Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I received several phone calls last night. I want to ask the Minister of Housing on the announcement of including elders on this rent scale. How many elders would be affected on this new announcement to have them start paying rent by July 1st?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This motion is restating what the Minister talked about earlier in the House, to support and give the nudge to the government that this is a priority. People in the communities would really appreciate this, because this would give justice to our people when we have Ministers, bureaucrats or any other government agencies that come into our communities. They know they will get the proper information, the terminology will be right and these translators would do great justice to the Aboriginal language services, to the Aboriginal Languages Act.

Right now it will give more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with great interest to the Housing Minister yesterday when he announced the proposed plans for the NWT Housing Corporation. During the 16th Assembly, I was among one of the Members that pushed Mr. McLeod for an overhaul for the rent scales for the young people who want to work and get a fair chance to make it on their own. I did this because the so-called economic rent being charged was too high. Basically, if someone got a job, they would have to pay so much rent. They wouldn’t have much money left for anything.

Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear, I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. It gives me great pleasure to recognize the leadership of Deline: elder Andrew John Kenny and I see also up there self-negotiator and a good man all around, Danny Gaudet from Deline. Steven Taniton was also there and Leonard Kenny; they had to do some other errands. Hello to Chief Tutcho and Peter Menacho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would ask that between now and whenever there is action taken, maybe all the whole Northwest Territories needs to be looked at. I’m asking right now for the Sahtu communities. Between now and then, what can this department do to advise people in the five Sahtu communities about this cancer-causing bacteria? What things should they look out for? What things should they be seeing a nurse for and asking for? This constituent of mine is being treated as we speak today for this specific bacteria. What do other people need to be aware of in their own Dene language to say...

That’s good news from the department to look at the Sahtu. I raised this because, again, I said last night that I spoke to one of my constituents in Tulita who is being treated for H. pylori. I want to see if the investigation will be looked at in all five of the Sahtu communities of this cancer-causing bacteria. I’m happy to hear that Fort Good Hope will be looked at as a starting point. We need to look at all the communities in the Sahtu. Will the Minister look at that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of the elders in the Sahtu region cannot afford this. Yesterday when I talked to one of the constituents, they said, what? What is this government thinking about? There are some seniors maybe in larger centres that could afford to pay a little bit of rent, but not in the Sahtu and maybe no other communities. They have a hard time and pretty soon they’re going to maybe get eviction notices if we continue down this path. I ask the Minister responsible for all seniors and elders, can he help us work with his Cabinet colleagues to look at what can we do to help the...

We have one representative on the Seniors’ Society and that representative doesn’t have any funds to go around to the five Sahtu communities and talk to all the seniors in their own language who are living in public housing units. Can the Minister responsible for Seniors look at coming in and having a meeting with the Sahtu elders and say, is this what you want? Is this what you agreed to? Come and hear the people who are struggling and who are poor and say, is this what you want? If not, we need to do it now.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly what I have heard from the Sahtu elders certainly didn’t relay that message to me. Really it was the younger people who were working that want to make sure the rent scale was adjusted. Our elders in the Sahtu certainly didn’t convey that to me, and I don’t think that’s an accurate picture that the Minister is saying, that some of the seniors want to pay their rent. So, Mr. Speaker, I know the government may not agree with me, but I cannot sit here and agree with this principle of charging the elders rent coming in July. It’s just unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. I...

Mr. Speaker, how many of these 700 seniors are in the Sahtu that there is going to be an impact by this announcement?