Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So client navigators do work all year round for the entirety of the month and are quite busy serving Northerners throughout the month. While some people are on, you know, a more routine of coming in, there's often people who come in midway through a month to receive supports from the government based on what their employment is like, what their needs are like. And so these people are incredibly busy all year round. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. How will this change the scope of the community or the navigator who delivers the income assistance program in terms of productive choices working with the Indigenous governments, or will it be contracted out? I don't -- I mean, I am all in favour of productive choices but, like you stated, the logistics of it has -- still has to be worked out. But, you know, I am curious to see how the -- how this will impact or change the scope of the navigator's work plan throughout the month. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's important to note that our client navigators do not have a social work background, that they are already very busy in their current roles working to understand the finances of Northerners and to ensure that they are being responsive to the financial need of Northerners. Before, when Productive Choices was used by education, culture and employment, it was incredibly administratively burdensome and so understanding the workload that already exists for client navigators, we need to make sure that whatever program that we bring into play for the North is -- you know, works for the scope of practice of client navigators and can also be supported within each community as well. So that is work that is yet to be worked out and figured out. But the scope of practice of client navigators and the time that they have and making sure that they can still support the needs of residents using the program is certainly top of mind. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you to the Member. Any further questions? To the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do support -- you know, I mean, right now with the mine closures so we don't really know -- like, many of the -- the agreement that's in place with -- from the -- between the Indigenous and the mining companies, the impact benefits agreement, many of the small communities or Indigenous government did benefitted from that agreement in place because SFA does not fund the bridging program. And just like my colleague said -- and I really do appreciate him talking on that -- the bridging program, due to the -- you know, due to the education outcome, many of our students they go through the upgrading program.
So with the SFA, is that -- if our students go through the Aurora College bridging program, the OCAP and UCAP that's in place, but it does not fund ABE program, so then our students will be funded, then -- you know, that are taking programs through the Aurora College. But students who -- you know, we should respect their choices of where they want to go. And students who wants to go south -- because some of them have never been or lived outside of their community, so it's the experience that they're looking for too, and this is a good time for them too as well because the two different level educations. They're coming from the low to the high so there is, you know -- I do support them because it's good that, you know, that they learn from both areas, and the bridging program is more like an upgrading program. So as a result because of that, you know, because of SFA does not fund that, many of the Indigenous government, they do fund the students that want to take the bridging program. But with the mine closure, we're not too sure if that funding is going to be there no more. And I do support, you know -- I do support -- I hope that the SFA or ECE will change their policy to support the bridging program for students who wants to take -- to go south. We should have respect -- we should respect their choices of where they want to go. It shouldn't be just only selective few. So I will say the same too is there -- does the ECE have any plan in place to change their policy to accommodate the students who wants to take the bridging program in southern Canada? Thank you.
Thank you to the Member of Monfwi. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the upgrading through Aurora College is currently free to students and so that's where we have invested in that. In addition, through the feds, they do have funding for a university college entrance preparation program. And at this time, that is how we have invested in as to make sure that it is accessible to students as a midway point, and so certainly if we -- there'd be a significant policy change and an additional funding mechanism if we're then funding this outside the territory as well.
Thank you to the Minister. To the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Can the Minister explain? Because I think she said it's free to students. How is it? If she can explain that, I will -- you know, then I will let our young people know that it is free to take the upgrading program or the bridging program, but OCAP and UCAP is a bridging program. You know that, and I know that. So how is it free? Because the students have to pay for their tuition, their books, and everything. So if she can explain that, I would really appreciate that. Thank you.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the OCAP and UCAP are approved under the SFA regulations as there is a post-secondary component to it, and those are offered through Aurora College. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Monfwi.
Well, they are the bridging program so why not just offer or extend it for the students who wants to go south? Why just only limited to take to attend Aurora College in the Northwest Territories. You know, there are some families that are not like -- where they can send their kids south to go to school or live with families or live down south because, you know, their kids can take hockey or attend or play hockey. We don't have that luxury. So that's -- the bridging program is the only options. I don't have families that are in my ridings that will fund or send their kids to Edmonton so that the child can play hockey and at the same time receive the best education. So that's why I am saying that, you know, the bridging program should be offered to other students, should be funded by the student finance assistance program. Thank you.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, as a government, we've spent a lot of time talking about the funding that's going to Aurora College. This further supports that, and it's something that we are already in -- heavily investing in as a government. And in addition to that, the programs lead to further education as well within Aurora College and so act as kind of a laddering program within Aurora College to their nursing program, their business administration, and then in the future their social worker program and their education program as well, so continuing to work to invest in those much-needed careers in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker -- Mr. Chair. I don't mean to discredit the students because I know there's a lot of young people from my region that are taking business administration program and they're taking the nursing programs. I really do appreciate, you know, they're making every effort so that they don't be -- you know, so that they don't depend on the system to survive. And I really do appreciate their choice. But I am just asking that to fund the bridging program -- you know, like, it shouldn't be only -- the bridging program should not be only to the Aurora College should take the OCAP program. That's what I am saying. It's just that they should just freely fund the bridging program for students that wants to go outside of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I certainly hear the Member on this one. It becomes a question of where we, at the end of the day, want to be able to put added dollars and invest. I am working very hard right now to make sure that we're investing more in our JK to 12 education system, especially with the review on inclusive schooling. And if we are to increase funding to a program or programs outside of the Northwest Territories, we are faced with the decision of either finding more dollars from somewhere, and that can be quite a challenge right now. I am trying to funnel those as best as possible into our JK to 12 system so that, you know, down the road we have more graduates from programs that are ready for post-secondary, or it becomes a matter of continuing to remove dollars from Aurora College, which could, in turn, reduce the level of programming that they're able to offer if we are kind of spreading that out. And so there's challenging decisions, of course, to be made, and right now my focus really is on making sure that we're putting as many more dollars as possible into the JK to 12 system. Thank you.
