Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
WHEREAS housing is a major priority of the government and of all people in the Northwest Territories;
AND WHEREAS virtually every resident in the majority of northern communities in the Northwest Territories is an eligible candidate for social housing, as they do not have access to housing that is affordable, suitable or adequate;
AND WHEREAS the 1992 housing needs survey has identified the need for 30,584 units of new social housing, an increase of over 14 percent over the 1990 levels;
AND WHEREAS the population in the Northwest Territories is growing at twice the national average;
AND WHEREAS the federal government will reduce, by 59 percent, the federal funding for cost shared social housing in the Northwest Territories by 1993;
AND WHEREAS the federal government has historically been responsible for fostering, and assisting, aboriginal persons who choose to relocate from life on the land to housing in permanent communities;
I MOVE that this Assembly condemns the actions taken by the Government of Canada of reducing the federal funding for cost shared social housing in the Northwest Territories;
AND FURTHER that the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, the Honourable Don Morin, should vigorously continue his efforts to resolve the issue of funding for cost shared social housing, by immediately developing a strategy to pursue this issue with the Government of Canada, including the Prime Minister, for the reinstatement of federal housing funding in the Northwest Territories to the 1991 level;
AND FURTHERMORE that such a strategy should include the following:
1. Ensuring the input and involvement of M.L.A.s, the aboriginal leadership of the Northwest Territories, National aboriginal leaders, and M.P.'s for Nunatsiaq, and the Western Arctic, and to research the legal responsibility of federal government to provide housing to residents of the Northwest Territories, including housing for status Inuit, and Indian.