Colleagues, I'd like to thank Jonas Lafferty for the guiding words this afternoon. I hope everybody had a good weekend and get ready to rock and roll.

So Ministers' statements. Minister of Status of Women.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to acknowledge the Fifth Anniversary of the Release of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The final report describes the dire situation faced by Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBPQIA+ people as genocide, and delivers 231 Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries, and all Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, here in the Northwest Territories, where half of the population is Indigenous, we are all too familiar with the harmful effects of colonialism. From the era of residential schools to the decades of tuberculosis and the Sixties Scoop, we are either survivors of the trauma or know someone who is.

Mr. Speaker, many Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the NWT and across Canada, continue to experience violence in the home, workplace and within their community, and they continue to go missing. In the NWT, there are currently 80 active missing persons cases. As I speak here today, Frank Gruben, who went missing from Fort Smith in May 2023, still has not been found. I call on anyone with information that could help find Frank Gruben, to step forward to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Mr. Speaker, since the release of the final report, the Government of the Northwest Territories has taken steps to begin to affect change so that Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people can feel safe, valued, supported, and honoured in every community. In response to the Call for Justice, the GNWT is implementing its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Action Plan tabled in November 2022. One of the actions identified in the plan is to look at how our government is responding to violence directed at Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people, recognizing that partnership is key in building trust with Indigenous residents and communities. In the next three years, we will be designing new foster care models to help break cycles of gender-based violence for children and youth as well as conducting a feasibility study on developing a NWT restorative justice model to support survivors of family violence.

Mr. Speaker, as part of our government's response to the national action plan to end gender-based violence, we have signed a four-year funding agreement to implement a whole of government response to ending gender-based violence, family violence, and intimate partner violence. Our interdepartmental approach involves working closely with Indigenous governments and non-profit organizations to coordinate activities, which include contributing more funding to family violence shelters and community organizations.

Mr. Speaker, work has also advanced on establishing an MMIWG advisory committee, which will provide advice and guidance to this government on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls-related matters. It will be a pathway for communities to provide input into programs and services to ensure they reflect and address community needs and aspirations as they relate to the Calls for Justice. The draft terms of reference for this committee have been developed with input from Indigenous governments, key stakeholders, and other community partners. Once the terms of reference are finalized, organizations will be able to put forward their committee members for appointment. The intent is to have this advisory committee in place by the fall of 2024.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is dedicated to ending violence directed at Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people. We will do this by implementing the action plan using a whole-of-government approach, while working with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls advisory committee to guide this work. I will look to the Legislative Assembly to continue to collaborate with our community partners to develop solutions that are reasonable, effective, and sustainable and by continuously striving to do better.

An annual report on the implementation of the action plan is being prepared and will be posted on the GNWT's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls web page by the end of June 2024.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is committed to working with all Northerners and partners across Canada to address systemic causes of violence, inequality, and racism so that Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people can feel safe and empowered in their communities, in the Northwest Territories, and across Canada. Quyananni, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for the status of Women. Members, I wish to draw your attention to the presence of Colette Langlois, our current ombud, and Krista Carnogursky. I apologize if I said that name wrong, our incoming ombud. Ms. Langlois, thank you for your years of service. And Ms. Carnogursky, we wish you well as you take on the task of this important role. So welcome to our Assembly.

Ministers' statements. Minister for Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to update you on crucial improvements to the Northwest Territories Income Assistance Program.

July, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will introduce a new targeted income assistance program for seniors and persons with disabilities. These anticipated changes, first announced last year, are ready to roll out across the territory next month.

Income assistance programs provide essential support for residents in financial need. Clients will receive a base benefit amount based on the number of people in their household and the northern market basket measure of their region to reflect cost of living differences across the Northwest Territories. This base benefit covers basic needs like food, clothing, and other daily living activities. Clients will also be eligible for other benefits based on their circumstances including shelter, utilities, child care, security deposits, flood and fire emergencies, and even education and training benefits.

