Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 106(3) of the Workers' Compensation Act, I wish to table the following document entitled "Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission Annual Report 2017 Northwest Territories and Nunavut." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the work that the NWT Housing Corporation has done over the last few years, as the Minister responsible, I feel that it is important to try to get that work done and completed and put all our resources and efforts into the programs I had mentioned since session has started, to get it done. We can go ahead with the survey, but I feel that, with the questions that I have been answering in the House here, priorities also should be put on getting some of these people into housing rather than getting a survey completed; but we'll work with the Members and work...

The Member is right; it is pretty detailed. I will have to get back to him on that question on how many people have been on the waiting list over the last two years. It could make a lot of work for some of our employees, but we will get that information for him.

We do know that it is a long waiting list right across the Northwest Territories. We are trying to make an indent into that and working our partners, such as ECE, working with Infrastructure, going through our capital plannings, but most importantly we are still continuing to work with our federal counterparts to nail down a bilateral...

That is a concern that I have heard from various Members during my tenure as Minister of Housing. We will take a look at it and ensure that we work with our seniors. They are one of our most vulnerable peoples, and we want to make sure that they can have adequate and safe living place, and we want to make sure that we support that. We will take a look into that. We will work with our district officers and our local housing authorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As you heard last week, I did mention that a community housing planner has been hired. We are in the preliminary planning work. It is under way, and we want to make sure that we address the communities that do have some of the higher housing needs. The housing plans will identify areas of need, as well as direct resources to increase opportunities for strategic planning, and we will be working with the leaders and the stakeholders in the communities to develop a very detailed plan to address the needs, and I mentioned them last week. I will work with the Member, and I will work with the NWT...

In the 2018-2019 capital plan, we have major retrofits planned for 11 units in the Nunakput communities: 10 public housing units and one health unit. We are also, in 2019-2020, planning for five major retrofits and also looking at bringing in materials and labour to construct other market rental units for nurses and for teachers.

As I mentioned, I will continue to keep the Members apprised of the work that we are doing in all of the communities across the Northwest Territories. We also do have a new home program, where we are looking at creating 11 units across the Northwest Territories to get...

Most recently I had the opportunity to open the six-plex in Inuvik and also look at the work that was being done with a local contractor working under IRC. We are working towards a common goal, Mr. Speaker, and that goal is affordable, adequate, and suitable housing for the Inuvialuit people and the residents of the region.

That memorandum of agreement details the IRC and our role as the NWT Housing Corporation with respect to planning, construction, inspection, and other aspects of project implementation, and also confirms the arrangements to transfer the constructed asset to the NWT Housing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to come and sit in the House and see the proceedings, and over the years, I haven't seen Ms. Donna Rogers here, so I would like to welcome her, from Inuvik, even though she is a constituent of Twin Lakes, and to welcome my constituent from Boot Lake, Ms. Judy McLeod.

We also have some special guests in the audience here, Mr. Howie Miller, well-renowned Canadian comedian, so welcome. I know he is passing through from Iqaluit with his wife, Jen Houseman, and I would also just like to recognize Mr. Deneze Nakehk'o, a long-time friend and...

I will ensure that our NWT Housing Corporation President-CEO does get in touch with the Bureau of Statistics to determine whether that survey is going to be completed this year or not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I will get back to the Member on that question.

I agree. As Members of the Legislative Assembly, we all have these issues of people who are on the waiting list. We also, like I mentioned, have a good working relationship with the Department of ECE. We have a lot of programs in place, such as major retrofits. We have had good partnerships with the Salt River First Nations, the IRC, the Fort Good Hope band, and we want to make sure that we address that waiting list. Our Northern Pathways to Housing is another good initiative in transitioning some of our homeless people into more public housing units. We have got a long list of work that we...