Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On June 10, 2020, I asked the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if he could confirm whether payments of claims beneficiaries, per Section 20(4) to the Income Assistance Regulations, has been considered "unearned income" when determining "net monthly income" to the purpose of calculating Income Assistance payable to the applicant, whether the payments and claims in the beneficiaries were exempt from being considered unearned income under the regulations prior to 2007. Quoting from unedited Hansard, the Minister replied, "I'm not up to date with what happened in 2007, so I can't confirm what the status of the program was in 2007." I also asked the Minister how much the inclusion of this provision saves the Government of the Northwest Territories on Income Assistance payments, to which he did not receive a direct answer. Consequently, I have the following written questions:
Since the 1990, inception of the Income Assistance Regulations pursuant to the Social Assistance Act, is "money, or the value of goods, in excess of $500 per year, received by a person under a self-government agreement, a land claims agreement or an impact benefits agreement" always considered as unearned income for the purpose of determining an applicant's net monthly income, or the provision included in the regulations at that point subsequent to their coming into force?
What is the rationale for including claims beneficiary income, the calculation is "unearned income" when Residential School Settlement payments were not included in that calculation?
If the Government of the Northwest Territories were to exempt claims of beneficiaries in land claim groups income from being considered "unearned income" when determining the applicant's net monthly income for the purposes of calculating Income Assistance payable to the applicant, how much extra would it cost our Government of the Northwest Territories in social assistance payments, applicants for the current fiscal year? Put another way, how much money will the GNWT save on Income Assistance payments in this current fiscal year by including claims beneficiaries income as "unearned income" when determining the applicant's net monthly income for the purposes of calculating Income Assistance payable to an applicant?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