We have also increased the income exemption amount. The exemption can be taken as a lump sum amount or be split into smaller amounts provided it does not exceed the annual limit. This allows clients to accept some monetary gifts or generate some additional household revenues without a significant impact on their benefits. For example, some people may want to work a few hours per week or participate in paid cultural activities or collect an honoraria from serving on a board. In addition, Mr. Speaker, this new program will address the barrier of monthly applications. Seniors and persons with disabilities will only need to apply once a year, enabling them to budget for their monthly costs more effectively.

These enhancements are the result of extensive engagement with residents, Indigenous governments, and stakeholders. Residents were clear that we need improved supports for vulnerable residents, better program accessibility, and to do our part to support seniors and elders to age in place.

Mr. Speaker, these program changes represent an increased investment of $5 million into the income assistance program. Education, Culture and Employment will use a performance measurement plan to ensure proper monitoring and evaluation of these programs.
More importantly, Mr. Speaker, these program changes will result in better services for residents who need it most, while recognizing the incredible value that elders, seniors, and persons with disabilities bring to our communities. Significant work to reduce barriers, including fewer layers of administration and less paperwork, will also improve the overall experience for clients, care providers, and non-governmental organizations trying to support them. By making this system more efficient, seniors and persons with disabilities will have more time to focus on what matters most, including self-care, training and education, community participation, and time with family.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to delivering programs and services that help residents live their lives with dignity, reach their long-term goals, and benefit from opportunities in the territory. Guided by engagement with hundreds of residents and stakeholders, I am confident that these crucial improvements to the income assistance program will improve the quality of life for NWT residents who need it most. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Ministers' statements. Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Thebacha, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, will be absent from the House today and tomorrow for the Canadian Council of Forests Ministers meeting in Cranbrook, British Columbia.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am joining in with my colleagues to speak about income assistance services in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, since becoming an MLA, my understanding of social programs and services, like income assistance, has continued to evolve. I have learned through discussions with my colleagues that what I think may be appropriate for Yellowknife residents may not be appropriate or perhaps applicable to other communities or regions. For example, what I think might be a good idea and could really work for folks living in Yellowknife might not work the same way or at all for folks who are living in the Mackenzie Delta or the Tlicho.

I'm excited for my colleagues to fall have the opportunity tomorrow to hear from Karl Widerquist, who is an expert on basic income. As I have stated before in this House, I believe a guaranteed basic income could be an exciting approach for our territory.

Mr. Speaker, I've said previously that the current structure and function of our income assistance system is paternalistic in nature. I would also add that it is colonial in nature because it makes people dependent on the program and disincentivizes participation in the labour force.

This brings me to my next point, Mr. Speaker, which is the general lack of meaningful work opportunities that are available in small communities and regional centres compared to what is available in Yellowknife. This situation further complicates the inherent issues with income assistance and entrenches people within that system without any other options available to them. We must also consider that there are some people who may have little to no desire to participate in the day-to-day wage economy and would much prefer to primarily participate in a traditional economy instead.

Overall, Mr. Speaker, at the core I believe the GNWT's social programs need to be reexamined and restructured so operationally they function to properly meet the needs of the people and work to meet residents where they're at and properly address what they need. I think it's important that we consider looking at income assistance from the lens of appropriately tailoring what the program needs to look like in the context of a region-based or community-based way. I will have questions later for the Minister of ECE. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Members' statements. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in order for people to live financially independent from the government, there needs to be local economic opportunities. There needs to be business activity and a local economy in order for people to earn wages and prosper. When there's a lack of business activity, Mr. Speaker, like we see in the Beaufort Delta region, families have no choice but to turn to income support. And when families are limited to income support to pay their bills, providing healthy nutritious meals becomes even more of a challenge.

Mr. Speaker, the population of Inuvik is 3,383. The most recent numbers from the bureau shows that 645 people in the Inuvik region were income assistance recipients.

Mr. Speaker, we know the cost of living in the NWT is highest in the communities further north. For families living on income security in my region, Mr. Speaker, food insecurity is a real threat. The bureau also shows that 24 percent of households in Inuvik are worried that there's not much money for food. Mr. Speaker, 287 homes in Inuvik worry about hunger and what will be the next meal.

