Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I rise to update Members on the status of the recent flooding in Nahanni Butte and the incredible efforts of many individuals and organizations who are working together to help ensure the safety of residents.

As is the nature of most emergencies, this event caught us by surprise. Water in the Liard River basin reached heights not seen in many years, and in fact, it may turn out to be a record year.

Despite the fast moving nature of floods, residents were not caught off guard. Officials from Nahanni Butte worked together with a number of organizations to ensure residents were...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to written question asked by Mr. Alfred Moses on May 24, 2012, regarding the shelter policy review – proposed seniors rent scale.

Would the Minister please provide a list of the communities that were consulted in the shelter policy review?

The engagement process during the shelter policy review was quite extensive and included a number of approaches. One component of the engagement was workshops with community and Aboriginal government representatives.

In Inuvik on June 2-3, 2011, we met with representatives from Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Deline, Ulukhaktok...

This is one that I can commit the Member will have a look at. I think there have been some programs like this tried in the past, with different degrees of success. I know there were a couple of them that were actually not turned back into public housing but were renovated and turned back into the group that built these units. There have been some attempts out there to try this; however, it’s something that we have to look at because we do have a wide need across the Northwest Territories as far as affordable housing goes. I will commit to the Member that as part of the overall picture and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have looked at the report. We have looked at many of the recommendations that have been made, as we listen to all the recommendations that are made from people in and from the Northwest Territories. We’ve had an opportunity to look at it.

Thank you. We’d be pleased to meet, permitting we’re able to meet with the residents that are still in Nahanni Butte, and then once back in Simpson, I think they’ve committed to meeting with the residents from Nahanni Butte that are in Simpson. So we look forward to that opportunity to have some discussion with them as to some of the plans and how we’re going to move this forward and how we’re going to help them with some of the losses that they’ve suffered. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do plan on assessing the damage that’s in Nahanni Butte. We would like to do an initial assessment and then do a more detailed assessment once the water recedes, and we’ll work with the Member and the community to see how we go on a go-forward basis. There’s obviously going to be a lot of damage there and we need to assess that and work with the community, find out where we can possibly access some money for the community to help them deal with the damages they face. Thank you.

We see our role at MACA now as more of a support to the community. MACA has a lot of experience in helping communities try and realize some of their projects, working on capital plans. Communities will submit capital plans for the next five, 10, 15 years, and if they identify any particular project as part of their capital plan, we would be more than willing to sit with the community, meet with them, review their capital plan and see what the best way is to make it happen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Most communities have a capital plan and they identify projects. In some cases in the capital plan, where the cost is very high, then they would start putting some money away. They work with our department in trying to assist in identifying best ways to put the infrastructure up. Once they go through all that, at the end of the day, the ultimate decision is up to the community as to how they want to proceed.

We give the communities their infrastructure money every year and there’s also the gas tax money that goes to the communities. They have money coming every year, as far as their infrastructure needs are. They get this money every year. It’s a line item in the budget. They make the decision as to what their needs are in the community. If the community feels that a water treatment plant is one of their high priorities, then they do have the ability to make that happen. We’ve worked with other communities before, where they’ve done a bundled water treatment plant, where it kind of kept the costs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome Mr. Roland Rogers, the housing manager in the community of Aklavik to the gallery. Welcome.