Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 56)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I ask that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 56)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that there was an individual who was in place to develop programs targeted at that. Maybe there was some issue. I'd like to ask the Minister if the Minister is prepared to have the department look at the programs generally that are being delivered to see if the people who are afflicted with this disorder will be benefitting from the programs that are delivered in the Corrections system. Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 54)

The NWT Housing Corporation probably has the best perspective of what is on the ground in all of the communities, comparing one community to another in order to allocate resources. Why are we waiting to have somebody agree, signing agreements, in order to do community housing plans? Planning is our responsibility. We need to do the planning. In order to do it, we don't have to just plan. We need to implement the work on the ground.

We have been talking about this for a long time. I started talking about community development plans in 2007. I asked questions in 2007 and asked this government to...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation based on his Minister's statement today. I would like to ask the Minister why they are not developing housing plans for all 33 communities at once. Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Minster what we need in the communities I represent. I can tell the Minster that we need to address the home ownership of the seniors so that the seniors can remain in their homes so the seniors can age in place. That is the number one priority. That is the priority where people come to me almost every day. There are seniors coming to me almost every day saying, "I need my house repaired. I need my furnace done. I need this. I need that." That is where that comes from.

As far as the social housing portfolio goes, Mr. Speaker, the public...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 54)

These community development plans or community housing plans are something that could be done from a desktop. We have needs surveys. We know the lay of the communities. We have been dealing with these communities ever since the Housing Corporation was formed in 1974. We know what is there. Why are we sending people into the communities? We have 19 or 20 communities that have LHOs. We could use them.

We need to get this thing started. If it is going to take six years or five years to get all 33 communities done, by the time that we are done the last ones, the first ones would be obsolete. We...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 54)

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about an issue which is affecting more and more people in the NWT. This issue is wealth inequality, which can be described as an increasing wealth disparity that exists between our richest and poorest citizens.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT has the highest median personal income in Canada, at $50,000 per year. However, a closer look at the figures will show that the distribution of wealth among our people is not equal. Of the 22 communities that have income data, only four have an average personal income above $50,000, which means that all...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 53)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when people are relocated, they are scattered all over the place because they don't have a home. They ended up, yes, in Fort Resolution, yes, in Yellowknife, some in Lutselk'e, some in Edmonton, Hay River. They're all over the place. There is no home. They are scattered around. These were the people that were greatly affected. I'm asking the Minister: I agree that Fort Resolution, Fort Smith, Lutselk'e, that will capture the majority of the people; however, there is a group that is going to be missed unless we pull that list together, so I'd like to ask the...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 53)

It appears as though the Minister is not fully aware of who was impacted, and that's what I'm trying to get at here. The greatest impact of the Taltson dam was upon the people that lived in a place called Rocher River. I am a person that is from Rocher River. What happened there was the school burned down a few years before the Taltson dam was constructed. Many people felt that was deliberate, but the bottom line is, there was a group of people living there in an organized community. It had stores, two stores. They had a school, and they were a regular functioning community, and suddenly...