As the Member noted in his statement, the Arctic has been home to Indigenous people long before it was ever traversed by European explorers. The people of the Canadian Arctic are Canada's Arctic sovereignty. Therefore, the work of Indigenous governments and the Government of the Northwest Territories is supporting sovereignty on a daily basis. By working to keep the Indigenous cultures and languages of the territory vibrant, we are demonstrating sovereignty. We also demonstrate sovereignty by work to strengthen communities, build wellness, and create opportunities for prosperity. As the climatic and geopolitical realities in the Arctic continue to shift, it is the federal government that now must step up to the plate and work with the people of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have much more. I appreciate the response from the Premier. I am afraid. Earlier in my Member's statement, with the announcement of countries like the United States calling on China and Russia, it opens up the doors as the start of a race, so that is one of the things that concerns me, and I think it needs for us to work together. So, Mr. Speaker, my final question is: would the Premier be willing to tour my riding with representatives possibly from the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation as well as with the MP of the Northwest Territories?
Yes, we are committed to holding Cabinet open houses in each riding, and we will work with the Member to ensure these take place before the end of the 18th Assembly. I would be pleased to have all three levels of government present in his riding if the Member for Nunakput would like to invite the Member of Parliament and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation into his riding at the same time as the Cabinet open house. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. I would like to ask the Minister: have all the inspections been done on both ferries to ensure they can be launched as soon as possible? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The staff are out there working and doing their due diligence. I would have to get back to the Member on the exact timing that Transport Canada will be in there to do their stuff, but, from my indication, what I have gotten from the department so far is that we are on schedule to have both the Louis Cardinal and Abraham Francis ferries in the water and operational by next week.
These inspections have never been an issue in the past. Is it because of increased changes to the inspections, or what is causing the delays of those inspections?
I am not aware of there being any delays on this. We historically had these ferries in by June 2nd, so I believe we are on schedule. As I said, I can check into the Transport Canada inspection issue and see if there is an issue and relay that to the Member.
Will the ferries be in operation earlier this year compared to previous years?
As I have said, historically, these have on average been in place by June 2nd, so, if we have them in by next week, we could be in as early as four or five days earlier than average.
Thank you. Final question. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, the Peel River is clear. There is no debris in the rivers, on the river. Will the Minister and the department put the Abraham Francis in first, before the Louis Cardinal? As I say, the community is almost out of gasoline. We only have one supplier left in the community, and people want to restock their supplies, as well.
As this whole House knows, the travelling public and safety is number one for us. I will have to confirm with our staff where we are at on both of those ferries and get back to the Member. However, as we've updated this House in previous years, going forward the general public and Members of this Assembly need to be well aware that the river conditions can change drastically. We have had low water already this year, but, due to spring melt coming out of the mountains, things can change. Last year, that caused problems, particularly in Fort McPherson because of all of the debris that was coming down and washing out the approaches. This is something that we will continue to monitor and to relay to the general public, and I will keep the House informed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past few years, I have spoken to the Minister of Infrastructure with concerns about our ferry service. In the past, we have seen lower water levels, which have caused disruption to the services. I have reached out to the Minister of Infrastructure numerous times to talk about different options, such as moving the ferry line and looking at various options across the river and potential bridge options. I realize some of these options are not feasible at this time. However, this year, we are seeing low water levels already, a very different break-up, and we could be seeing ourselves in deeper troubles this year. Therefore, I would like to revisit this issue with the Minister of Infrastructure. Will the Minister be willing to approach the Canadian Coast Guard to come to Fort Simpson and survey the area around the Fort Simpson landing and alternate routes there? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly will contact the responsible authority to accurately survey the river. We can do that around the ferry landings and the possible alternative routes. As I said in my previous comments here with the Fort McPherson ferry, low water is going to be an issue. We know that already because of the way things are looking. The one thing about the Fort Simpson ferry and that crossing, there is so much silt and gravel in that thing that the conditions can change on a regular basis and in a very short period of time, and there is also the gravel bar issue that is in the middle of the river there. That is part of our navigational issues usually in the fall time, and that could be something that we may experience earlier in this year.
I agree with the Minister. First of all, I have to thank the department and the staff for doing a great job, for getting the ferry on the 15 average. The 15-year average was the day we actually got in there, even with all of these difficulties, so I thank him. Realizing the problems about the silt and gravel, has the Minister looked at the feasibility of dredging the area causing these problems for the ferry?
With respect to dredging and waterworks, they are extremely difficult to get approvals for. We know that. The current amount of debris and silt, as I said, that are in the river carries, I have been advised that any dredging operation would be of minimal value. I think I have mentioned that in this House before. For those of you who have been on the Liard River Ferry in the summer time, it is a very dirty river, and dredging might be of very minimal value, doing that. We do know that the low water in the channel that we used last fall, as I have said, with that gravel bar presents a problem. Dredging may be an option, and we will continue to look at what our options are going to be going forward this year.
Listening to the Minister, he has talked about and I think the department is looking at the challenges we are facing, so I thank them for that. Has the department looked at this situation to come up with various options, and can he talk about some of them here today?
As the Member knows, he has asked me this question before in the House, and, with climate change in effect, we are monitoring these things very closely. We are looking at all options, up- and downstream, particularly at Fort Simpson right now. Being in the fiscal situation we are in, if I had the required funding, we could probably pursue some of these things, but I think we are going to have to continue to monitor the situation and look at all options going forward.
