Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement earlier today, I have a few questions to the Minister of the Housing Corporation. I would like to ask the Minister: can the Minister provide an update on the disposal of old housing units in the Mackenzie Delta? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently within two communities, Aklavik and Fort McPherson, we have seven suplus units in Aklavik and we have two surplus units in Fort McPherson. Of those, the two in Aklavik and two in Fort McPherson will be tendered for sale and five units will be up to be demolished.
Looking to the future, what is the Housing Corporation's next steps on this issue?
So it's a really fine balance that we have to do. As the Housing Minister, we have to make some difficult decisions, so we have needs in the communities to build new housing units to replace ones that are not able to be used anymore. We have major renovations in communities that we have to address, and then we have the units that are no longer usable and it's very costly to do the remediation and the disposal of. So it's a fine balance, but we have committed because we know it's an issue. So we committed within this year and the next fiscal year that we're going to actually take out 101 surplus units throughout the Northwest Territories.
Next step, though, in all honesty, is recognizing that we're getting the surveys in. We are expecting to get a lot of really creative ideas, solutions for communities. So in preparation for that we're looking at some ideas. We're looking at perhaps training programs in the communities to help take down some of these units. With that, then, there would be some liabilities, so we're considering the liabilities for that.
We're also considering, and hoping that the surveys will back it up, that some of the units, even though they can't be used or they can't be sold, that there is still material within those homes that can be used by the communities. So we're also looking into the legal liabilities of what we would have to take as ownership as the Government of the Northwest Territories if we were to get the community to take those materials.
So in summary and conclusion, we're waiting for the ideas from the community. We are also doing some prep work to make sure that, if we can use training programs and give the materials to the communities instead of just taking them to the waste sites, that we are covered legally.
I'd like to ask the Minister: will the Minister work with each community, as every community is different? A good example is, in the past in Aklavik, for example, they did take some units apart and gave that material out in the community; but as you know, in Aklavik we have floods and we did get a flood that year and also high winds, so a lot of that material was left around the community, which the hamlet had to clean up.
So would the Minister ensure that each community is consulted with before a decision is made?
The whole purpose of the housing survey is to actually define what the residents of the Northwest Territories want to define within that compilation of results; individual community plans. So it would be disrespectful of myself as a Minister to go forward and try to receive the results from each separate community, working with them to find out their issues and their solutions and then not continue to work with them.
So the short answer is, yes, I am committed to working with each individual community to define what their issues are, what their solutions are and how best to implement their solutions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
