Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the smallest Yellowknife North constituent in the gallery today, but I suspect could be the mightiest, Emmy Maximovich*, and her parents who are with us today. Thank you for coming and listening to us. We're happy to have you.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a page from Range Lake, Isaac Strader, who was with us for the marathon day yesterday. He's also great with a fidget spinner. Thank you so much for all the work you do, helping support your democracy and being a young leader in your community.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I forgot to include the Chipewyan translator, Dennis Drygeese. I'd just like to recognize him. And I'd like to recognize all the visitors here today. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Recognition of visitors in Gallery. If we've missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chambers. Oh no, I didn't see people -- sorry, Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge and recognize all the interpreters here, Jonas and Maro Rose Sundberg as well, for their hard work in keeping our language alive. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize all the interpreters who did a great job throughout the session period and, especially yesterday, went above and beyond their duties. I'd like to specifically point out Eleanor and her sister Karen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Mackenzie Delta. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd just like to join my colleagues in a chorus of thank-yous in support and recognition of our interpreters and the wonderful work that they do. I particularly appreciate the prayers that they share with us every morning. It really helps ground me, and it helps me set up for what are often very difficult days. So I want to thank them. And also, you know, the various support staff in the building that we always need to acknowledge at the end of this long session. They truly are the engine that keeps this thing running, and I deeply appreciate their work. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too rise and want to acknowledge and recognize our interpreters, MaryJane Cazon and Sarah Gargan from Providence, and for keeping our language alive. Mahsi. Thank you.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will join my colleagues in recognizing the hard work our staff does behind the scenes here, the interpreters behind the glass and the clerks, the staff on the first floor, second floor. Thank you, everybody, and enjoy the spring, coming months.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to join in gratitude for the interpreters and the wonderful work they do to keep our languages alive and shared with the people of the Northwest Territories. I also want to thank the broadcast team who also puts in long hours to make sure we're heard. And I want to thank all of the table staff, the clerk staff, the speaker's office staff, and the Ministers' staff who, indeed, keeps this building running smoothly and makes it all look very magical indeed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. My favourite person from Inuvik Boot Lake. Giving you some love.
Never forgotten, Mr. Speaker, I know, thank you. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Emmy's mom Chelsea *Maximovich who's a member of our staff, our clerk's staff at AOC, Mr. Speaker, the hardest working Member, I think, in this building. And her husband Sasha is here with them as well. And I'd just like to thank them for being in the gallery and welcome them.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank the interpreters for being here with us into the wee hours of the night every single day and getting our message out to the people of the Northwest Territories. And I also wanted to remind everyone in the gallery to slow down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Good message, Mr. Premier. I know the interpreters would love that message.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone today, welcome to your chambers. Thank you for allowing us 19 people to represent the people of the Northwest Territories. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to see people in the gallery.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know spring break's on the doorsteps with some excitement, and people and parents with children with disabilities share the same excitement except they have different types of responsibilities and additional challenges. My questions will be to the Minister of ECE, and they're really built around the concept of accessibility, affordability, mental health, and fairness.
Mr. Speaker, my question specifically now is with many families facing financial pressures, what initiatives can she or her department ensure that our young people who do have disabilities and challenges, you know, often refer to some folks that attend inclusive school programming can have accessibility to low-income opportunities so they can share in the joy and excitement of things like March break? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, certainly if a parent -- a low-income parent is on income assistance, there is an amount that is also considered for children, for dependents of that individual, that they receive to make sure that their basic needs for their family are met. In addition, Mr. Speaker, in the city of Yellowknife, they have the Access for All Pass so that if there are low-income families that are looking to access, for example, the swimming pool, public skates, public transportation, that they can apply for the Access for All Pass to make it easier to gain access to some of these public facilities as well. So that's another institution that also supports low-income families in that sense.
