Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to reflect back as the MLA for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, going back to the 19th Assembly. I came in halfway through a by-election, and I put forward a wish list on what we wanted to see for my riding. And I brought that forward to the Premier of the day Caroline Cochrane, and I even brought it up in the House here. And when I did, what I was told was that the train had left. By that time, we were halfway through the four-year mandate and she said she'll try her best to throw my priorities on the train as it moves. And needless to say that in the last two years of that term, my luggage didn't make it on that train.
So anyway, going back to the 20th Assembly now, learning from what happened in the 19th Assembly, I put forward, on March 15th, 2024, a wish list. It was addressed to the Premier and the Ministers and outlining what we wanted to see in our riding.
I'll just briefly talk about maybe Lutselk'e, I'm talking about a winter road, dust control, housing, homeownership repairs, and that's just a couple to name off what I can remember. But also going into Dettah, our school there is over 50 years old, and it's in dire need of a new school in that community. It was on a -- it was on the capital plan back in the 19th Assembly but somehow it was taken off and never put back on. And right now that school is -- we definitely need a new school there in Dettah. N'dilo, what we need there too as well is that we have an outdated gym that's undersized for the size of the community we have. And that gym needs to be replaced and replaced with a new community hall, similar to the one that they have on the Hay River Reserve ideally will work. The school in N'dilo as well is that even though it's a newer school, they didn't put a gymnasium on there. So between Dettah and N'dilo, the kids got to walk, if it's 45 below, maybe a couple hundred yards to the gymnasium so they could use it.
So when I put my list forward in this letter to the Minister outlining what we want to see in our four communities, and I never seen a reply back to my letter. So when I look at this budget now, I am deeply concerned because that budget does not reflect on what I put forward. And I want to say that small communities do matter. Even though my riding gets less than half a percent of the overall budget, at the same time when I try and figure out where does the money go, we're rolled into South Slave region into the North Slave region, but yet I represent the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. And trying to get that name change and so that we could better understand where all that money is going. So I am disappointed that my concerns that was brought to me from my riding is not reflected in the budget.
But I want to point out one thing separate from that is that when we take an oath in this House, we sign that oath to say that we'll respect the treaties. The mace that's here today is also from the Crown. So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that I got a treaty book here. That's Treaty 8. This treaty book that was signed here in this area here, for the Dogribs in this area from Dettah, we have Chief Drygeese. Also we have one of my great great grandfathers also signed that same treaty. I just want to remind this House that when we took that oath, the treaty is alive and well. So when we get money from Ottawa from grants and contribution under this budget now is about $1.7 billion.
A few weeks ago in committee, I raised the issue about the needs of our communities, and I brought that same issue up about treaties. Where's the Crown consultation and accommodation? Because my treaty is still alive and well until I give it up, and it's still in my back pocket. So my concern here is that when I brought this up in committee to the finance Minister of the day was that the GNWT policies that are in place now are superseding my treaties, and that's concerning, Mr. Speaker.
I want to talk about -- a little bit about housing and health care. It's also in the treaties. But right across Canada right now at the AFN level, which I -- when I was a chief, I attended a lot of AFN housing meetings, and back in the day, 1999, there were about 45,000 homes short. Today we're pushing 120,000 homes. Here in the Northwest Territories, we need at least 10,000 homes to catch up. But right now, if all the HAP houses that were built back in the late '80 -- early '80s to 2000 -- give or say 2000, they're reaching their 50-year life. Right now we're pushing 40 some odd years already in those homes. If those homes are not repaired today, then the fire marshal could come in and just say that's not liveable, and they could shut it down. Then we're going to have huge problems here in the Northwest Territories. So I am deeply concerned about that.
But, Mr. Speaker, I am -- just want to talk a little bit about the budget that's presented here today is that in the 20th Assembly we put forward four priorities of this government, and right now the budget that's approved today takes up 6 percent of that budget of the four priorities we put forward. I looked at the budgets for housing, for example. No different than last year. Finance, shared corporate services this time around is $81.28 million. The housing corporation budget is $118 million. Total of $199,000. But I said -- like I said, 76 cents on the dollar that comes from grants and contribution from Canada works out to be 76 cents. But yet I cannot help my own people in Lutselk'e for repairs in their home. I was just there a few days ago, and they're really frustrated. So we wanted to put forward at least 500 homes into this budget. It didn't work out. That meant if I would have got 15 homes for my riding per year, that would have been perfect. But that didn't happen. So I'm a little disappointed about that.
So at the end of the day, again, is that the policies are superseding my treaties that are section 35 rights. But yet we get 1.8 -- $1.7 billion from Ottawa that we're managing. And then the deputy ministers as I sit here in that table here, they come in and they ask for more monies to do their jobs, but yet they can't go into Fort Resolution, Dettah, N'dilo, or Lutselk'e, or any small communities and say what's best for you; what do you guys need? Well, they don't even meet with the chief and council and the Metis council or the local governments. They just assume that they know what's best for you. They're managing that money on our behalf. So I am a little disappointed that what I see in this budget now doesn't take in consideration what I put forward in my letter. Again, small communities do matter.
