Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There were a few things that I forgot to mention. Mr. Chairman, if I sound like I'm being very critical about this, it is not to say that I think the corporation is doing a very bad job. I'm being critical in hopes that someone down in Ottawa is reading the Hansard of our Assembly, including Dingwall. First of all, I would like to encourage the Minister to, as he mentioned in his opening remarks, have the Housing Corporation take over GNWT staff housing. In just about all the communities I have visited, one of the things I have observed, Mr. Chairman, is that public housing has been better maintained than GNWT staff housing. When the corporation takes over GNWT staff housing, I'm hopeful that the Minister will seriously consider having the local housing associations and authorities maintain these houses.
The other thing is, I wanted to say, for the record, that I remember -- and this is way before the Government of the Northwest Territories was born -- when the federal government started building public housing. Most, if not all Inuit, were in huts. I remember when the area administrator of the federal government started allocating houses in Pangnirtung. Our family was approached and told that we had a unit; however, my Dad was not enthusiastic about it. My mother at the time went ahead and moved, taking all the kids with her, to the house, leaving Dad behind because he was reluctant to move into public housing. Dad was alone in the hut for more than one week but finally gave in and moved in with the family.
At the time -- and I'm sure the Minister has heard this all over Nunavut -- the rent was $18 a month. I can't remember, some were as low as $2 a month, I think. As a result, as I indicated earlier, there's a cultural difference in terms of looking at owning a home. Most Inuit communities have been exposed to public housing for a very long time. Initially, the federal government provided it and eventually, 20 years ago, the GNWT took it over. A lot of families remember that and it has been one of the obstacles, I think, in trying to get people to start owning their own homes. That has always been an argument.
There are still some huts that exist today, Mr. Chairman. One is in Clyde River and is owned by the elders. Traditionally, these huts only had one entrance but, because of how chaotic things could get, his hut had to have two entrances. I think it had something to do with fire safety. It's not even practical now to build your own hut if that's what Inuit families choose to do. In situations like this, what do we do? I really hope someone down in Ottawa is reading the Hansard.
Another thing too, we have a lot of women working with reasonable incomes and even single mothers have gotten by, but this rental increase is going to have an impact on them. It's hard enough being a single parent, looking after children. A day's work is never over for a single mother and there are day care expenses they have to pay. A lot of these women are support staff, administrative clerks and things like that. This rental increase is going to have an impact on these individuals. It seems that when anything happens, it is always women who get affected the most. Those are the things that I wanted to say for the record, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.