Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a question for Minister of Finance. I want to ask the Minister of Finance, can the Minister provide details as to how the available funding contemplated under the emergency evacuation relief program was determined? This outcome has really changed from 2024, 2025, 2023. Thank you.
Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, prior to 2023 there was no form of reliable or consistent relief funding whatsoever. In 2023, initially after the South Slave regions had experienced multiple evacuations, the department started to try to, on an urgent basis, create some sort of system or a program to support folks. And now with that, Mr. Speaker, in 2023, we developed a couple of different programs and the feedback was that that was complicated. And so on review of those programs, it was after that review that a determination was made to have a single website system where folks who were evacuated could register and would then be able to access the relief program and would be one that would align roughly with similar to the types of supports that go to someone who's on income support and gets an emergency relief payment in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The lump sum funding provided for under the emergency relief or evacuation relief program does not take into account the actual amount of time a resident has been evacuated from their own community. It doesn't take into account the actual cost residents have incurred. Can the Minister explain why this is the case? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what this is meant to cover are sort of incidentals, if you will. So at this point it's still through the emergency management organizations where transportation to or from an emergency relief location is provided, access to accommodations at an emergency relief location is provided, other expenses, for example mainly food, is provided. And at those locations, there is triaging that is done with all best efforts so that someone who's not able to remain in a group accommodation circumstance can access different types of accommodation, hotels for instance. And of course there's work that continues on in the non-profit sector to support municipalities that are often at the front lines of providing all those services. So all of those services remain in place, and this is meant to really provide a bit of a one-off incidental support. It is not meant to cover people's actuals in the course of an emergency, nor is it necessarily meant to cover off the fact that emergencies can be short and they can be long. We do keep an eye on what's happening in the rest of Canada, Mr. Speaker, and we continue to remain one of the most generous jurisdictions in this regard. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. The program as currently structured is inadequate given that natural disasters and the potential for community evacuations are unpredictable. Meanwhile, the cost for accommodations, grocery, gas, and other essentials continue to rise. Even until this day, like many of our private businesses and citizens from forest fire 2023 are still affected, recovering financially. So with that in mind, will the Minister commit to a review of this program to ensure that in the future it is more flexible and equitable, especially for small communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned at the beginning, Mr. Speaker, the individualized relief program, which is a cash payment, that program was reviewed after the 2023 evacuations and fires, and the changes that we've made were in response to that. I'm obviously well aware that there's been an after-action review of the broader response with respect to the wildfires here and the way in which that's managed. And again, all but the one recommendation are being accepted and advanced by the Government of the Northwest Territories as a whole.
Mr. Speaker, there's not going to be an additional and second review after just one year, a year and a half of this emergency relief program. I certainly will commit that we will keep an eye on what the rest of Canada is doing. As I said, we right now are one of, if not the most, overall generous jurisdictions in terms of what we provide to our residents in the case of emergency services notwithstanding that we go to the federal government and have to fall into their categories to get any kind of compensation for the events happening here. So we will keep an eye on what's happening. We want to make sure our residents continue to be serviced, but there won't be an additional review of this particular program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
