Mr. Speaker, can the Minister direct the staff at the Housing Corporation to develop a strategy to ensure that all senior homeowners are contacted during the delivery stage? Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about seniors also, senior homeowners specifically that are in need of programs to assist them to maintain their homes.

As it stands now, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has programs that can provide what is needed for seniors. However, accessing the current programs is more difficult than it needs to be.

The NWT Housing Corporation has a CARE program that can provide both maintenance and repairs but the seniors are not a priority and if they can’t get themselves to the officers that are delivering the program, they are missed.

Ea...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs met on January 12, 2011, to review Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Conflict of Interest Act. The bill was supported by the NWT Association of Communities and the Town of Hay River. A representative of Yellowknife Metis organizations also took part in the public hearing. Committee members thank all involved for their constructive input.

Following a clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 14 to the Assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole. This concludes the committee’s general comments on Bill 14. Individual...

Mr. Speaker, prior to or during the program delivery stage, at the application stage, will the Minister direct his staff to go to the homes of the seniors and not wait for the seniors to make contact? There are only a limited number of senior homeowners in the communities. Will the Minister direct his staff to actually go to the homes or the staff to go to the homes? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the homeownership programs, specifically homeownership programs for seniors needed to be developed by the Housing Corporation. I have some questions for the Minister of the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister direct his staff to develop a seniors-specific program for repairs and maintenance of senior homeowner units? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although I think it’s essential that the staff go into the seniors’ homes, I don’t think it’s a difficult task. There is probably enough staff to be able to go into all the homes. Aside from that, whether the officers are going into the homes or not, will the Minister direct his staff to do all that is necessary to gather the documentation to ensure that the initial application is completed? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we’d like to go back to the Department of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Chairman, that is fine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a very similar line of questioning as my colleagues, maybe just to clear something up that the Minister has brought open here in the House that felt that this would not be a problem with me. I had indicated that I was optimistic about this, but once we took a more detailed look at it, it was not something that I too am comfortable with. I see this as a fairly simple process, actually. I want to talk first about child and family services committees that our Standing Committee on Social Programs talked about. That was the establishment of five more communities...

Will the Minister work with the community, then, to determine those routes looking at all the routes? In my discussions with community members, I’ve been given three or four different options, maybe even five different options on what they said would be good routes. Everybody has their reason for doing it. I recognize that the Minister has responded to me in the past about pressure ridges on the lakes. A lot of the possibilities are over land. Can the Minister work with the community to determine the routes and look at all the routes?