Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Just reading the opening comments from the Minister, for general comments, Madam Chairperson, I want to say...Like my colleague Mr. Menicoche mentioned, in the Sahtu region housing has been a really big issue for me in terms of the services, the building of houses, and just basic, general housing. I believe, over the past year, we have made some progress in terms of taking care of those needs. We are still a long way in terms of the housing programs, especially for the community of Fort Good Hope which is in dire straights in terms of home repairs and improvements for the people, and for the elderly people in the community of Colville Lake, as the Minister made previous comments to, into the housing program.
I want to just talk, Madam Chairperson, about just one subject. There are lots of subjects we will talk on, so I want to just focus on one in terms of the Minister and the corporation's response to housing needs, focusing on the professional needs in our community, the market housing initiative that was in last year. There was a real concern in my region to get some houses into our communities for professionals who want to stay in our region. The department responded we had to work out some of the kinks there, and so I wanted to say that I see that the Housing Corporation is looking at Norman Wells having some more units go in there. We have been asking for a long time to help set up the regional Sahtu health board in our community. We have always been told that we don't have the housing units and it's been a big desire for my region to get a health board set up and I am happy that the Housing Corporation is responding by suggesting having eight units go into that community to support that initiative. I know that the people will be happy in our region.
I am the first to admit that the first year of this initiative didn't work out as well as it should have, and that the government could have done a better job with consultation and planning. However, those are the trials and errors of putting the program in right away. The program was put in pretty fast, again to meet the needs, and this program needs to be tightened up on several fronts. Still, housing is a big issue for us.
The market housing in our communities in the Sahtu is very critical, as I said before. The main focus was the professional homes for teachers, nurses and even social workers. To get these professionals into our communities was difficult. However, I think we are starting to look at a solution to it. I know from the reports, that maybe we should look at the trailers that are in there now, and redesign them and some other units. That would go faster and be more suitable for our community members who are planning to make their home in the Sahtu for a couple of years or even longer. I know the cost of the units was an issue for some of our professionals in there, and I understand that the cost will come down by having some of these units come into Norman Wells and to the other communities in the North. They would be more attractive to our communities.
I guess, Madam Chairperson, what I am saying is that in our region we are looking for these homes for professionals so we can have people stay in our communities to teach, to look after our health care system and to stay longer. For a long time we have been struggling with how to get qualified professional people to stay in our communities, and these units are nothing. They are a good step in terms of getting them into our regions. The second phase of this market housing initiative I fully support, on behalf of the Sahtu, to go ahead with it.
I looked at the report one time, Madam Chairperson, and the Sahtu had the highest needs and we had the least amount of money going into our region, in terms of repairs, and I think that is changing. I want to say that the increase of the rental scale was of some concern. I hope that we can work out some arrangements for strong financial counselling for our people who are going to move into those brackets. I know a lot of people who want to buy their own homes. Again, we are somehow caught in that dependency in terms of the government owning it and paying for all of the facilities, the utilities. Now we are
having a change of our thinking in terms of becoming homeowners in terms of owning our homes. For some of that, it is a new notion for our people to be a homeowner. It requires some changing. We look forward to some strong counselling support that housing would give to our people in the Sahtu region. Small communities like Colville Lake, who goes to bat for them from the Housing Corporation? Me, as an MLA, on a daily basis. Who works for them? Who speaks on their behalf? I don't know. They have housing issues. I am not really sure how we can work that out with communities that don't have a voice on a regular or daily basis.
Again, I go back to Fort Good Hope because that is where most of my concerns were raised as an MLA. There is concern in Fort Good Hope by the old people who have their homes that lack the repairs and services. I am just hoping that the corporation will put money into home repair in these small communities. I went to one home, Mr. Chair, in Colville Lake, where there was plywood for a floor there. You can remove the plywood, and you can see the ground. Again, I go back to the basic needs of our people and housing is a basic need that, I think, needs to be looked at seriously.
I hope that this corporation gets the money and gets some fight for money from Ottawa to give them a significant amount of money to this corporation to build those homes for our people in the communities. You have to have our own people. The money has to be there. We can't cut back. Those are basic needs for our communities we are crying for. It is critical for people in our communities to have well-built homes. I hope the department look at some of those needs that are so vital to our people in small communities.
In closing, Mr. Chair, there was an elder I saw in Tulita who is from Fort Good Hope. This elder had his house broken into over this past winter. He has plastic on his windows during 43 and 44 below. Homes like that, it is a crime. It is in a community. I don't know how he made it through the winter, but he is 74 years old. He said that he would live in that home until someone would help him look after his house. Again, housing is key for our people in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.