Mahsi. MLA Semmler.

So thank you for that. So now that we're coming close to the year end, March 31st, so we should know exactly what we've spent this year, this summer we should be able to figure that out. So would we be -- would you be considering having to come back, or would you just find that money from within to reallocate the funds? Because we all know that it's not going down; it's only going to go up. So even to meet 80 percent coverage, we're going to need more money there. So I'm just wondering how the Minister's going to deal with that because we don't want our seniors without their home heating subsidy. Thank you.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you. And the cost of fuel goes down and it goes up so it could go -- it could actually come down; we don't know that. It could continue to go up. I'm always the optimist I guess. And we wouldn't be coming back for a supplementary estimate. It would likely be funded from within as we did last time around. Thank you.

Mahsi. MLA Semmler.

Okay, thank you. Just to the last topic there, the student financial assistance. I see that we've raised it. It's consistently went up and we've raised it again just under, you know, a million dollars there. And I'm just wondering with the changes that student financial assistance has made, has that -- you know, with eliminating the number of semesters an Indigenous person can only go to school for, I know that was eliminated. So I'm just wondering how much of an uptake have you received or has that started or when will that start, and are we budgeted properly for in case I decide I want to go back to school and I can get more semesters or any one person, any Indigenous person who's used up their semesters. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you. And I had the same thoughts as the Member. So these changes that -- we really have not discussed publicly will take effect for the upcoming -- so the 2023-2024 academic year. So students going to school in September would have access to some of these changes that we're making. The increase in the budget is about $1.4 million. As well, we've made some other reallocations internally to adjust the program as well. So some of the changes are the basic grant. We are increasing that for -- first of all, this program, again, is supposed to cover 80 percent of the cost of attending school in somewhere like in Edmonton. I think that was the original calculation. So we wanted to make sure that that 80 percent was still accurate so we looked at the numbers and we increased the overall budget for each of the grants available. We also decided for Indigenous students, to increase the basic grant to cover 100 percent of the cost -- the average cost of tuition, books, etcetera, and we removed the cap on semesters. So before you would have to -- you could only use 12 semesters of funding before you were done. So we've removed that. I'll just leave it at that for now. Thanks.

Mahsi. Mahsi for that. MLA Semmler.

Well, I guess that's -- sorry, I opened a can of worms. But with all of the numbers and all of the briefings and all of the budgets and all of the numbers, I think this is a good thing, though. I mean, that's why I think -- one of the things that I'm worried that within this number here, people going back to school or, you know, with COVID and people being -- without COVID now and people being able to go back to school in person, there's a lot of students that missed the years of going to school because they decided to opt out of going to school during COVID, virtually. So I'm just hoping that that number is going to be relooked at if we're going to need more. Thank you.

Mahsi for that. Minister.

Thank you. And we have been underspending the SFA budget for years, and it's sort of common across Canada. We've seen lower numbers of students so that allowed us to make some enhancements beyond the $1.4 million here. And, you know, if it comes to the point where there's so much uptake that we're overspending this, then we're overspending it and we'll have to increase the budget. It's a great problem to have. Thank you.

Mahsi. Next, MLA Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm going to work really hard not to repeat anything that's been said so far.

So first I wanted to start off with so the Minister indicated that the intent is to kind of go out and do some public relations in regards to this new program later on in the year with the intent of kind of looking at June or July. My concern is that revamps to income security include student financial assistance and student financial assistance has a deadline of June. And so I'm wondering how students will learn about changes to the program in advance of them actually meeting up with a deadline because some people who, like MLA Semmler indicated, might all of a sudden be eligible for more student financial assistance that they don't realize, and there is a whole lot of planning that goes into becoming a student again in your life. Thank you.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you. So we want everyone to be aware of these funds and know what they're going to be getting in September. So a lot of work has happened. Once this budget passes, a lot more work will happen. And we want to make sure that this is widely communicated. I think this is such a great new story that we shouldn't have a problem letting everyone know about it, once we iron out those details and are able to tell people exactly what we're providing. So we're well aware that there are deadlines and we want to ensure that -- we are working to ensure that everything is completed ahead of those deadlines so that everyone knows what they're eligible for. Thank you.

Mahsi. MLA Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And, you know, I assume that people like career advisors and counsellors and school administrators will be part of that education, even school teachers. But I would also like to ask, given that income security and income assistance is in here as well, that GSOs -- but not only GSOs, NGOs, be made part of kind of that training because there are NGOs like YWCA that spend a lot of time helping people access programs and kind of act as a mediator between residents and programs like yours. And so I'm just hoping that we can ensure that they're included because they can be champions in helping spread the good word of these program changes as well. So thank you for that. And that's just a comment.

My question is does the federal government contribute to income security, either the income assistance program or the student financial assistance program; is there any cost recovery that happens here? Thank you.

Mahsi for that. Minister.

Thank you. And of course we get most of our money from the federal government. In particular, we do get money specifically for the student financial assistance program. We receive $5.6 million from the federal government. They have the Canada Student Loans Program that we opted out of in order to be able to offer these types of customized programs to our residents. And because we opted out, we get that money from the federal government and we contribute GNWT funds as well. Thank you.

MLA Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, it was that $5.6 million fund towards SFA that I was looking for. I'm wondering if there is any conversation, given the changes that have happened to income security and student financial assistance, if there's been any conversation with the federal government to increase that amount especially given that one of the most exciting changes that was made to income security was this opportunity for Indigenous students to really go for unlimited terms of education if that's what they so desire. Thank you.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you. The department does have a relationship with the federal government and at officials levels there are always discussions and there's always meetings. There haven't -- you know, we haven't made a formal request for more money from the federal government for the student financial assistance program. Thank you.