Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have raised this issue in the House, and also it is dear to my heart because the individual that has been affected is someone I respect dearly, and who is a widow who basically sews for supplementary income. Because of those two circumstances that she is under, she does not qualify because she happened to try to continue a cultural activity such as sewing slippers and shoes for people for weddings and dances. She has been a widow for over 10 years. Her husband worked for this government for many years. Yet, because of her having an extra income besides a pension and a widow subsidy, she basically has been disqualified.

Living in Fort McPherson, the cost of living is a lot higher because of the longer winter season we have. Also the cost to maintain a home; the home that she has is one of the old Weber units, which she paid into for almost 20 years. It is not like these are new HAP units or ACCESS units. It was a mortgage for them to qualify for those units, and her and her husband paid until the day he passed on and she continued to pay on her own. But, because of the gouging that took place in regards to this subsidy, she is not able to be eligible for something that we take dearly as an aboriginal organization and people in the North, which is to respect our elders.

The way you look at what this government is doing in the way of these cuts, they basically tried to cut the people that try to keep their dignity and their values of being independent, and take that away from them to become another statistic in an old folks home.