Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we had a successful season. Prior to me getting this portfolio, there was a contract awarded to a local contractor, along with Aboriginal groups, in the region to rehabilitate this Highway No. 6. They have been continually working on specifically kilometre 42 to 62. That work began late November of 2015 and was completed up the last year. This year moving forward we want to rehabilitate 14 kilometres of that highway and continue to invest in it, and application of chipseal will be part of that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to ask the Minister when Highway No. 6 will be completed 100 per cent to a chipseal state.

I do not have that type of detail with me. I know I have a budget for chipsealing across the Northwest Territories, and we continue to move that forward through our various bundles. I will get that information for the Member, when he can expect to have that highway completely chipsealed.

Insofar as local business and so on on the highway, I would like to ask the Minister if there was a lot of local labour, and the sense I am trying to get is the numbers, if the Minister has the numbers, of what percentage of the people working on site were from Fort Resolution and so on. Just a feel of what type of local business and local employment was seen on Highway No. 6 to date.

I can gladly try to get that information for the Member pulled back from the department and see what we have got for information. It was a joint venture, as I said, with the two Aboriginal groups and a local contractor from the area. I should be able to get those exact numbers for the Member.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Highway No. 6 there is one bridge, Little Buffalo River bridge. I would like to ask the Minister if there is an intention of rehabilitating the Little Buffalo River bridge. Thank you.

I know there is ongoing work on Buffalo River bridge and the Hay River bridge moving forward on the bundles that we have allocated the money to. The specifics around Little Buffalo River bridge, I will have to get the details on that and see if there is any planned work on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked questions of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about Student Financial Assistance. I would like to follow up with some questions with the Minister here today. I have heard from various students throughout the years that they were not as successful in high school as they should have been. As they start looking at their future, they realize they need to upgrade their marks, and they start looking for institutions that offer this type of program and funding. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please advise us: are students eligible to access Student Financial Assistance to attend college or university to upgrade so they can get into their chosen field of education? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's concerns, as well as his interest in the support of post-secondary education programming, as well as our Student Financial Assistance program. In determining a student's eligibility for funding, Student Financial Assistance cannot take into consideration any courses that are considered upgrading, as they are not a post-secondary course.

However, if a student is enrolled in a full course load at post-secondary level, the student can enrol in additional classes that may be considered upgrading. In situations like this, Mr. Speaker, it is important for students to contact the Student Financial Assistance office to ensure they still meet the regulatory requirements to be considered a post-secondary student. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. We will work with them on that. I am familiar, basically, in that you have to take 60 per cent of a work load to get that. I thank the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, if the department is not able to fund students to upgrade, what funding programs are available for students to upgrade, and how is this information shared with the students?

There are other avenues of potential funding for students who want to get into upgrading or adult basic learning. Obviously, there are income assistance and labour market programs. There are university and college entrance programs, known as UCEPP, administered by the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. There is also ASETS, which is Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy, administered by Aboriginal governments.

Students who apply for SFA for an upgrading program are issued a denial letter which advises them of alternative sources of funding, and as I mentioned, any students who want to look at upgrading and have that denial letter, that will help them get other programs such as UCEPP, income assistance, labour markets, as well as ASETS.

I thank the Minister for that answer. That is great to hear, that there are other opportunities for students out there besides Student Financial Assistance. Throughout the years, I have heard that students can attend Aurora College and take upgrading courses and be eligible for SFA. Can the Minister explain how this is possible? Is it an access program, or is it upgrading just specifically through the Aurora College?

As I mentioned yesterday, when some of these questions were coming by, the Student Financial Assistance Program must abide by the act and regulations when determining a student's eligibility. Here, with Aurora College, there is an upgrading component to the access programs at Aurora College. That program still provides courses that are at a post-secondary level, which allows students to qualify for SFA and further their education.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that clarification. That is very helpful. I have witnessed some of the challenges for the students first-hand and have been very fortunate that my constituent assistant has been well-versed in this area and has been able to move mountains to help the youth in some of these other funding programs out there, but it has been challenging. Will the Minister have his department look into feasibility to have Student Financial Assistance available to students who need to upgrade and wish to do it at a southern institution? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The purpose of the SFA program is to assist with the costs of obtaining a post-secondary education. Students who wish to get funding might want to look into pursuing some of our access programs or look at the ways of getting other avenues of potential funding that I had mentioned earlier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Territorial Anti-Poverty Action Plan included a commitment to monitoring and reporting. It recognized that there are many partners involved in the collaborative framework and that each partner would be responsible for monitoring and reporting on their own actions. However, the GNWT did commit to a number of things. One of those was compiling a set of broad social indicators that identify those factors associated with poverty, its causes and effects, and developing a schedule for reporting on them.

Mr. Speaker, during the last Anti-Poverty Roundtable held in Inuvik, a large number of indicators were discussed at length by the attendees, and the advisory committee took all that information they compiled and provided some advice and direction to the government on the establishment of some performance measures of poverty in the Northwest Territories. These measures are now being reported by the NWT Bureau of Statistics and collected by them, as well.

Thank you to the Minister. It is good to hear that there is some work going on in this area. Will the Minister further compile this information into a sort of annual report and release it at the Anti-Poverty Roundtable in November in Norman Wells?