Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you. That brings me to my next question. When was this policy put in place for the compensation applications? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s now been a year and a half since the largest flood in the Mackenzie Delta in the last 10 years. At that time, about 15 families had their camps flood. There were even cabins that floated down the Peel River. To this day, only two people were provided compensation.

One of the policies for the application is the applicant must make 25 percent of their yearly earnings harvesting off the land. Many of my constituents do not sell what they harvest off the land because they share what they harvest with family, friends, and also barter with others, which has been our...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was speaking to capital. I was going to commend the department, both Education and Public Works. They did a good job on a bunch of renovations to the school in Tsiigehtchic, mostly the gymnasium, and also in Fort McPherson preparing for Junior Kindergarten. There were some renovations to a washroom there. The school is very pleased with that.

Yet in Aklavik there were some renovations two years back but the community is wondering why there are no plans for a new school. This school is going on 50 years here. It’s not adequate to provide the proper programs and resources...

Thank you. I’d also like to ask the Minister what type of education or advertisement does his department do to ensure harvesters are tracking what they sell from the harvest. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of ITI. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, it’s been a year and a half now since a lot of my constituents were flooded out in the spring of 2013. I also mentioned that we had a few cabins that floated down the river, of which none of those applicants were approved for their funding.

So I’d like to ask the Minister, out of the total number of applications filed in the spring of 2013, why was there only two applications that were approved. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few comments on our capital budget. To start off, as I mentioned earlier today, a huge need for housing. I know we’ve done a good job over the last number of years replacing units, but as I mentioned, we now need to focus on adding, because our communities are growing. That’s one of the things the Finance Minister wanted to see in future years. So I think we need to prepare for that as we move forward and ensure that the people that move back have a place to stay.

Also, in other communities, for example, replacing units that have been damaged whether it’s due to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement, I’d like to ask the Minister, when will the department be adding units to the community of Aklavik?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister. It sounds very promising. While we’re at it we could add in the Willow River. We’re still waiting to build a road up there. The community is still thinking of actually connecting to the Dempster Highway in the near future, and they feel that that can cut costs for freight and also to fly into other communities.

One more thing was the extension of the ferry. The Minister didn’t reply to that yet with the Louis Cardinal, possibly moving the Merv Hardie down there. We’re really looking forward to that and hopefully that can happen within the year...

As I mentioned in my statement, I applaud the department for all the replacing of units, but there’s a big demand for new units as we have many people moving back to the community in a lot of our small communities. But with waiting lists of over two years, some young people who want to start their lives need units. There’s a big demand for single units like the multiplex units that we’ve discussed in this Assembly.

I’d like to ask the Minister, are there plans for a multiplex unit for the community in the near future?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently on a visit to Aklavik, constituents raised the need for more housing units in the community. This government has done a great job replacing units, but we now need to focus on adding units to our small communities.

We have a huge demand for both single units and duplex units in Aklavik because many people are moving back to their home community. I have constituents who have been waiting for up to two years for a unit and today they are still waiting. How can we expect to have healthy communities when we have a shortage of housing?

Thank you. I’ll have questions...