Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, right now, what is the department doing to make sure that all Tsiigehtchic clients of income security programs can have face-to-face access to staff when they need to? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, we have a client service officer who travels into Tsiigehtchic on a monthly basis so that they can meet with income support clients. We also have government service officers who can help people with filling out forms or applications, et cetera, if the client service officers aren't in Tsiigehtchic. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the number of income assistance cases and the number of income assistance beneficiaries in Tsiigehtchic has increased over time. We are also hearing from community leadership that a local dedicated staff person is necessary for practical purposes. What other information does the department need to build a business case to re-introduce this position into the community?
Customer service is a priority within all government departments, but we also have to be reasonable. We have more need or more desires than actually money. Within the community of Tsiigehtchic, currently we have 10 people who are on income support and we have five people that are accessing our home heating services. The five people on home heating only have to apply once a year. The 10 people on income support have to do monthly assessments, but I really have a hard time justifying that we would need a full-time worker for 10 people on income support in a community. If I had the money, Mr. Speaker, I would have one. Again, it is hard to justify a full-time worker on 10 income support people.
Mr. Speaker, one thing that I didn't mention in my statement is travel time is taken out of the actual hours that a person is in the community. You're looking at anywhere from four to five hours per day once a month that that person is in the community. Now that I have brought these issues to the Minister's attention, what actions will the Minister take to improve local, face-to-face income security program services in Tsiigehtchic?
Since the Member brought it up, there must be an issue with it. I'm more than willing to sit down with the Member and discuss what their community is actually seeing as barriers. My understanding is that we do have workers going in once a month at minimum. I will make sure that they are providing that service, and I would be more than willing to meet with the MLA to figure out what the issues are and see how we can accommodate.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister actually come on a tour in the first week of December, with Minister Schumann and I, along with whoever else is available? Will the Minister commit to that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There was a commitment that Ministers get to as many ridings as possible. I know I have been to that riding probably a couple of times already. I am not sure if it is on my agenda for December. I do know that I am booking up until February, but if I am available, then I would be more than honoured to visit the riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
