Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, income assistance is a month to month program, which means that there is already a baked in month to month connection for a tremendous amount of income assistance clients with their client navigators. So these are relationships that every month are being worked on. In addition to that, there is also the career development officers that work within the regional offices as well. And these are people who are creating pathways to whatever are the career goals of persons as well. And so the client navigators would also be able to work in conjunction with those roles too. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yeah, I would just say to the Minister I hope to see some new programming coming forward to that end to getting people connected with employment.

Mr. Speaker, on a slightly different note, section 24(v) of the income assistance regulations requires people to drain their retirement savings in order to be eligible for income assistance. Is the Minister willing to review these regulations to see if we can achieve the balance of program fairness without forcing people to compromise their long-term future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am most definitely willing to look further into any part of any regulation. I think it's really important that we ensure that we're supporting our most vulnerable residents while still ensuring that we're also maintaining fiscal responsibility. I think it's also prudent for me to also say that income assistance is intended to be a program of last resort and is intended to pick people up when they need to be picked up in order to get to the next month and hopefully be able to access programs that lift them out of that program as well. And so yes, definitely willing to look at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I spoke about the inspiring work initiated by the Indigenous governments in my region in providing food baskets and country foods to residents or beneficiaries up there. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs and our Premier. I know he's well versed in all things food security, and I'd like to ask him how is the Government of the Northwest Territories working with Indigenous government in the Inuvik region to address food security? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT has a number of programs that we are utilizing to help address food security issues. We have $1.75 million available each year under the anti-poverty fund. And that has been disbursed in the Member's region quite widely. It can be used for a number of different things. So the Aklavik Community Corp has received money for the beluga harvesting program. The hamlet of Paulatuk has a food security program. They've received $25,000. Inuvik Native Band, $30,000 for food supports. Inuvik Youth Centre, $30,000 for the drop-in centre. So there's an entire list here of ways that we are working with the Member's region to support food security. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank Premier Simpson for that information, certainly it's good to get that on public record.

Mr. Speaker, how is the department working with the federal government to maximize the Nutrition North support programs for my region?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So currently, the federal government is undertaking an internal review of the Nutrition North program, and so we're waiting to hear what comes of that. But I can tell you that there is constant advocacy to the federal government regarding the Nutrition North program. It was spoken about in this House many times by the former Premier. I'm sure it'll be on future meeting agendas when I meet with the Minister of northern affairs as well. And so this is an area where there's obviously significant interest across the North. Is it a perfect program? Of course not. But I know that there are examples of significant supports being provided to ensure that small remote communities have accesses to some basic necessities. And I will continue to press the federal government to make improvements to that program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know oftentimes, you know, some of our issues are communicating what we're doing in our regions. And I'm not sure if working with other departments such as ITI or ECE, can the Minister kind of let me know how the Government of the Northwest Territories is ensuring that our communities that are eligible for the harvester support grant and the country foods subsidies are being made aware of this support? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The thing about food security, as a file, is that it cuts across the entire government. We have food security initiatives obviously in ITI, in ECE, in ECC. And so I don't have that detail right now but I can commit to getting back to the Member with that. Thank you.

Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that answer. And I look forward to that information.

One final one, Mr. Speaker, I know that the Minister spoke about the funding, the $1.7 million. Can he speak specifically what the department's doing to support the work of the community food banks in Inuvik, please?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, in terms of the specific numbers for food banks, I will have to get back to the Member. But as I stated, there is funding through the anti-poverty grant and other areas where we do provide support. But I can commit to getting that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, member from Deh Cho. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know personally of some people who have received income assistance but did not have a fixed address. And so I would like to be able to -- the Member did mention a couple of people in her community and would like to be able to specifically work on those cases with the Member to see what we can do. Thank you.

Thank you. And thank you to the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, hypothetically, if an individual is living on the land or living off the grid or in a tent outside the municipal boundary of an NWT community, would such an individual be eligible to receive income assistance? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard the Member's statement today, and I absolutely agree with the importance of having the opportunity to be out on the land. And so I wanted to assure the Member that an applicant can access income assistance benefits if they are temporary outside of their home community. And this definitely applies to residents that are participating in traditional activities as well. It would be very important, though, that the applicant who intends to go out on the land apply for income assistance before they go away and to notify their client navigator right away so that work on this can be done before they head out on the land. And I think it's also worthwhile to the Member to know as well that client navigators can advance income assistance benefits for up to two months, but it's important that the applicant needs to demonstrate to the client navigator that they will be residing in a remote and inaccessible location for the extended period of time, because it's not a typical thing that's done. Normally, it is a month to month application period for clients who are not part of or won't be part of the seniors and persons with disability bracket. And so there is something that can be done there, but it's important that people come prepared and they act early before they're out on the land in order to be able to set up that arrangement. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, if an individual who is living off the land due to various circumstances, including with the intent to seek sobriety and improve their life for the better, does the Minister agree that such an individual ought to be entitled to some level of social assistance? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this, I find, relates to the first question as well and I think it's really important to reiterate that people don't need a fixed address in order to be able to access income assistance. For example, we also have people who are living in shelters who access income assistance. And so I absolutely agree that, you know, housing is not a privilege that everybody has at this time and that we need to make sure that we are coming together and working as hard as we can to make sure that there are solutions for residents and that we do what we can. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Deh Cho.