Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about an unfortunate recent passing of two residents of Ndilo, Muriel Betsina and JR Abel, both of whom were related as grandmother and grandson.
To begin, I would first like to talk about Muriel. Muriel has been a long-time resident of Ndilo, but she was born in Tulita on May 25, 1944, and passed away on July 22, 2019, at age 76. Muriel is survived by her seven children; Ernest, Eileen, Norman, Dianne, Allan, George, and Frank Jr.; her 40 biological and adopted grandchildren; and more than 10 great-grandchildren, as well as her siblings Be'sha, Alice, and Joe Blondin. She is also a sibling to the late George Blondin.
Mr. Speaker, Muriel was an outspoken advocate for most of her life. She often talked about her experience as a survivor of residential school and about the importance of preserving a positive cultural legacy for the Dene of the NWT. She was also known for her strong beliefs in forgiveness and for sharing a strong sense of love and acceptance with all people with whom she interacted. She will surely be missed by the people of Ndilo and many people across the Northwest Territories.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to talk about the life of JR Abel. JR was born in Yellowknife on January 2, 1990, and passed away on August 9, 2019, at the age of 29. JR is survived by his parents, Eileen Betsina and Edward Abel; his siblings, Martina, Eric, Christopher, and Shalbe; along with countless cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, and six nieces and nephews.
Mr. Speaker, JR grew up in the community of Ndilo, where he was surrounded by much of his family most of his life. JR was known to have a generous heart and never hesitated to offer his help to any of his family or friends, especially when it came to his nieces and nephews.
JR also loved to be out on the land and was considered a star pupil for the GNWT environmental monitoring program. Over the years, he also worked as a wildfire fighter during the summers and, in the wintertime, ice road flooder. It is truly unfortunate that JR passed away at such a young age. His memory, however, will live forever in the hearts and minds of those he touched. This goes the same for his grandmother, Muriel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize a really dynamic group of women in our gallery today. We have Sheryl Liske from the Yellowknife Dene. She is a long-time resident of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Ms. Beatrice Harper is the visitor from Onion Lake Cree Nation on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Ms. Maxine Desjarlais is a visitor from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. We have that name in the Territories, too, just to let you know. Shelley Wiart is a member of the North Slave Metis Alliance, and she is visiting from Lloydminster, Alberta. She is known as the co-founder of the Women Warriors, a really important part. Ms. Janelle Baker, she is a visitor from Sundre, Alberta. She is the assistant professor of anthropology, Athabasca University. With her, we have baby Argo Hus. Welcome the gallery, baby.
These women are here. They are working on the Indigenous Women's Health Stories. I am hoping that all MLAs have gotten an invite. They will be presenting tomorrow evening at Northern United Place at 6:00 p.m., sharing Indigenous women's experiences with the healthcare system. I urge anyone, if we are not in session, to please attend their presentation. Thank you all for being here.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, I would like to recognise Dana Martin, vice president of NWT SPCA. Welcome to the House and thank you for the tremendous work that you do on behalf of the territory. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I forgot to acknowledge a Page who does tremendous work for us here in the Legislative Assembly. I want to acknowledge Joshua Drygeese and thank all the Pages for the tremendous work they do. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I again want to take the opportunity to thank the Minister and the department for the commitment that they have made to the NWT SPCA. Honestly, let's be fair, originally, there was some resistance to fund the SPCA through the NGO Stabilization Funding. I would like to ask the Minister: really, what was the reason for the change of heart, and why did the Minister see it fit to prioritize approval of this funding to the SPCA? Thank you, Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be honest, we have a lot of non-government organizations that do a lot of really good work on behalf of residents of the Northwest Territories, our municipalities, our communities, our governments. As a government, we want to make sure that we can also provide support. This was the case with the SPCA. Previously, when the program was not through the Department of MACA, there was a one-time funding, I believe, of $25,000. As the Member has asked me in a previous session, we did give a one-time funding.
Coming from personal experience, coming from Inuvik, we do have the Arctic Paws. The Arctic Paws does have a really strong relationship with the SPCA. We really appreciate the work that they do in terms of providing safety and the health of the animals across the Northwest Territories. They did fall under some of the criteria that allowed them to get the funding. We want to make sure that, working with our NGOs who do work on behalf of the government, we want to support that. I think, moving into the next government, we are going to have to come up with some criteria.
As I mentioned to the Member, it is not core funding, but how do we support our NGOs to support the work that they do on behalf of residents and the animal population in the Northwest Territories. I really appreciate the work, and I am glad that we have a representative here from the SPCA today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his response. Yes, indeed, we know, as does everybody, that a number of NGOs provide important and critical services to the territory, and they rely on the stabilization funding. We don't want to take away from that. Maybe, does the Minister have some other concepts or ideas that we can find a way to provide long-term funding to the SPCA while not impeding on the resources that a number of NGOs depend on?
