Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question to the Minister of Education is in regard to the housing crisis we have in Aklavik by way of staff housing. I received a letter from one of the teachers in Aklavik who was given notice that they’re being evicted from their existing residence, which was being provided through a local company.
I’d like to ask the Minister: what is the Department of Education doing to remedy the situation to find alternative accommodations for teachers in Aklavik?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, we’ve been alerted that one of the communities is having a shortage. There was notice of the closure of a building. The Member already approached me on this particular issue. I did instruct my staff to follow through on it with the local superintendent in the Beaufort-Delta. My staff is working closely with the superintendent and the local DEA to try to resolve that issue.
It is a private contractor that holds the unit, and it is due for closure next month. We’re doing what we can as a department to work with the community to find solutions. It is a development corporation arm that the units are under, so we need to work closer together on that.
Mr. Speaker, this issue is not new to this House; I have brought it up several times. This issue has been out there. Those units that are in our communities are old government staff housing units. They’re almost 40 years old. The government sold those units, and the companies that did take them on continue to retain them as staff housing. As we all know, the costs of operating and maintaining old facilities continue to escalate, and the costs of heating and providing power to these units is not being recouped.
I’d like to ask the Minister: has he looked at working with the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation with regard to the Corporate Loan Guarantee Program to assist real estate or other companies to provide housing and be able to access this program? That could improve the cost of operations for those units so they can reduce costs and hopefully find a solution that’s agreeable to both groups — our teachers and the people providing these houses.
That is one of the areas that we are focusing on as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We’re working with the Housing Minister on this particular case. As the Members would know, we are in a housing crunch in the small communities, especially the most isolated communities. Dealing with staff housing for teachers…. They’re struggling to find suitable units, and it is our concern.
We’re doing what we can to try to come up with a solution. One of the solutions, possibly, will be a loan guarantee from the NWT Housing Corporation. We are pursuing that. We are focusing on a potential pilot project in one of the communities. We’re meeting next week on this particular case to try and move forward on this item. We are going to reach out to other jurisdictions as well in the other small isolated communities. Aklavik will be one of them, and other communities as well. We’re doing what we can as a department to work closely with the Housing Corporation and the community.
Mr. Speaker, this issue has come up by way of the Beaufort leaders meeting. It has come up through motions and resolutions and meeting with the Divisional Board of Education. Again, as a government we do have to have some means of accommodating those areas in the Northwest Territories where we don’t have the private sector involved. I think if that means getting back into staff housing, I guess that’s what we’re probably going to have to do.
I’d like to ask the Minister: do you have a universal plan for looking at housing to accommodate professionals in the northern part of the Northwest Territories? That is a unique challenge in that part of the jurisdiction that we are responsible for.
Mr. Speaker, that will certainly be part of the planning process. It’s not just the ECE department; it’s also Housing and Health and Social Services — the nurses. We have a variety of professionals living in the communities. We need to form a group within Beaufort-Delta and other regions, where there’ll be Chairs to meet on this particular item, because it is a serious item that we need to deal with. It is a need in the communities, and also it’s our need to have those teachers or nurses placed in the communities.
I’m also meeting with the Chairs of the regional boards in December. That is one of the topics on the agenda. It’s always an issue that we’re dealing with. Certainly, this will be one of the issues that we need to deal with.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With regard to the urgency of this matter I’d like to ask the Minister if he can keep me, the Divisional Board of Education and the principal of Aklavik informed on any progress that’s being made on this matter. Like I say, I am getting calls from the teachers, and they feel that they are basically having to not only deal with the stress of teaching but now have to worry about where they’re going to sleep at night.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he can speed this thing up and try to find a solution to the problem as soon as possible. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’ll certainly keep the Members posted, particularly the Member for the Aklavik area. We need to look after our teachers; we need to look after our professionals. And it’s not only us. The NWTTA has also stressed concerns over this. I’ve met with them. So there are all different parties involved in this particular case. Once we make progress, we’ll keep the Members posted on what’s happening, the progression. We’ll hopefully find a solution for this case. Next Monday is approaching already, and we need to deal with that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
