Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is something that I think most people in the territory are familiar with. The most recent stats I could find show that we are second in Canada when it comes to grandparents raising their grandchildren, after Nunavut. It's quite a big margin, right. It is quite common here. I'm sure that all of us have relatives who are doing this. Maybe they were raised by their grandparents. I'm sure Members have raised some of their grandkids here, so it is quite common. The department acknowledges this. Through the income assistance program, we do provide assistance to grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. And, you know, while some benefits outside of the income assistance program require the grandparent to have custody of the child, the income assistance program doesn't do that. So if a child -- grandchild is dependent upon the grandparents, they're living with the grandparents and they're raising them, then we consider that a dependent of that grandparent and so we fund that accordingly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Our elders have spent their entire lives supporting themselves and their communities. Many haven't needed government assistance but now -- or financial support in their children and grandchildren and don't know where to go to get much needed assistance.

Can the Minister help get the word out on programs that could provide financial support to these elders on fixed income and the monthly pensions for elders? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I can speak to what ECE is doing; of course the department of health has a number of programs as well. But we have our income assistance program, and I know that there's some stigma around that but it really is there to help the residents who need that help. And we want residents to access that. We of course also have the seniors home heating subsidy which we've increased during this government, and we had a one-time top-up last year as well. And we have the -- we also have the senior citizens supplementary benefit which is administered by the Government of Canada on our behalf that low-income seniors receive automatically. So if someone comes to ECE looking for that type of support, those are some of the options they have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. Would the Minister consider developing a special grant-based program to provide no strings attached cash to elders providing support to their grandchildren? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we don't have a plan to develop a standalone program such as the Member is talking about. But we have been undertaking a review of the income assistance program, and in this budget, there is $5 million for some significant changes. So seniors can expect to get some more support in that area. As well, there's other avenues. There's Jordan's Principle, Inuit Child First Initiative, Canada Child Benefit, and things like that as well. Again health and social services does also provide support when it's needed. But we are taking significant steps in this government to better support our elders. Thank you.

Final supplementary. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, elders do not need to undertake productive choices, mandates attached to the income support funding. Can the Minister waive these requirements for elders living in poverty? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it was just yesterday in this House that I made an announcement about the changes to our income assistance program. I'm sure it's all over the news right now, and everyone is reading about it. But part of those changes is to remove the productive choice. So I can say yes to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.