Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the most important things any person can have is a safe place to call home. Sadly, in the Northwest Territories there are people who do not have a home. They sleep wherever they can find some shelter. Often, this shelter does not meet basic needs. This problem is particularly severe in Yellowknife and Iqaluit. I am proud to say that the NWT Housing Corporation

is working with partners in Yellowknife and Iqaluit to provide homeless people with basic shelter.

In Iqaluit, the corporation worked with the Emergency Shelter Society, the Iqaluit Housing Authority, Iqaluit Health and Social Services, the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and the Illitit Society to replace the town's shelter. The old shelter was closed because it did not meet the standards necessary for healthy living conditions. The corporation provided the Iqaluit Housing Authority with $57,000 to renovate a one-bedroom public housing duplex for a new shelter.

In Yellowknife, the corporation is working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment on a ten-bed shelter. This pilot project should be opening soon. I would like to thank the many people who supported this project, especially the Honourable Charles Dent and the Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Roy Erasmus.

Mr. Speaker, these two projects are examples of what can be accomplished when government and community organizations work together. Through cooperative efforts like these, we can all make the north a better place to live. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause