Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke yesterday about homelessness and about the need for us to address it across the Territories. I was pleased to hear the Minister indicate yesterday that the social programs Ministers will be meeting to discuss options with regards to housing for the homeless. It’s recognized that having a continuum of housing is part of the solution to homelessness. My question for the Minister responsible for the homeless is whether these discussions, which are going to be held over the next weeks and months, will consider expanding the continuum of housing within the Northwest Territories to help address homelessness.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister responsible for the area for homelessness works with the other departments that actually deliver the services themselves. He committed to working with those social programs Ministers in getting the information and ensures that he continues to work on that path as they sit down and put this together.
I thank Mr. Roland for answering the question. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for homelessness: in recognizing that there is a continuum of housing needs — from people who have absolutely no home to people who are transitioning from no home to be able to go to work to people who need a place while they do work until they can afford enough money to rent their own home, and so on — whether or not that continuum of housing is part of the discussions that the social programs Ministers will be having.
Mr. Speaker, I will have to defer that to the Minister responsible for homelessness, as he’d have that detail.
Thank you, Hon. Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the homeless, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, that will be a part of the discussions we’ll be having with our social envelope of the Ministers that we will be gathering this next couple of weeks. That has been part of our discussion when we’re dealing with homelessness, since we’re in a process of opening the new Bailey House. We did meet with the group on the female facility they proposed for years down the road. There have been some discussions in that area. Certainly, that will be one of the discussions we’ll be having as part of the program within our social envelope.
I’m pleased to hear that they’re discussing a female facility. But I need to point out that homelessness…. I’m not speaking about homelessness just from a Yellowknife point of view but from a territorial point of view. It’s a problem in all of our communities. I’d like to ask whether or not the issue of homelessness and reducing the number of homeless people that we have in our communities is going to be a priority for these social program Ministers in our ’09–10 budget?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I think it is one of the focuses of the GNWT, where we need to develop programs and services for those homeless who are out there. We currently do have programs among our resources. If we need to increase in that area, we need to work with the communities. We have contribution agreements with the communities, whether they be with First Nations or organizations in communities, to deal with the homelessness.
Certainly, any input from the Member or the Members will be very helpful for our discussions with the social envelope Ministers to move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister. It’s nice to hear that it’s important to the government. I guess my next question would be: if it is that important, if it’s going to be a priority, will the Minister be assigning more financial resources and human resources than we currently have to this problem?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we do provide financial resources, and we will continue to do so. If we do need to improve in these areas, whether it be the program or services, I will certainly be discussing that with my other two colleagues in housing and also Health and Social Services; and I’ll be working with the Members, of course, on how we can improve in these areas, financially and in resources as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