I don't know what to tell the people in Fort Resolution, Dettah, N'dilo, and Lutselk'e, and all small communities for that matter that we're not fixing the problems on housing. We got a spending freeze right now in the government. Housing's on that list. So how are we going to address these problems when we don't have a plan? I brought this up when we got together with the leaders in the fall after we got elected. Maybe it's time that we have to take a look at the whole government. Why are we in this situation?
Last year I asked the question to the Finance Minister in the 19th Assembly is there going to be austerity, and the response I got back was no, not right now. We're just going to leave that to the next government. So that can was kicked over to this government. But the next four years, Mr. Speaker, we got $150 million per year and for this year, we got to do the same thing. Third year and fourth year, that's $600 million. Now we see cuts in the colleges, changes to the affirmative action policy, now to the aboriginal policy, and changes were even made to accommodate P2s.
I guess what I'm trying to say, Mr. Speaker, is that I am disappointed in the way that -- you know, I thought this government is a consensus government. We pride ourselves on that. We say we work together and we move forward. But, Mr. Speaker, I haven't seen it. As much as I want to say that, you know, yes, I could work with all -- everybody in the House, my colleagues, but it's tough. And now we're going to ask that we increase this budget, increase the debt limit. To what end?
So I am disappointed that the treaties that I just spoke about, even though parts of it is negotiated, but we got the Inuvialuit claim, we got the Gwich'in claim, Sahtu claim, Tlicho claim, the Metis that are signed the AIP. The Akaitcho's close to AIP. Deh Cho is still on the drawing board. But sooner or later, we're going to get them done. And if we get them done, then what's our relationship going to be or what's it going to look like? Because those claims and treaties have section 35 rights. It ain't going away. So we have to take that in consideration.
UNDRIP, we passed that last -- I think in the 19th Assembly. Now we're talking about implementation of that. I have not seen nothing in this book that talks about that. UNDRIP also talks about the recognition of the treaties. To catch up with the housing need in the Northwest Territories needs to be addressed. Health is also a treaty right. We call that the medicine chest.
So we really need to take a look at our own back yard. We got to take a look at how we govern ourselves. If we say that it's consensus government, let's work together. But I don't know what is happening in Cabinet until I read it in Cabin Radio. So it's really frustrating for me as an ordinary MLA looking back, watching everything unfold. I got -- we all have on this side aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories are half the majority of people here. A lot of stuff that's going to impact us, the tariffs. And I'm going to be asking the Premier about this in the next couple of days as well.
I'll use that as an example where Northern Store or Hudson Bay Company. Right now there is a Hudson Bay Company or Northern Store up and down the valley. So if the tariffs are put in, the groceries going to go up. Do we buy from that store? What impacts are we going to have in small communities? Northern Store sells gas. We rely on gas for our trapping, hunting, and fishing.
So, Mr. Speaker, what I'm saying here today is not only I'm disappointed in this budget. It didn't take into the small communities issues and concerns. The policies of this government are superseding my treaties, especially when that money comes from Ottawa and 76 cents on the dollar on grants and contribution. If I believe right, committee were also -- were told that for housing negotiable was a word used where we were trying to fight for more housing for small communities, and there were some commitments made about $50 million a year, or $50 million for the duration, but there's no guarantee we're going to get that money. So I'm really to the point where I'm going to go back and talk to my leadership, get feedback, and let them know what to do when it comes to budget again on the borrowing limit, raising the debt limit. It's going to be very tough because our communities don't get their share of money that they need to build the infrastructure they need. Again, small communities do matter, but nobody's listening.
You know, the other day I hear the Premier talking about giving how good of a job and the situation this government's doing in the last year but on this side of the House, I'm in the dark. So, Mr. Speaker, it's really concerning to me now that we're in this situation as this government goes forward trying to figure out how we're going to cut back $600 million in four years, and it will be on the backs of small communities, and I don't want to see that.
I know Cabinet is working with Council of Leaders, and I'm sure they're going to voice their concerns as well about their frustration. But right now as it is, we got to do better and do Crown consultation and accommodation. And we're not doing that. Our treaties are alive and well.
Mr. Speaker, we need to do better, but at this point I'm to the point now where I want to write a letter to King Charles saying that we have a Treaty 11, Treaty 8. The Government of Canada recognizes it in section 35. The Governor General passes that on to the provinces and the territories. But right now in small communities, it's not working. So I am going to write a letter and let the people know, King Charles, that the treaties of Canada and the Northwest Territories are not honoured and respected, and it's still alive and well.
So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to take this opportunity to do my response to the Budget Address and I am going to say mahsi. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Colleagues, I'd like to remind you this is a very heated and passionate place where we are. We're representing our constituents, and we're doing a good job. And it's our responsibility to hold Cabinet individually or collectively, to task. Unfortunately, we're not talking about deputy ministers, okay? Let's just focus on our Cabinet, our Ministers. Deputy ministers are bureaucracy. They're doing their job. They don't have that way to deal with things. So, please, be very respectful in how we do it. I appreciate the passion. I appreciate people having the ability to bring forth their concerns but we also need to be respectful of our bureaucracy and people that are not here. So just a little bit of a reminder, please and thank you.