Thank you to the Minister. To the -- I will allow one more to the Member.
Okay. Well, the funding for the SFA is not enough, you know, like, for single students where many of our young people they leave. From my communities or from my regions, they're young, single, no dependent, and they're living on $850 a month. I just want to ask the Minister if -- is there a plan in place where they're going to improve or increase the student financial assistance program for students that are -- you know, for the independent -- single students, I mean, $850 to increase that. Even for the family as well because family that goes -- that leave the community to go to school, it's a big -- it's a -- it affects them culturally. It's a cultural shock for them because they go from living on unlimited income to fixed income. So I just want to ask if there's a plan in place to increase the student financial assistance program. Thank you.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the numbers used by the Member were numbers that were in play when I was a university student. The numbers today are -- for a single person is $1,000 a month. With a spouse is $1,400 a month. With one dependent is $1,700 a month. Two dependents is $1,950 a month. And three dependents is $2,200 a month. And in addition to that, students can also elect to have a repayable loan portion as well. That's another $1,400 a month on top of that. Thank you.
Thank you to the Minister. We will move on to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question is around targets in the business plan. On page 13 of the business plan, there is the overall goal or action to increase the number of employed income assistance clients. And we've spoken a lot about that amongst ourselves and in this House about the importance of trying to encourage people to seek out employment wherever they can. And so the goal was to increase clients by 10 percent over the course of this Assembly. The baseline that was identified from 2023-2024 was 934 but actually, as of May last year, that number has declined. We're down to 803. The explanation right now that's in the business plan said well, maybe that's because some of the clients are moving over to the income assistance program for seniors and people with disabilities.
Can I get the Minister to clarify what would lead us to believe that, you know, these 131 clients are likely to be seniors or people with disabilities that are actually employed in this context and on income assistance? To me, that seems like a stretch because those seem like categories of people who would face the most challenges and be least likely to be employed, but I wonder if the Minister can comment on their rationale there or any further reasons they see as to why we're seeing a decrease in the number of employed people on income assistance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member, Yellowknife North. To the Minister.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, it also includes earned income. This includes honorariums. We have a lot of elders and seniors in the Northwest Territories that participate on boards using their years of experience, and so this is something that seniors and elders would be accounted for within that section as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And thanks to the Minister for that rationale.
So how do you define employed, then? It talks about the use of earned income exemptions. Is there like a minimum? If someone gets one honorarium in a year, are they employed, or what is sort of the minimum amount of income that you would consider someone to actually be employed? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So there is no minimum. It is somebody who receives dollars for work that is paid work. Thank you.
Thanks, Minister. To the Member, Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my recommendation, if anyone's asking, for this target in the business plan, for it to be like a useful measure of people seeking and gaining employment, I think there should be some sort of minimum threshold for what someone is earning in a month or in a year or on average for them to be considered employed. To me, it's not that useful to say well, we're trying to increase the number of people with employment but that could include someone who got 100 bucks one day, and that's it, and so now they're considered employed for the year. I think most of us, that would be too much of a stretch for the imagination to really fulfill the goals that we're setting out for ourselves in the Assembly. So my two cents there.
I had another question related to the senior home heating subsidy. And the Minister might not have this offhand. But a number of my constituents do not live within a municipal boundary. They're living rurally. So in my case, out on the Ingraham Trail. And I know there have been barriers for many of those people accessing many programs that the GNWT has to offer just because they're not within any municipality. So for this senior home heating subsidy, are folks who are seniors eligible for that if they live outside a municipal boundary? Say they live rurally somewhere in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in short, yes. And if they own their own property, seniors qualify. In addition, you know, Mr. Speaker, an example of that for the Members riding would be Prelude Lake. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Yellowknife North.
Thank you for that clarification from the Minister. That's all my questions on this one. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member. We will move on to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I also have a couple questions on the business plan on income security. So the business plan notes that the updates for the new income assistance for seniors and persons with disabilities that you have the option to apply to the original stream or the new stream which allows people to apply to whatever program best aligns with what they need. Can the Minister clarify how many people have switched streams? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member, Great Slave. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I couldn't say how many people offhand would qualify for one that switched to the other. I'd have to go into it and see how many people are on income assistance for adults that are also a senior, which is information, if the Member wanted, that we could gather. Essentially, there are some people who don't want to sign up for the program for an entire year and are looking for just, you know, coverage for a month here or in a month there. Maybe they have seasonal work, or maybe there is, you know, a month where there are added expenses that are coming in and, you know, we have a lot of instances in the territory where people have fluctuating seasonal income. And so it's in order to address that and make sure that they're receiving the support that they need in the way that they need it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Great Slave.
Yeah, I would love -- thank you, Mr. Chair. I would love to have a little bit more information if the Minister and her department is willing to share. I think it would be interesting to have that data to track the efficacy of having the two streams and understanding where things are best -- the best fit is for residents.
I guess also I would like to clarify in the same sort of category of questions around that program is whether ECE has encountered any challenges or confusion around the eligibility of the new program or if applicants have uncertainty about which program is more appropriate or if there is, indeed, like some difficulties for people to make that choice, either with assistance or without. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question, but also the clarification. I can confirm for the Member that 69 seniors have accessed income assistance instead of the income assistance for seniors and persons with disabilities, so the number 69. And client navigators work with the clients to walk them through the options and what the difference is between the two programs so that they can have the tools at their disposal to make that decision. Thank you.
