Kevin A. Menicoche

As we move towards this, can the Minister indicate who would be the proponent in this case? Will he be working with the band councils or else any interest groups out there that want to do a ground-based proposal that are interested in providing this kind of service? Thank you.

Certainly, that last report was in 2009. As I said, great strides have been done with that to take care of the housing that’s in core need. But for this House, one of our challenges is, of course, to address homelessness.

I know that the Minister is working with the Social Envelope Committee, but can he tell me a little bit about the strategy and what we’re going to do about the homeless, especially in the small communities?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m really glad to recognize my partner Lucyanne Kendo and step-daughter Brittany Jewel Kendo. You guys are my heart. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I was pleased to be on the committee that worked on public consultations and traveled with the bill. As well, I would like to commend government on all the hard pre-work that they did before they introduced the bill to the House. I know in the last Legislature, in the final hours when we were trying to pass the bill in the late stages of the government, there were many, many last minute changes to be done. Members on this side always said, if they make any changes, they would like to do a proper consultation.

I think this term a lot of proper consultation was...

I certainly look forward to working with the homelessness coordinator as she tours my communities.

I’d like to ask the Minister, in terms of homelessness, I know that here in Yellowknife, of course, it’s a much larger centre and they’re able to have O and M to address homelessness.

Is this the type of thinking they will be having when they go out to the communities and have their scoping sessions? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I spoke about so many housing issues, transitional housing and homelessness, and I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation some questions.

I’d like to know if the Housing Corporation has been working on any plans for transitional housing options for the regions and communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. On the housing front, the Nahendeh region is one of the regions in the Northwest Territories with the highest core need. Housing needs are evaluated in terms of suitability, adequacy and affordability. Suitability means having the appropriate number of bedrooms for the number of occupants; adequacy means running water, indoor plumbing, and isn’t in need of major repairs; affordability means that housing costs consumes less than 30 percent of the household income. A dwelling with problems in two or more of these areas – suitability, adequacy and affordability –...

Also, I would like to ask, is increasing the amounts of dental days to small communities part of that strategy.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Cavities, toothaches, bad breath and painful extractions that might have been prevented, these things aren’t talked about very often. Unfortunately, though, oral health problems are very common amongst my constituents. With a simple legislative change to the Dental Auxiliaries Act and a promise from our government to invest in visits to small communities, residents could receive timely and valuable dental care.

In nearly every Canadian province, dental hygienists are allowed to work independently. They aren’t required to work under the direction of a dentist...

I think all governments should invest into more visits to our communities.

Also in my Member’s statement, I spoke about the ability to change the Dental Auxiliaries Act to allow dental hygienists services and to provide that service. It’s another alternative way to provide better oral health to our communities. Will the Minister focus on that and move to make legislative changes? Thank you.