Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to talk about something that is a very important item to the small communities and that is the attendance of students K to 12. Absenteeism is very high in some of our small communities and I would like to recommend to the Minister -- not now, I'm not making a recommendation now, but in the future I recommend that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment start to collect data so that they could determine the level of absenteeism in all of the communities, but specifically in the small communities. We know that if a student misses one day of school per week, that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I indicated the problems we are having currently with having people become eligible for housing programs, largely because there are wrong programs out there and in some cases because individuals are just clearly not eligible. They have a core need, but they don't have all the right statistics to fit into the programs the Housing Corporation is currently offering. It is a huge issue. I would like to ask the Minister if they are going to look at programs that will directly address the housing needs in the NWT. Currently, the programs do not address the needs...

That’s rather disappointing. The 2009 Housing Needs Survey is the last survey that was completed by the Housing Corporation and has all of the core needs, by community, laid out in there. Is the Minister actually contemplating doing something different? Changing the way we collect information and then, by going directly to the people, finding out what it is they want? I think the survey does that. Is the Minister actually contemplating a different way of capturing core needs in the NWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris from Detah. I'd also like to recognize my interpreter, Tommy. Thank you.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start off with a story of a few elders in Lutselk'e and their housing issues. About seven years ago, I began to advocate for the elders to have the northern territorial rental public housing units transferred into their ownership. About a year or so ago they were transferred into their names. They were very happy, but their happiness was short-lived. These units were built in the late ‘60s or early 1970s and when the elders applied for repair programs, they were hit with a barrage of reasons why they were...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I wish to report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 2-18(2), Interim Estimates, 2016-2017.

Yes, I guess that would be seven years.

---Laughter

In any event, I don't think that it has changed that much, so the question for the Minister is: is the Minister aware that the largest proportion of core need is adequacy?

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about some housing problems faced by the elders in my riding. My question for the Minister is: has the Minister written out any sort of plan to address housing problems as identified in the 2009 Housing Needs Survey. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is the mandate of the NWT Housing Corporation to reduce core need in the NWT. Core need in my hometown of Fort Resolution is 50 per cent, a large majority with adequacy as a main housing problem. When a household has adequacy as a main housing problem, the house needs repairs, renovation or retrofit to address the core need issue. The NWT Housing Corporation must find a way to deliver appropriate programs to address core needs of people in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.