Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed, this is a very serious situation that has developed over this past summer and with the cold weather coming we have approximately 20 to 30 people in Iqaluit who have been using that shelter and the facility was not able to sustain that number because of overcrowding. I am wondering, in the new facility does the Minister have any idea if indeed we would be enlarging that facility to allow for more people to take advantage of the homeless shelter because of the need in Iqaluit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have actual numbers and estimates of how many this facility will be able to hold, but what I can say is, because of the growth in Iqaluit and the natural migration of people from other parts of Nunavut into that community that the number of homeless is sure to increase, and are increasing as of today. Our hope is that the new facility will be opened in October and there are these societies and groups that are working together to try to make it suitable and adequate for the numbers that will require this shelter. I believe that once the facility is opened we will likely find that there will be more homeless than can be housed, but that is my personal projection. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious concern and the Minister is right, that quite a few of the people actually using the shelter are coming from outside of Iqaluit. I am wondering, with the dramatic increase

in the homeless that we are seeing in Iqaluit, is there any way that the Minister could commit at this time with help from his department, and hopefully Health and Social Services, we could put some kind of contingency plan in place from other agencies of this government to help us alleviate this problem? Right now, the resources in Iqaluit from Town Social Services are being stretched to the limit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is involved through the Housing Corporation's contribution of monies for the operations and maintenance and the conversion of this building to a homeless shelter. The Department of Health and Social Services is also involved with some funding. We also have ensured that there is a staff home put into this group. The Emergency Shelter Society, the Town Social Services, the Regional Social Services and the Inuit Society are all working together and combining what resources are there, along with the government, to ensure that the homeless shelter is as suitable as possible given the resources. As I said, we are dealing with a growing problem. We are dealing with homeless, generally jobless people who are going to Iqaluit, in this case, to look for work and in many cases not finding any. In many cases dealing with the housing authority. The Department of Social Services is working to its maximum capacity. Thank you.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past 18 months, as the Minister knows, and I appreciate the support that his department has been giving me and the people of Iqaluit who are working on this issue, but like I said, we passed a motion last year with the Baffin leaders and we did it again this year. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that indeed, the facility that is planned, will not be big enough to handle the capacity that was in the shelter before it closed down. I am wondering if the Minister and maybe some other Ministers in the House, could help coordinate a working group to help me and the people of Iqaluit deal with this very serious and pressing issue over the next couple of days so I can get back to my constituency that something proactively is being done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I can safely say that the resources we have in the Housing Corporation and the department are ones where they are at the level that we can commit to at this point in time. That is to say that all other resources are spoken for at this time, but we are working very closely with other agencies. You have to remember that there are other communities, Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay, in Nunavut who are dealing with this, in addition to the very severe shortage of general public housing across Nunavut and we are also facing a similar situation in the western Arctic.

The only thing I could add is that we have approached Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and asked them at the Baffin Leaders Summit to allocate their projected surplus into the homeless in Nunavut and, as I recall from the meeting that we had with them, they said they would take it to their board. Also, the mayor of Iqaluit recently sent a strong message to all mayors in the Baffin to ensure that their councils and the housing authorities in the communities were aware of this problem, and that the town of Iqaluit was having a very difficult time dealing with the housing needs of people, in general from outside the Iqaluit area and from other communities. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you. To allow for translation, we will pause momentarily between the question and the responses. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the honourable Member is speaking about elders' facilities where there are additional supports that are provided besides just basic rent. I believe there are meals and some homemaker services. I do not know exactly for his particular question, on which facility, which community he refers to, but I can certainly get that information for him and advise him on that. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I realize there are some extra duties in this arrangement such as meals and I believe that a person stays through the night to oversee

the elders, but at the same token, if we were to take this elder and put them in a residence, pay for the residence, pay for the heat, the power, the upkeep, certainly there would not be that much of a difference between that and housing them in the so-called elder centres. My question to the Minister is, would he consider reviewing the rent, the fee that these elders pay, with a special look at elders or hardship cases? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly would be willing to take a look at it. I did want to make the point again that we are talking about extended level care facilities and not just basic accommodation. There is a difference in that respect, where an individual is or does have 24-hour care available to them. Certainly I do not think there are any financial hardships on the individuals who may be in those types of situations because our support system allows for individuals to not be penalized and not have to endure financial hardships in accessing services from this government. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I beg to differ with the Minister because I have spent many visits to the elders' centre in my community and I know, from seeing first-hand that there are hardships. For example, if the fee is $720 a month and the elder gets $900 a month through his Old Age Pension, that does not leave a lot of money. My question would be, the Minister indicated that they have a service where they off-set to ensure that there are not any hardships. What formula do they use to make sure that elders do not find themselves in a situation where they have no money to buy, whether it be tobacco or personal supplies and so on? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can vaguely recall this issue because it came forward in this House. It was one of the major reforms under long-term care and standardization of the rates that we had in our extended care facilities and we are talking about three years ago. At that time, there was an accommodation made, where I believe, raised the level of disposable income for all residents to approximately $200 a month, $150 to $200 a month range for individuals because all their other expenses, if they were in these extended care facilities, would be looked after by the government. Thank you.