Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I spoke of impact of the proposed cuts to Community Justice committee funding. The elimination of a court worker position will affect the delivery of justice in my community of Tuktoyaktuk.

Can the Minister of Justice inform this Assembly on whether his department still has any focus on Justice activities at the community level?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve made it clear that I do not support the cuts in the Justice programs in my home community of Tuktoyaktuk.

Mr. Speaker, I know what happens in my community. I know the amount of work the court worker does for the people of Tuktoyaktuk every day. Unlike the bureaucrats in the courthouse, I don’t need the government report that tracks the number of applications received and processed to tell me what goes on at the community level. I’m sure it’s easy when they establish a person’s worth to the Justice system by the number of transactions they’re involved in.

Access to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today, regarding the housing up in Nunakput and in the Beaufort–Delta regions…. We have a lot of problems with professional housing for our staff, or teacher housing, and the nursing staff. We need to really help them: help BDEC, help the hospital in regard to housing and staffing problems in Nunakput.

The Minister and I and the president of the Housing Corporation went on a tour of Nunakput, which they seemed to really need. Teachers and nursing staff shouldn’t have to worry about the problem of housing. I think they should be able to just go in there and do their work...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have nothing more to add at this time. I’d just like to thank the Minister and hope we get all my list done. Thank you.

Thank you. Regarding the Market Housing Initiative, the purpose of the Market Housing Initiative is to attempt to improve availability of rental accommodation for essential services personnel such as teachers and nurses who are working in smaller communities. The committee recognizes that the lack of rental accommodation has caused serious implications for delivery of essential programs and services. Members support the corporation’s efforts to address the need for the market housing communities to encourage all parties to work together to achieve positive results.

The CMHC funding — the...

Today I’d like to recognize my two Pages from my home community of Tuktoyaktuk, Ms. Caitlin Walker and Ms. Chelsea Raddi, for the good work they’ve done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about our traditional activities taking place right now back home in Nunakput. Each year geese return to provide a good source of food for many constituents in Nunakput. Not only food — the traditional activity means families being able to spend quality time together. This is important, because this allows elders the opportunity to pass on more traditional knowledge to the younger generation.

Mr. Speaker, with the high cost of food in all my Nunakput communities, geese hunting provides an important economic food source and is also very healthy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a question on that, Mr. Minister. In the smaller communities, families that are hard to house, or homeless, become a burden to family members with houses and to grandparents. So basically, we take care of our own. We try to. Will he help them and how?

Just for the Minister. Let’s just pick one and we could start somewhere. These issues are big in the smaller communities. Once you walk out of this building, you see it in downtown Yellowknife. We have to start somewhere. If the Minister and government are willing to work with us, as the Regular Members, to do something about it, I really urge them to.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I briefly mentioned homelessness in the smaller communities. Today I want to say that this is an issue common to many northern communities. Some people end up in larger centres like Yellowknife and Edmonton, but we do have some who fall through the cracks and are homeless in their own home communities. Even though I have heard new budget pledges to build new, affordable houses, we are concerned that there will still be homelessness for some.

I’ll be asking the Minister responsible for public housing if the department has any reliable information on the number of homeless...