Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a very important issue downtown in Yellowknife is the wellness and recovery centre. Many of the residents in my riding, in Yellowknife Centre, are concerned. But equally so, I've talked to many of my community colleagues, including my good friends deep into the far reaches of the territory, all wondering the same thing, where their wellness and recovery centre is. Is Yellowknife getting everything again they say, and I say to them I support my communities and colleagues, but I'm concerned about that particular messaging that that does.
So maybe the Minister of health could give an actual update as to where the wellness and recovery centre project is, because I know they filed for a building permit with the city of Yellowknife, so something must be happening. Can she give the House an update. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the wellness recovery centre in Yellowknife, as many may be aware, that there was a large federal announcement for that and right now, the Member is accurate, there are the as sorry, as there is moving forward on the accessing the land from the city and then for the permits and stuff, and then I guess they'll be the plan is to have it I think it's 2024, this coming year, to have the RFP go out, so for the building. And then, you know, if everything moves along smoothly, I think it would be hopefully before the end of my term, then we would have this facility, wellness recovery facility open within Yellowknife. But that doesn't take the fact away that we are continuously working with Indigenous governments and that we're trying to work with them on how to provide wellness within each region because that is the message that we heard. We all heard. We heard from Indigenous governments. My department is fully aware of those engagements that need to take place. Myself, as a Minister, is willing to engage with any Indigenous government that wants to, you know, discuss what they vision in their regions. And so, you know, because we say Yellowknife is getting this, you know, I can't gladly, as the government, will take money from the federal but it's them to decide where that goes, so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I want to make sure it's clear to the House, and certainly the public, the merits of the project, they're not being debated in any form whatsoever. So I don't want anyone to misunderstand.
So, Mr. Speaker, with respect to the accessibility of information on this particular project, what is the Minister doing from the department's point of view of promoting and educating the public as to each step of what's happening? Because the impacts have neighbours and communities very concerned. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, as to what the department and what has been done, you know, there's been a long engagement within the city of Yellowknife. As a Regular Member who sat on the other side, I am not from Yellowknife, but I know I sat in many conversations and many concerns that other Yellowknivs Members that were bringing forward, so I know that there's been long ongoing conversation. If the Member wants to discuss further what is being done and what needs to be done, I'm willing to have that conversation with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Perhaps my question was just too simple, Mr. Speaker. I'll go about it this way: Can the Minister put all information on the health and social services website as to the stages and where it is with respect to this particular project and where it's going? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, I will work with my department to make sure that the steps of the process are public. Thank you.
Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the issues the Minister raised herself specifically in one of the questions was accessibility to land, and we had we cannot let that pass without questioning what does that actually mean? Does the department have access to the full land that they intend to put the project on, or is there a further complication the public, including myself, am not aware of? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with that question I'll have to get back to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Question 48-20(1):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the housing Minister. First off, why is maintenance chronically underfunded? I'm curious to know what circumstances caused this challenge so we can better understand it as we're priority setting. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Housing NWT.
(audio) maintenance with housing units is not chronically underfunded. We do have a budget for maintenance. It's throughout the Northwest Territories. A lot of times what we're finding is with timelines and entry into housing units, it sometimes crosses wires where the maintenance doesn't get done and we have to follow up with the tenants. We do have a budget. It is in place year after year. Sometimes that maintenance issue is pushed forward, but we do try our best to get the unit maintained to a safe manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Another question I have about Housing NWT is why do we cap the number of units in a community? And to give an example, Mr. Speaker, the Minister announced that the 50unit project in Yellowknife, which I'm very excited about, but that won't actually result in more units of NWT Housing units in the community. So I'm curious to hear from the Minister why that is.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Why we cap the number of units in a community, most proposals and most funds from the federal government are provided by proposal. Unlike the Indigenous governments, we don't have actual distinctionbased funding where a lump sum is provided to the government. Sometimes we're fortunate as a government to be able to be provided some funds, but most funds provided to this government are provided for specific projects. There's no need to cap projects or cap units or cap communities. It's based on needs. It's based on waiting lists, like the waiting list in Yellowknife. We have 330 people on the waiting list here in Yellowknife. We're providing what we can. We have over 330 units in Yellowknife. We do lease in Yellowknife to provide some of that stop gap between people waiting on the waiting list, but there's no intention to cap, and we do what we can with the funds that are provided. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for the answers. So just coming back to the Minister's answer to my first question, I mean, it seems to me when I say chronically underfunded, what I'm speaking to is I'm constantly hearing from constituents, and the situation I've seen from myself, is that it seems like we don't have the means to maintain our stock. So I would just ask the Minister directly, I mean do we not need to increase funding in order to stabilize the capital budget to continue building and repairing units in the territory? Thanks, Mr. Speaker.
I'm just going to put my earpiece thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, I would love the support of this House to increase the maintenance budget for housing units across the North. There is so much work to be done. I mean, throughout the campaign, everyone was knocking on doors. We all know the conditions of homes in the North, and we know that there's a lot of work to do. And if we can do that as a House in our priorities and planning session, absolutely, let's look at that and let's increase that budget. But, again, like the finance Minister says, we're in a fiscal restraint and we have to be careful of where we're committing to at this point, but let's have that discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
