Richard Edjericon

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I heard this I've been around for a while, and 50 years Housing Corporation was here. And we're still talking about that today, and our communities are still suffering from housing repairs and I produced documents here showing that we have problems in our community. We have problems with cockroaches in our communities. We got big problems but yet we can't seem to be fixing these problems. And what I'm hearing from Indigenous governments now is that they're really tired of Housing Corporation's policies and bureaucratic red tape. So we're going to have look at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess what I'm trying to get is that, you know, I've been trying to really advocate for housing for our people in our communities in the Tu NedheWiilideh riding. And, you know, I've been trying to really work with the Minister of Housing Corporation of how we could address and build relationships with Indigenous governments. You know, I see these MOUs are good ideas but, you know, they're they only go so far, and I don't hear no commitments from this government at all in trying to fix these problems we're having in our community.

So will the Minister work with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance.

The capital estimates allocate some $35 million to Housing NWT. As I've said many times, I am firm in belief that this money would be better spent through contribution agreements with Indigenous governments. Does the Minister agree that Indigenous governments in the Tu NedheWiilideh riding are efficiently and effectively managing their financial resources with respect to housing and programs and strategies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This year, when I went through the budget and went through the committees and we discussed it in the House here, at the end of the day I voted against the budget. And mainly because of there was really nothing there. We got rounded off to 2 percent of the overall budget that we got in my riding. And that's still concerning.

My question, again, to the Minister is that if this is not carved in stone and we could have further discussion on this, whether it would be highways being 30 percent and housing 11 percent, is there a way we could increase that so that we are really...

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple questions: the reduction that you have here, we have got a total capital budget of $328 million. In regards to my riding, this fiscal year with $3.4 million for public housing repairs with no homeownership repairs in the communities, I am just wondering like, and my colleague, Mr. O'Reilly talked about the you know, the percentage in terms of highways and versus housing etcetera, my question to the Minister: is this budget here carved in stone, or can that be adjusted? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned earlier that I was in the community of Lutselk'e for a constituency meeting and I had mothers came up to me that were crying and with a baby and couch surfing in the community. And it's really disturbing and hard to hear that from the community when you go there, and it's right throughout the whole Northwest Territories. You know, I'm just thinking, you know, this year we got $30 million from Ottawa, and next year as well. I'm assuming this money that has been already allocated, and probably even next year, but I'm just thinking in the spirit in the spirit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The mandate document promises to implement a new policy to allow seniors and disabled individuals to access housing repairs by the summer of 2021. Can the Minister update the House on how many people have been helped with home repairs due to this policy change? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In October 2020, the Speaker tabled the Ombud’s firstever annual report for 201920. The Ombud’s report made 14 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 Legislative Assembly...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This issue here has been brought up while I was doing my door to door last year, and there were issues even then when I was listening to my constituent members. And the Yellowknife North used to include Dettah and N'dilo before. And then their recent in the last review of the electoral boundaries changed and they included N'dilo and Dettah in the new riding Tu NedheWiilideh riding. And so when I was going door to door, some of the members were talking about, you know, they were they really didn't want to see that happen mainly because their language and culture. And...

Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to table the document of a private home of Lutselk'e. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.