Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have mentioned in the House, all the programs within ECE, we always review them. I am not sure what would trigger a review of the income assistance rates, but we believe that we do provide income assistance adequately on a case-by-case basis. Mind you, income assistance is the last resort for our residents who have tried every other avenue for getting some financial stability or other resources before coming to income assistance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That level of detail I will have to get from the Aurora College. They do review their own programs, so I will have to get that information, and I will get it back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Sorry for the confusion, Mr. Chair. Once we get that response formalized, then we will send a letter to standing committee, and we will be sharing that with the education authorities, as well. It was the discussion that we had our last education leaders meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. They're going to be both, really. They're going to be supporting our CDOs, getting out into the schools, into the communities to try to get our students in high school onto a right career path and support, have those extra supports. We do have some documents, the Skills 4 Success, labour market, needs assessment, and using those as part of the guiding tools that will help them do their jobs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, the discussion paper is before standing committee. We are also getting that information out to some of our other partners and stakeholders on that legislation to get their feedback. So I believe the discussion paper is before standing committee, and, as I mentioned, getting that discussion paper out to leadership, really, in the Northwest Territories to see how this legislation is going to work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we couldn't do the amendments, because they were printed in December and the decision was made in January. The process of when there were internal reallocations does have to go through a process and have an FMB submission. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did have an uptake in income assistance clients. Sometimes the rent that we do pay for income assistance clients also pays into that, and then, also, there are utility increases that are covered under the department that sometimes do increase, as well, so those are all reflected in that increase on that line item. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. They are two different things. The Aurora College decided to do a review of the Social Work Program. They went ahead and are doing that right now. Our foundational review is looking at so many other different things; accountability, governance, structure, operations. They are two different reviews, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was part of the reduction exercise that the department did, and this is the final year of that exercise. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. They're different positions. One, a guidance counsellor helps the students as well as helps in terms of helping the students get on a path to succeed as well as in post-secondary or a career. The positions that we were working within the Department of Health and Social Services are for mental health services. They're different positions; and the education authorities in terms of the guidance counsellors, what we fund them, they go out and get those positions for their respective schools. Thank you, Mr. Chair.