Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement. I mentioned in my Member’s statement that a possible option to assist with the teachers’ housing is to change the regulations to allow education authorities to own property. So I’d like to know from the Minister why the department has not considered that as an option to date and why it’s not allowed for district education councils and authorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an area with a broad perspective beyond the ECE department and beyond the school boards. It is the GNWT as a whole, because we do have all the professions within the GNWT. So if we need to change that regulation, then it would have to be the GNWT changing the regulation. If we do it for one, then there will be others lining up.
So I think we need to strategically look at the overall regulations we have, how they impact on different departments. So that’s what we need to discuss, and we have discussed that with the Housing Corporation and Human Resources in the past. Maybe we can review those areas.
There’s also the education renewal engagement that we’re going through, and part of that is small schools and professional staff. So I’m sure that will be captured as well. So those are discussions that we are currently having. Mahsi.
I’m not quite sure why these regulations would be so far-reaching and so widespread, but I’ll take him at his word and wait to see what comes of any discussions that go forward.
Another possibility that I didn’t mention but that could conceivably be out there – and it’s something that was previously done and then was dropped, but it has happened in the past – is that the NWT Housing Corporation has bequeathed property to education authorities and has maybe even set up mortgages with those authorities.
I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not he would consider discussing with the Minister for Housing to allow education authorities and education councils to receive NWT Housing Corp property and enter into a mortgage at a zero or a preferred mortgage rate, if possible.
There is a partnership approach and I’m working closely with the Housing Minister. They do have a strategy in place to deal with the shortage, whether it be housing for staff in the communities, especially the most isolated, non-market housing. They are in the process of developing multi-family rental properties in non-market housing in the communities, so focusing on where there’s a high demand. So there is already work in play. I’m really working closely with the Housing Corporation and also the Minister responsible for Human Resources because we need to capture all the proficiencies in the Northwest Territories.
My interest will be, of course, the teachers. We need to house those teachers every fall time. To date we’ve been lucky, but we know there’s high demand. So we’re going to be focusing on those areas.
I appreciate that the Minister is working with different partners. He’s mentioned that a number of times and that certainly was something that came through in the NWT Teachers’ Association report, was that this is not an issue that can be dealt with by just one entity. It is a difficult problem and I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to be solved easily.
I’d like to know from the Minister if he can advise, considering all the number of different pieces and all the number of balls that are in the air, how he is going to be able to coordinate the work that needs to be done. How is he going to involve the partners that are out there and set up what is necessary? Thank you.
The Member already alluded to some areas where management of property arrangements have been made with DECs and DEAs, and either with the local bands, local development corporation, private companies or even the other unique partnerships. With this, there is also – I’ve just been informed by the Housing Minister – some home units in the communities, homeownership program, that could be potentially converted to be made available to these professions in the communities. Those are some of the key areas that we are currently discussing, and we want to make as many units available, especially in the most isolated communities. Those are our targeted approach.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just would like to say to the Minister, he mentioned we’ve been lucky so far. We’ve been lucky to put teachers into housing, but it hasn’t been acceptable housing. It certainly hasn’t been housing that has been to the standard that we would expect if we were living in it.
The other possibility with the Housing Corporation is that, yes, they may provide an actual building, but it does not necessarily mean that the rents are going to be acceptable.
I’d like to ask the Minister, he’s talking about working with different partners and working closely with the Housing Corporation, working with the NWT Teachers’ Association. I realize that there needs work to be done, but I’d Iike to ask the Minister when are we going to see a report with the recommendations that the various partners are suggesting to get us out of this housing issue for teachers.
As we indicated, there are various partners involved, the Housing Corporation, again, Human Resources, and our department, ECE, working hand in hand with the DEA and DECs. We need to get their feedback. That’s what we’re engaged on. Even through various venues such as educational renewal, ASA, we’ve heard over and over about the housing shortage, providing us with the solutions. This is an area that we want to deliver in house. Once it’s available, we’re going to deliver it to standing committee, potentially from the three or two of us as the Ministers responsible for those areas. When that opportunity arises, we will definitely be before standing committee if we need to make any changes.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
