Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As everyone can see, we’re having a theme day today on the issue of poverty in the Northwest Territories and the need for this government to organize its efforts across government to address the issue of poverty. I find this topic difficult to quantify and define. When we think of poverty, there’s really no clear definition. It’s a very relevant term. Do we assess poverty in terms of monetary attainment? Are people who have more, more content than people who have less? How much is enough to live a dignified existence? What are the factors that contribute to people living in poverty?
I’d like to put my comments about poverty in the context of the Canadian dream. We are told that Canada is the envy of other nations and of people looking for a new start in a land of opportunity. We need to ensure that our land is a land of opportunity for our people.
As a government we have a large role to play in making opportunities available to people to reach their potential and we know that these goals are best reached by healthy, educated people. When we make these opportunities available and people choose not to avail themselves of them, then we analyze what are the barriers to people accessing and partaking in everything possible to give them a full and meaningful life. Even after that there are still going to be gaps in spite of our best efforts. Then there’s the scenario of our government becoming so custodial that we disempower people by taking away their necessity to fend for themselves, creating dependency and lack of purpose and self-determination.
I’m a firm believer that we can do everything we can as a government to break down systemic barriers that lead to poverty, but at some point people also need to be encouraged to have the drive to pursue their dreams and the resulting sense of achievement and accomplishment that comes from achieving that. The government is not, and never will be, the answer to all the problems, but necessity is a great motivator and we must be sure that our programs and services do not diminish that motivation in people to be all that they can be.
I think that in order to establish a good Anti-Poverty Strategy in the Northwest Territories we must work extremely closely with our non-government organizations. They have the first-hand experience in what they do and this is the way that our efforts will be most effective and best coordinated.
