Could the Minister maybe explain in terms of the progress at this point, from the perspective of the department in terms of the advances towards finally establishing a business that could be in operation? What is the latest progress in terms of an update?

As the Member stated, the community of Fort Providence is reengaged with Aurora Wood Pellets. These negotiations are ongoing and they're proprietary information. We can't get into those details to share with the Member, but I can reassure him that the Government of the Northwest Territories, as well as the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and ENR, are working closely with the proponents to get this project under way.

The Minister has indicated that there is some cooperation between his department and ENR in terms of trying to advance this business initiative forward. What role does ITI have within the forest management agreement that was reached between the project proponent plus the community in terms of ensuring this business initiative is realized?

ITI's role, as I've said, in this whole project is to help facilitate to create regional economic development opportunities and local employment. We are working closely, like I said, with ENR and the proponent and Aurora Wood Pellets. Aurora Wood Pellets has moved this project along without any resources from the Government of the Northwest Territories.

We continue to work with both FMA holders to bring this project to reality, as we believe it will bring substantial economic opportunities to the South Slave region, and particularly the three communities of Fort Providence, Enterprise, and Fort Resolution, and we will continue to do so.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is maybe hinging on the Department of ENR, but ITI obviously has the lead on this. Could the Minister indicate perhaps a timeline in terms of how it is that the Forest Management Act would be updated, and whether that should be a precursor before the Aurora Pellets is established? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was the previous Minister of ENR, I know a little bit about the Forest Management Act. Hopefully we are going to have that coming forward into the life of this Legislative Assembly to move it forward. ENR continues to move that legislation along, and ITI will be working closely, as I've said, with all Members of the Legislative Assembly and all departments to help move this project along. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the Senior Home Heating Subsidy. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, my first question for the Minister is the Senior Home Heating Subsidy guidelines were last updated in June 2016. What do the recent changes mean for the current and prospective clients? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was just one change actually, and that was to clarify that seniors who maintain a residential land lease with the Department of Lands were eligible for the subsidy. What I want to maybe inform the Member is that we're actually going through a review, and we did get a lot of concerns from almost all the Members during our sitting earlier this year about the threshold levels, the amount of fuel that elders can receive. As the temperature drops below zero throughout the North, we want to make sure that this program is providing the best services to those in need, the seniors. We've actually got a working group right now that's reviewing this particular program. We're looking at income threshold levels, we're looking at the zones for communities, fuel allocations, and looking at ways to make it easier for seniors to access the program as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my second question to the Minister is how many residents used the Senior Home Heating Subsidy in the last fiscal year?

We had 513 NWT seniors access the program last year. I believe 230 seniors used their full fuel allocation, not all the seniors use up what they're entitled to. As I said, we're reviewing the program so that those 230 seniors who've actually used up their fuel allocation might have some months where they need that fuel for the rest of the winter months. We're going to be looking at those threshold levels.

It's good to see that seniors are accessing the program. My third question for the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is how does the department advertise the program to make sure that everyone who might need it can access it?

Various ways, Mr. Speaker, radio ads, newspaper ads, we ask our MLAs to go out and promote it. Recently, we've been going out doing a lot of community meetings. We were just in Nahendeh. Every meeting that we went to we talked about the Senior Home Heating Subsidy. A lot of seniors that come to our open houses, we bring that up as well. We get our staff to promote as well in the communities so that seniors who are accessing the program, they can let other seniors know about what's available to them.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. The Minister was talking about thresholds, and my final question for the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is what is the current income threshold for seniors who qualify for the home heating subsidy program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, we have three zones throughout the Northwest Territories, to get the maximum threshold for each zone, for Zone 1 is just over $46,000; Zone 3 is high as $56,000, and those are in the more rural and remote communities and the communities in the high Arctic, and those are what we're looking at, whether or not we need to change those so that more seniors can access the program and have fuel and heat up their homes throughout the full winter months.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions about A New Day Program, I'd like to direct them to the Minister of Justice. Last year the Auditor General of Canada released a report on corrections and pointing out some of the deficiencies, which included a lack of access to programs while in remand. I'd like to ask the Minister what programs are offered in remand? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are programs in remand. I believe the name of the program is called A Partner Program. A New Day is a voluntary program and is not accessible to those in remand. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe the Minister said A New Day is not accessible to those in remand. It's my understanding that twice a month A New Day goes to remand and provides counselling sessions for inmates. So am I wrong or is the Minister misinformed?

Mr. Speaker, A New Day program is a community-based pilot program that takes place outside of the jail system. Certainly people currently in custody, who will ultimately of course be released, may be encouraged to take the full A New Day program once they are released.