Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Income assistance helps families at risk in several ways, and I'm very supportive of this. A civil society, as we all know, tries to collectively help each other in ways that no one is left too far behind. Income assistance does offer immediate assistance in crisis, job loss, illness, and many other reasons to help stabilize the family. This, we all know. And we know, at the same time, it doesn't fix every problem but, again, stability and making sure they're okay is a contributing principal of the program.
Mr. Speaker, but the backstop is exactly what is - a backstop of basics. It's not meant to be a lottery despite how some people believe it is. Mr. Speaker, basic coverage really could mean anywhere from food and housing, as already mentioned, but the principle is we need to make sure people are okay. But that said, where do we continue to the next phase? What is next?
I often think the system fails itself because it's not focused purely on where do we go next. The important question is yes, we've helped you from spiralling down further, like the torrent spiral of the gravity pull of someone getting down further and further into despair, Mr. Speaker; the question is who is throwing a rope to help people out. Who is plying the ladder to say let's help you climb out together. Mr. Speaker, we cannot leave people adrift alone because that's exactly what we get, is that helping them with the basics and saying you're on your own is exactly where many people stay.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage, and if not say demand, the system starts asking this serious question of saying why aren't we providing navigators to help people find their way to the next phase? We must not view this as an impossible challenge but as a possible challenge of a way we can change lives for the better. Mr. Speaker, through an empowerment attitude and process, our navigators, through the income support program, can inspire people to say how can we make today better than yesterday; how can we make tomorrow better than any other day you've seen so far?
Mr. Speaker, there was a time when income support did have social workers in their program. Now that was a long time ago, and I won't go into that. Someone may, of course, may have thought, wow, they're just data entry jobs. But what's been changed is that critical part of the conversation about empowerment. They're not data entry people. They are people who are on the frontline making a positive difference in those lives. I think we could work together to help change people at risk, families at risk, to stable, strong, contributors to society. We can do this together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Whoops, I got ahead of myself. It was Members' statements, not oral questions. So let's go back to Members' statements.
