Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on some questions with respect to SFA, similar to my good colleague to my left for the Range Lake. And it's about this late payment process. And I guess under income security this policy falls under is under income support, if you apply you can get your late fees covered. So I would wonder is there a policy specific to SFA that says if a student provides their application process by the deadline that monies will be available for the moment that they apply for them in the fall; is there anything that corresponds or links that together? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of ECE.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, while both programs are found within education, culture and employment, the purpose of the program is different. So with income support, it is intended to cover the basic needs of residents and therefore it is expected that residents won't have the funds in order to cover late fees and so it is covered under income assistance. As far as what a policy does or does not say, I don't have that information in front of me here, but my understanding is that there is no mechanism for that to happen through the student financial assistance stream. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister about saying I guess if I qualified as income support, people don't have the basic needs so hence it gets covered. My understanding is students probably don't have the basic needs to cover those application tuition fees and hence isn't that similar? So if this is a policy or legislated question, what can the Minister do about closing this particular gap that seems quite clear? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so I committed to the Member for Range Lake in question period earlier today to go back to the department and get further information. I'd be happy to share that information with the Member for Yellowknife Centre as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the fact that the Minister's willing to go back and share the information, I'll certainly say I appreciate it. Would the Minister be able to tell us how many students have been hit with late fees based on the fact that they've applied on time and funds were not available when they've sought them to pay for their applications? So in other words, some details that back up this particular problem if (audio).
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment would not have information about late fees from every student, and every institution also doesn't operate the same way. While some institutions might have late fees, not every single one of them does, and not every single student would have incurred a late fee. There's also the issue that there are a -- not everybody. A lot of students had their applications fin online -- or in on time, and so I want to make sure that everybody hears me when I say that, but not all applications are in on time and not all applications are received complete, and they're not considered fully received and on time unless they are complete. And so it's really important that if students do have questions that they reach out to their case officer and make sure that they're asking those questions so that we can give them support too. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
