Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Most recently myself, along with my territorial, provincial and federal counterparts, have been working to endorse the Multi-lateral Housing Partnership Framework. We continue to negotiate with Canada, through the National Housing Strategy, and our current next step is to work on signing a bilateral agreement with the Government of Canada through the Northern Housing Fund. We didn't get our fair share of that funding, so we are negotiating with the Government of Canada to address those issues, and that agreement hopefully should be signed this fall so we'll be able to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is working hard to meet the commitments made by this government to advance affordable housing and address homelessness during the 18th Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, we know that some of our residents experience homelessness in communities outside Yellowknife. Meeting their needs helps us to address the issue of homelessness throughout the territory. The Housing Corporation is working with community groups to develop, design, and implement supportive housing for these residents through the Northern Pathways...

If the community or the hamlet has a fire chief, we will work with them to help them develop a volunteer fire team where volunteer firefighters will provide the training and the support for those volunteer firefighters to get the proper training that they need. We will also work with the SAOs of the hamlets in terms of working to get these fire protection plans in place, but also get the right training for the volunteer firefighters.

As I mentioned, we have developed a fire department assessment tool that helps us to identify any, like I said, inadequacies or any challenges that need to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Coming out of that report, there were some highlights, and MACA will continue to work with the key partners as well as our hamlets to develop and maintain the fire protection services for Northwest Territories communities. With that said, I just want to say that, as the Member made congratulations to his volunteer firefighters in his community, I want to thank all the volunteers across the Northwest Territories for their commitment to keeping our communities safe.

We have also done a creative assessment tool across the Northwest Territories. Currently, we have 19...

In my previous response I did say that we're continuing to have bilateral negotiations with the Government of Canada, so we're hoping that we'll see an increase in the amount of funding that we can disperse out into the communities to address some of the housing needs. However, the current funding that the Member had asked about, it is a flexible fund that can be used for a number of social or affordable housing purposes. We're allocating the funding from the Northern Housing Fund toward the operations and maintenance costs of public housing, and toward the demolition of units slated for...

Currently, the Government of Canada has made disaster mitigation funding available for five years only. However, there remains great interest among the provinces and territories to continue extend it beyond that period. For the community of Sachs Harbour, we are willing to sit down and talk to the hamlet, as well as the leadership, to look at future projects in that area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. In early 2018, MACA did some work with ENR to obtain $800,000 through the federal Climate Change Preparedness Program. The goal is to implement adaptation measures identified through the mitigation plan to work in the community of Tuktoyaktuk, including relocation of private homes from areas most affected by the erosion.

As Members know, we have created a homelessness coordinator position in the previous government. To find out the exact number of homeless people we have in the territory would be tough, because we do have a lot of people who also do couch surfing. I will commit that we will try to address the issue; look at the model that the City of Yellowknife has done with this program. It is a great program, and I applaud the City of Yellowknife for taking that on and working with the NWT Housing Corporation and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We will look at continuing to support...

Across all departments, we have certain programs. We are willing to work with NGOs, communities, and I think the City of Yellowknife has a really great program that can model to other communities across the Northwest Territories that are dealing with homelessness. I encourage other communities to speak with other departments, such as ECE. I can mediate those kinds of discussions as Minister of Homelessness.

I encourage communities to look at the model that the City of Yellowknife has done and try something in their municipalities. I think it is a really great story throughout the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we have heard many times in this House, the impacts of climate change in the Northwest Territories are real, and they are having a profound effect on Northwest Territories communities. The community of Tuktoyaktuk is at the centre of these changes. Coastal erosion has impacted the community for decades. However, with the increased frequency and intensity of storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change, the impacts on the community's coastline have reached the point where adaptation measures are now required.

The Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk has been...