Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, in the past, we have had some successful projects in the Mackenzie Delta, mainly Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson, with the building of three log homes, two of which went to private homeowners and one is now an RCMP residence. I would like to ask the Minister: is the Housing Corporation open to pilot projects in the Mackenzie Delta to build log homes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, I do know that building log homes has been done in the past up in the region, and that there were some successful projects with that. If we were going to look at such a pilot or project moving forward, they would have to meet national building codes, first and foremost. Also, as you know, we have had some debate in this House in the last government and this government about even just modular and stick homes, and that is another concern for residents up in our region. If we were going to look at log homes, it would be having to meet the national building codes. Also, the costs, it could be very expensive getting logs and getting that kind of work put together when you compare to modular or stick-built.
As you know, and as I have said in this House since we started session, all communities are going to do some community housing plans to look at priorities, where they want to go. As Members also know, we do have a community housing support initiative that we are working with community governments, Indigenous governments, to look at unique and innovative ways to address housing needs in our communities. If we were going to look at that, I would say that program, the community housing initiative, might be the one to look at. I will have more discussions with the Member and hope that he brings that back to his leaders to discuss.
The Minister touched a bit on my next question, but I would like to ask: in the past, residents were able to put in sweat equity. Would the department continue with their past practices?
Of course, we want to work with all of our communities, our stakeholders, our residents in the NWT, and one of the programs that we have here that has been working very well here in Yellowknife is working with Habitat for the NWT, and we want to make sure that we want to try to get that program out to outside of Yellowknife. The first community we are looking at is actually Behchoko. If we can get people in the regions, in the small communities, to work on something like the Habitat for Humanity projects, then definitely we will look into that. You know, each community is going to be different from the next and, if the communities of Fort McPherson, Aklavik, or Tsiigehtchic have some kind of idea, we would be more than willing to work with them and, as I mentioned, with the community housing support initiatives, work through some kind of project through that initiative.
The Minister touched a little bit on the national building code, and, Mr. Speaker, because we have Wood-Mizers in both Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic, we have the capability of doing log homes in line with the national building code, so will the Minister support this initiative to provide log homes in our communities?
As I mentioned, the community housing support initiative is, I think, the program that would well suit what the Member is asking. We would be willing to sit down with leadership, sit down with contractors, sit down with the Member. We do have some good partnerships in some of his communities already, and, as I mentioned, one good partnership that we have is with a lot of our Indigenous organizations. IRC and Salt River First Nations are a couple that I can think of. We would be more than willing to sit down with the Member and his leadership to try to look at addressing some of the housing needs. As I mentioned, you have to look at the cost, you have to look at what is going to be more efficient and better for his residents, and those are discussions we can have.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
