Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the NWT residents that healthcare services for transgender individuals, including children and youth, will continue to be available under our existing model as there -- at this time we are still utilizing the same referral plan as usual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if an out-of-territory referral is made for an NWT resident, including child or youth, and medically necessary service is not available in Alberta, we arrange to have these services made available in other locations in Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I think Alberta's feeling pretty unsafe these days and I think this is a safety issue. So is that taking into account if patients are coming to get care, are we ensuring it's gender affirming care and we're taking their safety concerns into account when we're making -- when we're making those travel arrangements for them? Thank you.

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. We are continuing to work with Alberta in -- there's -- nothing has changed, and I want -- I think that's the thing is right now, within our health care system our referral process is to Alberta. There is no change in that referral service. The -- they are still -- they are still providing the service in Alberta. If -- and I think -- so people are aware, we will continue -- like our department is continuing to work with the Government of Alberta to clarify Alberta's proposed policy and how they may impact residents of the Northwest Territories receiving out-of-territorial referrals. And for -- you know, there's referrals that have to go elsewhere, Mr. Speaker, they will still fall within access to care. So if they can't access the care in Alberta, we will provide the medical travel that's necessary for those members to travel to other areas where they can access the care. I hope that answers the question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It does confuse it somewhat. So I mean, Premier Smith's been pretty clear that these changes are taking effect and, you know, these are transphobic and, you know, atrocious policies that no health system in Canada should have, so are they -- is the Alberta government making exception for NWT patients within this policy? I'm just -- want clarity on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time within the Department of Health and Social Services -- like, within my department, we are, as I mentioned, connecting with the Alberta health department on the proposed policies that Alberta has made. We will continue to keep those discussions ongoing to see if there is any changes and if there are changes that are going to impact the residents of the Northwest Territories, then we -- like I said, we will have other options for those members to be able to access the care that they need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm excited to ask the next batch of questions to the Minister of education.

Under the Student Financial Assistance Act, section 10(3)(a), so that doesn't mean much to the public, but what it is is it specifically points out to the cap of SFA provided to Northerners attending post-secondary school, Mr. Speaker, which happens to be $60,000 in total. That's your total cap of what you can take.

So, Mr. Speaker, recognizing the costs and ever changing needs of Northerners seeking education and recognizing the fact that we want to support Northerners to get education and even go on to graduate education such as become lawyers, doctors, etcetera, and come back here, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to address the cap by raising it to what would be considered reasonable and modern amounts reflective of the needs of students attending post-secondary school? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was -- this idea was explored in the previous Assembly when the review of Student Financial Assistance was done and, at that time, the decision was made to not expand the cap and to put dollars from ECE, in fact, into other programs. There was changes made to the Student Financial Assistance Program at that time, but this change was not one of them. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I didn't know that the 19th Assembly could fetter the decisions of the 20th Assembly in this regard, Mr. Speaker. I mean, that was the old Minister. We don't have any use for that old Minister. We want the new Minister to take some leadership around that. So, Mr. Speaker, would the new Minister of education be willing to go back and address this cap?

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point, you know, there's been conversation about putting extra dollars into early learning and child care. There's been comments about expanding the -- or removing the cap and putting dollars in there. There's been requests for putting more money into seniors' home heating subsidy. And there's only so much that I can move dollars around within the department in order to accommodate those. So some difficult decisions are going to have to be made on behalf of this whole government as a team. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we're not really talking about a lot of students here. We're literally talking anywhere from 10 to 50 students who need to go beyond that $60,000 cap, Mr. Speaker. What's the Minister's apprehension, really, at the end of the day for expanding the cap? Because we know it's not a lot of students, and she would have the numbers of how many exact students would be attending. So what's her apprehension? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. No, I hear what the Member is saying, absolutely. But whatever I provide right now has to be provided to future students down the road, and I am -- I've done the research in the previous Assembly on this one. I've spoken to students who are part of that minority of students that are looking for that. I understand that trends in post-secondary education are changing across the country and that people are taking on average five years to do their bachelor degree these days instead of the four, and they are wanting to continue on and potentially do a law degree or a master's in something else. And I -- you know, do we really want to support these students? Absolutely we do, and we want them to come home. That being said, Mr. Speaker, we do have a budget that we have to maintain, and we have to make sure that any decision that we make for one student can be accessible by every student in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Most of that answer was certainly acceptable. The second half, less good. I'm certainly going to say that.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to do an analysis on how many people actually uptake on the full potential $60,000 and weigh that in the sense of information and balance that against those who go beyond the need of the 60,000? So in other words, are all students accessing the full amount, and can we do analysis over the last two years? And I think we shouldn't go too much further than that because spend a lot of time and money doing it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I love data and evidence-based decision-making, and I'm always game to see what numbers are out there. Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given my theme this week is employment, and I likely sound like a broken record to the Premier on this issue, but I'm glad to see that a regional director of finance has been hired in Inuvik. My question is to the Premier on where we are with the department on the regional director for infrastructure -- sorry, regional director for the executive in Inuvik. Thank you.

From Inuvik Boot Lake. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're in the same place we were when the Member asked a couple weeks ago. Thank you.

So I assume, then, that the same position as the position is ready to be advertised and we'll soon have a new regional director up there?