Mr. Kakfwi.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. In my Member's statement today, I mentioned the housing situation on the Hay River reserve. There is a new housing initiative by the Minister called access to housing. It still does not address the poor people and the people who cannot afford to maintain their own units. What has been done to address the situation on the reserve where they have not been given access to any kind of public housing?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The access to home ownership program was the HAP program and it has been changed to allow lower income people to access the program because we have the maintenance portion in the program now, so the incomes are lower. We also have, in the access program, special projects, mostly to elders who cannot afford to operate a unit with running water, a furnace and items which use a great deal of electricity. This is a very basic unit that would operate from a wood stove with propane or fuel backup. Those are the programs which are available on the reserve. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Speaker, last Friday I was on the reserve and met with the district manager. At that time the district manager did say there was no allocation designated for the reserve, there were no special projects or access to housing projects, nothing. My concern, Mr. Speaker, is that we are still not addressing the issue of social housing for people who cannot afford to maintain or support themselves. I am talking about senior citizens and social assistance recipients. Because of it being a reserve, this government has never addressed the public housing issue for the reserve. There are still many homeless people who cannot afford the initiatives this government has. The only other alternative, Mr. Speaker, is public units. I would like to ask whether he intends to put public units on the reserve to address the people who do not fit into those particular programs?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure of the allocation to the reserve for this year. All the allocations are made according to the needs survey. If the Member says there are no allocations, I guess that is true because he would know. I understand the problem Mr. Gargan has. I have asked, in my last meeting with the Minister of Indian Affairs, Mr. Siddon, about allocations to treaty Indians for housing. He basically has said that responsibility has been transferred to the territorial government. I cannot find where it was transferred and I am still researching that issue.

I was on the reserve in the spring to meet with the band to talk about public housing and housing in general on the reserve. I believe at that time we were going to follow it up with another meeting to see how we could address those people's needs and see whether the reserve actually wanted to get into public housing and possibility get into a rut that has created some problems in other communities. Maybe there might be another way of addressing those needs, other than the conventional public housing program. I understand that the reserve has an elders' facility. That is social housing similar to public housing that is going to be open soon. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Arvaluk.

Minister of Renewable Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We heard on Friday night from the European parliament that the meeting was confirmed. We have been trying to get a meeting with them for a few days. We finally received confirmation that we will be meeting with them. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know what you call this, maybe it is a decision in haste or not very well planned out. How does he expect to make a strong presentation with a high impact when, in fact, I suspect the regional wildlife federations or the Inuit or other aboriginal organizations have not really been consulted as to what position the Minister or government will be taking when meeting with the European parliament and IFAW. How does he expect to make a strong impact in a very short time when

the material has not yet been discussed regarding the GNWT's position?

Minister of Renewable Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As soon as I found out that the European parliamentarians were coming to Canada, I contacted the regions to see if they were going to hold regional conferences. I am referring to HTA's regional representatives. There was one being held in Iqaluit for the Baffin region. I have asked them to discuss the possibility of sending a member from that group to assist me in explaining our position of renewable resources use by the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I have been dealing with this issue since I became a Minister in 1987. I had a chance to go to Europe with the former Minister of Economic Development to state our position on the use of wildlife resources by our people for the purposes of economic venture. I have also been keeping contact with the Fur Institute of Canada, ISI, and the Dene Nation, TFN and Metis Association since 1987. I feel I know the subject, plus I have a staff who are dealing with fur issues extensively. They are working on the document we will be putting forward.

Our position, as a government, is we believe that sustainable development could be reached by using natural resources. Our basic principle as Dene, Inuit and Metis is that the best resources which would allow us to live comfortably and feed ourselves are renewable resources, which we have in the Northwest Territories. I feel qualified, so do Dene people and Metis people, to speak to the issue. They have been touched by the animal rights movement to the core of their hearts. I know my family was effected and Mr. Arvaluk's family was also effected when the seal hunting was being attacked by the animal rights people. As a result, through the initiative of ITC, this government, the Dene Nation and Metis Association, Greenpeace of Canada backed off from their fight to allow aboriginal people to harvest. They recognized that the aboriginal people need to harvest natural resources in the Northwest Territories. They are supportive of us. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am confident the Minister knows the subject of the European ban on importing seal skins in our northern economy. I am also confident that he is knowledgeable about the northern life-style because he lived it, as he mentioned. Mr. Speaker, will he be speaking, arguing and answering questions on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this meeting is going to be between politicians. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Ningark. Point of order, Mr. Kakfwi.