Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use my Member’s statement today to put a bit of a profile behind who the working poor are in our Northwest Territories.

This is a question often asked by many because they want to know who we are talking about. Well, more often than not, women are the subjects of being considered the most vulnerable in comparison to men. On average in the NWT, women earn 23 percent less than their male counterparts. That’s a shame that we should never be proud of, and certainly something that we should strive hard to fix.

Many of our working poor, it’s well known, are single...

I think we’re still at a crossroads here. I’m not just talking about the mortgage payment; I’m talking about the fact that many people have a struggle every month, all through winter. I can speak to even a specific case, if I may, is I know one particular family uses their credit card every month throughout the winter to survive, to pay for the oil, to pay for the food, to help pay for the electricity, and they hope for a good summer to be able to get by to balance them out. This is a terrible way and any financial advisor would tell you that’s a terrible way to be doing business.

So I’m asking...

I appreciate the extra length to start to describe part of the problem, because the Minister got right to the point where I need to be, which is owning an asset is detrimental to being independent when you are struggling to get by. In other words, if you have a house and you have a mortgage and you can’t go to income support for help… As the Minister said, three times in your lifetime. There are a lot of people who struggle every single winter to pay for that power bill, that heating bill and certainly the high cost of food. That is the policy I am asking the Minister. Would he be willing to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a few constituents, as well, today and take the advantage here before us. I’d like to recognize Julie Green and certainly acknowledge her hard work as the representative of the YWCA. She’s one of the directors there. Peter Chynoweth, who is the minister of the United Church. Joy Newton, although I’ve spoken to her many times over the phone, I have never actually met her in person, so it would be nice to have that pleasure. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to recognize Chase Yakeleya, who is a good friend of my son. He’s sitting up there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use this opportunity to inform the House, and of course the public as well, that I’ll be voting in favour of this particular motion. I’d like to give credit to Ms. Bisaro for being a champion to this particular issue. She carried it forward in the last term quite strongly and I’d like to give her recognition and certainly her due that she deserves for bringing forward this motion. So I think that should not be overlooked. She’s become the new champion.

---Applause

She’s blushing. May that be noted on the record?

---Laughter

We need more champions like Ms. Bisaro...

I want to thank the Minister of Health and Social Services for letting us know this here today, because I’ll tell you there were a number of people who weren’t really sure what the plan was going forward. Today is the first time I’ve heard it’s actually being formally reviewed, so that’s why I was a little bit unsure whether it’s still being reviewed and would there be consequences of longer term funding options. It sounds like the Minister’s plan is to at least carry it through one year, which is great news.

In that review that the Minister referred to, is he also reviewing the type of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the downtown day shelter. I don’t need to go into length to highlight how important it is, but I can’t go by without stressing how important it is to many people who have nowhere else to go. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is such: With the closure of funding – I’ll say it that way – with no scheduled funding in the new year to continue this pilot project going forward, what is the Minister of Health and Social Services’ plan for people who are homeless and have nowhere to go, for the reasons that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today’s Member’s statement that I’ll be conveying to the House is about the downtown day shelter here in Yellowknife.

In 2009 we had a pilot project here in Yellowknife and it was the establishment of the downtown day shelter. This couldn’t have happened without the great support of at the time the Health Minister, who helped lead this project in partnership with the City of Yellowknife and, very importantly, the generous support of BHP Billiton, and with all three partners that brought this project to life.

What is the downtown day shelter? Well, it’s a location – for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to be clear on the record here with the Minister of Health and Social Services, because in a relentless sense we cannot give up on these folks. We may be the only ones who are out there caring for them. We cannot give up. I just want to make sure that this review is focusing on options that will continue the counselling as well as offering treatment paths for people. I just want to make sure that we have a captive audience here, and that will be the mission and continued goal of the Department of Health and Social Services as they support the day shelter.

Am I correct to hear the Minister say in the House today that the downtown day shelter will be protected at least for one more year, the 2012-2013 fiscal year? Is this being said clearly today that he intends to keep those doors open?