Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, recognize that there are a lot of homes within the Northwest Territories that do not have basic amenities in them such as running water and flush toilets; however, as the Government of the Northwest Territories we have to be very careful in what we take on as liabilities. So therefore we have a useful life with our housing stock. If houses are deemed to be over 70 per cent in need of repairs, at that point we cannot invest financially in them because of the liability that may come and the huge expense.

So for people who have homes that in a fair condition, they...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The increase will be implemented April 1st. The goal of that is to try to actually get more people to conserve energy. When people don't pay for their own utilities, we tend to find a lot of open windows in communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I cannot speak for the federal government. I can say that when I attended the FPT, Federal-Provincial-Territorial, meetings with the federal Housing Minister, that I did state that by making individual agreements the federal government -- with Aboriginal bands/governments, that it does put all of the other Aboriginal governments in a place of conflict and it puts the Government of the Northwest Territories in a place of conflict as well. It leaves the perception that all you have to do is ask, and if you ask you'll get more money, and not all Aboriginal governments have...

I will let Mr. Martin answer.

The Government of the Northwest Territories does meet bi-annually, I believe, regularly -- actually, two times a year, with all of the First Nations Aboriginal governments. We will commit to continuing to do that, and, as stated, if the band wishes to meet with me individually, I am more than open to meeting with them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will get that information to the Regular Members tomorrow. I do want to clarify, I do recognize that you do need a Journeyman to teach apprenticeships. When I was talking about that, I meant only apprentices, not journeymen, who need to train. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, that actually is the annual pay-down of the CMHC, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, debt. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Currently, the only method that we really use besides the one-on-one outreach to people is when people do sign up to the Housing Corporation, we actually sit down with them, have the paperwork signed for the landlord/tenant agreement form, and in that we talk about their obligations to make payments with them. We are recognizing, however, that we are not the best in communicating. So we are trying to beef up our communication plan and have a better way not only to address people with their arrears, but to also let people know what their rights and their responsibilities are in a variety of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are open to any of the recommendations that the local housing organizations do provide. However, recognizing that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation will have ownership of those, it does need to fit within our own capital plans. If they have something that works with our capital plans, we are more than willing to work with them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU I will call it so I do not stumble on my words anymore, was kind of a unique situation. They lobbied the federal government directly to get the access to the funding. We cannot tell Aboriginal governments to lobby or not to lobby, so I cannot say what the federal government plans are in the future regarding that. I know that the federal government is really supportive of First Nations and of building partnerships, but I cannot say any more than that. I can say within the Northwest...