Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I like what the Minister is saying in terms of working towards that initiative or that goal. It does make more sense in the smaller communities. Madam Chair, I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of the student financial services, understanding somewhat that sometimes we have difficulties with our people who are disabled that want to go to school in the South and have difficulties accessing funding for the student financial services students who are living in the South now who are disabled. There might be some difficulties. Can I ask the Minister, is that something that he's run into a lot in his department in terms of people who are disabled to access funding for schools in southern institutions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Student financial assistance to attend a post-secondary institution for somebody who is disabled has significantly increased over the funding that we provide to an abled person. The disabled person could qualify for up to $8,000 in extra funding through our grant programs. As well as that, we recognize that the extra challenges that are faced by people with disabilities and, therefore, will require that they only complete 40 percent of a full course load in order to qualify for student financial assistance. The program does accommodate people who are disabled and intending to attend post-secondary institutions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the other question I have for the Minister is on the youth. The youth I want to talk about are the ones who are caught between probably the Department of Education's department and probably Health and Social Services department in terms of the gap there. Some of the youth that leave home at the age of 18, 17, not living with their parents and sometimes they get turned away from social services because they don't fit the required eligibility for income support and some of them are living on their own. So it seems to be somewhat a problem between these youth falling between the cracks. I want to ask the Minister, is he working very closely with the Department of Health and Social Services to bridge this gap? Because some of the youth do not want to stay home with their parents and be more independent and live alone. Some are actually going to school and they're either in Yellowknife or other larger centres or back in the smaller communities. So what is his department doing in terms of working with the Department of Health and Social Services in terms of bridging the gap? Sometimes it's a real communication problem for our youth. One department was telling the other department. So there's a miscommunication somewhere that the youth get frustrated and call us to look at things for them. There was an individual in Fort Good Hope who was caught between the cracks in terms of this issue here. I want to ask the Minister what types of programs, what type of communication, more what type of communication he has with the Department of Health and Social Services to bridge this gap. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member is right that under our current legislation, income support is provided to people who are 19 years of age and older. Those who are younger need to work out an arrangement with Health and Social Services. Our staff are aware that that's the requirement and are quite constantly referring the clients, or potential clients, back to Health and Social Services. There is a fair bit of dialogue between our workers. As I indicated in my answer to Mr. Braden, as we move towards a more case managed process, that level of communication will continue to improve.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you. I look forward to that report, Madam Chair, and see how this whole case management will unfold for the communities. I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the income support programs and the new role that the income support workers will be working on in regards to the subsidized housing. The clients who are now in homes in the communities, will they now be referred to as income support clients and will they fall into that category of income support, because it may cause some confusion in our communities. I guess I want to hear, once and for all, in terms of how these clients now will be deemed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the things that we're doing is moving to the service centres, service centre approach. I think it's important to

recognize that under what we call income security, we have a whole basket of subsidy programs. There should be no difference in how they're looked at, whether it's a federal program of employment insurance, or our programs for student financial assistance, or the seniors' fuel subsidy. All of these programs are provided to help out members of our territory who need that help at any given time. So this shouldn't be seen as an issue of a problem going for a subsidy. That's one of the things we're hoping to move past by moving to the one, the service centre approach.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Yakeleya.

Last question for the Minister in terms of the student financial services. Again I'm going to go back to several years ago we spoke about the programs that were offered by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The Minister had indicated that his government administers the program. It's called a university entrance college program. I understand the Minister has made some inquiries and this program is only offered through the First Nations and the Metis are not eligible as deemed as the program is rolled out. However, I want to ask the Minister, would he or has he given consideration similar to the Metis health benefits that were offered to the residents of the Northwest Territories? Has he given consideration to offering this type of program to the Metis people who want to enter into university or college? I'd like to ask the Minister that, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's one of the approaches that we could consider. The Member has also asked, in the past, if we would consider giving the program back to the federal government to administer. Both of those are possibilities. I would hope to, with the new government in place, at least make an initial approach to them and see whether or not they would be prepared to recognize the current program doesn't live up to their own, the federal government's definition of an aboriginal person by not putting all aboriginal people in it. I'll certainly make sure that we take that step before we decide whether or not to go to the next step. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. At this time, before I recognize Mr. Pokiak, I'd like to recognize the presence in the visitor's gallery of the president of the NWT Teachers' Association, Amanda Mallon. Welcome.

---Applause

Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a follow-up in terms of what Mr. Yakeleya is saying about the one-stop shop. Earlier, the Minister had indicated that there would be no change in the process. He indicated that a form will be a separate application. How does that differ from what the Housing Corporation is doing right now in terms of what the income support workers working in terms of the form? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's just a different form coming out of our offices to serve our purpose. The Housing Corporation, or LHO, will still have to find or receive an application for a housing unit, just as a private firm in a market housing community would have to have somebody come in and apply for a house. So the housing, or the LHO, will still have their forms. Our office will have our forms, but they will be completely different and will still follow the same definitions for income as is currently the case as with the housing authorities.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Because right now I'm just trying to think in my head, I know right now under the income support forms you basically have your basic needs, such as food, shelter, utilities, and even miscellaneous items that are required by a client that goes in there. I know that with the housing associations they have a form mainly in terms of for, I guess, the assessment of their monthly rent. I'm going back to the one-stop shop idea. In some communities, like Mr. Yakeleya said, there are some places where it is a long distance for some of the clients to actually walk from point A to point B. So to me that's not quite a one-stop shop. I think consideration of living very hard in terms of making sure that you have that one-stop shop where they can just go from door to door. A case in point, Madam Chair, is that you go into the housing association office, sit down with the TRO, fill out your assessment form for the monthly rent. Maybe just down the street, there you have your income support worker. She'll have all that information and there's implementing that thing. I don't know if the Minister said it earlier, we're probably looking past April 1st, but will strong consideration be given into that place right away? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would agree with the Members that it is important for us to try and consolidate our functions as much as possible and we will move as quickly as we can to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Pokiak.