Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the comment. I do think that over-engagement is something that does tend to happen and can happen and can detrimentally affect the outcome that we want. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that I will direct to ensure that the staff working on this treat the information that was received during the public process the same as they would information that we would receive during a government-led process. There will be no two tiering of it. I can also assure the Member and the House that they've already been watching. I have frequently heard from them as the process was going through that they were already watching and hearing what was happening so, but certainly that'll -- again, as I say, information will not be treated differently. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in July 2024 the government announced improvement to the income assistance program that resulted in increased benefit levels and income exemptions and reduced barriers to accessing the program. What step is the department taking to align income support with employment and training programs so that recipients are encouraged, not penalized, for pursuing work or education? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of ECE.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the biggest change that occurred with the changes that were made in regard to income assistance, in regards to pathways to employment, was the ability of residents who are on income assistance to keep an increased amount of earned income, so that's -- they've increased it to $500 per adult plus 25 percent of income over that. And so what that does is it provides people a grace period to re-enter enter the workforce where they're not going to get clawbacks. And so it's a safety step for residents who are on income assistance and a critical part for us being able to support that transition. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has the department conducted any reviews or evaluations to access how current income assistance policy may be discouraging recipients from pursuing employment or education? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 19th Assembly an extensive review of the income assistance program was done by Education, Culture and Employment, and the changes that we saw take place last year were the result of that work. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Member from Monfwi. Final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the department track how many income support recipients successfully transition into employment or education and if so, what are the current outcomes? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do our best to make sure that we have an idea of, first of all, where people are at, what their goals are, and how we can support them to get there. This program is just now entering into its second year of being the new directive by Education, Culture and Employment in its current form, and that's not information that I have in front of me here, nor information that we would have had the opportunity to collect and analyze so young into the infancy of this next program. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The infrastructure within the affected communities of the closures of the community centres could and should benefit the community and its residents. There are a lot of aging infrastructure within these communities, and these buildings could help in that area. With all the affected communities within the Northwest Territories, how many organizations have expressed interest for the use of these buildings for the benefit of their respective communities and its residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister of ECE.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've certainly received interest from multiple communities in regards to the community learning centres. In some communities, the answers and the next steps have been easier than others. So, for example, if we have a community learning centre that's found in a school already and the school needs that infrastructure returned for their higher capacity, we've done that already. In other communities where there's school infrastructure improvements going on, we have maintained the presence of students in the community learning centre in order to prioritize the delivery of education in those communities. In some instances, though, Mr. Speaker, multiple Indigenous governments or community governments have expressed interest. And so it's not as easy as picking one over the other. And I have been approached by different levels of governments from some communities and have as a first step asked for them to work together and to return with a collaborative application if that's a possibility. So that's the first step, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many consultation meetings was there between the Minister and interested organizations to discuss the plans for these buildings for community use? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I was asked for meetings, I certainly was able to attend them and happy to do so, but for the most part these meetings happened between officials, because a lot of the times, the information that's being requested is operational and fairly in the weeds. People are looking to understand the cost of operating these buildings and more finer details about the infrastructure itself. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be more specific, I was contacted by three organizations within my riding and asked to advocate on their behalf, and I did. How successful were the interested organizations from Tsiigehtchic and Aklavik been conducted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, when I'm talking about competing interests in some communities, that is relevant to some of these conversations, and so that's why I've asked to make sure that all of the interested parties are on the same page before picking one over the other because I think in some instances there's an opportunity for collaboration in some of these communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the remains of more than 70 children lie at the former St. Joseph's Residential school in Fort Resolution, and more families are still waiting to bring their children home. In the spirit of reconciliation, this work must continue. My question is to the Premier, Mr. Speaker, can the Premier confirm that this repatriation work will continue this spring? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's up to the families. The families can make a request to have that done, and there's processes in place to make that a reality as we're seeing today. And so I don't see any reason why this wouldn't continue next year if the families wish it to continue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the long and painful process to bring Alma home must not be repeated. Will the Premier bring forward a Residential School Grave Site Repatriation Act in order to align our legislation with UNDRIP so that no matter the unique challenges of each grave site across the North, every family has the consistent right to bring their loved ones home if they so choose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And now that we understand the process, this process, as played out this year, won't happen again. So I can promise the Member that. As long as we have proper flow of information, we can proceed through these instances without any issues.
In terms of bringing forward a Residential School Grave Site Repatriation Act, I can say that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment oversees the Archaeological Sites Act and that is one of the pieces of legislation that has to go through the Intergovernmental Council for amendment or repeal and replace, or whatever the case may be. And so those conversations have begun, and we're having an Intergovernmental Council meeting in the coming months, and I expect this will be discussed there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And yeah, as claims get settled and agreements come to fruition, there will be parts of that in there as well. So, Mr. Speaker, we work together alongside the community to find creative solutions to the outdated policies that were standing in the way. How does the Premier see this kind of collaboration as a foundation for advancing meaningful reconciliation as we work to implement UNDRIP and the TRC Calls to Action? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that this instance highlights the importance of working together. The fact is there were processes in place, very clear defined processes that, in the end, they were followed. The problems were that the information that was needed to initiate those processes wasn't understood by everyone involved. And so my office became involved in this and there were daily phone calls to try and gather this information. And once the entire picture was in view, we were able to proceed through an established process to get to where we needed to go. So with that understanding, we realized that, you know, there's reconciliation. There's also truth and reconciliation. And so we need the truth, we need the information. We all need to know the facts around situations, what the processes are, and we have begun to establish those connections with the team in Fort Resolution, with leadership in Fort Resolution, and now that we have that in place I don't foresee any issues going forward now that everyone understands the situation and has the right connections. So once again, communication and partnership are the keys to success here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of ECE.