I don't want to single out just the SPCA, here. There are a lot of NGOs across the Northwest Territories that do a lot of really good work on behalf of the residents and work on behalf of government. That is something that I think, because we are nearing the end of this Assembly, that the new government that comes in in the 19th is going to have to take a hard look at and see how well we fund our NGOs and our partners and stakeholders moving forward.
At this time, I can't make that commitment to say that we are going to be looking at any kind of core funding or ongoing funding. I think that is something that needs to have a really good discussion, because it has come up on numerous occasions during this government.
I appreciate the Minister's response. Indeed, there are some challenges as it relates to the prerequisites when it comes to applying for this stabilization funding. I am sure that the SPCA might have looked for other alternatives, but one of the prerequisites is that you have to be receiving $50,000 from the territorial government by other means. If it is possible, can the Minister let the SPCA know or have his staff work with them to find ways in which other pots of money can be accessed so that maybe they don't have to go to the NGO Stabilization Fund?
I think it comes to the responsibility of all parties involved. I know the Member asked me questions in an earlier session, and I did say the responsibility also falls on the municipalities and the hamlets. We need all leadership. We need the NGOs as well as ourselves as a government providing this kind of funding to work together to see how we can find that type of funding to address the issue. If anything, I will commit to the Member that we will have those discussions.
I think it is something that the next government coming in in the 19th Assembly is going to be something that needs to be talked about because, like I said, our NGOs across the Northwest Territories do invaluable service and they do a lot of really good work right across the territory. We will make that recommendation, but at this moment I can't commit to any ongoing continued funding or core funding, but that discussion needs to be still had. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Finance made a statement on the Property Tax Arrears program earlier today, and I thank the Minister for this statement. This has been a big issue for the community of Fort Liard, and I have spoken with the Minister a number of times on this issue. Can the Minister provide any further details on this program, besides what he has already said in his Minister's statement? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I noted before, the Property Tax Arrears program is designed to provide a path for residents to address the outstanding arrears. Residents can enter into a repayment plan for the outstanding property taxes, and the interest that has been building up will be forgiven; or, in other words, the resident will not have to pay the interest portion. Residents, we have to be quite clear, have to stay current on their payment plan on future property taxes to stay eligible for the program.
This is great news moving forward. Can the Minister provide some details on how some residents, especially those who live in Fort Liard, how they can apply for this new program?
We are sending letters to all clients with arrears, and we will provide them with details on applying for the program. We are also doing a communication effort in communities in the general taxation area, and we are working with our GSOs, and they have been trained to help residents apply for the program, as well.
That is good to hear, and I hope the Minister will actually reach out to us MLAs, too, and get that information out to us. Will the Minister's department be working with residents as part of this program to establish an affordable payment program, and how does it have an impact on people who have already entered into a payment program?
The quick answer is yes, when a resident applies, we will work with the client to come up with an affordable monthly payment plan, and, if there are some that have entered into repayment plans already, we would expect them to honour it, and this program would apply to them, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point in time, I would like to thank the Minister for this information. My final question is: we have been considering the standard interest rate act in this session; how does this legislation relate to this new program?
These initiatives, they are related. The Property Tax Arrears program will help residents that have built up appears in the past. It is a time-limited program, however, to deal with these circumstances. Going forward, the standard interest rate establishes a more reasonable interest rate on any outstanding amounts owed to the GNWT in property taxes. These two initiatives taken together should help address the historic problem we have had with property tax arrears. That said, though, residents will have to pay their property taxes, and, if they do not, the arrears will start to grow again over time. With the other piece of legislation that we were dealing with, we had varying interest rates across the programs in the Northwest Territories. I think we had some as high as 18 percent. We are starting to standardize all of those, so I think it will do well for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Monday I made a Member's statement on the Housing Corporation, the core need housing programs, and so on. I have questions more specifically towards the core need of the social housing in the Northwest Territories. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation when the new needs survey for determining the core need numbers across the NWT will be released. Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Member did make his statement, I was waiting for some questions earlier this week. I want to let the Member know and all Members that have an interest in housing, which is every Member in this building, that the NWT Bureau of Statistics has been conducting the 2019 core needs survey, and it should be ready for release in November of this year. In the past, I have given updates in how we are addressing the core need with various programs. Looking at the target of 250 per year, I can share with committee and I can share with Members that I believe we are exceeding that, and we can show how we are doing that through the various programs that we are conducting.
Often, individuals who have perfectly good housing units, suitable and adequate units, because they have an affordability issue identify as being in core need for housing, so I would like to ask the Minister if he could give the House a definition of "core need."
