Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could I ask the Minister if he could also look at the communities in the Sahtu? Because the Sahtu has the highest adequacy percentage in the Northwest Territories with 41 percent. Could he look at it in terms of bringing down this number in terms of the adequacy means no bathroom, running water, no hot water, plumbing and electrical issues? Could he look at that in terms of bringing those numbers down in terms of a commitment that he made earlier to the MLA for Nahendeh?

Mr. Speaker, with the existing stock on the ground and because of the existing stock on the ground, it means that we have some real major problems in terms of major repairs. In the report it says out of 33 communities, 25 communities need major repairs. The Housing Minister has indicated that now with the investment now coming into the Housing Corporation, hopefully in five years, that we’ll see a decrease in these numbers here. However, Mr. Speaker, in the last three or four years we did receive some major dollars in terms of federal government and now we’re going to be running out of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in terms of the process between now and the next application cycle, in terms of going to the district, is it also possible that the applicants could go to the local housing authority boards in terms of working out some type of an appeal process? I know that’s something that could be considered rather than to the district office. Would the Minister look at something in the interim?

I appreciate the gesture from the Minister in terms of this specific person. Now I want to ask, in terms of the administration and the flexibility of this program, he’s supposed to be simplifying these programs, the government and the Housing Corporation administration. Does the Corporation have an appeal process in place where if there’s an application that does get rejected, that there can be an appeal process to a body rather than just to the Housing Corporation?

Mr. Chair, just on the last comment from the deputy minister, some of the communities that don’t feel that they will be able to access some of this $200,000 for the ground service and ambulance, does that leave an option for some of the communities who are on the winter road system that could use some of the money for winter road ground services, such as the community of Norman Wells who is asking about this here? The Town of Norman Wells is asking about this, so they’re trying to find a way to look at this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to make comments on the recent 2009 Community Housing Needs Survey. Last week we finished with the Minister of the corporation in terms of the budget. When I left and went upstairs, I received a phone call from a distraught senior in Fort Good Hope. She’s a retired social worker, she’s a senior, and she was looking for help with the Housing Corporation. She had to go through the whole bureaucratic administrative process and the application and the whole information gathering. She rushed to get all this information together so she could get the...

Mr. Chair, can I ask the Minister in terms of, you know, you look at community rescue services on the winter road in the Sahtu for the time that we have the winter road, for three to four months, the issue is the search and rescue or the emergency community emergency management planning. Has the department considered using the Canadian Rangers in terms of emergency rescue or emergency measures in terms of road rescue or calling on some that are similar to the ambulance type of service? Members were talking about they have these Rangers here, that they can certainly be called up and be part of...

With the funding to the Arctic Energy Alliance, I know that this program is very popular in my region. With this funding here, is the Arctic Energy Alliance going to be going into the regions to start training people to do some of the regional work rather than headquarters coming in all the time and being booked and just don’t have enough time and people saying they don’t stay around long enough to do… There are lots of houses in the community that want to take advantage of this program. Is that something that this is going to be looked at by the government and the Arctic Energy Alliance?

One question I have is on the lottery licence. The majority of the funding going into these sports field in terms of the funds that we raise through the lottery licence and the dollars that the majority go to support multisport across the North.

Mr. Speaker, I will be in support of this motion also. It’s something that in the Sahtu region we have long hoped for from this government here in terms of seeing improved services and other services that other communities have in facilities and good programs.

I know we’ve been asked by the Sahtu on many occasions to see if there are ways to bring elders home from Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, or Inuvik back to their region, back to their homes. I know there are many elders that are in various programs in the Northwest Territories that deserve our utmost attention and support to see if we can give...