Thank you. Member for Thebacha.
So the policy of the NWT Housing Corporation is that you make people homeless, you forget about them, and hopefully that nobody complains? And, you know, these are people that would never get through the front door. And it's really makes me want to understand how people think overall and who makes the policy and how it is implemented and why are people that are disenfranchised, have addiction problems, are poor, and we throw them out of their unit just before Christmas?
They're now couch surfing, they're homeless, and where do they go? You know, it's a really unusual situation, and I'm sure it happens everywhere and nobody says anything about it. But you know what? When I got elected, I wanted to make sure that the people that were never heard are heard, and that's my job here, especially the people in my riding of Thebacha. And for the broader South Slave and the people of the NWT, because there's many like that. And this Minister and this department continually does the wrong thing, and I want to know when it's going to be corrected. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister Chinna.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the Member for the comments as well too. I hear where the Member is coming from. We deal with a lot of complex issues within Housing, and it's not our priority to be evicting people out of these units.
But then we also have to be guided by policies in order to maintain that we have adequate services. But then through the strategy as well too, I'm hoping to see major improvement with our client service, with our communication, and with our program delivery, also recognizing that we are a social program and we need different resources and we need different supports.
The clientele we are working with today is not the same clientele we dealt with 20 years ago. Now we have a different situation in the Northwest Territories. And I'm hoping that as we go forward, we're able to fund certain positions and being able to really take and address housing differently as we move forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I'm not going to ask any more questions but, you know, it's a disgrace that we have private industry who abide by law to give they even have to give notice when they want to evict people. But the housing corporation just goes up, boards the house up, all their belongings are inside, throws them out before Christmas, and then it's okay, you know.
So when government is saying yeah, you could do this and then the other hand is doing something else. And private industry, those are their own homes. Those are their own units, whether they be apartments or single units, are told that they have to abide by the Tenancy Act. But yet our government and the NWT Housing Corp doesn't have to follow the Tenancy Act. That is unbelievable. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I'll take that as a comment. If you have no further comments, I'll move on to Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't also really have a lot of questions but I think I'd be remiss if I didn't comment a bit on some of the concerns I also have in echoing my colleagues.
Over the last few years, I've had an opportunity to become more familiar with people that are experiencing homelessness and in particular the youth. I don't think that anybody on the social development committee would argue that that sort of has been one of the reoccurring themes throughout all of the conversations, the engagement, the people that come to us, is this huge gap for youth and housing. Personally, I've worked with a youth where the department's response to me was well, if they don't want to go to the shelter, which we've already heard is full, then they need to find somewhere for themselves to live and in which case then the department would help them sort of set up that foster care or guardiantype situation.
And to me, it's just it's heartbreaking to watch this young person who so wants to do better in life and has come from just nothing, absolutely nothing, with no supports, trying to raise themselves up and do better through sport, through other things, and then just constantly hitting roadblocks and barriers at every opportunity. And I don't know how at 16-years-old this person continues to persevere because I know when I was 16, there's just no way that I would have been capable of advocating for myself, let alone, you know, actually following through on everything.
So I just wanted to stress the real importance here of the youth component and the youth piece and also echoing the concern around, you know, that sort of almost being that well, this person doesn't fit into this program or this policy and therefore there's nothing we can do. And it falls on everybody else to then pick up the pieces for that child. And as my colleague mentioned, it was extremely heartbreaking to go to sit and listen to young people talk about not even having their basic needs met and a place to lay their head at night.
And thinking back on the vulnerability of myself as a young woman, I can't even imagine not having my mother's home to go home to every night to sleep in and the choices that would have to be made in order to find a place to sleep and then add in I grew up at least in British Columbia where it was only the most minus five degrees outside; it was not minus 35, so I don't even know how some of these kids are making it through the night. And I feel that given the situation that we're going to see more and more youth, unfortunately, choosing the route of suicide as they feel hopeless.
I guess my last or my next comment is around just looking at the revised estimates for this area for the total contributions, that there has been no change from the 20222023 to the 20232024. Again, very disappointing and quite surprising given that this is the number one priority for us as MLAs and for all of us when the 19 of us first met, save a couple that have joined us since, and I know that they too also still feel very strongly about this given their statements in the House.
So I guess I'll ask a question around can the Minister commit to somehow, in the next while, increasing this amount of funding, whether that be through a supplementary appropriation for the emergency shelters, etcetera, or by giving a large donation to Home Base so that they can then build their second part of their complex? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister Chinna.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll take that as a not as a comment but I'd like to bring that back to the department. I don't have an answer for the Member right now. Thank you.
Member for Great Slave.
Yeah, and I think that it's really one thing for the Minister to really keep in mind that if you do this piece now with these young people, you will reduce the number of people that are then homeless going forward in the future. So this is something where the return on investment here is so strong and so important and it's not just around housing; it's around mental health, physical health, all of that. So, again, just more of a comment but I do hope that the Minister recognizes that prevention is going to save us a lot more money than waiting for these kids to fall through the cracks. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister Chinna.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I hear the Member loud and clear. And just trying to find solutions and trying to find adequate funding in order to address the majority of these issues throughout the territories. I do hear where she's coming from. We do have youth that are aging out of the health not the healthcare system, the foster care system as well. And I need to take this back to the department. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. All right. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress.
The motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and nondebatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.
Carried
I will now rise and report progress.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 81319(2), and I would like to report progress. And, Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Do we have a seconder? Member for Hay River North. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Third reading of bills.
Colleagues, before we adjourn, I wanted to provide my ruling on the Point of Order that was raised by the Member for Great Slave earlier today.
I have reviewed the unedited Hansard to find that the Member for Great Slave does not have a Point of Order. The Minister of MACA, in responding to some direct questions from the Member for Great Slave, made reference to feeling love from the Member. Today is Valentine’s Day, Members, and I am satisfied that this was intended to be a light-hearted response to some tough questions and not an insult.
Colleagues, there have been a few occasions this week where the debate has become heated and inappropriate words have been used. We are expected to disagree in this place but the people we represent expect us to disagree without being disagreeable. I caution all Members to show respect to one another and to be careful with the use of humour and sarcasm in the debate as different people respond to it differently. Thank you.
Orders of the day for Wednesday, February 15th, 2023, at 1:30 p.m.
Prayer
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Oral Question 1343-19(2), Impacts of COVID-19 on Education
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Replies to Budget Address
(Day 6 of 7)
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to Commissioner’s Address
Petitions
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Motions
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Bill 64, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 3
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bill 23, An Act to Amend the Public Utilities Act
Bill 29, Resource Royalty Information Disclosure Statute Amendment Act
Minster’s Statement 264-19(2), Response to the NWT Chief Coroner’s Report on Suicide
Tabled Document 681-19(2), Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 26-19(2): Report on the Child and Family Services Act – Lifting Children, Youth and Families: An All of Territory Approach to Keeping Families Together
Tabled Document 694-19(2), Northwest Territories Coroner Service 2021-2022 Early Release of Data
Tabled Document 813-19(2), Main Estimates
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 5:58 p.m.
