Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. I want to ask the Minister what type of solutions the corporation will be looking at in decreasing the number of evictions in Deline and probably other communities in the Northwest Territories, but I wanted to ask about Deline in regard to the evictions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in Deline about 5 percent of the population are living in warehouses, shacks and tents. Why? Because this government tries hard to make housing available but falls short of the mark. The Deline Housing Association has issued 30 eviction notices in the past few months; mostly, if not entirely, for unpaid rent. We are left with people living in cold and dangerous conditions; conditions that lead to disease from lack of proper sanitation and other problems.

Years ago the government decided it must do something to get people off their land, so they built housing units...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Imagine going to the store and paying $8 for two kilograms of sugar or paying $4 for a litre of milk. Imagine not being able to cash a government cheque or if you do cash it, only getting half the cash and getting an IOU for the balance or even less; maybe getting $200 or $300 cash and the rest goes onto your account.

If you are living in the Sahtu community of Fort Good Hope, you wouldn’t have to imagine this, Mr. Speaker. You would be living it in colour or in black and white. In most of our small communities there are limited options for grocery shopping and cashing...

My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

How many people are currently registered with the NWT Health Care Plan, and how many of those people temporarily reside outside of the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the Premier getting back to me on this initiative. I want to ask the Premier in terms of the types of protection that could give people in Fort Good Hope from the co-op, for example, that they feel that they are getting gouged at the co-op store in terms of how can this government here... When will the Premier report back to me in terms of this is what they could do in terms of helping the people of Fort Good Hope to at least reduce their cost at the co-op store in terms of lowering their cost of foods?

Mr. Speaker, I have made mention in my Member’s statement about the gouging that is happening in Fort Good Hope, especially with the co-op store and the situation that elders and people have to be put under in terms of cashing a basic government cheque. I want to ask the Premier what steps this government can do to help the people in Fort Good Hope and situations like that, unforeseen circumstances that happened to them and that they are put in this situation. What steps can this government do to protect the people in Fort Good Hope are living under these types of conditions? I believe that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Assembly directs the Minister of Transportation to seek federal funding via the P3 Canada Fund for this important piece of infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do applaud Minister Bob McLeod in terms of his announcement of lowering the cost of living in our small communities. I want to ask the Premier what tools would he be using in terms of monitoring the reduced cost of living in our small communities. What tools would he be using and how soon can he get back to me in terms of saying this is what we can do in Fort Good Hope in terms of protection from the high cost of foods in the co-op store?

Mr. Speaker, the Premier is correct; there are some initiatives that I could list off, actually provide in terms of how we are working with our small communities to subsidize or to lower the cost of living in our communities. The point, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Premier, is would he exercise some of his muscle or his authority in terms of how do we help communities like Fort Good Hope that are dealing with situations that I pointed out now? They are living as right today as we speak in terms of what can he and his Cabinet come together and present something on the floor that would...

Thank you. I would like to ask the Minister to go a step further in terms of providing what he says is his mandate was to provide quality education in the Northwest Territories, specifically for Colville Lake, Mr. Speaker. That school that I talked about still has no running water, it has a honey bucket for a sanitary facility. I want to ask what things can bring Colville Lake School up to a quality education standard in the Northwest Territories, like any other school in the North. Again, if I could ask the Minister, how many schools like this in the Northwest Territories are under similar...