Bill 14 is now ready for third reading. At this time, I’d like to thank the Minister and his staff. Would the Sergeant-at-Arms please escort the witnesses out. Thank you.

Thank you. We are now going into Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. At this time, I would like to ask the Minister responsible, Mr. Dent, if he has any opening remarks. Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. The purpose of this legislation is to increase the aggregate amount that a student is eligible to borrow under the Student Financial Assistance program.

The current aggregate amount that a student is eligible to borrow under the Student Financial Assistance Act is $47,000. The amendment proposes to increase this amount to $60,000. This change will allow the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to increase benefit levels under the SFA program by raising the monthly repayable loan limit from $1,100 to $1,400. This will mean that students in a typical eight-month program will see benefit levels increase from $8,800 to $11,200 per academic year.

We trust that the members of the committee will agree that this amendment is appropriate and will benefit northern students.

Mr. Chairman, I will be pleased to answer any questions the members of the committee may have.

Calvin Pokiak

Nunakput

Thank you. As Bill 19 was referred to Committee of the Whole directly after second reading, there are no committee comments on the bill. Mr. Dent, would you like to bring in witnesses?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Would the Sergeant-at-Arms please bring in the witnesses. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Dent. At this time, can you please introduce your witnesses, please?

Charles Dent

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On my left, I have Ms. Melody McLeod, director of income security, Education, Culture and Employment; on my right is Mr. Ian Rennie, legislative counsel, Department of Justice.

Calvin Pokiak

Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Dent. At this time, is there any general comments? Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome the Minister and his staff to the proceedings this afternoon. Welcome. I am very glad to see that the department has gone forward with this initiative on increasing the limit from $47,000 to $60,000. I just wanted to mention to the Minister that I think this is a step in the right direction, but perhaps what we should be looking at is setting up a separate fund for post-graduate studies specifically for law school, med school and other post-graduate initiatives so that residents here...The cost is continuing to increase. Tuition fees across the country are going up, especially for post-graduate studies. I think it’s important that the ministry of Education, Culture and Employment have an eye to the future and try to ensure that if our students want to go to med school, they want to go to law school, they want to take post-graduate studies, there is a program there. I believe the government should be funding students, if they are going to come back here, similar to the exercise that we have in place now, the remission program. It should be available for post-graduate studies, too. I think we should be funding anybody who wants to go to school and wants to come back to the Northwest Territories to work. I think a program like that for post-graduate studies would be much welcomed. Thank you.

Calvin Pokiak

Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department needs to, on a regular basis, ensure that our program is in line with getting a graduate or post-graduate degree. So I think it is imperative that this sort of change take place on a regular basis. I expect that it would probably be a good idea to take a look, as we just did with the Employment Standards Act, making it possible for the government to make this change in regulation rather than come back to the House and do it in legislation.

It wasn’t something we had time to do in the life of this government, but it is something that should be considered for future governments. Our program currently does fund post-graduate studies. Somebody who has gone to school in the Northwest Territories is entitled to 12 semesters of study. That means that you are covered with the remission program all the way up to the first six full years of study. Then subsequent to that, there are the loan programs available. The expectation is that somebody taking one of those programs for lawyers or for doctors, they are going to have earning potential to be able to pay back at the higher levels. We’ve made it relatively easy to get their first six years of study.

I take the Member’s point. All of our programs need to be looked at on a regular basis to ensure that we are achieving the goal of ensuring that northerners have good access to programs and are encouraged to come back.

Calvin Pokiak

Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ramsay.