Caroline Cochrane

I am certain that it would be the goal of the GNWT to eradicate homelessness and to provide housing for every person in the Territories. However, would that goal be realistic would be the other problem to do. This will take time. It took a lot of time to get here. It's going to take a lot of time to fix. We are hoping that the federal government will follow through on its promise to invest in social infrastructure funding, though.

 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To actually get an accurate count on homelessness is something that is a huge challenge, because you can just look at the shelters. You can get numbers from there. You can actually get numbers from the RCMP, but there is a whole population of hidden homelessness that is unmanageable or unrealistic to be able to count, and those include people that are youth, that are sleeping on couches, a lot of families sharing accommodations. Unless people identify as being homeless, then it's really hard to get those numbers. To get an accurate figure, I'm afraid that that would be...

We had a couple of problems, actually, with the starting of it. We negotiated with the contractor in 2015 and this summer, he started working on it. He installed 11 piles in July, but we didn't have our geotechnical inspector on-site so we stopped work on that project. We need to have the proper regulators watching when they're doing the construction. As the MLA had stated earlier there were also some water issues and we are working with the contractor. Now we’re back on track and the building will be completed within this fiscal year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a moment to recognize Buffalo Airways, a business within the Range Lake constituency. This long-standing business has been a staple within our community for over 40 years. With the premiere of Ice Pilots Northwest Territories in 2009, we received international attention from this highly popular television show, located here in the North.

I would like to congratulate Buffalo Airways on six successful seasons and for the various nominations and awards won with this television series. Throughout the duration of the show, Ice Pilots was nominated four...

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge Courteney Lizotte. Ms. Lizotte has been with the Range Lake North School for the past five years and has been the principal for the last two years. Earlier this year she was nominated by the PAC president of Range Lake North and has been recognized by The Learning Partnership as one of Canada's 40 Outstanding Principals this year. She's the only educator to be recognized for this acknowledgement from the NWT in 2016. She'll collect her award alongside other recipients in Toronto on February 23, 2016. We're grateful to have Ms. Lizotte...

The Housing Corporation will conduct a review of the need for single housing in our rural and remote communities, including the communities of Nunakput. The information will be used towards the development of a capital plan that could be implemented providing the resources are available.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Homelessness is a challenge throughout the Northwest Territories and it's not being addressed by just the Housing Corporation. It's being addressed by the GNWT as a whole. Like I had spoken earlier, the ministers will be meeting soon. I will be meeting with the Standing Committee on Social Development, I believe that's right. There are options that currently are in effect, the people can access the Homeless Assistance Fund to pay arrears, if that's the case. We provide shelter enhancement funding that is accessible to any community. Right now, within Nunakput...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Corporation is actually looking at bringing in a lot more houses within the communities. We're really focusing on single people and couples for a little while because almost 70 per cent of the people on our waiting list fall within that category. We're also negotiating with the federal government, so I'll be meeting with them early next month to see what they're going to bring within their social infrastructure monies. As well, we are guided by the Business Incentive Policy, which all Members can actually challenge and actually look at and make amendments if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to start with now, all market housing within the communities were put out to public tender. All of the market housing that the Housing Corporation are currently contracting with are northern contractors, and they were approved through the Business Incentive Policy. The modulars that you speak of are designed to meet the Housing Corporation design guidelines, as well as national building codes which are the same standards used for stick-built units constructed by the NWT Housing Corporation.

As the Minister of Finance spoke, we are still in the middle of looking at the budget allocations. We do know that the federal government is looking at social infrastructure as a priority. Until that federal budget is allocated, we're expecting at the end of the March, we won't know exactly what we'll be looking at putting on the table.