With respect, it's a mandate item. So to say that I just find that to be a little bit sort of shunting the responsibility here. Again, if you've put it in the mandate, then you have an obligation to connect with communities and get feedback on that item. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Absolutely, like you said, the mandate says that it is about recommendations for improvements in Nutrition North. When we went and we talked, it was communities asking to get on to it. I've already made the commitment that I'll go further with that, Mr. Chair. So I'm not sure what more the Member wants of me. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.

Just clarifying, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, so the food security is a concern for everyone in the North, no matter what your income is. It's one of the highest things that we spend our money on; it's just the reality of being here. And so when you're low income, it's even more dire. So I agree with that. There's different components. The Nutrition North Program is about getting food. It's a federal government program. It's about getting food into the communities that don't have access to highway systems 24/7. And so that is federal government, and that I took on, and I -- when I asked, I mean, we got more communities on. That was a priority. And the first time in years that that's happened. So that's a bonus in itself.

We also have other food security programs that happen. I know Minister Wawzonek with ITI is working on the Northern Food Development Program which is again in priority -- or with the federal government, the Canadian agricultural partnership with ITI and Agriculture and Agrofoods Canada. So they tried to get that to align with legislative priorities and industry needs. Small scale foods programs being rebranded, and it's food security. We have ENR that works with the -- Minister Thompson working with getting traditional harvester support programs, the Harvester Mentorship Program. There's a variety of programs that we're doing to be able to get food into people and -- of all kinds. The Nutrition North is about foods in grocery stores, and maybe it's not the right way I can ask about that. However, we're also looking at different departments and looking at traditional foods as well. So it's as comprehensive as we can get it. And, you know, we're trying our best to be able to meet the needs of people in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate that, you know, variety is the spice of life and especially when it comes to being able to put together kind of a robust fleet I guess of programs that support food security. And like I said, agriculture programs are important as well long-term, and I fully, fully support those, and I think there's a lot of really, really strong business ideas that have come out of some that funding and that are being developed right now across the North. But when we speak about food security, one -- we're not necessarily looking at all of those agriculture programs. When we talk -- or right away. When we talk about somebody affording to put, you know, milk on the table and somebody purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables, well, the odds of us seeing, you know, a citrus farm in the territory or a fruit farm in the territory are quite low, and I know that we've had a dairy farm before but the idea of a dairy farm is quite low. And so we -- we know that we're reliant on grocery stores and that this is a key part of food security and people being affording -- being able to afford to purchase food from grocery stores is important just as much as being able to also source country foods is also important across the territory. And so given the equal importance between the two, is the Premier willing to have a very specific conversation about the strength of the Nutrition North Program at the federal tables along with Cabinet colleagues? Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So to deal with the Nutrition North, I don't believe it has to be at the federal table with the -- with all of Cabinet. I think it's something that ENI can -- EIA can take on. It's something, like I said, I took on when I went to the communities and asked people about it. That's how we got the other communities on. I've already made the commitment I will go further with that work and ask them, you know, that -- of issues that they have with the program and carry that back to the federal government. So I'll follow through with my commitment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, along the same vein as far as affordability of food being a key component of food security across the territory, I'm wondering if the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, specifically income assistance -- like, I've noticed that -- that they are not in this mandate or this list of mandate items under this priority, and really the participation of income security is huge as far as being able to afford to put food on the table. And so given the increase to food costs, is income assistance looking at increasing their own amount that goes towards calculating income assistance to ensure that food security and inflation is part of that and is inflation automatically calculated year after year as far as income assistance is concerned? Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not seeing it on the list of mandates, but I will turn it to the Minister of ECE to see if he has anything he wants to add to that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I know that ECE, we are not part of this mandate commitment, but humbly, I think that ECE does more for food security than anyone through the income assistance program. We ensure that people can have food on their plates.

To answer the Member's specific questions, inflation, cost of living increases, are not automatically included in income assistance year after year. That is an initiative that the department has to go and seek funding for. It is not something that is done automatically. I don't believe that it's done automatically for most of our programs. But as with most things in the department, it is under review and we are looking at the funding that we provide, and we are looking at the new market baskin measure proposed for the North and perhaps tying it to those numbers that are being used by the federal government. So there are options, and we are looking to address the issues raised by the Member, but not today. They're not happening today. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, is the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment willing to share this information with the House or with the Standing Committee on Social Development? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister Simpson.

Thank you. I just shared the information I have to share at this point. But as the income assistance review continues, I will happily keep Members informed and I've committed earlier to this exact same thing, actually. So yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

No more questions, Mr. Chair.