Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for my statement today, I want to speak once again about the Disaster Assistance Policy under the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, last May the Government of the Northwest Territories completed a comprehensive review of MACA's Disaster Assistance Policy following the NWT flooding in 2021. I initially agreed with that review primarily because the policy was outdated and needed to be modernized to account for the changing nature of natural disasters within the context of climate change. I hoped that the review would produce new results addressing some of service gaps that the old policy did not cover. But I was disappointed with the end result that came out last May.
First, Mr. Speaker, I suggested to the Minister of MACA on many occasions that the updated policy must be expanded and eligible to more people during unique natural disaster occurrences. I urged that the new policy must account for novel and extraordinary events that may occur in our communities, especially given the ongoing effects of climate change that brings a greater livelihood of extreme events. However, Mr. Speaker, I was disappointed when I read the updated policy which did not go far enough to help victims of natural disasters.
The first red flag was the definition of disaster, which read: An emergency caused by a natural phenomenon of unusual proportion affecting a large number of people which threatens loss of life, injury, property damage, and economic disruption.
The second red flag was the list of emergencies that may be eligible for assistance, which had no reference of tornados, which was odd because by now I'm sure everyone recalls the tornado that struck Fort Smith four years ago.
The third red flag was a section on excluded situations where disaster assistance is not eligible, which includes an event affecting a single sector or property. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to state that I believe it's been both MACA's policy, and lack thereof, combined with ineffectual policies within Housing NWT that have indirectly contributed to the housing crisis which is only being compounded by recent natural disasters in the NWT. Because if a wildfire burns down only one home in one community, then under the disaster policy they will not be eligible for disaster assistance. And the same goes for replacing or repairing a home built in a designated disasterprone area and help will only be provided to a single property a total of three times.
These are facts that most people do not know about and should be aware of, and the Government of the Northwest Territories needs to make that very clear to communities and people who experience multiple natural disasters. I will have questions for the MACA Minister later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Monfwi.
