Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 20)

[English translation not provided.]

Today I would like to talk about a situation that puts single parents at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing public housing.

Many of our constituents are single parents with young children, who are trying their best to earn a living and provide for their children. Unfortunately, many of these single-income earners are struggling to make ends meet. Some have families and friends to assist them, but many rely solely on government assistance.

One such program is the social housing program at the NWT Housing Corporation. Under the current policies individuals...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 20)

I have one more short comment on the Housing Corporation Mains. I notice that in the Infrastructure Acquisition Plan, which is part of the O&M inside the Mains, they have a fairly good-sized budget of over $38 million for this fiscal year, and then it drops off considerably, like in half. Again, I guess it's due to the fact that there would be no AHI funding coming in.

If this is the level of money that's needed in order to keep up to the core need issues across the Territories, I'm wondering if the corporation has any plan at all to somehow replace that money, aside from the motion that was...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 20)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s good. I’m glad that the Minister’s prepared to sit down with committee.

I would like to ask the Minister if he could commit to looking into creating some sort of special status for single mothers and fathers, in their need, to determine a different type of CNIT — Core Need Income Threshold — when the calculations are done. So if the Minister could commit to looking at some sort of special status for this group of people.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

I would like to see if the Minister could provide this request, to myself or to the committee in writing, for how they count their headquarters and regional positions. I don’t believe that everybody in all of the departments is reporting regional and headquarter positions in the same manner. This, I think, downloads a lot of headquarter positions into the regions that are actually headquarter functions. There are headquarters positions in other communities. That’s fairly well understood. But every opportunity that the government gets to report them as a regional position, it seems to happen.

I...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The same line of questioning on this from me, as I am still not clear on how the positions, the PYs, are being reported. I just want clarification on why there are only nine positions in headquarters Yellowknife, and 136 positions in the region, and also 69 positions in the Fort Smith region. I am trying to determine if the department is counting these positions by where the individual is located or if it is a question of function.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

Okay. The total reduction in this area has been $433,000 just in these last three motions. The department had indicated to us that that was offset by the federal government. I’m only seeing an offset of $170,000. To me, it still seems like a fairly substantial cut, so I’m going in favour of the motion.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, am strongly in favour of the funding staying in the department for this function.

In the little bit of interaction we’ve had with the Elders’ Justice Committee in Fort Resolution, it was positive for the whole community. They’re playing a positive role. It would be good to see the money remain there. Although I’m not sure that it’s exactly affecting that particular group, I’m sure it will be affecting other groups across the North.

The elders still talk about attending court and seeing first-hand and having a role in how justice is dealt with in a community. I think...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

My understanding of reporting PYs is that it is supposed to be by function. I am just trying to determine if all of government reports PYs the same way, or if some departments choose to report PYs in different manners. My understanding is that the North Slave region just happens to be where the location of the corrections facilty is. Also, the Fort Smith region happens to be the location of the other corrections facility, which is based in Hay River. But that is not exclusively responsible for working in the South Slave region or the Forth Smith region only. The North Slave Correctional Centre...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The request by MLA Krutko on the distribution of the money for Community Justice committees and then the response from Minister Lafferty on the federal funding…. I was wondering if it would be possible to indicate that, also in addition to the request from Mr. Krutko, if the federal money, once they have determined where it is going to go…. I am assuming they already know, since they made the cut. In accordance with that, I would like to have the federal funds incorporated into Mr. Krutko’s request also.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 19)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to get some more information on the….