Final oral question. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize we are in financial difficulties, and we are seeing some of the challenges. Will the Minister commit to having his staff reach out to the leadership and actually have a public meeting to discuss some of these options and hear the concerns from the residents so we can move forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Our regional staff in the area are always prepared to meet with the leadership and the community. If that is the desire of the community, they can certainly have the Member send me a request for that, and we can have our regional staff sit down and discuss options and hear their concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Let's start with the plan for spending the new National Housing Strategy money. When will that plan be available to the public? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As committee is well aware, we have had discussions in committee on where we are with this funding. We are developing a three-year action plan, and we did say and committed that we would share that action plan with the committee. We can work on providing where we are with that action plan and the partnerships that we have with CMHC. As committee is aware, we did have some committee members come to Inuvik for the Housing Summit, and we did also hear other innovative ideas and other ways that we can address the housing issue in the Northwest Territories.
We will look at working with committee and give an update once this three-year action plan has been approved by the federal government, and we will share the final action plan with committee. I think that it is something that is going to be very important, transitioning into the next government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I didn't hear any timing around that, but I heard some process responses. As we come to the end of this Assembly, my question for the Minister is whether any of the public housing waiting lists are shorter now than they were three years ago and whether, over these last four years, there has been any increase in the uptake in home ownership?
As the Member knows, and we did have a chat a little bit earlier, there has been an increase in terms of public housing. It could be due to the economy; we don't know. I know that people who go into market rental units do have to get on the waiting list for housing. We can get that information and share it with the Member, share it with committee, so that we can look at how we can address the issues.
One positive thing, Mr. Speaker, is that we are doing these community housing plans and that should look at the priorities for each community across the Northwest Territories. As the Member noted in her statement, she did also talk about the Community Housing Support initiative, the flexibility that we have around that program, and I do encourage all leadership, all groups who want to work on addressing housing issues in their community, to reach out to us at the NWT Housing Corporation and come up with a plan.
A previous plan called Toward Level Ground set targets for the Housing Corporation to assist people with housing issues. The goal was to help 1,077 households and spend $67 million. This plan is now in year three of three. Can the Minister tell us whether this plan is going to meet those goals?
The action plan in the document Toward Level Ground lists a number of housing programs and initiatives that I have brought up and that previous Housing Ministers have brought up during the life of this government to address the housing issues. We continue to work on that. We want to create partnerships with other leadership across the territories and our stakeholders and NGOs, and the GNWT has made a commitment to assist 250 core need households every year during this period. We have been meeting those targets, and we have been giving that information to committee. We will continue to do that work, and we will continue to keep committee and Members of this government apprised of how we are addressing the housing issues across the Northwest Territories.
I will repeat it again, Mr. Speaker: those community housing plans, and putting some of the onus and the accountability on our leadership and our community members to address that and work together, is something that we can look forward to, and obviously, the funding that we have been able to get from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his response. I look forward to some more detailed information about how the targets set in the Toward Level Ground report or plan have been met, because the Minister's math and the numbers set out in the plan don't match. I am hoping that, now that this program is in year three of three, he will be able to do some detailed reporting on the first two years. When can we expect that report? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know that we have been making some good changes within the NWT Housing Corporation. We will get that data for the Member, and we will actually share it with standing committee. I think it is something that we need to share right across the board. The Housing Summit that we just held in late April is something that was also brought up, and we really need to share and develop partnerships with our leadership in the communities and see how we can address the issues. We will get that information, that data, and share it with all Members and leadership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement, I spoke about divestment of public housing by the NWT Housing Corporation. Along that line, I have questions for the Minister of Housing. For planning purposes, will the Minister get the NWT Housing Corporation to look at all of the public housing tenants to see how many of them are paying rent in the two top bands that are provided to authorities for rent amounts? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From data that we have compiled since January, there are approximately 270 households making a significant amount of money, about $5,000 a month. Our local housing organizations are working with some of these owners, the ones that are in higher incomes, to explore home ownership and support options with our department to see how we can address those.
On the other note, we do have a unit disposal plan, where we have sold about 20 units in 2018-2019. We have also demolished 20 units across the territory where we can build new units, whether it is public housing that needs to be addressed. We are on a plan, and we are continuing to work diligently on addressing the issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Will the Minister agree to share that plan with us, the plan where it looks like the Minister is looking at divesting public housing, which I think is the right direction to go? I would like to ask the Minister if he is prepared to share that plan with us, indicating how many units that the Housing Corporation could probably divest itself of.
Since April 1, 2016, we have been working on trying to make a commitment to dispose of 150 units. Currently, to date, we have disposed of 183 surplus units though a combination of sales, getting people into homeownership or lease-to-own, and also through demolition. That is something that we are going to continue to work on with feedback from communities and working with standing committee. We will continue to do that work.
As I mentioned, the community housing plans are something that is unique, and I think, when we work with leadership and communities, that they can tell us what their priorities in terms of housing are, and we will address that community disposal unit.
I first spoke of community housing development plans -- I add one word in there that is slightly different from what the government is doing, "development" -- in this House about 10 years ago. Can the Minister advise how many of these plans, whether they are called community housing plans or community development housing plans, exist today across the territory?
In the last session that we had, we had a similar question, and I did mention that we had six communities that we were looking forward to developing community housing plans across the Northwest Territories. We set that as the goal for our first year.
Since we have had the Housing Summit and since we have been reaching out to leaders across the territory, we have about 10 community housing plans in place, and we will continue to work with our leadership and our community NGOs. I will continue to encourage our leadership across the NWT, whether it is NGOs or whether it is mayors and chiefs, to reach out to the NWT Housing Corporation and work on setting up a community housing plan so that we know how to invest the dollars. Rather than us telling them what they need, they tell us, and we will invest the funding that we have received from the federal government and the work that we have been doing there.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
