Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Often in this House, I take the opportunity to speak on issues where improvements are needed. Today, I would like to focus on an area where improvements are beginning to happen.
On January 22nd a productive housing meeting was held in Rae. The Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, the staff and I met with the chief and members of the housing board to reach an agreement on a number of principles to improve housing services in the Dogrib communities.
The basic principles that will guide housing in the North Slave include an independent local housing organization which will be created and presented to the Grand Chief and council so that it progresses with self-government. This framework will then be brought to the public for consultation and final ratification. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation will engage in an agreement with the Dogrib Rae band to provide public housing and some of the programs. Mr. Speaker, housing concerns are without a doubt the most frequent issue that I hear about. Hopefully this new agreement will set us on the right path as we move towards self-government.
Mr. Speaker, at the meeting in January we agreed that the ideas for the formation of a fully-elected board will be brought before the grand chief and council on or before the end of this week for ratification. After the input from the chief and council, the Minister and I will have a public meeting in Rae-Edzo. Our aim is to finalize the mandate of this new housing organization with as much public input as possible. We hope to complete this process and be ready for implementation by April 1st of 2003. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.