Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do understand there are unique situations that our residents and our families are in. We also have a great Student Financial Assistance program, so if a student is going off to school, hopefully they're able to budget within their means, allowing the seniors at home to utilize their Senior Home Heating Subsidy, as well as utilize their income assistance, if they are on income assistance, for their most basic needs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I don't have the level of detail in terms of the apprenticeships from year to year. I just have the current statistics, but we can get that information for the Member. SNAP and Skills NWT, they're both excellent programs. I believe they are having a positive impact on our students who are looking at entering into the trades. We have had some really great success at the national level, as well, with NWT Skills Canada and the work that they do. The great thing about the NWT Skills Canada program is a lot of people who have gone through NWT Skills actually go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently we are committed to working with the Minister of Health and Social Services and his department with the Right from the Start early childhood development action plan. There are 19 areas of action in there. I believe my department is focused on five of them, the Department of Health and Social Services on five, and then jointly we are working on nine of those areas of action. It is not only the Department of Health and Social Services. I think it is very important that, when we look at early childhood programming funding initiatives, that we also work with our...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate the Member's passion for seniors and supporting seniors aging in place and throughout the Northwest Territories. We can have those discussions with the Government of Canada. It will be a bilateral agreement and discussion, but I cannot say what the Government of Canada will come back with. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I cannot make that commitment until we do see a report in front of us and a report from the Aurora College. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with the Member's comments. Actually, in fact, my counterpart in Nunavut, the Minister of Education, was one of the first participants in the Northern Youth Abroad program. It shows how big of an impact that program has on our youth in NWT and Nunavut. We can consider putting it in as a line item in future main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are looking at the income thresholds on this. We do know that some of our seniors do use their allocated Senior Home Heating Subsidy before the end of the winter seasons. We have been encouraging to also go to income assistance to see whether or not that can offset of the costs. As I mentioned, with income assistance and clients and families that we work with, it is on a case-by-case basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are currently in negotiations with the government of Canada. We are near to finalizing those agreements on the Labour Market Agreements for the Northwest Territories, and once those are finalized, we will see what the numbers are. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, this is Education Week in the Northwest Territories. I would like to celebrate the educators who have dedicated their careers, and lives, to teaching our children and youth. I would also like to share how I and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment are supporting their success.

Right now there are more than 800 educators here in Yellowknife at the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association Educators' Conference. They are working together to strengthen education in the territory by participating in workshops, professional development, and training sessions.

Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This supplementary benefit here in the NWT was the first time we increased it in a number of years. We are always looking to find ways that we can get extra funding from outside governments and other governments, possibly the federal government, but at this time, we will have have discussions on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.