Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on August 8, 2023, the Government of the Northwest Territories announced improvements to income assistance program for seniors with disability. The GNWT provides benefits aligned with the Northern Market Basket Measure. So I just want to ask the Minister how does income assistance recognize the higher cost of living for families with more than two children? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the Member referencing the press release from August. Unfortunately, the Education, Culture and Employment Income Assistance Program, which was slated to be brought into force before we began the 20th Assembly, has unfortunately not been brought into force yet and so those changes have not yet occurred. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What supports are provided to assist people with disabilities to complete the application to income assistance? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE employs what's called client navigators, and the client navigators work for income assistance and are responsible for providing that support to income assistance clients. And I can say that Behchoko does have a client navigator that is available to residents and to provide them with support to complete forms and let them know what forms might be missing or what else is required. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For applicants that are denied support, can the Minister explain the appeal process? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, clients who are denied would be able to work with their client navigator to be able to access the appeal process and would be able to access that right away. It is recommended that they do that immediately once they find out that they are denied. Sometimes it's something as simple as paperwork is missing from the client and the client navigator, again, can take residents through what information is missing and how they can rectify that together. And if that doesn't work out, they can go through the appeals process.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to reviewing the rejections from income assistance for seniors with disabilities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I would say to that one is because there might be, you know, some things that I don't know about in my role here as Minister, I don't have eyes on to all the applications that do come through income assistance, but as always if there is an issue with any file with any income assistance client, I do recommend that they speak to their client navigator. If that doesn't work, of course I do receive emails from Members on a regular basis letting me know what has gone wrong or what support someone needs. And so absolutely, speak to either your client navigator or your MLA and we can look into it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
