Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell the Minister that I was pleased to hear yesterday that the Minister will be talking with Canada about the funding disparity between the northern territories. Can the Minister commit to following up with Regular Members on the outcome of our housing meetings with federal Minister Duclos? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, once I finish with my meeting with Minister Duclos, I would be happy to share the results of that meeting with the Members through the appropriate committee.
Mr. Speaker, in terms of prevention, how does the Housing Corporation advise and work with tenants to prevent mould growth, whether that's a communication plan, preventative maintenance, or other strategies?
We do have mould remediation. Some of the prevention and tactics to deal with it are within our STEP program, our Solutions to Educate People program, which is one of the home ownership programs. The problem is that we realize that we need to expand that training to all public housing residents. We are undertaking a huge training program to better educate people on how to maintain their homes, including mould.
Currently though, online, through the Housing Corporation, you can see preventative tips and remediation for mould online on our website and also within the local housing organization. We do have some information, but as I said we still have some work to do in that area.
Mr. Speaker, now in terms of remediation, what can Housing Corporation tenants do when they identify mould problems in their units?
The first thing that tenants should do if they identify mould within their units is let the local housing organization know that. The initial thing is to identify whether it's mould or not. Mould has become a pretty scary topic and so people are afraid to even touch it, so things like condensation from windows and stuff which is not at the stage of mould have sometimes been misinterpreted for mould.
The first thing is to let the local housing organization know that you have an issue. We will go in and do a thorough inspection of it. We have specialists within the housing organization that specialize in mould remediation, and we also have contractors within the Northwest Territories who specialize in mould remediation. We use whatever supports we can to deal with the mould, but the most critical thing for residents to know is let us know if you have an issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral question. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister did answer part of my next question, but I'll ask it anyway. Does the Housing Corporation have an overall territory-wide plan for unit remediation specific to mould rather than having this work delegated to an individual? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under the last leadership of the Minister, before I took the position of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, it was identified that we needed to be more proactive in our work. That Minister at the time took the initiative to actually start a preventative maintenance care program which goes in annually to look for issues such as mould or other issues that can cause major problems to houses. I will not take credit for it. I will give credit to the appropriate Minister, but it is something that was very proactive, very good, and we will continue to maintain that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
