Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the moment, Housing NWT is owed almost $5 million in mortgage payment. The current process of refinancing and owning a house through Housing NWT is proving not sustainable. Can the Minister commit to forgiving the current outstanding mortgage payments owed to NWT Housing, particularly for those that have recently refinanced, so we can help our residents get out of poverty by having a stable home they know is theirs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed, we do need to do a better job at administering our housing programs and supporting our residents. And with that in mind, Mr. Speaker, if we give people a home and they continue to build arrears and are unable to pay their mortgage, that means our program is not working.

Can the Minister tell this House how they are working with residents who currently have a mortgage with Housing NWT to ensure they are able to pay that mortgage while having resources for other things, such as food? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Okay, I know that work is being done to support the recruitment. But I need to know how or if our community how our community are being thought of in this whole process. Can the Minister explain how the headquarters empowers our region to attract and retain health care professionals?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know, this is further to what my colleague just said. In the past, in our region, TCSA and other GNWT departments, had power to work through human resources process to support our residents in the communities and now these functions have been centralized to Yellowknife office and our region do not have the flexibility to recruit and attract, you know, outside especially with the health department, to recruit more health nurses, you know. We have a lot of vacancy just like Minister Green said, that there's 40 percent vacancy. We have problems recruiting nurses, speech...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure I would like to recognize the efforts from our Tlicho youth who are working to host the second Idaa Ts'ade Youth Gathering with a big focus on the wellness and Tlicho way of life. This event is a youthled initiative for Tlicho youth ages 16 to 35 years old living in Canada. Young people have decided to gather again to share ideas, learn new information, engage in traditional activities, and network with various people and organizations. I applaud these young people for recognizing the need to come together to deal and address...

Well, this is just in general too as well. You know, like, so I just wanted to know how GNWT is working with agency and other GNWT departments and Indigenous governments to support recruitment efforts of health care professionals in many of the small communities? Thank you.

Well, that is a disadvantage for us because our vacancy rate is growing in small communities, and we are at risk of losing staff, particularly in the health care field. So I just wanted to ask the Minister can the Minister tell the House how the health care recruitment plan will support our small communities in attracting and retaining health care professionals?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to also acknowledge and recognize our Tlicho grand chief, Jackson Lafferty in the audience. I am happy he moved on to be our grand chief, and I am grateful to be part of this 19th Legislative Assembly. So I am grateful he's he is our grand chief. And I would also like to recognize Michael McLeod in the audience and Sholto Douglas who is originally from Behchoko. So I would like to acknowledge and welcome Sholto Douglas as well. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. And I'm just wondering if there's a way that I'm just wondering if Tlicho if how are Tlicho involved in the profiling? Is there an opportunity to train local people?

Thank you. No, I was just asking in general, not just Tlicho specific. You know, I was just asking in general. But I know that winter road to Gameti was opened late and same thing with Wekweeti, it's going to be opened late. And I know there's a lot of people that are concerned about the climate change. And, you know, because of that that ice road, they're opening late and it's going to be, you know, like a short season for the ice road. So I'm just wondering now that it's because a lot of people are saying, you know, like, especially the elders, they you know, even to Wekweeti, there's big...