Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Typically, for capital planning purposes, the replacement or major renovation of a facility is planned at 40 years from the date of construction or 20 years from the date of a major renovation. My understanding is that a large capital project was completed in 1999, and there were additions to the building including a community library, three classrooms, and a science room, and that there also has been some small capital funding included in the 2014-2015 capital that had been carried over into 2015-2016. Any maintenance upgrades in the amount of about $2 million from...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to take this opportunity to speak about a role model, a mentor, innovator, elder, family man, and respected resident of Inuvik, the Beaufort-Delta, and the North. Otto Binder was born in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. During the 1940s and '50s, he herded reindeer at Reindeer Station. He met his wife Ellen Pulk, daughter of Sami herders who brought the reindeer to the Mackenzie Delta region in the 1930s.

In the early 1950s, Otto moved his family to Aklavik where he began working as a game warden so that his children can receive an education. Soon after, he...

As mentioned, when clients do go on income assistance or need that top up for market rental rates, the clients also have to adhere and still need to live up to the elements of what's in the lease agreement. When they get income assistance, they have to also abide by what they signed in the forms. Our Client Service Officers are just following policy, following legislation, and the landlords are also following what's in the lease agreements. When we fill out forms, we've got to make sure that we do it in the best way that's going to keep the family in the home.

When a client comes to the office, our CSOs, I believe, do a great job. Within the last government, a lot of changes and improvements and developments have been made, compliance and audit of the files have been developed, our regional managers actually do a monthly compliance of the workloads that their CSO's do. We have increased the staff training, as well as development. We also got to understand that in some cases, with some of our clients, they also need to live up to what is in the lease agreements with their renters as well, when going through this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department is currently working on an immigration communication strategy, which will continue to promote and raise awareness about the program. Increasing the awareness is critical for all employers, as well as stakeholders in the Northwest Territories. We also have a 1-800 number and employers can check online to see how they can get into the program, and we are, I believe, looking at a goal of 60 nominees for 2016.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, enhancing the Nominee Program is critical for the Northwest Territories, as the Member had stated in his Member's statement, in achieving its population as well as economic growth objectives, and also meeting some of the staff needs for northern businesses and northern employers. We have had success moving forward, but the department, I'll have to say, is currently developing an immigration framework, which will provide an integrated approach to implementing and monitoring long-term objectives of the Nominee Program, while also supporting territorial...

As mentioned, based on the typical planning model, Moose Kerr School would be identified for renovations or replacement in approximately 2019 or 2020, but the existing condition of the building would need to be assessed prior to a recommendation for renovation or replacement. As I mentioned, technical assessments and numerous elements have been replaced or repaired through the maintenance funding, as I mentioned earlier, and that addressed a lot of issues.

Once again, I would be willing to work with the Member to do a community visit and look at the building. One of our policies as well is with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome everybody into the House today, and in particular, Mr. Geoff Ray. He and I go way back in terms of doing a lot of work, whether it was the anti-tobacco work that we did, helping create legislation in this House, as well as the Get Active campaigns and many healthy living initiatives. I'd like to welcome him to the House. Thank you.

As mentioned earlier, we do take guidance from the National Occupancy Standards, as well as the Residential Tenancies Act. That was reviewed in the last government, but we don't have a specific policy related to overcrowding. Obviously, we do want to provide the best possible outcomes for families and those that are in need of being housed, but it is a shared responsibility of individuals as well as the social departments within the governments. If that's something that we do need to set as a policy or standard, like I mentioned, we'll have to look at what the National Occupancy Standards do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of speaking to individual cases due to privacy laws that protect personal information, we cannot speak to personal individual circumstances or caseloads that are within our department. However, in terms of overcrowding, I don't have the exact number that the department does go by. I can inform the Member, though, that the department does currently get its guidance from sources like the National Occupancy Standards and the Residential Tenancies Act in assessing the appropriateness of housing of clients.