Mr. Speaker, in addition, as far as mental health is concerned, the Member did bring that up, and these services are available through the school. They are not charged for through the school, and so both from a preventative nature but then also through relationships with health and social services to access a clinician. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am certainly glad to hear what she said. Of course, I welcome that type of positive answer, but I would also now lean into the area of we have many people in the working poor bracket that don't meet the low-income threshold, Mr. Speaker. Is there any reason why the Minister can't take an income test off this particular initiative to ensure all children have the right to play and enjoy and grow with the best of their abilities that they can. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, what I've just heard from the Member is to remove income testing from income assistance, and so I am wondering if the Member can clarify. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Clarity, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
No, I didn't refer to income assistance. I am talking about any threshold that's tied to income -- sorry, any program that's tied to income thresholds so all children equally could apply, not just those below the test she provided in her previous answer. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in my previous answer the only program that I referred to that had income testing associated with it was the income assistance program which is a program that ensures that residents can meet their month-to-month costs of living for their basic needs, and so that program certainly is income tested. And it is the parent that applies for that. The child does not apply for that program. And also, like I said, the mental health programs are available through the school, and there's no income testing on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was even able to bring a delegation to the Minister some time ago about making changes to support parents who have to constantly take time off of work, and one parent, in particular, takes one out of five days a week; so in other words, they're losing 20 percent of their income.
Mr. Speaker, what programs can the Minister expand to ensure that parents aren't taking real income out of their family's bottom line and work with the schools to ensure that they have fair and equal coverage for their children to get supports through the schools? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did have the opportunity to sit down with the Member and a number of parents who were quite candid in taking me through their experiences as parents of youth with disabilities, and it was incredibly helpful to be able to hear from them. I think it also would have been helpful to have had the Minister of health there as well considering that some of their questions did pertain to the health portfolio.
In regards to education, culture and employment, Mr. Speaker, this is where some of that work on the inclusive schooling review comes in. A number of the families that the Member is referring to -- well, some of the families the Member is referring to, did also participate in the inclusive schooling review directly and were able to sit down for quite an extended period of time with the people that were doing the review and the interviews in order to really make sure that it was able to be a back-and-forth conversation, not just an information providing so that everyone in the conversation could really dig into the details. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission has said many times that he supported Bill 29 and what Bill 29 proposed to do, not just the principle of it but the actual clauses which would have expanded coverage for first responders. Can the Minister confirm that he will bring forward a bill that includes the same coverage for first responders that were included in Bill 29? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister responsible for WSCC.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, you know, very early in the session is more than happy to work with the Member on trying to get some -- you know, get this coverage figured out and get Members with the fire service in the Northwest Territories covered. And, you know, like I said earlier, you know, the jurisdictional scans that we can do to get -- make sure that the legislation is covered under WSCC on presumptive coverage. And, again, more than happy to sit down with the Member and work on a path forward with this. And I agree, we need to get something forward for the Members of the fire service in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question was, the Minister has publicly said he supports the bill. Will he bring forward the same coverage that was in that bill? That's what support means. That's what firefighters and first responders are respecting -- or are expecting. So will the Minister make that commitment today? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have stated earlier, we had some discussions around it. Obviously, we never got right into it, so we don't know the full impacts. And there's a governing body for WSCC and, you know, they had already started working on some stuff. So again, I am more than happy to work with the Member to find a solution that is the same or similar to the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for WSCC. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. Nine months of exhaustive review, study, conversations, meetings, so a lot of work has been done on this already. When will the Minister bring forward the same or better coverage for first responders? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, as I stated earlier, within this Assembly this will be done and completed, and I've actually instructed WSCC to speed up the timelines. And, again, I am more than happy to work with the Member and find a path forward on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for WSCC. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement, my question today is to the Premier. These are exciting times there, Mr. Speaker, for the Northwest Territories, which includes multiple departments and for multiple projects.
Can the Premier explain in summary our government's readiness platform or plan of engagements in preparation for these projects? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Mr. Premier.
