EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We will have to research the question as I believe the basis was a spouse working temporarily for a few hours and its impact on the funding. I don’t have the information in front of me, so we will have to look into that matter.
As the minister stated that she would look into it, I would like to provide a bit more detail, Mr. Chairman, as students have stated that they have experienced this firsthand.
For a student who has a spouse who has worked for several hours or three days, the deductions taken are quite substantial, irrespective of the time worked.
Furthermore, when the spouse is going to be working, the student has to report this and additionally, once the spouse is not working, they have to fill out a form with all of this information and report it.
This is causing consternation amongst students as it is quite tedious and time consuming.
As I commented earlier, if we want our students to succeed, we have to limit the amount of red tape if this government believes in the principle of furthering one’s education, especially adult education.
The minister stated she would look into that and I thank her for that.
Let me continue with the financial transaction problems.
In the smaller communities, another big obstacle is the fact that there are no banking facilities available for the students to take advantage of. Up to now, based on what I been led to understand, any person wanting to receive funding assistance to attend college courses requires a bank account to facilitate the transfers.
Mr. Chairman, I want to ask: can we review this FANS matter to see how we can make it more efficient and effective to transfer funds to students taking courses in the smaller communities?
As a government, we tend to overhaul and review a lot of programs. We can also try to resolve the problems faced by our students if we are given exact details about the issues we are required to fix.
At this time, the FANS program currently in use does note that a student is required to have a bank account so as to facilitate financial transfers to the student taking the courses.
Mr. Enook, your time has run out, but I’ll be able to return to you after we have gone through the members on the list.
A number of our constituents are working hard to get the skills and knowledge they need to further their careers.
As students, they’re eligible for financial assistance, but many are finding that the amount they receive is barely enough to survive on.
Can the minister tell the committee when the financial assistance for Nunavut students’ monthly living allowances was last increased?
It was in 2008.
Following the Auditor General’s 2007 report on FANS programs in Nunavut, in 2008, a number of funding benefits for full-time post-secondary students were reviewed, which was the first time they had been reviewed since 2002.
Can the minister update this House on how often her department reviews benefits, such as the living allowances, which are provided to students through FANS?
The member’s question is entirely appropriate at this time.
We are currently undertaking this review.
The minister indicated earlier that it was in 2008 when the FANS funding was last increased.
I can assure the minister that although the funding hasn’t increased, I’m sure that inflation has not stood still in the past four years.
As the minister will know, the cost of living keeps going up, not just in Nunavut but across Canada.
Can the minister describe what specific measures are taken by her department to ensure that the amount of funding provided through the FANS program is adequate to meet the monthly cost of living faced by students?
As per my earlier statement, this matter is being reviewed and this is included within the terms of the review.
Can the minister inform us when this review will be complete and when the new recommendations will come into force?
The media reported last year that a number of students did not receive funding in time to start classes in the fall of 2011.
One of the reasons given by FANS for the delay in approving applications was because some staff were on vacation.
Mr. Chairman, this should not be a reason for delaying funding for our students’ education.
What steps has your department taken to ensure that applications in the future are processed in a timelier manner?
Along with the official sitting on my left, we both hold the conviction that a student eligible for FANS has to receive the funding in the fastest manner possible.
That is why there is a directive sent to staff to ensure that. Perhaps if I were to provide this example of a directive: any application currently in the process has to be completed prior to any staff being given time off. That is our prerogative and we have actually sent out that directive.
Furthermore, Department of Education and Nunavut Arctic College officials are collaborating on this matter at this time.
Under the FANS program, if a student is in Nunavut or in a school in the south and have similar family structures, do they both receive the same amount of funding from FANS?
Most employers in the north realize the added cost of living in the north and pay out northern allowances to employees.
Why is it that the FANS program does not realize the added costs for attending schools in the north?
My Deputy Minister, Ms. Okpik, will answer this.
This issue has been raised in the past, but if we were to hypothetically look at people attending courses at NAC, the housing costs are quite a bit lower and we include that in our considerations.
However, with respect to students in the southern institutions, housing is something they have to find on their own and it can be quite pricey in some cases.
Due to that reason, the amounts look comparably the same in this case.
In the minister’s opening comments and speaking about adult education, there was talk about the Adult Learning Strategy, literacy, adult basic education, GEDs, and then the adult high school completion.
For clarity in my mind, I’m wondering if the minister could explain how this differs from the role of Nunavut Arctic College. Are there memorandums understanding to have them work together? Again, it seems like we have two departments doing similar work.
We have a committee structure for this cooperative work called the Adult Partnership Committee in English.
Where I get confused and where I don’t see where the line is being drawn between the role of Nunavut Arctic College and the role of the school, especially around adult basic education and adult learning... .
I can understand the need for it. I can understand why we have to have it.
When we offer these programs for adult learners, are we providing those within the school and then under the regulations of the DEAs?
Let’s say I’m 35 and I want to get my grade 12. It sounds like, from what the minister has been talking about, I can go back to school and do literacy upgrading and maybe get my grade 12 equivalency.
Where do I actually physically take those classes?