Caroline Cochrane

Most definitely. With every new council that takes place, we do an orientation. The interpretation and the right understanding of the bylaws is critical in that. That is the main function of community government. We do spend time with them. We try to help them understand both how to develop bylaws and how to interpret them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize in the gallery members of the NWT Status of Women Council. We have the president, Ms. Violet Camsell-Blondin, Martina Norwegian, Catherine Mackeinzo-Taylor, and Arlene Hache.

Because it is International Women's Day, I would like to recognize some of our women leaders and women colleagues: my Deputy Minister, Ms. Eleanor Young, from Municipal and Community Affairs; Ms. Dawn Moses, Municipal and Community Affairs; and colleague and personal friend, I consider, Ms. Sharon Firth, Municipal and Community Affairs.

Another woman that I recognize...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, March 8th, today, is International Women's Day. On this day, I would like to highlight both the strides we are making in the Northwest Territories and the challenges faced by women in taking on leadership roles.

Our government has made mandate commitments to increase the number of women in leadership roles, both on public boards and in electoral politics. Since the beginning of the 18th Legislative Assembly, the Government of the Northwest Territories has appointed 172 persons to public boards, 95 women and 77 men. This brings the total composition of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Increasing the number of women in politics is critical. MLA Green did a wonderful job of talking about why we need to increase the numbers, so I am not going to do that again. I do want to say that this government has made it a mandated priority to support initiatives designed to increase the number of women running for elected office in the Northwest Territories. We are moving towards this through campaign schools to support women with the tools they need to run for office. When we do this work, we cast the net more broadly than running for a Member of the Legislative...

Yes, there are budgets. I don't know the exact number. We'd have to pull them all through, but like I said, there is a budget for building of the homeless shelters within the community. We provide the operating money with that. We have food security initiatives that we provide to people. That comes with a budget. We also have a homeless assistance program. Again, I'm not sure of the total budget, but that is just people with up to $1,500, a one-time funding that they can actually use to repatriate, if they wish to go back to their communities, if they need to pay off a little bit of debt so...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As stated, this is just a new entity. We are working with the board sustainability, making sure they know rule and procedures and getting the support. We are looking at what will be needed. We will need an office. We will need a warehouse. Once we look at the various options, we will be putting that out for a request for proposal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have a surplus and deficit policy in effect already. The policy states that if any local housing organization is over $100,000 in surplus that they need to re-invest that into housing. My goal is that housing organizations should not have a surplus. They need to be using that money. We have critical needs in the community, so I'm trying to just let them know that building a surplus is not acceptable, that they need to actually put those into the housing and repairs that are needed in communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, my years before being a politician, Mr. Speaker, I did work with the Yellowknife Women's Society, and so homelessness was something that I have been working with for many, many years. I recognize that the majority of people actually who access the supports in Yellowknife are from other communities. When I came on, I committed to not only looking at Yellowknife but other communities. Right now, we have a fourplex in Behchoko that is just recently done. That is ready for operation and that will serve people who are homeless within that community. We have a fourplex that's just being...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have that detail with us right now on where that process is in that individual community. We were more broad in what we brought to present. I did hear him ask if it could be a month or six months. I can commit that the process will be done within six months. That gives me some leeway. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we looked at the allocations to the local housing organizations, we realized that some of them actually, like you said, had surpluses. Some of them actually had differing numbers. It is a formula that we need to look at, the amount of funding. As stated, we will be looking at and watching the monitoring very closely. I am committed to ensuring over the next two years that, if the local housing organizations may need more financials to be able to meet their needs based on, because they don't get all of the housing units, at that point, then we will look at reinstating...