Madam Speaker, winter has arrived, temperatures are dropping and will continue for the next couple of months. Dropping temperatures bring great concerns for underhoused residents, without a warm place to live, without comforts that many of us enjoy day to day. Our partners who provide shelter services have been planning for months.
I would like to speak about the vulnerable and the critical of nongovernment organizations that have come together and the shelter workers to do, and to try and work with those without a home and a safe and healthy place to live.
In Inuvik, working the overall direction of many partners, including the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Gwich’in Tribal Council, the Town of Inuvik, and people with livedexperience, two shelters are providing much needed support for persons experiencing homelessness. The Inuvik Emergency Warming Shelter, which is open to anyone requiring a place to sleep and a meal; and the Inuvik Homeless Shelter, which supports persons that may be more stable and independent but do not have a place to call home.
With the recent fire at the Inuvik Emergency Warming Shelter, we know that services to our underhoused population is more critical than ever. We are actively working with our partners and various levels of government to ensure that the displaced that we provide supports and can continue, and I am committed to keeping the House updated as we navigate a path forward.
In Hay River, the Hay River Committee for Persons with Disabilities operates an emergency shelter providing meals and a safe place to stay. In Fort Simpson, the Village of Fort Simpson coordinates the operation of shelters with the advice of community parties that includes the Liidlii Kue First Nation.
Yellowknife has long been a catchment area for people without a place to live. The Salvation Army provides shelter to men. The Women’s Society Shelter provides a shelter for women as well as offers semiindependent rooms and runs a Housing First program. The YWCA provides emergency rental housing for homeless families. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation provides operational funding for all of these programs. As well, our partners delivering for the NWT Housing Corporation is the Northern Pathways. The Housing program provides important opportunities for housing stability in Behchoko, Fort Simpson, Aklavik, and Fort Good Hope. Our partners include the Behchoko Friendship Society, the Liidlii Kue First Nation, the Aklavik Indian Band, and the K’asho Got’ine Housing Society. The Northern Pathways is recognized by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness as a best practice and innovative model for addressing homelessness in rural and remote communities northern Indigenous communities.
Madam Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation will continue to support all these operations by providing policy and procedural guidances where appropriate, supporting training opportunities for frontline staff, developing physical standards for facilities, and providing operational funding.
Winter is a dangerous time for people without a roof over their heads. I want to commend and thank all of our partners for stepping up when they are needed most. These are not simple jobs caring for the less fortunate amongst us. Often program participants may come with a number of complex issues including mental health, addiction, and physical health. Our partners and frontline workers provide supports focusing on people’s strengths, not their weaknesses. I could not be more proud of the work that they are keeping and working with our residents and keeping them safe and secure.
I would also like to thank the Housing Corporation and the several staff that have come together in partnership and have created this partnership between the Housing Corporation and the nonprofit organizations. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
