Wendy Bisaro

Whether you like it or not, Yellowknife is a magnet community and, as such, provides for many Northerners who’ve moved here from their home community to access better services. The financial strain that that puts on Yellowknife must be recognized by this government.

Mr. Speaker, a community striving to improve itself for the benefit of its residents should not be penalized for their actions.

I will have questions for the Deputy Premier at the appropriate time. Thank you.

If the Minister doesn’t think interagency committees exist, he might perhaps ask some of the representatives within communities. In my travels to communities, I think I’ve met with two or three of them and they seem to be pretty permanent.

To the Minister’s statement that there will be continued participation on the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee, I’d like to ask the Minister if the Department of Health and Social Services is actively working with the Social Issues Committee to figure out what that participation can be, and when we might expect some sort of a revised indication of support...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Deputy Premier, who also happens to be the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to reference the statement earlier by the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs when he spoke about the value of strong community governments and also stated responsible, responsive community governments are critical to support healthy, safe, and vibrant communities. I think that my Member’s statement referenced a strong and viable and responsive community, my own, which is attempting to provide better services for their residents.

I’ve...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned by our colleague Mr. Abernethy earlier, the mayor of the City of Yellowknife recently received a letter from two GNWT deputy ministers. The message in that letter was that our government, the departments of Health and Social Services and Justice, would no longer fully participate on the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee.

Like Mr. Abernethy, I am deeply disappointed by this decision, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is very much a move in the wrong direction. The Yellowknife bi-annual community survey has several times identified social problems in the city as the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement talked about women in Yellowknife who are working on behalf of NWT women and homelessness, and I’d like to ask some questions of the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services about the government’s homelessness framework. I’ve been trying for some months, actually more than 12, to try and get some information on the updating of the homelessness framework, but I was recently advised that no update is in the works. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he can advise when this homelessness framework will be reviewed, revised and updated so that it is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to use my Member’s statement to speak about two accomplished Yellowknife women. Arlene Hache and Lyda Fuller are both well-known non-government organization leaders at the Centre for Northern Families and at the YWCA. Both of these women work diligently and tirelessly on behalf of all NWT women and families who are in need. These talented ladies have just demonstrated their skills and commitment at a national conference: the first ever Canadian Forum on Housing and Safe Communities for Women. They were presenters at several sessions.

A few years ago both the...

I didn’t want to be gruesome, but I think it’s better to be realistic than not. So I guess just to try and solidify, clarify in my head, if we end up having to spend $10 million and we only have $4.8 million in our reserve fund, we will borrow to meet the financial or the funding commitments that we have to. Is that correct?

Thanks to Mr. Kalgutkar. I almost understood that. That was great. However, what I kind of heard was we let somebody else set up a line of credit and borrow the money and then we pay it off, which I understand it’s a Crown corporation, but I have a bit of a problem with that. I would like to clarify, I do believe that when and if this project goes forward and there are revenues to the Taltson project, that the GNWT will be paid back for this money that we are paying out. Is that correct?

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I think, again, I’m not exactly sure that I understand what their function and role is. The Minister mentioned one of situations that this group deals with and I believe that’s the Homelessness Assistance Fund, which is supposed to help people. As I read from a document, “the Homelessness Assistance Fund supports and prevents individuals from becoming homeless in the NWT.” If that’s the case, I need to ask the Minister why in recent months a family of four was basically refused a minor amount of funding, $600 I believe, which would have kept...

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I’m a little surprised to hear that we have a Homelessness Coalition led by the City of Yellowknife, which basically works for facilities within the city of Yellowknife, that that is leading a strategy, which, if I understand the Minister correctly, is going to be GNWT strategy or policy. So I’d like to ask the Minister, if my understanding is correct, could he explain what he meant by the strategy is being developed by the Homelessness Coalition? Thank you.