Debates of May 29, 2018 (day 31)

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about a project that was being performed by the homeless people of Yellowknife. I have questions for the Minister of Homelessness. Leading up to the launch of this new program, was the Minister of Homelessness ever approached by the city to get funding for this project, and if so, what was the answer? Thank you.

Masi. Minister responsible for Addressing Homelessness.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there were no requests for funding from the City of Yellowknife. We couldn't even give an answer, because there were no requests for this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am hoping that the government was aware of the project. I was wondering if the government would consider, or this Minister of Homelessness would consider, funding similar types of programs in all of the other communities across the territory where homeless people are looking for some form of employment.

Across all departments, we have certain programs. We are willing to work with NGOs, communities, and I think the City of Yellowknife has a really great program that can model to other communities across the Northwest Territories that are dealing with homelessness. I encourage other communities to speak with other departments, such as ECE. I can mediate those kinds of discussions as Minister of Homelessness.

I encourage communities to look at the model that the City of Yellowknife has done and try something in their municipalities. I think it is a really great story throughout the Northwest Territories, and Yellowknife should be very proud of what they have initiated here.

Using this model as the Minister indicated, would the Minister of Homelessness reach out to other non-government organizations, or even the Indigenous governments in the communities, to run a similar type of initiative in other areas or in other communities?

As I have just mentioned in my previous response, I would be willing to mediate that as Minister of Homelessness. We have had some great programs in the past. Inuvik Works did something very similar working on seniors' homes, community projects done in the community. I think that is something we can look at and get developed in some of our regional centres, and even small communities. Working with either ECE, also through NWT Housing Corporation, we do have a small community homelessness fund which provides funding for community proponents to deliver homelessness programs and supports for their own design. That's one option as well. We are willing to work with non-government organizations, municipalities, community governments, Indigenous governments, to look at how we address homelessness, but also develop training, skill development, life skills for people who really need that. We want to be there to support all departments here in this government.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister answered my upcoming question, so I would just like to change it up a bit. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister can work with other departments, but mainly with the Housing Corporation, of which he's also the Minister, of course, to determine what level of homelessness, whether it would be absolute homelessness where individuals are living on the streets, or relative homelessness where individuals are couch surfing and living in unwelcome environments across the territory, across all the communities? I would like to ask the Minister if he is prepared to make a commitment using Housing Corporation staff to determine how many people fit into those two homelessness categories across the territory?

As Members know, we have created a homelessness coordinator position in the previous government. To find out the exact number of homeless people we have in the territory would be tough, because we do have a lot of people who also do couch surfing. I will commit that we will try to address the issue; look at the model that the City of Yellowknife has done with this program. It is a great program, and I applaud the City of Yellowknife for taking that on and working with the NWT Housing Corporation and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We will look at continuing to support these types of programs. Finding out the exact number of people who are homeless in the territory will be tough, as I mentioned, because we do have a lot of people who do couch surf who wouldn't be identified, and we just need to work together with our NGO's, our Indigenous governments, and across departments to address the issue. I am glad the Member has brought this up today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.