Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting the motion.

I think that this is, again, the ordinary Members going in the right direction. This has been an issue. I never really thought in depth about this three-month notice thing in the private market and the reason for that, and the explanation that Mrs. Groenewegen gave us makes a lot of sense, that even if the Housing Corporation has covered the policy by putting in the maximum rent and then changing only the subsidy portion of it, is essentially a way of getting around a policy that may be very important to the renters.

So I think that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In all fairness, the Minister is correct; there are positive impacts to the delivery of housing at the community level in as far as employment for the community and a good business for some of the local contractors and so on. I don’t want the Minister to get me wrong. I was purely talking about the impacts on the homeowners, not so much what happens with employment in the community.

If the Housing Corporation makes a decision to develop new programs, to revamp programs, would the Minister do this in consultation with the communities?

The Minister said he would look into the transfer of responsibility for homeownership. If that can’t be done across the board, would the Minister look at it as a backup, a contribution agreement signed with either the local housing organizations or the aboriginal governments of the community to deliver homeownership programs in the communities?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, felt it was quite an experience to review the act because of the nature of the work that we did as a committee to go through and review the act and talk to the communities about how the act has impacted on the lives of some of the community members that came out and spoke at our meetings. I agree with the comments made by the two previous committee members and the people that supported us in our review.

Also, in addition to what they said, I’d like to thank the people that we worked with in Alberta. It was a good way to start to see what works down there. With...

Mr. Speaker, although the 10-year Akaitcho Aboriginal Languages Plan was fully implemented, they received less than 3.5 percent increase in funding over that 10-year span. This is not enough. Will the Minister commit to increasing the base funding for this program that’s run in Akaitcho? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the need to provide more funding for aboriginal programs in the Akaitcho. I have questions for the Minister responsible for aboriginal languages, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Jackson Lafferty.

Does the Minister recognize that keeping the regional languages committee alive is a vital part of preserving the aboriginal languages?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker...[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about aboriginal language programs in Akaitcho, which Tu Nedhe is a part of, and the need to increase support for these programs.

Mr. Speaker, in the riding of Tu Nedhe there is a combined aboriginal population of around 95 percent. However, the actual number of Chipewyan-speaking residents is becoming less and less every year. Mr. Speaker, speaking the language is important for keeping the culture alive. Speaking the language allows elders to pass on important traditional practices...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past there was some funding for the communities that were used for training translators, interpreters and so on. Will the Minister commit to returning money to the communities for training for aboriginal languages by increasing the necessary core funding to support training in the communities as opposed to at more of a territorial level? Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister recognize that the sum of $17,000 funding allocated to each Akaitcho community is insufficient to do what the communities need to do with an aboriginal language program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Snookie Catholique, former resident of Lutselk’e.