Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are always talking about connection connection between economic and social success, culture and climate, and people. Small world stories with roots in the North are my favorite, and I love to learn of the familiar connections between colleagues, constituents, and Northerners. The North is vast in land but small in personal connection.
So, Mr. Speaker, it is frustrating that the government upholds a policy that dismisses the connections that exist across our territory and our reliance on one another. The Housing Corporation community to residency policy requires an NWT resident to live in a community for a predetermined number of months before they can add their name to the public housing waitlist. A waitlist, Mr. Speaker.
If implementing the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples, the MMIWG Calls for Justice, and the TRC Calls to Action are a priority of this government, then they need to flip policies and ask if the unintended consequences are justifiable.
The community residency policy violates the TRC's section 1 Call to Action, To enable aboriginal communities and child welfare organizations to keep aboriginal families together where it is safe to do so and to keep children in culturally appropriate environments regardless of where they reside.
MMIWG's Call for Justice 1.1, We call upon all governments to ensure that equitable access to basic rights such as employment, housing, education, safety, and healthcare.
Call for Justice 4.1, All governments must immediately ensure that Indigenous peoples have access to safe housing.
Call for Justice 12.4, We call on all governments to prohibit the apprehension of children on the basis of poverty and cultural bias.
In the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 21, Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the improvement of their economic and social conditions.
Mr. Speaker, I speak about this policy often in the House. In response, the housing Minister identified the following reasons for maintaining this policy:
1. People from across Canada will come sit on our waitlist.
People are not going to flood the NWT to come join our housing crisis, Mr. Speaker.
2. Our waitlist will be skewed.
Mr. Speaker, the government demands people who do not need housing put their names on a housing waitlist to access income assistance. So this issue of the housing waitlist is irrelevant.
3. Housing needs need to be addressed by specific community.
Housing is a NWT crisis. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apparently have a lot to say on this one.
3. Housing needs need to be addressed by specific community.
Housing is a NWT crisis, Mr. Speaker, not a community crisis, and if someone wants to move to selfdetermine their health, economic, or social sufficiency, then let them.
4. And finally, Mr. Speaker, the most popular response, is we have to be fair.
This policy is not fair. It keeps people from jobs, family, and autonomy. But even more jarring, Mr. Speaker, it prevents Northerners from accessing resources, prevents parents from leaving violent relationships, and jeopardizes a parent's ability to keep their children out of the child welfare system.
If the Housing Corporation needs to amend the point system it uses to allocate housing, then do that. But stop upholding a policy that limits a person's selfdetermination in health, economic, and social sufficiency through housing, because that is not fair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
