Thanks to the Minister. It is all good news. I do sincerely appreciate her work on this area. I have repeatedly mentioned the need to index our Income Security Programs. Of course, those include income assistance, student financial assistance, seniors, and benefits to people with disabilities. We need to index those to the cost of living. Is the indexing of income security payments an element of the current review, and will recommendations be made to introduce indexing?

At the current time, right now, we don't do the indexing, but we have made a number of enhancements to the programs just in the last few years. We have increased our senior citizen supplementary benefit. We have increased the NWT child benefit. We have improved our senior home heating subsidy. We have extended our rental allowances for single applicants. Then, of course, in our proposed mains for 2019-2020, we proposed an increase for disabled and age allowance for people. I am looking forward to the results of all of the MLAs and Indigenous governments. If that is a concern, then I am looking forward to seeing it in the surveys from the MLAs.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I will certainly be recommending indexing, and the Minister knows this. I have also mentioned problems where income assistance recipients find themselves where they don't actually have any money to live on because of windfalls or wages from previous benefit periods, recalculations, and so on. Is there any consideration being given to repayment plans, much like rental arrears plans, to reduce the hardship of drastic benefit reductions?

I am actually quite disappointed to actually hear that question, because it is a major concern for me. People cannot afford to just get penalized if they are on income support. They are some of our most marginalized populations. We need to work with them. It is not okay to just cut them off. I inquired with the department, and my understanding is that we try to work with them so that there is not a financial hardship. The minimum repayment is $25 a month. One of the critiques that I did hear from the NGOs, and I am thinking that is part of our problem, is that we are not good at communicating, and I think that goes across a lot of departments. Right now, we are looking at our communication.

I want people in the public to know that, if you have to pay income support back, come to us. We want to support you and make a repayment plan. We will try to make it within your financial means. The lowest amount will be $25 a month. I am hoping that that is affordable for people. We should not be penalizing the most marginalized in our population.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. I have discussed with her constituent issues and raised this issue with her. We have clear cases that we have discussed together. I have constituents who get cut off, and they have nothing to live with. We have to fix this, and I hear the commitment from the Minister to work on this. I expect all of my colleagues to give her suggestions on how to improve the system, because we shouldn't be cutting people off.

I have supported the Minister in this administrative review, and I hope it includes indexing, but we need a more systematic approach, Mr. Speaker, one that is around a basic income guarantee. I am wondering: can the Minister tell us whether she has considered a basic income guarantee pilot project here in the Northwest Territories, and when is she prepared to see that happen? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I think yesterday I talked a little bit about things I've been called, and not being called easy and not being called lazy. One thing I have been called is, and I don't even know where it comes from, but I have been called a little bit of a socialist, and within that system, the guaranteed basic income would fit very well.

I do adhere to it. I had asked the department about it, and my understanding from the department was that there wasn't a lot of research on it that showed it work. I am not accepting that answer, Mr. Speaker, so I have asked the department to go back and look at that research again and show it to me.

My worry is that I believe in it. I think it may be the right way to go, but I am also concerned about the time that we have left in this Assembly. I am doing the research now. If my findings prove that it is viable, then it will be in my recommendations for the next Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Wise Women Awards is a very important event. It recognizes the contributions that women have made in society. We did talk about it. I met with Violet Camsell-Blondin, actually, on January 15^th to talk about many things. That was one of them.

We had talked about different things. They were talking about maybe changing the time to coincide with October, with Women's History Month. That is probably why you haven't seen anything in the paper now. My women's special advisor has been working with them to look at alternative fundings. We have applied to a few of the mines. We have got a commitment from one of the mines. One of the other mines has asked for more clarification on it, so we are in the process of doing that for them. They can also access some of the money through the Women's Initiatives Grant.

The other thing that I should say that they are talking about is not doing it in the capital, because it limits us. It is more expensive, and it limits the amount of people. One thing that I have learned in the last three years is how community-focused people are. You have an event. It doesn't matter what it is; they come out in hordes. They come. There are big meals. There are gatherings. When we only do it in Yellowknife, those people are limited. Status of Women was looking at actually changing format a bit and having those women recognized in their home communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have some follow-up questions. I just want to be clear that it is up to the Status of Women Council to have independent fundraising for these awards. Do I understand that correctly?

I take it I wasn't clear enough. The Status of Women Council will be able to access funds through the Women's Initiatives Grant, which is from the GNWT, Government of the Northwest Territories. The special advisor who works with my position, with me, is working with the Status of Women to assist them to write proposals to the mines to access additional funding for that.

Could the Minister tell us, of the awards that she is familiar with through her ministries in the last three years, which other awards the organizations are fundraising for?

I am a little bit confused about the question, but I will try my best to answer. Many organizations apply for the Women's Initiatives Grant. We only have $50,000. We try to allocate them, usually, around $5,000 each, sometimes more, depending on the number of proposals and the needed requests. Many of those organizations, Mr. Speaker, access additional funding for their projects. It is not unusual for many people to look for lots of opportunities for funding, and I encourage that. People need to look for funding as many ways as they can.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This government gives out a tremendous number of awards. We recognize people who speak Indigenous languages. We recognize volunteers. We recognize firefighters. We recognize people with the Premier's Awards. As far as I know, no one is responsible for fundraising money for those awards. They are part of the department's budget. I am wondering why the Status of Women is being treated differently in being told that they need to write proposals to corporate funders in order to host the Wise Women Awards. Thank you.

When I first assumed this position a few years ago, actually, I had made the wrong assumption, I guess, that the Status of Women actually worked in closer partnership with myself as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. It was very clear from standing committee that they wanted us to have a hands-off approach and let the Status of Women be their own entity.

I heard that loud and clear, so I have been walking on very thin ice with them in trying to be supportive versus directive. They are not a government department. They are an independent agency, so, therefore, there would be differences. There are other agencies that I am sure provide other events that aren't 100 percent sponsored by the GNWT, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement, can the Minister of Health and Social Services confirm if the Regional Wellness Councils plan to engage joint meetings with community-based chief-and-council groups? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said a week or two ago, I had some responses around the Regional Wellness Councils. They do have the ability to set their agendas, and if they wanted to have some meetings with other groups, they would certainly be able to do that. It is my understanding right now that that has not been done. None of the Regional Wellness Councils have established or set up meetings with other bodies to share information or to talk. It's not a horrible idea. I will certainly raise it with the territorial authority and the board chair as a potential opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. Awareness of services is a really essential and concerning discussion when we go back to our communities. My next question, Mr. Speaker: can the Minister confirm if there is a human resource career and training strategy in six of the regional centres?

I am not 100 percent sure what the Member is asking. I do know that the territorial authority does have some human resource functions to help them do some strategic planning to ensure that they are supporting their staff. They work closely with the human resource department of Finance to do recruitment and retention, to do staffing. I am not sure exactly what the Member is asking. Within the strategic plan, there is talk about the recruitment or retention of hard-to-recruit allied health professionals, nurses, social workers, and others, but as far as an individual plan by community or region, I am not 100 percent sure if that is what the Member is asking.