Jackson Lafferty

Yes, we do have, even with our client service officers throughout the Northwest Territories and even as far as the directors, we have the professionalism, we have dedicated, educated individuals in the system. At the same time, there is always room for improvement on the programming areas and we have to work with that as well. I’m glad the Member is raising that profile. That is part of the process as we discuss the action plan.

I’m sure that will be the outcome of part of our action plan we’re going to be delivering to the standing committee next month. We make do with what we have, the client service officers, throughout the Northwest Territories. Some have high caseloads, some low. It does fluctuate. We are monitoring that right now. We continue to, again, pertaining to training, conduct training in the regions and communities. At the same time, this is an area that we are seriously looking at as part of the nine recommendations that came down from the office of the Auditor General. We are taking it seriously as...

I agree that these types of training should be pushed forward in advance. I will be working with the Department of Transportation on this particular piece of work where we’ve done that in the past in other communities, whether it be a Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3, and even Class 5. There are certain individuals that want to take this training. I will commit to the Member that we’re going to put that forward, and then based on the communities’ needs, if that is the interest, then we’ll definitely fulfil that.

Those are the areas that we need to discuss with the group, and when I mention the group, that’s the community representatives, the industry representatives. They are the experts that will provide the community-based needs, the human resources. We do have community learning centres. We have the colleges. Colleges are part of the process, as well, and the Mine Training Society, if they happen to be part of the process. I think they should be part of the process, and other industries and organizations that are part of the group. We’re going to have a dynamic discussion identifying short-term...

What we’re talking about here will be released next month. I don’t want to get into detail before it comes before standing committee. This is an area that we have addressed and it will be part of the action plan. We are taking it very seriously. We’ve heard there’s probably… I’m not sure the percentage of files that have been misplaced but, at the same time, there are other areas where we have made progress and improvement. We will continue to do that but this is an area that will be before us as part of the action plan.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With client service officers usually when there’s a demand for any advancement in their position or usually we have client service officers to get together. There is training or workshops that happen at times. Just recently we had a group of client service officers gather to provide training to them to deal with clientele professionally, not only that but the efficiency and proficiency and effectiveness of delivering a program. Those are some of the areas that we’ve covered. Whenever there’s training that is required, we provide that to client service officers.

With the project that’s going forward now, there are going to be various training aspects and that’s what we need to identify. I want to push this forward expeditiously with potential partners that are there in the Beaufort-Delta and, based on their needs, develop plans of action pertaining to training. That’s an area that I’m committing to with my department, working with the regional representatives, and also industry and Aboriginal organizations. We need to plan now.

My understanding is that there are certain programming for disability cross-functioning with various institutions. I need to get the latest update from the college and provide that to the Members, then we can discuss further how we can improve those programs or make additions.

The Member is referring to the increase that should be taking effect, because we just went through the budget process, April 1st. That’s the information that I have, from $8,000 to $10,000.

Again, we are doing more groundwork with respect to other jurisdictions, what kind of programs they offer. If it’s better or even more than what we offer, then seriously we’ll take those into consideration, as well, and make some changes to our programming as we move forward.

Mr. Speaker, our income security programs provide support for those residents over the age of 19 and their families. It covers basic food, shelter and clothing needs, child care benefits, heating subsidies, income support and student financial assistance. It also provides supports for disabled residents.

Mr. Speaker, we recognize that not one formula fits all needs. This is why our client service officers have a difficult job, one that few people can do. They do their best to meet the unique needs of their diverse clients, while at the same time adhering to the general guidelines and...