Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for allowing us this exchange here today, and I appreciate the information he's providing here. Again, I'm not talking about a new equity lease. I'm talking about an existing equity lease that the person purchased, because right now, as soon as they purchase a lot and it turns over to a lease, there's a whole bunch more rules to it, which puts up blocks for businesses and opportunity for people to build homes, because then there's a clause there that they have to actually pay money to look after it, to remediate it back to its original state...

Can the Minister advise us in what circumstances can a partial refund of equity lease payments be made under the equity lease process?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answers that the Minister has provided us here today. Mr. Speaker, one of my concerns I hear is sometimes we don't have enough foster homes. We can't get children into emergency homes. What happens if we, as the department, do not have places for them to go? Where do we place these individuals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Minister tell us: How does the department recruit foster parents throughout the year, or does the department or the NWT Health and Social Services Association have a blitz once a year?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are often community members who make great contributions to a community who go unrecognized, mainly because these individuals seek results rather than recognition. They humbly and selflessly serve others. Today, I would like to recognize a few of these individuals from the Nahendeh region.

Currently, the Northern Store in Fort Simpson is operating a pay it forward program. This program started six years ago, when resident Mrs. Pat Waugh heard of a homeless resident having to be medevac'd because he consumed discarded food.

Pat started the program at the local...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Attendance is very important come September until October. They are part of the funding formula. How is this fair if they don't have a requirement to be in school? To me, we shouldn't have them as part of the funding formula. I think they should be left out because they have the option to come and go as they please and as the parents please, which I understand. They are part of the funding formula, so if you register 35 kids in junior kindergarten on September 1st and the attendance is sporadic and you want the school boards to be honest about it, we are going to see a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for the answers up to this point. My problem is that, when we have an equity lease and the person purchases it, the equity lease now gets turned into a regular lease again. Now the person doesn't own it; he is given a lease. Will the Minister look at those files that had equity leases, then they were turned back to leases, and will they turn them back to equity leases until all equity lease files are dealt with so that the individual can purchase it, whether it is for a home or a business? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was asking the questions: when the person has an equity lease and sells it to somebody else, what happens there? Why aren't we just turning it over to an equity lease? My next question here is: with leases that are being switched to Commissioner's or NWT lands, what happens to the equity that the previous landowners had on these leases?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Floyd Edward "Bo-Boy" Diamond-C was born on April 1, 1967, to Theresa Diamond-C in Fort Nelson. He lived his life in Fort Liard and, as a youngster, Theresa and his Grandpa Edward taught Floyd about trapping, the traditional way of life, and surviving off the land. His grandpa and brother Dale would go out to Bovie Lake to go trapping and hunting on their trap line. He would often find himself out on the land with different family members to help them out any way he could. Floyd was a happy and giving man who would be there when needed for anybody who asked.

Floyd was...

We are not talking about a new equity lease; we are talking about an existing one. That is a concern. When somebody purchases a lot, there is equity into this lot. Can the Minister advise us what happens to the equity leases, and why does the equity that they have into it not return back to the original owner?