Thank you Mr. Speaker. Since the last sifting of the Legislative Assembly, I have taken the opportunity to be in my riding, meeting and talking to people in Baker Lake and Arviat. Within the last three months, I have had the pleasure of visiting Arviat three times, and all three times I have stayed with a gentleman by the name of Solomon Kugak, and, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that he is here with us today.
Despite the wonderful company of my host, he lives in one of the earlier prefabricated three-bedroom houses which were built in the early to mid-1960s. I used to live in one of these houses when I was growing up in Baker Lake. At that time, they were one of the better houses, but by today's standards they should be condemned. Yet people continue to live in them because of the shortage of houses in the Territories. These houses have no running water; therefore, no flush toilets, only honeybuckets. They have been rehabbed so many times that the layers of panelling are probably as thick as the insulation inside the walls.
The ceiling of Solomon's house is very low, and he uses one of the bedrooms as an office. Like many dart players, he has a dart board in the room. The ceiling is so low that when I throw my darts, one out of five darts will hit the shade of his light bulb which is taped to the ceiling; taped to the ceiling because the shade is a piece of cardboard. The tiles which make up the ceiling are failing apart. This leaves big patches in the ceiling where you can see the insulation of the ceiling.
This is far from the worst scenario in the NWT, because there are other people in other communities which live in shacks or tents. But to experience such conditions again after so many years makes me think that there is more which can be done for our people in the NWT, from my corner of the world. Thank you.