So what is the standard? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Minister.

I'll direct it to the deputy minister, please.

I'll go to the deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the standard for repayment is about 30 days -- is 30 days. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you. So that's the answer I was looking for, is 30 days.

Are you able to tell me through some type of analysis -- first, my anecdote, obviously, unless you brought it -- I doubt it, but I'd be pleased if you did -- how often is that 30-day threshold of the standard is run over; in other words more than 30 days? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do, I believe, try to do some monitoring of that, and I'm not sure if I have that in front of me. I'll see if the deputy minister or the director might, please.

Deputy minister.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. So I don't have the statistics on hand with how many -- how often we meet that 30-day standard or don't meet that 30-day standard. But I would tell the Member that we are aware of issues with processing those claims on a timely basis or meeting that standard, and we have added two new benefits officers to help with the demand. So that's in this budget. And so we do believe that we will be improving our -- the number -- the amount of times we meet that standard. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

I would hope that there would be an offer somewhere to provide me the most current stats. I would ask that first question.

Thank you. I'll go back to the finance Minister.

Happy to do that, Mr. Chair.

I'll go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you. Can the Minister provide sort of like a bar graph on the size of claims; so in other words, a bar saying we have 300 employees who have claimed under a hundred dollars; we have had, say, 40 percent claimed by, you know, from 100 to $500, and 10 percent -- you know, however the math works in a bar graph. And the reason I say that is because to make sure it's not perceived as a useless exercise, which I'm not in favour of sending the department on wild goose chases just for my entertainment.

What I'm hearing from constituents and GNWT employees is we have several thousand dollars outstanding for more than 30 days, more than 60 days, some in the range of 90 days -- by the way, that's my next question -- is the fact that these people cannot afford to carry these types of costs. So I would -- as an MLA, I'm confident in sometimes saying no. Not always, but I'm -- you know, if somebody says to me, well, I've waited two weeks for $10, I mean, like, I'd look at them and say, okay. But when I'm hearing people saying, I have 2,000 or more dollars outstanding for three months, for some people that's a mortgage payment, some people that's more than a mortgage payment, some people that is the difference between making a good go and a not. So that's -- so I'm going to start with the dollar value. And then followed by the second question is can we find out how many -- the averages of how many -- you know, how many people have waited for time. So in other words, two graphs, so we can get some good sense. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we'll be able to provide that level of detail. I mean, I -- a little bit hesitant in that it's fairly specific numbers that were being proposed. But, again, we do track the 30-day mark. We do track how far behind we are on a 30-day mark of standard to provide refunds. And, yes, I believe we can break down what is owed individually, and I suppose -- let me leave it at that, Mr. Chair, and we'll see where we get. I also don't want to run into a situation where the breakdown results in it being identifiable in it's too particular and then we're identifying people who had medical travel. So we will provide a level of detail, and I have every confidence that the Member will let me know if it's not detailed enough. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First I'll say I appreciate what sounds like an offer. I would say no, I don't want every detail, I want ranges, and I will leave it up to the competent people in Finance who can come up with some reasonable dates for ranges. I don't want every day as in this -- ten people waited one day, 200 people waited three days; that's a lot of work. But I would like to see, we'll call it responsible responses, and I'll leave it up to the department to say -- define days and define numbers. So that's two different separate pieces of information so I can look at it that way. So I'll start with that, and then I have another question. Just to reaffirm, I'm not asking for 50 payments or hundreds of pages. I'm literally looking for one or two pages of ranges. Thank you. Just to clarify.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I -- it sounds like we can put something together without too much difficulty, so happy to make the commitment. And, really, go from what we were providing, you know, again, we want it to be useful. There's a large number of -- large volume of these requests, and they've gone up over the last few years so they are adding some new officers. I do want folks to hear us saying that. It is a medical -- or it is a benefit for the public service and I know it's -- is one that's relied upon so want that message to be clear, but also there continues to be a lot of work in this space. So we'll -- yes, we'll make sure and get what I think is the ranges that are being requested. But I'm also -- I am happy to have a back and forth. If there's a little more we can provide to make this useful, I don't think there's any harm in saying that we'd be open to that. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.