Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, addressing poverty, as the Member is aware, certainly is the responsibility of all departments, all boards and agencies, as well as NGOs and individuals themselves. The Department of Health and Social Services can do things to help individuals combat poverty here in the Northwest Territories. There's a large list, but I'll just touch on a couple of the things that we're doing.
Throughout the Northwest Territories, we've been holding community health fairs to help people understand the types of things we all need to be doing, making healthy choices to support healthy living, which ultimately can support them in their fight against poverty.
There has also been a significant amount of federal dollars that have flowed through the Department of Health and Social Services to the individual communities throughout the Northwest Territories to support community wellness, and different activities that are being undertaken by the different communities themselves, community-driven, to help address issues in the communities. Often, poverty is on that list.
Mr. Speaker, in this budget, this government has made commitments through the Department of Health and Social Services to help combat things around poverty, such as putting in a sobering centre here in the Northwest Territories. It's not just the Department of Health and Social Services, as I've said. This government is committing $3 million this year and ongoing to support small business opportunities in communities. JK is fully funded and will be fully funded as of September. This is supporting poverty reduction in the Northwest Territories. We have $22 million, up $2 million this year, being available in income support to help address poverty in the Northwest Territories, but I do take the Member's point on impacts on health, and we take those very seriously. We do have a territorial action plan that we refer to on a regular basis and, as we're making decisions on programs, we think about the impacts they will have on our residents to help reduce things like poverty. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.