Thank you, Madam Speaker. So this is still -- as I said, we have not even struck the committee yet. So I think it will evolve into something that -- well, my hope is that it will evolve into something that provides the Minister of the day with information so that when they're making decisions, they have that perspective. And so in that way, that very direct way, youth will be able to drive policy change at the departmental level. I can't speak to the education body level because this is a Ministers advisory committee. But I will be sharing those recommendations with all of the different education bodies. There won't be funding for the youth to, I guess put on programs or whatever they might do with the funding, but the idea is that the voice of the youth will be part of the discussion about what needs to change, and will influence those changes. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, our benefits plan is that of the public service, and we really don't determine the benefits. We rely on what is covered for by them as the insurer. At this point, Madam Speaker, it is my understanding that that is not a coverage that is within that plan. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I do appreciate that that's the current situation, but given the number of emails that I've received since I spoke about this topic last week, there does definitely seem to be an interest and a need amongst members of the GNWT. So could the Minister speak to whether or not she's been approached about including fertility treatments in the benefits package. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, no, I can't say that I have been directly requested to look into this other than, of course, here on the floor of the House. And certainly in that regard I'm live to the fact that it's an issue. But, again, it would not necessarily be something that we would direct. It would be a matter that we'd be looking at alongside the insurer. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that I did some rough calculation or number crunching there around how this actually would benefit the territory from a population growth perspective, can the Minister commit to looking at the numbers and seeing whether or not the cost benefit analysis does show that providing fertility treatments in the Northwest Territories would actually be good for our bottom line? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I certainly do keep in mind that growing a population is a significant benefit with respect to the territorial formula of financing. I'm not sure I'm going to take the tabletop math necessarily right now and make policy on that, but I'll certainly go back and see if the department wants to speak to, you know -- I know there was a motion that has previously been on this floor about looking at population numbers, whether including infertility treatments in the benefit plans for public servants is going to get us there. Again, Madam Speaker, I'm not sure I'll be in a position to respond to a policy request on that basis alone but can see if there's any other information on might be happening at the national level with the benefits plan that is used by us for public service. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I will state that even a partial benefit to allow for either subsidy of the IVF treatment itself or the benefit -- the medical travel benefits or the per diems, any little bit would help. I've recently been contacted by people where it's $20,000, and both partners have underlying conditions. They're looking at 60 to $70,000 in order to have a baby likely. So more of a comment. If the Minister wants to respond, that's fine. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we are live to the cost. There's a lot of different potential treatments that people may find very costly, things that are deemed as nonessential or elective that may not be covered through healthcare and may not be covered through GNWT public service insurance or any other private benefits insurance of which many companies do offer that. So, you know, again, that is part of the process of evolving, what we look at in terms of our benefits. At the moment, Madam Speaker, it is not included. Again, we do keep an eye on what's happening nationally. We keep an eye in contact with our insurer to ensure that we remain competitive in that space. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Madam Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services put together the Child and Youth Care Counsellor Program, and this is a program that came out of actually talking to youth and finding out what they wanted and really having that conversation about mental health and how to fill that need. Given where this program is at now, I'm wondering what kind of work Health and Social Services is doing to evaluate this program? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Madam Speaker, I'd like to redirect that to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

Minister of ECE.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So I've had a number of conversations with the Minister of health about this program. Our officials have been meeting with each other, and we both have met with the education bodies. And what the result of all of those meetings are is a review. We've expedited a review of the program. We are looking at making some changes this year to address some of the issues that have been identified and coming up with a new model, hope to be implemented in the upcoming school year. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the Member's response. How will youth be involved in this conversation and this review that's taking place? We heard that there's been conversations with the school bodies themselves, but these don't often include youth representatives and include youth voices. So how are youth going to be empowered to partake in this conversation? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So earlier we talked about the Ministers youth advisory committee that we are putting together, and that's going to be the perfect avenue to have these discussions. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the reason I started this conversation by asking to speak to the Minister of Health and Social Services was because I wanted to find out if there was an avenue for funding for what youth are looking for in their communities potentially through there. So the department of health has their suicide prevention fund, and currently to access that fund, you have to be with an NGO, you have to be with an Indigenous government. There's a list of about four or five places -- or people, rather, that can access that. But youth specifically, as individuals, are not part of that. And what I'm looking for is a way that youth can access funding in order to realize what they would like in their communities. And so I'm wondering if there's no funding available through the youth advisory council, how the department then sees it possible for youth to access funding to do what they want to do in their communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And as part of the review, there will be discussions with youth. And as I said, we are looking at how we can amend this model going forward. And if there are, you know, recommendations that we do some of the things that the Member is talking about, then we can definitely explore that. However, I don't want to just say youth will have money to pursue different programs because they're students; they don't necessarily have the time; they don't necessarily have the expertise, the connections to, you know, develop and roll out programs. So to just give students money without any sort of a structure might not be the best approach. It's actually our job as government. We are supposed to come up with those solutions to support the youth. We don't want to tell them what to do, we want to work with them to figure out what they need to do -- or what they need, and then we are the ones who develop and implement those programs. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.