Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Finance believe that Fort Smith deserves a solution in addressing homelessness? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity also to speak with my colleague, the Minister responsible for Housing and for Homelessness.
Mr. Speaker, this is a mandate item of the Government of the Northwest Territories. I would venture to say that every person in this House considers it a priority and considers it a priority for every resident anywhere in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if she and her department treat people living on reserves, including members of the Salt River First Nation, differently than other people or communities within the NWT? If so, can she explain why that is. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I've had the opportunity to say on many occasions, the GNWT's approach, whether it be in policy development, funding decisions, it's meant to be inclusive. We look at the whole of the Northwest Territories, the needs of all communities. Funding is not distributed or not not distributed on the basis of one group and where they may or may not be, and that is equally the same for the members of the Salt River First Nation. They have the same access and must have the same access, of course, to services as every other member of the Northwest Territories, and the government does its best to allocate the funds that we have based on that need and based at looking at the whole of the territory to maximize the benefits to all residents of all those services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in an April 29th email, the finance minister said that officials with Housing NWT met with Salt River First Nation in April to discuss housing priorities, including the Tiny Home Pilot Project.
Can the Minister provide more detail with what her department will be doing next to financially support Salt River in getting this project underway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so if anyone's wondering perhaps why as Minister of Finance I'm speaking to this is the Member and I have had the opportunity to begin these discussions back at the time of the last budgeting cycle and in discussing where and how funding decisions are made. I've since had an opportunity, and continue to have the opportunity, to meet with the Minister responsible for Housing NWT. It's her staff directly who had met with the members from the Salt River First Nation, the chief, the vicepresident I understand, or CEO. I understand that happened April 12th or thereabouts. And they will certainly be continuing to lead the development of this project.
At this point, the information I have received is that the Tiny Homes Project is potentially very innovative. It is potentially one that could have a lot of interesting solutions. I had an opportunity to speak with staff from my colleague's department, and they spoke well of it. The simple fact at this point, though, is that right now the community has the existing community housing support initiative program funding. They're going to pursue the funding that they have for a project that is well developed, costed, and then once that's run its course, that they will continue to develop an actual proposal and a more meaningful detailed proposal on the tiny homes. And I've been assured that staff from NWT Housing Corporation do now have individuals ready to support and to assist the development of that project going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to assist Salt River First Nation with their application to the National Housing CoInvestment Fund, including a letter of support assisting them with the project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, Mr. Speaker, ultimately it would be, again, Housing NWT that would be leading the development of a formal support letter. Certainly, we would work together as a government when it comes to time to developing budgets and to looking at the availability of initiatives funding. So that work will certainly continue through business planning process. But I've been assured by my colleague that, of course, the Housing NWT is quite eager to continue to work with Salt River First Nation as they develop a proposal, and then that proposal can go through the process of being considered for the National CoInvestment Fund Program.
So, again, I'm very confident that the staff from again, from Housing, but certainly from Finance if needed, will be there to work with the Salt River First Nation and to discuss with them what is needed to put a proposal together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
