Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was recently a meeting held in Yellowknife with all the LHO managers across the Northwest Territories. One of the items discussed was the moratorium. At the time, it was noted that of the 20 people that were facing eviction, none of them have actually come forward and entered into a repayment plan. It is not going as well as we would have liked. We have two months left. We are hoping there is not a rush at the end and hoping that people start dealing with it right now. That way, we are not faced with mass evictions come April 1st. Thank you.

Obviously it is something that we would have to look at. If we’re getting more requirements or needs for the money that we have, or more demands, then it’s something that I think as an organization, as a department that we would have to have a look at and see how we can best support those groups that are actually out there delivering these programs to their communities. We understand the importance of volunteerism and every one of us in here has volunteered at one time or another. We need to ensure that we do our part in assisting volunteers as much as possible.

Thank you. Volunteer has a budget of $150,000 in the past year and that goes out to help support a lot of the volunteer groups under that particular umbrella organization. As well, the volunteer organization development contribution increased from $20,000 to $70,000. Again, our preference would be to put money right into the volunteer groups themselves and not in an umbrella organization. However, we’re coming up to a business planning process and it’s an issue, obviously, that the Member will raise and it’s something that we’d be more than willing to listen to. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, right now we stand at about 20. The number was at 36. We are at 20 right now. There could possibly be more. We are encouraged by the fact that there were many people that were non-payers, as far as rent goes, before this moratorium came into place. A lot of them are actually stepping up to the plate and entering into repayment plans or working with their LHOs. There has been some positive news come out of this. Those that have always paid their rent are continuing to pay their rent. There has been some positive come out of this, but again we are hoping we are not facing mass...

In communicating with tenants of the public housing portfolio, they were asked to come into the LHO and work out a repayment plan. I am not sure if we are following up with that, but right now the opportunity is there for them to work with our LHOs, enter into repayment plans and honour them, and come April 1st there is a possibility that they would be able to stay in their units. Thank you.

I can assure the Member that the Minister is listening, and the Minister is listening also to other voices from across the NWT. I’ve heard nothing, really, on Volunteer NWT. They’re pleased with some of the volunteer support that they’re given; however, Volunteer NWT provided a service that was required by some organizations. We’d not be willing to commit money at this point; however, as I mentioned to the Member, we are going through a business planning process where it would be an opportunity for the Member or Members to raise any monies that they would like to see put towards Volunteer NWT...

Thank you. That is one of the downsides of this and sometimes there’s unintended fallout from the leaseholder being convicted of any illegal activity, and that would apply to the members because they’re the main person on the lease, their residency would be terminated. Unfortunately, some of those caught in the crossfire are those that really have nothing to do with the activity, but because they’re residents of the unit, they would be looking for another place to stay. It’s unfortunate that it has to come to this and we do our best to try and make sure that all the tenants are housed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t condone any kind of illegal activities in our public housing units. Especially the LHOs usually have a zero tolerance policy. If someone is convicted of illegal activity in their unit, then their residency will be terminated. Thank you.

Thank you. I don’t think we need to work with the RCMP or anybody to know who these people in the communities are. Every community knows who in the community are carrying out illegal activities. Unfortunately, some of them are tenants of public housing, but you can’t evict them even though the Residential Tenancy Act allows you to possibly evict them on assumption. The LHOs normally wait until they are convicted. But every community knows who these folks are and until we can get them convicted, unfortunately there’s not much we can do, as much as we would like to have them no longer tenants...

Thank you. This would apply to all criminal activity that takes place in the unit or that they’re charged for and convicted. So it would apply to all. There’s no different sized penalty for different convictions. Thank you.