I want to acknowledge the inspiring work initiated by Indigenous governments in my region to address this issue. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is responding to rising food prices and the accessibility of country foods to families. The IRC provides food baskets to school-aged families. Mr. Speaker, the Inuvialuit Community Economic Development Organization also runs a new processing plant that provides country food to beneficiaries. Mr. Speaker, these are the food security solutions that make a difference in the lives of families and households. These are the initiatives we need to supported across the territory, Mr. Speaker. And I'll have questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment later today.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to discuss the issue that income support clients in my riding, the Mackenzie Delta, are two times higher than the rest of the NWT. What is happening in my riding, Mr. Speaker, for so many people to be on income assistance and how is the government responding to this?

The purpose of income support, as stated in the policy manual, is to help people to become independent and self-reliant. Unfortunately, it does not appear that income assistance in the Mackenzie Delta is helping people become independent. What we see is that once people start, they do not get off income assistance. I also see students in my region who go through the education system. They are socially passed and can't keep up with university or college. It is not uncommon for these young people, capable of working or pursuing post-secondary education, to become income assistance clients. Our young adults are getting stuck on the income assistance. This does not help their self-esteem.

Mr. Speaker, I do not want to penalize people who have medical conditions or cannot work. These people need the support of the government but, unfortunately, I see a lot of people who should be working but instead are on income assistance. I want to address the cycle of dependency that carries through to families and generations on income assistance. How can we get people working?

The government needs to look at the policy and make changes that incentivizes people to work and make productive choices, and the government should report on the outcomes of productive choices. How do we measure the outcome of income assistance? We should be able to report the number of people on income assistance and the number of people who have moved on. How many success stories do we have? I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment later. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Members' statements. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Getting back people to work and off income support assistance.

Mr. Speaker, I care for and am concerned for the future generations. I am concerned that we are losing the resilience that our ancestors survived for generations on. Life is different now than 50 years ago.

Mr. Speaker, income support was created as a temporary solution, a band aid solution, to give people assistance for a short period of time. But, unfortunately, what it has become is a system that people get on and do not get off of the income assistance. For some young people, some young adults, it has become a norm.

Living on income support, life is limited. We all know that. There is not much people can do but be controlled by the system. We all know that if people are working and earning wages, they would have a better standard of living than income support. So why is this temporary income support not helping people get back to work?

Mr. Speaker, income support does help people pay their bills and survive but we all know the challenge with this program is that once people are on income support, they get comfortable. There is no incentive to get out of the system. Mr. Speaker, how do we support people to want better than income support?

Our elders survived and took care of each other and their families before income assistance, before child tax payment, before the subsidies that we have today. Income support should be designed to help people get back to work, to incentivize people to go back to work not penalize them. Has the Minister considered trying pilot projects in regions or communities to roll out income support differently?

A job is one reason that can help people wake up early every day, stay sober, be productive, and become self-sufficient. We need to look at different ways of delivering income assistance so we can truly support people to get back to work. Mr. Speaker, can I have unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you. Maybe that means for a temporary period of time they are allowed to work, and their monthly income support is not reduced. Maybe we allow people to earn enough to save so they can find a way out of living on income support. I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Members' statements. Member from Range Lake.

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to join my colleagues in speaking about income assistance. It's clear there's severe shortcomings in how the GNWT works to address poverty and inequality. As we search for solutions, I would like to turn to my colleagues' attention to the work Alternatives North has done to find missing pieces of our social safety net.

After years of tireless study and research, they have concluded that what the North is missing is a universal income program. They've even provided us with the steps we need to take to put this program in place. Rates of poverty and low income remain stubbornly high while standards of living remain stagnant, at best. The NWT Bureau of Statistics recently discovered that poverty has risen to 15 percent but the data gets even worse as it's broken down. 15 percent of single parent families in the small communities live on low incomes, and 24 percent of NWT children younger than 15 live in households that struggle to meet their financial needs. These numbers do not even begin to tell the bigger picture of the fact that many working families are living dangerously close to falling into these low income and poverty thresholds every month. The GNWT seems only interested in continually added entitlement programs but doing so only increases administrative costs and builds barriers into our system that leave our most vulnerable stuck in a poverty trap. A basic minimum income would round up programs we already have by ensuring every Northerner has a liveable wage without adding to our administrative costs.