The Member and I had a discussion around this, and, you know, it can be a little bit complex in terms of what core need is. However, the definition of "core need" is a federal standard, and it is used by all jurisdictions right across Canada. The core needs survey does allow us to look at the number of households affected by each area, and, while the definition of "core need" includes affordability, the majority of our program is used to address adequacy as well as suitability, and that was the exact conversation that I had with the Member earlier today. That is something that needs to be addressed more, not only within the territorial government, but I think it's something that needs to have a bigger discussion with the federal government and our municipal leadership or territorial leadership.
I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister feels that people who currently reside in public housing are in core need.
As I just previously said, we have a target of addressing 250 households every year, and we work with our local housing organizations to address any inadequacies, whether there are repairs, maintenance, as well as suitability and any issues that do come up. I know because I get those questions from Members almost on a daily basis. At this point, I think we are addressing the affordability, adequacy, and suitability problem. Being in the Legislative Assembly for the last two terms, the last eight years, I think we have made a very big impact on addressing core needs across the Northwest Territories, and that is not just me. It's the previous Ministers responsible for housing as well as getting questions from Members to address this. So, at this point, I want to say that I do believe that we are doing the best job that we can and we are addressing that issue.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason that I asked the last question is because public housing takes people out of core need. I suppose that is what public housing is all about. Individuals that can't afford adequate and suitable housing end up in public housing. We have 2,400 public housing units, I understand, across the territory. I just wanted to get an answer for the House from the Minister to see if the Housing Corporation considers the 2,400 families that are in public housing in core need currently. Thank you.
I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Victoria earlier this year. In our agreement with the federal government, we were committed to providing public housing units for our jurisdiction. I think it is about just over 1,300. We go above and beyond, and I made sure that everybody at the conference knew that we provide the 2,400, and we also look at market rent and other projects that we do.
We do have a number of programs that are going to address this need. For seniors, for singles, I made some comments the other day about the fuel tank replacement issues; Rapid Rehousing, our community housing support initiative; over the last three, four years, we have seen some very successful programs working with Indigenous governments and local governments, as well; we do have a new home program, which will address suitable housing concerns; and our community housing plans, as I mentioned earlier in my Minister's statement.
We need to work with local leadership and stakeholders to address what their priorities are and how we address the core housing need. I think that that is something that we will continue to focus on, work on, and I appreciate that all Members of the 19th Assembly bring that forward so that we can work with families and communities to address this issue.
We have been doing things. Like I said, being in the Assembly for eight years, two terms, right from day one, we have been seeing some changes, policies, and programs. We will continue to support them and also lobby our federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Member's statements on housing, my questions are for the Minister of Housing. We are now more than three months after the Northern Housing Summit in Inuvik. Can the Minister talk about what came out of the summit and what next steps might be? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was very proud to hold this summit up in the community of Inuvik, only because we have looked at some new initiatives and the way we do housing in the Arctic, especially with discussions around climate change. I think that this was the first one of its kind, in terms of where we had a lot of leadership right across the territory. We invited leaders to come to the forefront and discuss the issues.
We have identified four key outcomes in our report on the summit. I can, in due time, make sure that I can give the Members and the committee -- we did have committee there, as well -- and share with them some of the outcomes that came out of that summit. If anything, I think that I have put responsibility not only on the territorial government, but also federally and locally, in making sure that we all have responsibility in addressing housing across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for the reply. We look forward to the information. My next question, then, Mr. Speaker: I certainly appreciate that the Housing Corporation did a lot of work organizing and bringing communities, Indigenous leaders, and other stakeholders together to learn of the opportunities at the forum, such as the co-investment fund. Organizations in my riding want to put forward proposals under the co-investment. How would they pursue this?
As I mentioned in a Member's statement in the House during a previous session, we did negotiate a $60-million carve-out of the co-investment fund. I would like to let all leadership across the Northwest Territories and other partnerships know that we can go above and beyond that and still put in an application to the federal government to access more dollars.
We also have a strong partnership with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. We have been working with them to work with our local leadership and our Indigenous leadership to access that funding. We have been pushing that during the summit, as well as in our bilateral agreements. Hopefully, we will see more access and more applications to the program to make sure that our communities can access some of this housing funding moving forward.
I will relay that message on to the regional leaders in utilization of their bilateral. My third question is: I know that there has been a lot of work on the community housing plans. Can the Minister provide an update on those plans and what is going on in the Sahtu riding?
As Members know, initially, when we were doing these community housing plans, it was a pilot project and something new to the Northwest Territories. I think that it is something that should be pushed right across Canada, especially in our rural and remote communities, on how we address housing issues.
Initially, we had three that we wanted to pilot. To date, I can tell the Member and all Members in the Legislative Assembly that we have 12 that we are working on. I made a statement earlier today that Whati, Paulatuk, and Liard are communities that we are working on. I think that it is going to be a good news story, and it is going to help us learn how we invest our dollars into community housing plans and encourage all leadership to approach us, work with CMHC, and work with our leadership here at the Legislative Assembly and in our communities to work on seeing what our priorities are in our communities across the territory.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
