Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Nothing further.

That’s fine. As far as page 5-39 under DIAND, we have two commitments for Sahtu and the Gwich’in and their land claim issues for $4,000 each, total $8,000. Could the Minister explain our role in those two?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not a question of not being fair. No one is suggesting that anyone needs to jump ahead of the queue. There is a priority system that they go forward with. We can’t even get them on the list to get them in the priority system. So, Mr. Speaker, that’s the question I need the Minister to answer. Will he look at the system to make sure we can get them on that list? If they are in desperate need, they need to be on that list. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I do. Is the Minister willing to talk about this to make sure that this policy is consistent, fair and doesn’t discriminate against people?

That being said, would the Minister investigate a policy where we do not discriminate against people? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the week, I brought forward a concern about the arrears process with the Housing Corporation and the fact that there isn’t consistency in the policy. The Minister clearly stated that if you were in public housing and you had arrears, they would make a plan so that you could pay back those arrears, so you wouldn’t be kicked out. I was trying to put the spotlight on the issue that if you had arrears and you aren’t in social housing but you qualify for social housing…If you qualify for social housing and you can only pay market rate, it’s going to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’m just going to talk about a couple areas, no specific questions at this time. I wish to reaffirm a couple areas. The first one is simply the Minister made note of legal aid and the improvements of legal aid services in our community. I really believe that was something that finally we got the Minister to be able to put dollars behind. He knew it was a problem, this side of the Assembly knew it was a problem, and I was willing to go toe-to-toe as long as it took, to at least get that need recognized and I was really glad to see it came in last year’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At least we agree that we are now talking about private housing out there in the private market. Mr. Speaker, that person in the private housing in the private market has a history and owes arrears in the past to our social housing side. Now, let’s agree to that point. Now, they owe arrears from the past dealings. Where do they go if they are being kicked out of private housing initiatives? Where do they go now because they can’t qualify for public or social housing? So where do they go now? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to continue talking about the concerns of arrears with my favourite Housing Minister, the Honourable David Krutko. Mr. Speaker, if a person in market housing is being kicked out because they can’t afford to live there anymore, and obviously they owe arrears because that is what we are talking about, and they owe arrears so they can’t be put on the list, as the Minister clearly says, then where do they go if they are being kicked out of market housing and they can’t get on the list for social housing? Where do they go? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would this Minister look into that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.