Caroline Cochrane

The lifespan of all of our units within the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is about 40 years, so whether they are a modular unit or a stick-built unit, we do try to provide repairs and upgrades to make sure that they can last as long as they can. Some units of course suffer higher damage through a variety of reasons and so they do not make the lifespan of 40 years, but we do try to make sure that all units are repaired or upkept to meet that 40-year lifespan.

Yes, I will direct the staff to go back to the very original to see where the housing was, how many houses were turned over, and I will ask them to actually do research on the actual $28 million that is provided from the Government of Canada and to see if that money is actually being distributed properly, because maybe I am wrong. Maybe less than a million dollars a community is more than we are actually spending in Indigenous community, although I have a feeling that we are actually spending a lot more than less than a million per community per year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation does have a community initiative that we work with municipal and Aboriginal governments to kind of look at how we can work together towards providing more housing in their communities. Quite a few of the communities have come forward and are putting things like land or labour on the table. Therefore, we are putting things like material on the table. I am more than willing to work with any government that is willing to look at a kind of partnership model.

In regards to meeting with any specific Aboriginal government or nation at this point...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 1, Western Canada Lottery Act, be read for the second time.

This bill establishes the Northwest Territories Lottery Commission. It also establishes the Physical Activity, Sport, and Recreation Fund, a special purpose fund that will receive proceeds from the operation of lotteries by the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. The commission is responsible for the conduct, management, and operation of lotteries. The Minister will administer the fund and distribute proceeds for limited purposes, including the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Towards Level Ground: Addressing Persistent Core Need in the Northwest Territories" and the "NWT Housing Corporation Annual Report 2016-2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As stated earlier, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has actually been working quite diligently with the federal government to leverage the infrastructure monies that are coming. Communities such as the City of Yellowknife are actually getting a substantial amount of the federal infrastructure monies, whereas other communities who have a surplus are not getting that amount, so I am not a hundred per cent convinced that any tax increases to the residents of Yellowknife are only because of the $1-million shortfall.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are in the process of developing a long-term plan to address the funding gap for municipalities. That is a commitment. Currently what we are doing is every year, there has been an increase in some of the areas from the territorial governments, and we are leveraging with the federal government's monies to access more infrastructure money.

Communities that are at a surplus currently have been kind of topped, or are staying at that level, and then we are focusing on the communities that have a deficit with the new monies that we are bringing in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start by actually addressing the question. I am actually glad the honourable Member asked this question. Earlier with her questions, I had promised to give her a contract. I have since learned that, actually, I may not be able to give her the full contract because of the Privacy Act. I will be able to provide her with the information that is on the normal procurement site, but not the whole contract. I just want to apologize for any misunderstanding that I may have given before. In answer to the contract that is being done now, I can state that the...

As stated earlier, the housing programs expanded in the early 1960s to the mid-1960s to incorporate Indian and Eskimo housing. Then it evolved into Northern Territorial rental units and some public housings were built from about the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start by qualifying before I answer the Member's question about that, the information that I have on hand is just my understanding at this point and hasn't been qualified or researched. I will answer it, but based on my immediate understanding, not stuff that I can actually say I've researched and is factual, but my understanding is that the federal government started building homes in the Northwest Territories. They were built for treaty Indians, actually, and I apologize for the term, but that was the term used in the times from the mid- to the late...