As the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, I have made it a priority to try to work with Aboriginal governments and municipal governments to try to address their housing needs, so it was really an honour, actually, to be invited to sit in on a partnership with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
So during the next fiscal year they will be accessing $10 million from the federal government towards their housing needs. We are working with them in partnership. We will be looking at defining what the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation would like to see as their needs, also taking into account the results of the survey that are going to be finishing here at the end of this month and presenting that to them and developing a game plan on how we will be moving forward.
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation does have funding for shelters. However, they are looking to partner with us to access our land, so that is the partnership agreement that we are putting in. We are putting in the land. They are using their finances, which will bring economic development for their region, which is really important and will provide housing for people. So, yes, I am looking forward to a longterm partnership with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I talked about the Taltson River dam on the Taltson River. When the dam was built in the early 1960s, or maybe mid1960s, there were no public studies, consultations, or attempts to build relations with the people of Taltson River. Would the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation please describe the planning and consultation that would have to take place if the dam was proposed today? Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, the Northern Canada Power Corporation did in fact build the dam on the Taltson River at Twin Gorges. The dam was completed in 1965. I am sure that what the Member opposite has stated was likely the case in that there was little or no consultation with local residents. Of course, any expansion of the dam would involve an environmental assessment that would be very comprehensive and take a considerable amount of time. So times have changed and the requirements for these types of projects clearly have changed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It appears that the Power Corporation is not taking responsibility for flooding the Taltson dam, and I know that there is some question on, I guess, the hydrology around that. It would appear that is what the issue is, from the Aboriginal people. I would like to know how the Power Corporation will communicate any future issue where, this time around, it appears as though the water levels were unusually high and, for some reason or other, it got higher in the middle of winter? How would the Power Corporation consult with the people using the Taltson River at this time in the future?
The dam at Twin Gorges on the Taltson is a runoftheriver dam, so the water either flows around the dam or through it, so it would have little impact on the river downstream. If there was something exceptional, of course, the Power Corporation should and I think would advise those who use the river.
I was wondering if the Minister could advise the House when the current water licence for the Taltson River dam will be expiring?
I don't have that information before me, but I could look into it and supply the information to the Member opposite.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if there was a possibility that some independent expert could look at what the issue is currently and, if it is proven that had the dam not been there this unnatural phenomena of the ice breaking up in the middle of winter would occur, and would the Power Corporation consider compensation? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know that any complaints of the type mentioned by the Member opposite are treated seriously by the Power Corporation, are carefully considered, and promptly responded to. I think the Power Corporation, within its own staff, would have the ability to look into and respond to the questions of the type brought forward by the Member opposite. I don't think we'd be prepared to hire an independent scientist to look into this matter in view of the likely expense, which would have to be passed on to the ratepayers.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today I talked about the Housing Corporation and the arrears situation as well as housing for people who don't have proper running water and that. So my first question is to the Minister responsible for Housing. What has the Corporation done to ensure that members, residents, clients, tenants, whatever name you want to call them, do not get into arrears? What kind of promotional items do they give to the clients so that they don't get into arrears? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of arrears was a serious concern for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation for many years and, during the last Legislative Assembly, in order to try to assist communities and the local housing organizations with the collection of arrears, the decision was made by a past Minister to actually bring the collections internally into headquarters, which was, in my opinion, a very good move. It meant that the community people did not have to address their own neighbours with that, so a great move that I support 100 per cent.
Currently, what we do is, because it is through headquarters now and we are now in a day of computer literacy, we actually have really good records that show us as soon as someone is in arrears. At that point, we notify the local housing organization, who do try to contact the people. We do everything we can to address them, to try to contact people, but, if they do not answer our calls or open the door, at that point we are left with no recourse; but, like I said, we reach out in every way we can by personally trying to contact the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for her answer, but she kind of answered my second question that I was going to ask. My first question is: what kind of promotion is the Corporation doing so that clients don't get into this situation? So what are they doing so that, as soon as they get into the homes, they understand that this could potentially be a situation? What is the Corporation doing to promote getting this information out to the people?
Currently, the only method that we really use besides the one-on-one outreach to people is when people do sign up to the Housing Corporation, we actually sit down with them, have the paperwork signed for the landlord/tenant agreement form, and in that we talk about their obligations to make payments with them. We are recognizing, however, that we are not the best in communicating. So we are trying to beef up our communication plan and have a better way not only to address people with their arrears, but to also let people know what their rights and their responsibilities are in a variety of areas.
I thank the Minister for her answer. That is great. Can the Minister make a commitment to share with committee what this plan is and how we can work together to get this message out to the residents so that, you know, they are not in these situations where they could end up with an eviction? So will the Minister make a commitment to committee that she will share this plan with us once it is complete?