Given the clear need for small business supports in regions like the Deh Cho, what specific steps is the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment taking to reduce regulatory barriers and streamline access to programs and resources for entrepreneurs in remote communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think we're going to Minister of ITI. Minister of ITI.
Luckily, it's the same person. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in regards to what ITI is doing to streamline access to programs and services, we have migrated all of our funding programs under the same grants and contributions policy for consistency. We also have regional decision-making as far as our grants and contributions go. I am happy to say that a significant amount of funding flows both from ECE and ITI and also Prosper NWT across the regions, and as far as Prosper NWT is concerned, actually 83 percent of dollars from Prosper flow outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The regional economic development plan highlights the lack of skilled workers as a major constraint to business growth. What investments is the department making to support workforce development and improve access to training in the Deh Cho riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's a long list but I'll keep it short in the interest of time. And I'm always happy to speak about this in more detail with the Member as well.
So as a few examples, we do mentorship sessions in all of our regional centres. Three of those happened in the Member's riding. In addition to that, we also have career development officers as well as economic development officers across the Northwest Territories. And they all came together and gathered for a conference to share ideas, share information about programs that they could take back to their regions -- I want to slow down, Mr. Speaker, sorry. And that conference just happened last week so I'm very excited to hear the success of that time together.
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, education, culture and employment also does have workforce development training programs that are available to employers to help employ Northerners who need a boost in skill sets in order to meet the job that employers are working to get them into. So we have both programs that support the development of an idea and programs that support the development of a workforce. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the high cost of living and limited infrastructure cited as barriers to small business success, how is the department working with other GNWT departments to improve internet connectivity, housing availability, and transportation infrastructure in the Deh Cho riding to support economic development? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Industry, Tourism and Investment is involved in the increase of infrastructure both within its department but then also by the opportunity I have to work with my colleagues. So specifically for the Deh Cho region, there's infrastructure when it comes to tourism. That's a program that is housed within ITI. Then when it comes to housing for example, the Minister and I do work together on ideas for how we can grow a skilled workforce. And we've got a couple that we've been pairing up on that we're still baking that cake, Mr. Speaker.
And then in regard to the departments working together, the department is working very closely with ITI and housing right now on as far as how can we work together to build micro clusters of industry across the territory. As far as myself and the Minister of strategic infrastructure, we sometimes work too closely together and end up repeating or finishing each other's sentences, and so it's not just infrastructure development just for one region or another. We really do look at it from an all of territory perspective because this is really the time we need to capture opportunity for the entire Northwest Territories. It needs to be now. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to my Member statement where I talked about the housing policy and concerns lack thereof. It was built on my statement even as of yesterday and given the circumstances.
Mr. Speaker, why don't we start with a softball. Has anything I have said today resonated in a manner that the Minister is willing to go back and see if we can accelerate the encampment policy to ensure people are safe and whatnot, because I really know she's got a great shop there and they could do this without waiting to the spring of 2026. So did that hit a tone of urgency from the Minister? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The tone and understanding in the situation with encampments in the city of Yellowknife is urgent. I understand that, and I understand the urgency and the tone from the Member. Housing NWT is working within its policy shop and looking at delivering an all of government approach in terms of policy. We work in partnership with the Yellowknife Partnerships Committee, work in collaboration with other departments, including EIA's integrated service delivery. We have to have this reviewed by many other departments. We have to be careful in our policy. We can't rush a policy, but we are working to deliver something. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I know this Minister has the ability to do this and I know the policy shop exists and I know they have the talent to go liberate wording and structure from everything. Is there any reason that the Minister couldn't agree today that she could come up and table a draft policy by the last day of this session? That gives just over a week to come up with something and we can put a footnote saying and we're still going to develop this in partnership with our colleagues, Mr. Speaker, and we would have something in place to move forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Understanding housing has 99 employees across the Northwest Territories and we take care of 2900 units across the Northwest Territories, working with 23 different LHOs, and we have two people -- two employees in the policy shop. I mean, we have to look at things carefully. Understanding the concern, the urgency around encampments, and this has been ongoing for the last number of years. We have committed to deliver something in spring of 2026 but I'll ask the president of Housing NWT if anything can be done sooner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you. I'll take that olive branch, Mr. Speaker, because safety matters.
Mr. Speaker, the last piece I'll take and ask -- or sorry, the last piece I'll ask in this particular case, again speaks to my Member's statement, which is what are they going to do in recognition that you are the lead Minister on this homelessness issue to ensure that these encampments are inspected, people are safe, and we don't have another fire?
And lastly, Mr. Speaker, this was right next to a pile of propane tanks and I even heard that one went off. Thank you.
