Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleagues have recognized that today is the United Nation’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The NWT No Place for Poverty Coalition has been working hard with our government to produce an Anti-Poverty Strategy. We look forward to an action plan that will generate real changes for people in poverty.
As one of the richest regions on the planet, the NWT has constructed a social safety net that is well funded, with a significant part of our budget dedicated to caring for our people. Sadly, though, we still have Weledeh families who are homeless.
In spite of the best intentions, our social safety net can be a tangled web of conflicting policies. Consequently, some people can get stuck in poverty traps below the safety net and be kept in poverty by the system itself.
My constituents explain it this way: If a family going on income support is in need of housing, they need to show that they have a good credit rating so they qualify with a landlord. Income support does assist people with rental costs, but without a good credit rating, people cannot secure an apartment. Diabolically, without a place to stay, people do not qualify then for income support. Also, families with little to no income and carrying housing debt are forced to survive on their own for six months before ECE will approve their application for income support. During this period the family must get on the Housing Corporation’s housing list, which requires making and honouring a monthly repayment plan, a six-month process.
There are many reasons why a family can find themselves in need of income assistance. For those in this situation, it is unlikely that they will have a positive credit rating and even more unlikely that they will independently be able to fully support their family for six months while they honour their repayment plans. Single parents with young children can have an especially difficult time and we know the critical lifelong importance of what happens to children during prenatal through age three. What will happen when these children have families of their own 20 or 30 years from now?
Let’s honour the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty with a commitment to eradicate poverty right here in the Northwest Territories, and let’s start by making sure our social safety net supports people to escape poverty rather than ensnaring them.
I will have questions for the Minister who is chair of the Social Envelope Committee. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