Yes, I can make that commitment. We had planned, as soon as the survey results were all compiled, that we would be providing a report on what we heard, and we would be providing that to committee as well. I am hoping that after that that we can actually meet more regularly with the committee to look at all of the feedback that we have got, to look at the areas that we are doing well, to look at the areas that we need improvement, and to actually work together to define the next steps.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I greatly applaud the Minister for taking these steps. I think this is a great step to help the residents and hopefully eliminate people from getting out of the arrears. My last question is: part of my Member's statement was, we talked about people in homes who do not have running water, do not have power, do not have heat except for a wood stove, and they are living in third-world conditions. These homes are decrepit or basically should be torn down, and these people are living in them. So what is the government or the department or the Corporation and the Minister going to do to help these people get out of these third-world conditions so they can live in a good family home? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, recognize that there are a lot of homes within the Northwest Territories that do not have basic amenities in them such as running water and flush toilets; however, as the Government of the Northwest Territories we have to be very careful in what we take on as liabilities. So therefore we have a useful life with our housing stock. If houses are deemed to be over 70 per cent in need of repairs, at that point we cannot invest financially in them because of the liability that may come and the huge expense.
So for people who have homes that in a fair condition, they can access a variety of homeownership programs, such as our CARE Program, that will give up to $100,000 to provide renovations. They can access our SAFE Program that will provide up to $10,000 for renovations. They can access our Care Mobility Program that assesses if they have disabilities. So we have a variety of programs that are available, and if their homes are not adequate and are at the point where the Member has stated that they are no longer habitable, then I would like to suggest that they actually put their name on our public housing list to get into a public housing unit.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. In my Member's statement, I made reference to the Pembina Institute Report, "Loans for Heat: Towards a Yellowknife Energy Savings Program." Is the Minister aware of this report and are her staff using it as a basis for developing changes to the City, Towns and Villages Act to allow for the use of local improvement charges for energy efficiency? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot say exactly if the department has a copy of the report that the honourable Member has spoken of. I would be more than eager to obtain a copy, if he would like to provide it to us. We are looking at the implications of changing the act to accommodate this, so any information that he would be able to provide we would be more than happy to receive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would be delighted to help the Minister with this. I will be tabling the report later today. It includes all kinds of details of how the LIC enabling laws are dealt with in other jurisdictions. Would the Minister commit then to have her staff review this report and use that as a basis for developing amendments to the City, Towns and Villages Act for this purpose?
We are looking for cross-jurisdictional, about how other jurisdictions are implementing this request. I will commit to taking the document and to reading it. I cannot commit to it being a sole document that we use in determination. We work closely with all of the communities and the NWT Association of Communities, so it is important that we do not confine ourselves to one document when we are looking at developing partnerships.
I am not suggesting that the Minister only look at this document, but it is a fantastic review of how it is done in other jurisdictions. It even has an appendix with the proposed wording that could be used to adopt right into our City, Towns and Villages Act. So I guess what I am suggesting here is there is an opportunity fast track this amendment, a very simple one, so can the Minister, though, tell us when we would be seeing a legislative proposal to make this happen?
I cannot actually give you a date on when the legislative proposal will be submitted. We are in the process of looking cross-jurisdictional to see what other provinces and territories do. After that, we are also engaging with the six municipal governments that changes to this act will impact. So we are looking to meet with them all coming up here in the spring, and once that is done we will be looking at their feedback and then developing a legislative proposal and taking it to the Legislative Initiative Committee for their review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that. There is a NWTAC motion of record supporting this sort of work, but I earlier spoke about extending the benefits of energy cost savings to people in low-income brackets. So would the Minister commit to confer with her colleague, the Housing Corporation Minister, to look at providing rebates, some form of assistance, or incentives for retrofits for low-income families to help offset local improvement charges, create local employment, reduce their costs of living, and help with climate change? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can commit to talking to my colleague, the Minster responsible for Housing, to look at suggestions, specifically for low-income families. Actually, we are doing some work around energy conservation and just green energy in principal. We are rolling out a LED Lighting Program this year that we will be putting in LED lights within every home. We are looking at redesigning homes so, that instead of having single units that are not so energy efficient but also very expensive, in order to address both energy efficiency and cost of living, we are looking for more shared boiler systems within residential units. So we are looking at a whole variety of ways that we can help low-income families both to address the cost of living and to become more green in our provision of housing.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recall the Minister of Housing saying she wanted a homeless shelter in each region. What communities have shelters at this point in time already? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, at this point in time, the only communities within the Northwest Territories that have actual homeless shelters are Inuvik, Yellowknife, and Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My second question is: what communities is the Minister putting new shelters in this year?
During the current fiscal year, actually, we are building fourplex shelters within the communities of Aklavik, Behchoko, and Fort Simpson.
Now narrowing it down to the Central Mackenzie, the only region left without a homeless shelter is the Sahtu region. What is the Minister going to do in this area?
I did say in the House here that one of my goals before I have finished my position with the Government of the Northwest Territories is to ensure that we have homeless shelters in every region, so we have reached out to the region of the Sahtu and, through that process, we received two proposals.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned by my colleague next to me in his Member's statement, being innovative took the community of Deline to create their own shelter for the homeless. My question is: when will the Minister build a homeless shelter in the Sahtu? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to report that, actually, we will be looking at the Sahtu to build a homeless shelter within the next coming fiscal year. Both proposals, we were actually excited to receive and we were able to accommodate. One of the proposals was only for more of a dropin day shelter idea, so they can access some food security funding to accommodate that. The other proposal actually will be an overnight shelter, so it's really exciting to say that, within the next fiscal year, we will have a homeless shelter in every single region within the Northwest Territories and to be able to say that we can accommodate both proposals.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
