Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Madam Speaker, today I spoke about sustaining and growing our population in the Northwest Territories, and a key tool to grow our population is using immigration. The GNWT currently does not fulfill its annual immigration quota allotted by the Government of Canada through the nominee program. This is a big concern especially within our business community.

So I'm wondering if the Minister can explain why we're not hitting our quotas and tell us what his department is...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have no further questions on this section. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, one of the concerns that I have, and I understand that, you know, there's a process that Housing NWT follows, but the minor and major home repair program, as well as the home mobility and accessibility modifications program offered by Housing NWT, the first two are for health and safety related repairs for seniors aging in place, and then the second one is for people really to be able to access their home and use their home. And my concern is that the application period is isolated to April 1st through to November 31st. And, you know, we're all human...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm wondering if there are any applicants who were denied, either because they do not fit the criteria outlined or because the fund is fully subscribed? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, earlier this week I made a statement about Nunavut 3000, Nunavut's ambitious aim to build 3,000 new homes by 2030. Its ambition that we desperately need in the NWT but lacking sometimes, especially when it comes to creating new housing to meet our need. So I'm wondering because housing is such a huge barrier to sustaining our population, I'm wondering if this Minister will advocate for an ambitious house building and house repair strategy and action plan to support the sustaining and growing of our population, especially since he is the...

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the success that has happened over the course of this term, but there's still room for us to grow and there's still room for us to welcome more people to the Northwest Territories. One of the things that I like to do in this job is pick up the phone and call people. And I've had the opportunity to speak to people working in the immigration sector from other jurisdictions who have literally said, why aren't you guys getting closer to your quota? So I think there's room for us to grow.

Madam Speaker, the department's response to the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, in December 2022, the NWT recorded the highest employment rate in Canada. But like the rest of the world, NWT employers, including the GNWT, struggled to fill many positions critical to our success. But our population growth is not keeping up with our needs. By the 2040s, our population is projected to grow by only nine percent while Canada's at 25 percent.

Madam Speaker, the bureau of statistics projects that by 2035, the population will decline in 18 of 33 NWT communities, including Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Whati, Fort...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm wondering if the housing corporation and, you know, people in the Northwest Territories understand that sometimes, you know, things can't be transported right away because of whether it's breakup or freezeup or anything else that's going on, that's just a way of life in the Northwest Territories, but I'm wondering if we can remove kind of an administrative burden or something that might turn people off from a program and really take away the April 1st to October 31st deadline on applications and just look at applications as they come through the door...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the last question for this section is the Minister did reference, as well as the deputy minister, the homelessness specialist position. And I'm wondering if given the release of the homelessness prevention strategy during this fiscal year, but hopefully for implementation soon after, if there will be a need for additional resources in order to implement that strategy and if one homelessness specialist is enough for the department? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In October 2020, the Speaker tabled the Ombud’s firstever annual report for 20192020. The Ombud’s report made 14 recommendations for legislative changes to the Act. The recommendations were informed by:

The Ombud’s review of legislation in other jurisdictions;

The advice she received from other Ombuds and legal professionals; and

The issues that arose when responding to individual complaints in her first year in the role.

The Ombud made her recommendations "with the intent of ensuring that my office is fully enabled to fulfill the purpose and vision with which the...