Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My comments will be brief. I was just going to take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister on the efforts he's making in such an important area -- at least I've heard in this House how important it is for the smaller communities -- as housing, as it is elevated to the highest priority. I believe the Minister has taken that initiative and has gone forward to Ottawa to lobby strongly on behalf of the people that are in dire need of housing.
This is one of the most critical things in the north because of the environment that we live in. I just wanted to take this opportunity to ask the Minister to encourage that effort. Some of the larger communities are a little bit better off, there is a private market that can take care of things.
That said, Mr. Chairman, it shouldn't be taken that the larger communities are to be forgotten. I will just put a little plug in for our city here. Although we have a good, private market, there is still a need for public housing because there are a lot of people who cannot afford to live in commercial units and do require public housing.
We have a number of units that are under the control of the Housing Corporation here in Yellowknife and, in my opinion -- from what I've been able to ascertain over the years that I've been an MLA -- there are far too few. Keep in mind that the city here does attract a tremendous number of people from the outlying communities. They come here for a variety of reasons, be they medical, social or economic reasons. We have facilities here that are not found anywhere else and consequently they attract people from the communities for long-term medical treatment. We do need public housing that people in those particular categories can afford.
In addition to that, I think it shouldn't be forgotten that Yellowknife is probably the largest aboriginal community in the territories. We have many, many hundreds of aboriginal peoples that live here in this community. We should keep that in mind when allocating housing. I know that in the city and in some of the larger communities, they are not eligible for the HAP program. That, too, is a detriment to aboriginal people, Dene and Metis people, that require and should benefit from those type of programs.
I would certainly encourage the Minister to continue to look at ways and means of cutting down those barriers that prevent Dene and Metis people that live in the city, from being eligible for HAP housing outside of the areas that are already designated Ndilo and Dettah. A good number of people do live in other areas and they would certainly appreciate the consideration.
Just to reiterate the point I was making, Yellowknife has a large aboriginal population and people do come here for the variety of reasons I stated. They make their living here, and make their life here. It is unfortunate that we don't have enough housing to take care of them. With that, I just wanted to thank the Minister for the effort he's made, wish him good luck and promise him our support when it comes to his efforts in Ottawa. Those are my comments, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.