Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in my statement, I talked about treaty rights and obligations that are encumbered by the federal government and also the GNWT. My question is to the Minister of the Housing Corporation. Treaties of NWT are by nature bilateral between First Nations and the Government of Canada, and on the south of 60, we have a direct relationship between the federal government and First Nations in their communities in terms of their responsibilities to their citizens. Up here in the North, we have federal transfer payments that are received by the government on behalf of the people of the NWT, but also for First Nations. Now my question to the Minister: since taking over responsibility of housing from the federal government, what treaty obligations does the GNWT have for our First Nations in terms of housing? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the treaty does state that the government will provide housing. However, the treaty does not state that housing will be free within that treaty. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'd like to thank the Minister for saying that, and perhaps, you know, the issue's not as simple as that. For example, in terms of jurisdictions, you know, sometimes because of jurisdictions we get caught up in red tape. Sometimes the fact is that we have to board up homes because of jurisdictional messes between governments and First Nations communities. Recently, there has been steps in terms of trying to sort out the jurisdictions, the red tape, to try to bring housing to citizens that need it, particularly on the Hay River Reserve. Could the Minister update this House in terms of ensuring that progress has been made on that front, and ensuring housing for people that need them, at the same time explain the role of the Minister and the department in terms of working with First Nations?
Specific to the Hay River Reserve, there was an issue where there were units that sat empty for many years because of land tenure. When I came into governance, and prior to me as well, it was brought up as an issue. We worked on it very diligently, and I'm really pleased to report actually that we’ve negotiated with the federal government so that we do have land tenure and that we can actually put those units to use within the community. There are still more... I think there's four more; I may be incorrect. But I think that we're still looking at working with that with the federal government to try to get all of the units so that we can actually use those within the Hay River Reserve. Because I'm in agreement: it's really inappropriate that these units are being stagnated because of the tri-lateral agreements that we had in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's sometimes almost like a puzzle in terms of ensuring the immediate needs and critical needs of people are met. That's the obligation of this government that we have in terms of taking over responsibility from the federal government and ensuring that communities and families do receive houses. In terms of working with First Nations, you know… Some aspire to ensure that homeownership is a critical need, and that's their focus, but sometimes public housing, you know, people would rent their houses for a long time and not really perhaps aspire to own their own homes. What are the long-term goals of the GNWT in respect to self-government of First Nations in regards to housing? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Selfgovernance is an aspect that I actually take personally, and that I do respect and honour and believe it is the right way to support First Nations people and give them back ownership of their people and all of their culture, et cetera. I am committed to working closely with the First Nations communities and seeing what we can do to provide them, because at some point within selfgovernance, there will come a time, maybe not in this government, but soon, that they will need to take ownership of all of their services, housing, child protection, income support, all of those things. The more tools that we can give them beforehand so that they are successful in that, the better off they will be. I am starting to give consideration about what type of tools and how we will work toward it, how we will work with the self-governments so that they have the tools that they need so that when they are ready to take on housing. We will set them up to succeed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been a lot of progress in terms of selfdetermination of First Nations communities, ensuring they have responsibility for their citizens, and housing is one aspect of that. Could the Minister provide an overview to this side of the House in terms of how it's working with First Nations communities that aspire to have selfgovernment agreements with the Government of Canada and what its role is?
None of the community governments have approached me and said that they were looking to take on housing, but I know that it is something that we need to do in the future. Any of the governments that is actually wanting to take on the housing role, I am more than willing to support them with that, understanding that I don't want to set people up to fail, so I don't want to just dump it on them. I want to make sure that we have a solid plan that they can have the capacity to be able to take it on and succeed with that, and I would love to have a pilot government. If anyone wants to come forward, that would be wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
