Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the costs have gone up substantially, especially over the last couple of years here, and I'm wondering if Health and Social Services intends to increase the per diems and hotel subsidy that they offer to make it more in line with the costs that residents are actually incurring when they travel south? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that the Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Bill 48, Arbitration Act, be received and adopted by the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Lands at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its report on Bill 48, Arbitration Act, and commends it to the House.

Bill 48, Arbitration Act, was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review on March 30, 2022. A Plain Language Summary for Bill 48 was tabled on the same day.

Bill 48 proposes replacing the existing Northwest Territories Arbitration Act with a more modern law modelled after the Uniform Arbitration Act, known as the Model Act. The proposed new NWT arbitration governance includes updates on:

How to begin and conclude...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The beauty of the internet is I've now got the annual report in front of me here. And the annual report doesn't tell us what houses in what communities are going to be retrofitted by Housing NWT. It doesn't tell us what communities are going to see new houses. And what I'm thinking of here is that if there are community governments or Indigenous governments that want to get involved in housing and don't have kind of the ability to see where Housing NWT is going, it's hard for them to work in partnership with Housing NWT and to really support that work and to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this commit defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Infrastructure at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, committee wishes to deal with Committee Report 3319(2), Bill 52, Bill 48, and Tabled Document 72319(2), Infrastructure, Housing NWT, Environment and Natural Resources, and Lands. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently 487 former tenants of Housing NWT, and I'd like to point out that only 51 are from Yellowknife, so over 400 former tenants of Housing NWT currently owe about $7.8 million in arrears owed to Housing NWT. These tenants are unable to put their names on waitlists for public housing, and they live in public housing dominated communities. They're unable to access homeownership programs or home repair programs.

How does Housing NWT plan to address these arrears, given the reliance of many communities on Housing NWT public housing and programs...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll be honest, I'm hoping that the information can be provided to the people of the Northwest Territories and not just myself. The principles of arrears collections states that arrears should be forgiven where collection is not possible but elders, not working and without income, are still expected to repay their public housing arrears. So I'm wondering without knowing how many of their residents are elders, how does NWT Housing or Housing NWT, sorry, determine if repayment is not possible from their clients? Thank you