Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment today.
Several times over the last year Members have indicated to the Minister that Income Security changes are required. The one area in particular I’d like to reference is the method of calculation of income for seniors who are living on their own but who may be attended in their own home by a family member because they are unable, physically, to live on their own.
The current policy penalizes the senior’s Income Security payment because the family member’s income is also included in the household income, and the calculation of payments is based on household income. So my question to the Minister is: when can we expect this policy change in the income calculation for seniors living with a family member who is looking after them?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, that area has been brought to our attention as a department, and we are looking at options on how to deal with those seniors in their own home or in a public unit.
Just for the fuel subsidy, it will be in their own home. We are looking at where individuals working at the mine sites are living with their grandmas or their parents. It is based on household income.
At the same time, some individuals, community members, unfortunately do take advantage of that, where they are living with their grandmas or moms or grandparents. They’re not paying anything. This way, we’re trying to find out where we can work with the senior. Somehow individuals that are not paying have to start paying to some degree. So we are looking at the options.
My department is working diligently in this area, because winter is going to be here soon. We are working as fast as we can on how we can deal with this particular issue, because there are requests that are coming on this particular issue. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that there are difficulties in this and that there are people who will take advantage of a situation, but when a senior can stay in their own home instead of having to go into a public health institution, an elder care facility or a long term care facility, it’s a significant saving to the GNWT. I didn’t hear the Minister tell me when this is going to happen. I understand they are working diligently, but I feel that this is a matter that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I would like to again ask the Minister when we can expect this policy change.
Like I said, we are working on this, especially this month, with the following few more months to go. Then, whatever we come up with, we need to talk to the Regular Members as well, because whenever there are changes, we need to notify the Members on the policy changes. As long as it meets the needs of the communities, the seniors especially…. We need to work with the seniors — how we can help them, especially with a recent increase of $10,000 for the Seniors Fuel Subsidy. We want them to qualify for that subsidy program, but at the same time, there is a threshold with their household income. So we clearly highlighted that. Like I said, my staff is working on this, and as soon as we come up with a package, we will certainly provide that to Members. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I do have to take a bit of an exception, I guess, to waiting for Regular Members. I appreciate that you want to run the policy by Regular Members, but I think this is a situation where seniors are being penalized because they wish to stay in their own homes. They are either disabled, or they are elderly and they need someone to care for them. I feel really strongly that this is a situation that shouldn’t be left for six, eight, ten or 12 months until it comes back to Regular Members and has been vetted by us.
I’d like to ask the Minister if there is any possibility that the department would consider putting a policy in place for a short period of time, basically on a trial basis over this winter.
Mr. Speaker, this is an important topic for us as well. It has been brought to our attention, like I said earlier. For a short period we would like to share with Members some possible solutions to these areas. I am willing to work with the Member or Members on this particular issue. We have to do this for the benefit of the communities as well. I will continue to work on this and expedite the process where we subsidize seniors so they won’t get impacted. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t speak for all Members, but I am going to guess that I don’t believe there is a Member on this side of the House who would object to a change in this policy that is going to assist seniors who cannot live on their own. So I would ask whether or not the Minister could commit to bringing something forward to Members, to committee, before we break this session.
I will commit to the Member that I’ll bring something back to the Member, also dealing with the household income. Whatever changes we make does come with the funding, so we need to take that into consideration as well. We need to find out how much it will cost us to change our policy overall for the Northwest Territories. So we need to do that math; factor that in. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
