Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, increases to minimum wage are certainly incredibly important. They allow us to stay competitive as a jurisdiction across Canada, and so I think, you know, not only comparing ourselves as far as the formula and to previous years within ourselves but making sure that we're also comparing ourselves to other jurisdictions across Canada is incredibly important. I think what the Member might be leading me towards is conversations on a living wage versus minimum wage, and certainly there is a discrepancy between the two of those, but I do absolutely encourage Northerners to participate in the engagement that we currently are doing. Thank you.

Thank you. Member from Great Slave.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, there's an argument to be made if we want more people, you know, participating in the wage economy and getting jobs, you obviously need to build that ability to have good jobs that aren't just minimum wage paying jobs, but I think another part of this equation is moving from minimum wage to living wage. I would note that $16.70 an hour will not let a person survive with a family here in the capital. I can't imagine what it would be like in our smaller communities. So I'll just leave that as a comment. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll go back to Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Income assistance. Income assistance went up. Can the Minister explain why there's an increase from 2023-2024 to 2025-2026, why there's a huge -- well, not a -- a big increase.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the increase in our budgeted items actually goes from $43,859,000 to $44,583,000. The difference in the actuals of what we spent in 2023-2024 was even significantly less than what we had originally budgeted in 2023-2024, and the reason for that is because of the delayed implementation of the new income assistance program. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

No, even my colleague have been asking about that, you know, like, so I just -- is there a review happening of this program, income assistance? Because we do have an issue, especially in small communities, people are making a living out of it and, you know, it was supposed to be a temporary. Even my colleague from Mackenzie Delta have been asking that and with the productive choice. We need to do something for our young people because as soon as the young people who are unemployed, they go to income support the day that they turn 19, and it shouldn't be, you know, like, we should be providing other avenues instead of going to income support because it's -- it is easy access, and we know what happens in the small community with income assistance program, you know. We see them at Northern Store or we see drug dealers, we see bootleggers, you know, like, so it's like them getting paid. We know not all of them, not all parents are doing that, but it's just that it's becoming an issue in small communities and a lot of parents, they do -- they are frustrated with that because they're living in the same household and they're not contributing to the household, so it is a problem. And then I -- I would like to see -- if there is a review, just like my colleague have said, the productive choice was one good program, but we know that it is a violation. We were told that it is a violation of the human rights, and so it was taken away, but if there is a review, I would like to see a review done to this program to see how we can use the program better to accommodate instead of having young people rely on this handout, then go to school and go to work, you know, like, something, you know, like, something that they can benefit from in the future. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, Madam Chair, absolutely hear the Member, multiple Members on the floor of this House. So there were changes made to the income assistance program in the last Assembly, and one of -- what I think is one of the -- well, two of the greatest changes were, one, the division for income assistance for persons with disabilities and seniors, and so that allowed persons with disabilities and seniors to enter into an annual program, so it reduced the administrative burden. And then within the other program, so the income assistance for adults program, that -- one of the most significant changes there was allowing adults within the program to keep more earned income, and so that provides a type of grace period for people when they're transitioning from being on income assistance and working their way towards employment and kind of bridging that time, so somebody's not expected to kind of go from one to the other and flip a switch.

The program for income assistance for adults is really designed to be a month to month support to make sure that people are meeting their basic needs, basic living expenses needs, and so that's why they have to go through that administrative process of being evaluated every single month. Because it's not supposed to be something that people are on constantly and all the time. And so in addition to keeping more earned income, there is also the ability to work with client navigators to find access to both pathways to employment, pathways to education. Certainly there there's also the expansion of the income assistance program that allows adult children to remain under their parents' application as well, and that's up to 21 years of age. So ensuring that those youth, really, when they turn 19 aren't turning around and going and establishing their own income assistance but are also granted a bit of a grace period there where they're able to get on their own feet and get going. So even though, you know, productive choices isn't mandatory anywhere -- or anymore, applicants are certainly still encouraged to participate within their community and also to grab hold of opportunities that do exist. And I hope that through work that we can do together in this Assembly on both sides of the House that we can further continue to evaluate the implementation of this program and find ways to make it better and find ways to really build healthy communities together. Thank you.

Thank you. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you for the information and for the changes the department have made especially regarding with the disability. That's good because a lot of -- in my region, some express concerns and frustrations about some of the programs that they were -- that they're using. And I know it's not just others, but there are organizations, a lot of them did say that some of the income support clients, they don't -- you know, they don't want to go to work because it's so easy and that they will be penalized if they're working even to attend some other programs. But I know in my region, Tlicho government and friendship centre, they're doing their best. I know that they're working really hard, working with many of these -- with many of the clients and I think it's -- you know, it's good, it's positive, but we need more for other regions of how we can get some of these young people off the system and to become productive, you know, citizens within our society. I think that's what -- it would be nice if, you know, the department can be working with the Indigenous government or organizations to see what they need or how they can accommodate them, you know. And, yeah, so that's all I have to say is just that I would like to see a good working relationship with the ECE and the organizations in our regions to get our young people off the income support assistance program. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister, would you like to respond to that? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And absolutely, I love the opportunity to respond to this.

I just want to say a huge thank you to the Member for that comment because I think it really drives home that this isn't, you know, one organization or one entity in the Northwest Territories working in a silo and working alone. It really does, at the end of the day, take everybody working together in order to make these changes, you know, from grassroots in each individual community to really build a stronger, healthier North. And I think that really have to recognize that and celebrate it and, as the Member says, work together on it.

ECE has certainly been working specifically with Tlicho government. I have had the opportunity to meet quite regularly with Tlicho investment corporation as well on their training and development plans which I think speaks quite passionately to some of the things that the Member is speaking about as well, and there's also within each of our regional offices very passionate staff working to really take our labour market programs and do exactly this type of work.

So, you know, for example, our skills development program where people who might not have the education or work experience needed can partake in different programs through the employer or through the organization, and ECE will certainly support that with either wage subsidies or even with training dollars. And so bridging those programs to the people is absolutely something that we're passionate about doing. And I would invite anybody to reach out to me because I love being able to talk about these programs and connect people to them. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, I have Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'd like to ask about the child -- the NWT child benefit. It's currently, I think, condensed into the income assistance line here. Can we have actual -- or, yeah, or how much is budgeted for the benefit in detail? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's $2.2 million.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you. Is there -- like, how does the department, like, consider this benefit? Because I think most Canadians and Northerners -- let's just say Northerners receiving the Canada child benefit don't see it as income assistance or income security benefit. They see it as a middle-class benefit, let's say. So what is the kind of stated policy here? Is it a benefit to working families, or is this just another income assistance program? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's a nontaxable monthly benefit paid to families based on net family income, the number of children, and their ages that they have. I can also just -- the Member couldn't find it here because it actually falls under the Department of Finance, and it's under the Income Tax Act, so it doesn't appear here. And our -- it's very common that our residents don't realize that we pay this benefit because it is provided alongside the Canada child benefit. The Member is correct in that. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Range Lake.