Mr. Speaker, the previous government shrugged off this report when it was first released but this new government now has the opportunity to correct that mistake and begin working with NGOs, municipalities, Indigenous governments, and their federal counterparts to begin phasing in pilot programs across the North that will raise the standard of living in communities in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, one pilot program would be an improvement over zero. It's time for universal basic income. It was time yesterday, it will be time tomorrow, and certainly we'll find out if it's time today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to support the words shared by my colleagues that we need to take action to reduce dependence on government support. I really appreciate the perspective they bring into this House from their experience living and representing the communities and the frustration they feel when they see people becoming dependent on the government rather than achieving independence and self-reliance.

I also have a bit of experience working with youth in some of our communities in my own role as an instructor of an environmental monitoring training program and can say that the youth I worked with were capable, energetic, and excited at the prospect of gaining some skills which would lead them into an interesting career.

This work is another part of why I'm so passionate about post-secondary education because I've seen myself how big of an impact even an introductory program can have on lifting people up to grasp the opportunities in front of them. It also flies in the face of the idea that people simply don't want to work.

So, Mr. Speaker, I share and want to build upon the messages shared by my community colleagues that we need to be working to reduce dependence on the government for programs such as income support, which I think is a necessary support but shouldn't be seen as an end goal. With this in mind, I look to the upcoming changes to the program being implemented by ECE. I can see how requirements like the productive choice requirement or the requirement to seek and maintain employment were seen as paternalistic and restrictive, and so I don't necessarily take issue with their removal. However, I am wondering what the department is planning to do to reduce dependence on this kind of programming if not through these requirements. I'll have some questions for the Minister on that later.

Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to speak to the experience of a constituent who has accessed income support. She was required by the department to drain her modest RRSP savings in order to continue to qualify for support. This was done in accordance with section 20 of the income assistance regulations. While I understand there is a need to ensure fairness in program access, I would say at a basic level it feels counterproductive and unfair to require a person to drain retirement savings in order to access support in a time of need. I think the department should have a look at requirements like this and how they can have the unintended consequence of furthering entrenching people in the need for support as has been so eloquently spoken to by my colleagues today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know of two constituents who are in a unique and unfortunate set of circumstances involving income assistance.

Mr. Speaker, there are two constituents in my riding who are a couple and are in a situation where neither of them have jobs. They don't have housing accommodations or any support of any kind. This couple, sadly, is caught up in the addiction process. They decided to go out and live on the land together because they wanted to sober up and, in doing so, they also attempted to get their income assistance. But they were denied and told they were ineligible to receive any assistance because they do not live in the town with a fixed address despite the camp this couple is at is within the community or municipal boundary.

Mr. Speaker, there's something very wrong with this picture in more ways than one. This government needs to support people when they decide to change their lives for the better away from addictions. Why are income assistance recipients penalized for deciding to live off the land where there are no jobs, no available housing, and no government support available to help them? No, it said.

Why are income assistance recipients penalized for deciding to live off the land if there are no jobs, no available housing, and no government support available to help them?

Mr. Speaker, when people are struggling with addictions and have no support, going out on the land will help them because the land is healing. People can gain insights on healthy living while connecting with nature. If NGOs or communities provide land-based healing already, then how is this situation this couple is dealing with any different? Why is our government not supporting people to be on the land when seeking healing and sobriety? With proper guidance and support, people living off the land can actually heal themselves and become productive citizens when they return to communities.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the Department of ECE can work with NGOs, communities, and Indigenous governments to create a new way to assist recipients of income assistance that want to sober up and change their lives. There must be another way for people who do not have fixed addresses to receive some level of support from them. I will have questions for the Minister of ECE at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.