Thank you. Next I have the Member for Monfwi.

Okay, thank you. Can the Minister explain what this senior citizen supplementary benefit represents. It was up in 2023-2024, and it stayed the same, 2024-2025, and to 2025-2026, 3.2. It went down a little bit, but so if the Minister can explain why there's change in this senior supplementary benefit. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, shortly here I'm going to pass over to my left to ADM Beauchamp. But this is a benefit that low to medium income seniors receive. And the number of seniors that we have in the territory are certainly growing. But through yourself, Madam Chair, may I pass to the assistant deputy minister.

ADM Beauchamp.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Yeah, thank you. Yes, thank you for that information.

You know, in small communities with the high cost of living, there's a lot of elders that are -- you know, they're doing part-time jobs to offset their living just like I know there are some in here too as well, and then, you know, like, the higher North, it's more expensive. But lately I've been getting phone calls from a lot of our citizens, senior citizens, in my region, and the fuel delivery -- fuel subsidy for Wekweeti is $750. For other communities, it's lower. So I just wanted to ask if that $750, for example in Wekweeti, is that for one time, or is that -- for how many -- like, how long can they use the subsidy within the one fiscal year; how many months?

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the $750 is monthly from September through April.

Thank you. Member from Monfwi.

Well, high cost of living, you know, some of these people, like you said, from -- okay, that's a long time but they do run out, you know. Like, I mean, they use up the subsidy program before the year is, you know, over. Even now, you know, like, there are -- because of the high costs. And so, you know, I know that some of the elders were saying 500 is not enough. 400, you know? Because they already ran out before the year end. And we still have, you know, until April. Like, I mean, we're not -- the cold month is still here. We still have March. And sometimes in April too, especially up North. So that $750 is not going long ways, and they do run out before the year is up. So that's why there's a lot of concern. And they do part-time job, you know, to pay for extra month. And even that -- because they're doing that, they're being punished by the department. Some of them are not eligible for this fuel subsidy program. There's a lot of them that got denied. So I want to know if -- you know, within this budget for the fuel subsidy, the income threshold, did the department review the income threshold of the seniors in the regions? Like, is it included in this budget? Because I know that there's some seniors that are not making -- that are living on fixed income, and they are not living on GNWT pension. So some of -- they're making less than $200,000, but yet they get -- they're denied the subsidy program. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, certainly the program's not designed to cover 100 percent of the expenses of seniors and elders across the Northwest Territories. It was designed to cover up to an average of 80 percent of those fuel costs. And so that's why the client navigators will work with seniors to determine what their income is, what money they do have coming in, and can work with them on a budget that would work within their income threshold amount. One of the things that I think is really important here as well, and certainly the Member for the Sahtu asked about it as well, was the review of the income thresholds. And so certainly that's work that is being done right now. And as such, because that work is not completed yet, it's not reflected within this budget. Thank you.

Thank you. Member from Monfwi.

Okay, well, the fuel subsidy program, the senior home heating subsidy program is very important for many of our constituents, especially in the small communities, so, yes, I would like to see that review. It would be good so that we can send the message back to our elders. And it's important for them because they're working, you know. Like, they're working, doing work, which is good, but because they need to -- they have to live, you know. They did their job of raising their family all these years, and now we're penalizing them, you know, because they're doing extra work just to stay alive, you know, just to have the lights on, the heat on, you know, and buy some groceries. And because of that, they're not eligible for some of the programs that, you know -- if they were living down south, it would be different, but living in the North it's different. The high cost of living. So it's -- I don't like that. I don't agree with, you know, some of the stuff in here. But I'm glad that you said that there's going to be a review. I hope that the income threshold will be increased so that many of our elders will be eligible for the senior home heating subsidy program.

Can we go on to student finance assistance, or are we on that topic yet, or do I still -- oh, okay.

Yes, you may.

Okay, thank you. Student financial assistance program, okay, it did went up a great deal. I mean, that's really good. So it means that -- so a lot of students are using the student financial assistance program. So how many of these students are -- it would be nice if we can have a breakdown of the regions and the Indigenous and non-Indigenous and how many are doing -- whether it's Indigenous or non-Indigenous but how many of this is student loan, part of the student loan program. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if the Member would like a breakdown of Indigenous versus non-Indigenous students and also the regions where -- the geographical regions across the territory where students come from, we can certainly pull the data that we have and would be happy to supply it to committee.

Thank you. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Yes, I would like to see that, you know, that data. That's it for this part, this section. Thank you.

Thank you. Next I have the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know the Minister has heard a lot about what our smaller communities are needing for income support, and I'm listening to them too. So in her reply to the Member from Mackenzie Delta, she was talking about market basket measures. And it's a tricky equation to solve for, but I'm thinking if we want to get more people off of income support, we want to have more opportunities for them to get into jobs. And so that ties into my thinking around ECE's annual survey that just went out around the minimum wage.

So the minimum wage in the NWT -- and this is in your business plan, so I hope it's comfortable for the Minister to speak to. The minimum wage right now is $16.70 per hour and, obviously, you'll be assessing what you hear from employers, employees, and etcetera. But can the Minister maybe speak to how she sees balancing maybe increases to the minimum wage as supporting more people getting off of income support. Thank you, Madam Chair.