Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had an opportunity to travel to 10 communities with the Social Programs committee on the review of the child and family services legislation. As part of the tour we took the time to listen to the MLAs, community leaders, and also through public meetings hear from the residents throughout the Northwest Territories.
We had the opportunity to get an insight to the challenges all communities are facing. One thing that stood out in my mind, of the challenges that they are facing in program and service delivery, was the lack of programs and services being delivered in our communities and housing. Without these fundamental programs and services, a lot of the government initiatives cannot be delivered.
In regard to the area of housing, it was very appalling to see the number of public housing units boarded up in these communities, yet communities insist on realizing that housing is one of the biggest challenges that they’re facing.
We as a government have to do a better job of ensuring the services we deliver and the challenges that we face such as housing. We have to ensure that we can not only deliver those programs and services but meet the fundamental needs of our residents.
From the Hay River Reserve we noted 12 units which were boarded up, because they were not being provided to the residents of the community. In talking to the chief and council we were told that they had asked the Housing Corporation to remove the housing from the reserve because they were not being used or occupied.
We heard the same thing in Fort Liard where a lot of money was put into the Kotaneelee Housing Project. Millions of dollars were expended on this retrofit and yet a lot of those units are boarded up and not being used because of vandalism.
We have to find a way to ensure that the programs and services we do deliver are used, are accessible, and are providing value to our communities. Hearing from the head nurse in Fort Liard, she said that they asked for the problem, the question directly, what is the biggest challenge you see here in Fort Liard. All she said was housing, housing, housing.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
