Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that the government is doing is currently evaluating all of the redundancies and efficiencies of its programs and services through government renewable. And so I'm wondering if ISSS itself is involved in its own government renewal process focused on the interoperability of GNWT digital infrastructure and redundancy reduction between GNWT departments. Right now there is a lot of silos happening, there's a lot of fragmented digital systems, there's a lot of purchasing that's happening individually within departments, and so I'm wondering if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table an email I received February 7th, 2023, from the Office of the Minister responsible for Housing Northwest Territories regarding demographics of public housing tenants. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We have long been awaiting this document and have yet to see a draft on that and very much welcome it at the committee level.

Another recommendation was for the Yukon Housing Corporation to develop and implement a program evaluation framework. We heard in the Minister's remarks yesterday that we don't have a systematic data collection. So will the upcoming homelessness strategy include a plan for systematic data collection and program evaluation framework? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a second round of questions for the Minister of Housing NWT, specific this time to the homelessness strategy.

Mr. Speaker, last year the OAG audited public housing in the Yukon. The OAG found that the Yukon Housing Corporation did not have complete, timely, and relevant information to manage programs and benefits. Three of the nine recommendations coming out of Yukon's audit were on data collection and analysis. Has the Minister been briefed on the results of the Yukon audit and on how those lessons could be applied here in the NWT? Thank...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I want to thank the Minister as well. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge that data sharing increases the risk of exposure as well as potential for bias. But there are existing frameworks that work to reduce this bias. The First Nations principles of ownership, control, access, and possession assert that First Nations have control over the data collection process. This is also known as OCAP and is the framework that protects Indigenous sovereignty as well as people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. In addition to those concerns, experiencing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to first ask some questions to the housing minister in regards to data collection as a whole for the organization.

Right off the top, Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister will commit to changing the current data collection practices of Housing NWT and commit to strategic data collection and analysis? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of housing responded to questions on data collection on the homeless population. One of her responses was astonishing and disappointing. She explained that the department does not, quote, "currently have systematic collection of data on this population to allow us to track the population over time. Not only does this make it difficult for me to tell you how many NWT residents are impacted at any point, but it also means that I do not have data on how long individuals remain homeless and what kind of housing solutions they move into."

D...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another key outcome from Yukon's housing audit was to improve interdepartmental collaboration. Yukon Housing Corporation and Yukon's Department of Health and Social Services have committed to signing a multiyear MOU, including coordinating their approach to information management. This is also something I have frequently spoken about to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and Minister of Justice who is also responsible for integrated service delivery. We know so much of our program delivery in this territory is siloed and desperately...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it would be of great value, I think, to look at what the Yukon's audit read, and I think that it would also be of great value to look at our 2008 audit that the OAG did on our own Housing Corporation here because a lot of those recommendations are still quite relevant today.

Mr. Speaker, if this audit was repeated in the NWT, I believe the OAG would have similar findings on the lack of information at Housing NWT. One major recommendation was that the Yukon Housing Corporation set up performance indicators, including shortterm and longterm targets and outcome...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Why stop at three, let's try for a fourth.

Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge that the Minister did inform us that housing is intending to create a data dashboard with the information that they collect, and I want to thank the Minister for that. The Minister might remember that the Department of Finance also has their open data portal that was recently released. And I'm wondering if the Minister of Housing will commit to ensuring that collected housing data is, where appropriate, updated on the GNWT's open data portal as well so that we have a consolidated...