I have also mentioned in the House that we are going through a strategic renewal process within the NWT Housing Corporation that we should be looking at presenting to standing committee, and obviously, we would always want input on that.

As MLAs, part of our job is working on direction of legislation and policies, but also including our leadership in that. One of the big things about the community housing plans is that we want community and local input into what is best for them, and it is going to be something that is going to be done throughout all of the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As Members know, I did make a statement in this House about our community housing plans last week, that prompted questions from other MLAs on how we are going to move about that and the five stages that we are going to take. Obviously, we do need a buy-in from leadership and community members. We need to raise awareness in the community and have people speak up about what the priorities are in their community as we build these community housing plans.

In my statement that I made last week, we are currently working on six communities. We signed agreements with three of them. We are working on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, from January 16 to 17, 2019, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs brought community government leaders together to discuss cannabis. This was our first opportunity for such a gathering since cannabis became legal in Canada on October 17, 2018.

Mr. Speaker, the legalization of cannabis presents challenges for northern society. The purpose of this conference was to look for local solutions for community governments as they deal with this new reality. Our focus was presenting as much information as possible for local leaders with the right experts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend all the coaches, the teachers, volunteers, Aboriginal Sports Circle, as well as staff from Municipal and Community Affairs who put on a very successful traditional games this weekend. We have a strong partnership, a strong tradition of working with the Aboriginal Sports Circle.

I do want to let all Members know that, at my Ministers of sports meeting, we did promote our Traditional Games. I have invited the National Aboriginal Sports Circle representatives to come up to the Northwest Territories, as well as our Minister responsible for...

I think it is the responsibility, not only for the NWT Housing Corporation, our government, but my discussions with Indigenous governments as well as non-government organizations is that we all have to play a part in this. We all have to bring some type of responsibility, bring some skin to the game, so that we can address housing needs across the Northwest Territories. I do know there is a high waiting list, especially here in Yellowknife and in the regional centres. We are continuing to put pressure on the federal government.

One thing that I didn't make comments to is that we are still...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under our current agreement with the federal government, the NWT needs to ensure that we preserve at least 1,231 existing community housing units across the Northwest Territories. Currently, we have double that. I know that there are concerns about waiting lists and that the new National Housing Strategy only provides funding to temporarily address the declining federal support for public housing units.

One solution that we are looking at in addressing this, Mr. Speaker, and to all Members, is that we do have this Homeownership Program, and once we get...

Of course, not only the IRC but all of our Indigenous governments, we have been meeting a lot since I have taken on the portfolio and building on the success and hard work that the previous Ministers have done. We are working to continue to get all of our programs out to the communities. Obviously, with new leadership and new elections, we need to update our leadership on the programs that the NWT Housing Corp provides, such as the community housing support initiatives. We have made that announcement on the co-investment fund. The bilateral agreements are going to have an impact throughout the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the roof was designed to withstand the strong winds. Obviously, the damage was unexpected. We will continue to work with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation as well as leadership in the communities, as you have heard me say many times in this House, as we develop our community housing plans to address some of these priorities as we are seeing weather that continues to happen, especially in the community of Paulatuk. I know we had a very strong storm there last year. Obviously, the roof was designed to withstand the strong winds. It is very unexpected, but...

As the Member noted in his statement, the GNWT has provided the SPCA with one-time funding back in 2018. I appreciate the Member bringing this up, and we did respond late last year in terms of some of the questions that he's bringing up again today. I am not aware or certain of any of the areas or departments where the SPCA has applied for funding. Unfortunately, through my department, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, we don't currently offer any funding programs that would either offer core funding to the SPCA, nor do we currently see any fit with other application-based...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, from February 15 to March 3, 2019, athletes from the Northwest Territories will be representing our territory at the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, Alberta. This event is an important celebration of Canadian sport and culture. It will be the largest event of its kind ever hosted in Red Deer and central Alberta, and one of the largest in Alberta since the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

During the past year, our northern athletes have been preparing themselves physically and mentally. Our athletes will be competing in archery, badminton, biathlon, cross-country...