applicationbased. It's under the federal government so it's not the Department of Justice who would be doing that. And I can also say that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, through the income assistance program, will help people who don't have the funds to go through that process to get their record expunged. Thank you.

Thank you. So in addition to the director, we have four pathfinders and I believe there's also an intern so that would be five. Thanks.