Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of the Fort Simpson Airport maintenance services. The petition contains 12 signatures of Trout Lake residents, and the petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly represent Nahendeh residents by opposing plans to privatize Fort Simpson Airport maintenance services. Mahsi cho.

Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker. I’ll certainly do that. I just want to ensure that once it looks like they’ll have to reapply, they’re not bumped off the list.

Mr. Speaker, I’m just wondering if there’s some type of structure you use to identify how progress is going, if they’re completing four out of eight houses or ten out of 20 repairs. What type of reporting mechanisms are they using?

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to you today about the serious delays in housing repairs and construction programs undertaken by the NWT Housing Corporation in the communities in my riding.

A number of houses are in serious need of repair, and there are many units that have not even been constructed yet. I have heard over and over again from my constituents that timelines to repairs and construction are not met. This can cause a great deal of disruption to clients.

When major repairs are needed, people are required to either move into a vacant house or move in...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That’s all the questions I have for right now.

I just want to switch gears a little bit and talk about the whole area of on-the-land programs and housing available to build on the land. I think this is the second year where that program has disappeared. I don’t know. With the Elders on the Land program constituents have been asking me time and time again, “Can I get my application in for the Elders on the Land program? Mr. So-and-so got it, and he’s doing quite well.” In fact, a lot of people in my riding are looking at returning to the land, and some of them still live there. For whatever reason, they didn’t get their allocation or apply...

At the bottom of these letters there’s an actual paragraph that says that if you’re not satisfied, here is the appeal system that’s involved in ECE. Here’s who you can contact. You’ve got only so many days to contact them in order to launch your appeal, and it must be in writing.

But with the Housing Corporation — at least, the last letter I looked at — it just said: please be advised that your application was received, and due to your particulars you’ve been refused for the program.

It’s not only appealing a negative letter, Mr. Chair. There are also issues with people being previously in...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, shall be voting in favour of this motion. It is very timely. I’ve got the riding with the most communities, and we’re having many housing issues. One of them is access to funding and different types of funding arrangements. Right now we’re really, really limited, and the pool of funds is getting smaller. It limits the types of actions that we can have in the community, especially when it comes to federal assistance, as they do it to all our reserves down south and the other jurisdictions.

When it comes to the North, there’s always a barrier in terms of...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of cutbacks to the public service in Fort Simpson. The petition contains 12 signatures of Trout Lake residents, and the petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly represent Nahendeh residents by opposing proposed layoffs in the public service that would have an economic…

Interruption.

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee strongly recommends that the government take immediate action to reinstate funding in the amount of $265,000 for the proposed elimination of special projects contribution funding for Community Justice Activities under the Department of Justice under the Community Justice and Corrections Activity.