Steve Norn

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will repeat that. Under the line item emergency shelters, does the Hope's Haven program here in Yellowknife access that program?

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I would like to say a few words in my language. Mr. Speaker, [English translation not available]. I am going to go back in English now. What I said there was: for me [microphone turned off] ...and that we should always respect that. I know that for our interpreters in Dene Zhatie, if they weren't here, I would request that the House be suspended. I think that on the flip side of that, if we all spoke Dene Zhatie, Tlicho, or French and we all spoke that primarily in here and we didn't have an English interpreter, if you could think of that in those terms, if we couldn't...

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I think I got a swing and a miss there. Okay. I am trying to ask this in another way, then. Those three items I mentioned earlier, they are decreasing. Does the Minister feel this will be enough to help some of the homelessness issues we are having in the small communities because I really feel like we are not addressing that?

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I'm just going to talk a little bit about homelessness, as well. I, too, in my riding, in Deninu Kue, we have a homelessness issue, and there is already infrastructure in place. I think we're already in discussion with the Minister on that, so hopefully we can see some progress on that. I'm just looking at page 370, here. I'm just looking at some trends, things like the Homelessness Assistance Fund staying put but items like the Small Community Homelessness Fund going down, the Shelter Enhancement Fund is going down. I'm just getting a sense of why that is the way it is...

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the response from the Minister. What I'm gathering here is that there isn't a whole lot of access to this to the small communities, so this is mostly a Yellowknife program. Is that what the Minister is telling me?

Marsi cho, Madam Chair, and marsi cho for that answer. I just want to make sure I get this straight. Part of this line item, the seniors' home heating fuel subsidy, is part of that that program, as well? Marsi cho.

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 30-19(2), 2020-2021 Main Estimates, for the NWT Housing Corporation. Marsi.

Well, I'm glad that his department is going into schools and promoting trades. That is something we need to start earlier with the kids. My next question is: what is the department doing to promote trades and self-employment initiatives in the NWT as a whole?

As I was saying, we want to give people hope to help them know that there are a lot of businesses out there that were successful in the past, and they all started with one idea. With that, I would like to ask some questions to the Minister of ECE. I would have liked to ask the Minister of ITI, but she's not here today. Marsi cho.

Madam Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress. Marsi cho.