Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I should not have used the word "segue" in my last time and tipped you off that I was changing topic.

Can the Minister of Housing please provide us with an update on the Inuvik shelter and whether or not a contractor has been found? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I do appreciate the Minister's office responding quite quickly and having that done so that the student can return to school this week.

Can the Minister speak to we are going to have a greater snowfall this year. That has been predicted and such. And it just does seem to happen that we're getting these greater and greater sort of weather events. Can the Minister speak to how this is going to go moving forward? I do understand that it is the owner of the property's responsibility to clear and keep the accesses and entrances clear of snow and ice; however, there is...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There are a lot of people before first, I'd like to acknowledge Tom McLennan who is one of our newly elected Yellowknife city councillors. Welcome to the Chamber.

I also have a group there's a group here from I believe it's pronounced Videa. And in that group we have Kate Herchak, Taleetha Tait, Diane AnawakDunford, Ruth Kaviok, Delaney Drachenberg, and Twyla Etchinelle. I'm not sure if I'm saying everyone's name right, I apologize, but as a Nokleby I feel that pain. So thank you, and welcome to the Chamber.

Sorry, just chatting about housing, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Speaker. And again, I guess I just really struggle with the idea that we have to rely on NGOs who are notoriously underfunded in order to take care of our most vulnerable people. I just really find that to be unacceptable, and I do hope that the department is looking and considering that they do need to continue on being the operator of the shelter. My question, though, is around I know that when we were in Inuvik with social development, that there was a lot of conversation around even just proper food for people at the shelter. You know, we brought in some fruit and...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do understand the trouble of trying to get an NGO in a community to run something when there aren't really any NGOs in that community that would want to take that on. And as a result of that, you know, and given the sensitive nature of this type of work, you know, hiring minimum wage workers here and that are not going to be adequately trained, as the Minister said, is not the solution. So can the Minister speak to whether or not the department is considering running the shelter themselves and having workers there be GNWT employees? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm going to segue a little bit on the housing minister. And could she provide us with an update on what's happening with the Inuvik shelter and whether or not a contractor has been found there? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm going to come back to a topic I brought up earlier which is fertility. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the public sector if she would be willing to consider allowing GNWT employees to use their special leave for in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments? Currently they are not allowed to but it is my understanding it can be used for adoption. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, can the Minister speak to what is going on with the ongoing pest control treatment at Lanky Court? It's my understanding there has been different messages put out to clients there, threats of fines should they not be out of their apartments at the time, conflicting reports on whether or not the pesticides or the pest control methods are safe for people to use. Yes, any information the Minister could provide on that would be great. Thanks.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. You were throwing me looking to the other side of the room there when you said that. My questions are for the Minister of Housing.

First, I just wonder if the Minister can speak a bit to how does the Housing Corporation review the status of maintenance and repairs on third party buildings such as Northview? We have a liability, as a government, to make sure that the housing that we're putting public housing clients into is safe, and from what I'm hearing I don't think that Lanky is. Thank you, Madam Speaker.