George Nerysoo

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise with great honour to congratulate a well-respected constituent of the Mackenzie Delta and a lifelong resident of Teetl’it Zheh. Ms. Mary Teya is the recent recipient of the Order of the Northwest Territories. The Order of the Northwest Territories recognizes individuals who have served with great distinction and excelled in any field of endeavour benefitting the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I personally cannot think of anyone else more deserving to receive this distinguished award other than Ms. Teya. I have known Ms. Teya all my life...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will be supporting this motion because in my community of Fort McPherson, I've seen the resource people, specifically the RCMP, have been exhausted to where they're unable to come out to investigate any crimes because they're not trained or -- to go out and deal with family violence or any other family issues. So this motion will give direction to the government to help these resource people in a better manner. So just to let you know that I will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to congratulate the students of the Mackenzie Delta communities of Aklavik, Fort McPherson, and Tsiigehtchic who have completed their grade 12 and will receive or have received their diplomas. These young men and women are an inspiration to themselves, to their families, and their communities. These 16 individuals and future leaders of the respective communities are to be commended on their achievements and future endeavorers in whatever they pursue in the near future.

The following students graduated grade 12.

From Aklavik:

Tisha Koe,

Kayden McLeod,

Mathe...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My other concern is the home purchase program. I know the Indigenous governments within each region were allocated some money from the federal government to build houses within their respective regions, and I believe within my community of Fort McPherson, I believe we have eight houses constructed by the Gwich'in Tribal Council, and I think the purpose of building these houses is not to turn over to housing for public housing units but to give residents of communities the option or the opportunity to own their own homes, because right now we have a number of young people...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On your category here of seniors aging in place, the other day I made a Member's statement in regards to having seniors' homes inspected annually. Your seniors aging in place, it has gone down a little bit. But can this be used to inspect seniors homeowners' homes to find if there's any minor repairs before it becomes too costly for them? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's unfortunate that we have homeless people in the NWT, let alone our small communities. And the homeless population is growing. We tend to see that some of our residents from the smaller communities are making their way to the bigger centres, the larger centres, because they have these homeless shelters readily available. So as they make their way to the bigger centres, the regional centres don't have the capacity to accommodate all the people that are looking for shelter. Whether it be wintertime or summertime, they make their way I know they make their way to Inuvik...

That will be beneficial thank you, Mr. Chair. It would be beneficial to the potential homeowners. And there is yeah, I would like to hear back of what the purpose of those homes are for. But it would help a great deal in getting some potential homeowners within my community because they'd like to be independent and strive for something that they've always wanted. And owning a home is a big step, so having this forgivable loan, if it's available to subsidize the cost, it will help a great bit. It's just more of a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I was looking at that and I was, you know, feeling kind of optimistic about the elders that want to stay within the community, and this would help them a great deal with inspections because I am getting calls from mainly the community of Tsiigehtchic. The resident, I contacted him, and he said it'll be good if they can have annual inspections on their home because at their age, they can't determine if there's any deficiencies within their own home except, you know, if their heating source goes out then they might get worried. But, you know, if an annual inspection...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, that's pretty unfortunate because like I stated there, the homeless shelter in Inuvik only has capacity for so many people, and you see residents from other communities trying to go there and they're told that they have no room, and the residents from the local town like, from the town of Inuvik are given first priority because they're the ones that live in the community.

Aklavik has a program that's administered by the Aklavik Indian band. I think they have up to four units that assist these homeless people with accommodations. They're given some kind of program...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just give you an example, the Great Northern Arts Festival, use them as an example, if they wanted to put in a proposal for a grant to -- for this festival here, would they have to provide a financial report after their festival is completed?