Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the good work done in the last Assembly by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, who is now the Honorable Premier. In the 19th Assembly, the Minister of ECE made changes to the Student Financial Assistance program where the 12-semester limit, or $60,000 cap on funding, was removed for Indigenous students. Mr. Speaker, this is an incredible offering to the Indigenous students of the NWT. This support makes education more accessible and equitable.

Mr. Speaker, we know the education outcomes of Indigenous people in the...

Regarding the housing operations and support, I want to ask the Minister she is well aware of it too because she, you know, Tuk is in the same situation as we are in Tlicho region, especially in Behchoko. You know, with the housing crisis we have a waitlist of over 200 applicants on you know, in Behchoko alone. And I don't think the waitlist decreased but it increased, it went up because there's more family coming back, that are moving back to the communities, and it's having an effect, you know, on the families that, you know, taking in the family members that just moved back to the...

Thank you. No, well, it's in my region and it's in her region, in all the North, because especially for seniors and elders aging in place, it's difficult for them to make ends meet so they you know, like, they do parttime job here and there or contract work and when income tax season comes, you know, a lot of times some of them they're denied the program. So I just want to ask the Minister if they can increase the income threshold to accommodate elders, retirees, so they can so they can apply for these programs, be eligible for the programs. Thank you.

Thank you. This fuel tank replacement for homeowners, I know that's a popular program because a lot of people in my region applied and got their fuel tank replaced and etcetera. So for this fiscal year, I see the program is I don't know if it's discontinued, but there's no money allocated. So if the Minister can explain why this fiscal year, because people are going to be asking.

Thank you. So with that amount, so how much is allocated to Tlicho region of that amount?

In June 2023, part of the 19th Legislative Assembly, we passed a motion here for longterm tenants for housing or houses to be transferred to longterm tenants who lived in it for over 20, 30 years. So I just want to know since that time to be homeowners, that's what we asked for. Since that time, I just wanted to ask the Minister to date, how many houses were transferred to longterm tenants in the NWT?

Thank you. Has the GNWT discussed residential school settlement for the NWT residential school survivors with Indigenous leadership? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hope the Premier had a chance to read the statement from yesterday because I'm continuing with my statement from yesterday on Chief Jimmy Bruneau residents. So this is a question for the Premier.

Can the Premier explain if there have been any discussions with the federal government regarding residential school settlements and the residential school historical record in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you for the information, yeah. So that's all I have for this page.

Thank you. That's all I have for this on this page. Thank you.