Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and it is dealing with income assistance.
I’d just like to ask the Minister, what does the department do for people who are stricken to their homes or place of residence and have challenges such as disabilities, reading, writing challenges, anything that might hinder them from being able to go to the income support office to get the assistance in filling out an application? What does the department do with people that need this type of assistance and are stricken to their home? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I did raise cutting some red tape in this House. That is one of the areas we’ve initiated with income support, the reporting mechanism on a monthly basis like we have on a quarterly basis or every six months type of deal. So those with disabilities, we highly recognize them. We want them to have an easier life than all these different reporting mechanisms. Some can’t walk to the office and we recognize that as well. We’ve made some changes in that respect.
We have client service officers working diligently with those clientele that have the disability. Most times the CSO would go to their household, as well, to assist them as much as we possibly can. We want to make it easier for those people with disabilities. It’s my department’s goals and objectives to reach out to them. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister alluded to my second question. That was how do we reach these individuals who are in their homes. Do we have a community outreach worker or a mobile client service officer for the communities? I know in some of the smaller communities, we have these government service officers that might be able to help, but in some of our regional centres where the GSOs aren’t readily available -- we have a higher population – our home care can address these as well. They usually help in that case.
Can the Minister confirm that in the regional centres that we do have mobile client service officers that go into the homes to help fill out applications that are needed? I’m also really concerned about the safety of these client service officers that might be going into these houses and if they are being accompanied by any type of RCMP officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Indeed, safety becomes a factor when it comes to client service officers dealing with clientele. It goes both ways. We do have client service officers in most of the communities; and those communities that may not have it, we have regional representatives. I just met with the client service officers from across the Northwest Territories just last week and I had a really good discussion with them. I wanted to share their perspective because they are grassroots people dealing with clientele on a day-to-day basis. I was very appreciative, listening to what they are faced with, their challenges. We talked about going to households and how they can assist people with disabilities or elderly couples. We are doing what we can to reach out to those individuals who are most vulnerable. We have to respect their situation as well. It’s our understanding, within the department, to reach out to those individuals and support them in any way we possibly can. Thank you.
The Minister mentioned that it works both ways and I agree. Our client service officers do a lot of work and work with a lot of individuals who sometimes get a little irritated with the process. Mainly I’m just worried about their safety if we do have a mobile client service officer going into the households of some of our clients.
The next question I have for the Minister is whether or not we have proper training across the whole department from region to region to ensure that the assessment that our client service officers do and the directors who approve these assessments have the proper training to do so. In one area people are getting a better assessment than others. So I wonder if that training is the same right across the Northwest Territories and whether or not there’s training available on a yearly basis to bring these individuals in. Thank you.
Those are some of the areas I wanted to share about from the front-line workers and I did hear about them last week. I’m going to be meeting with my senior staff in the department on income support and start implementing some of the key areas such as professional development and what kind of training is required to deal with critical situations.
So, what the Member is addressing here is very important to our client service officers and clientele. We are going to make sure that the training programs are in place. There are some training programs we are currently conducting. I want us to enhance these even further to deal with our clientele who are most vulnerable. It is in the works and we are going to improve those programs as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to ask the Minister what authority he has to make any recommendations for particular or special cases when he’s dealing with his directors in his offices. What authority does he have as Minister? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When it comes to making decisions based on the clientele’s needs, we have to follow the policies, regulations and also the legislation that has been passed in this House. At the end of the day, the decision lies within my department. I’m the overall person in charge of authority of income support. The client service officers work in the communities with the clientele and work with the directors. It goes under my shop as well. We have to keep in mind that there are regulations, legislation that we have to follow, to meet the needs of individuals in the communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
