Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I don't know; you know, negotiating in good faith, I don't know if the Minister is saying that the Yellowknives have no right to block the land process, I don't know if that's a statement that says anything about going in good faith. I just want to know who the GNWT is negotiating on behalf of. Are they negotiating on behalf of the GNWT, or are they negotiating on behalf of the City of Yellowknife? Basically the GNWT has made two types of land withdrawals, one for the new courthouse that's going to be situated here near the Legislative Assembly for the Department of Justice, and the other withdrawal is for the City of Yellowknife in the industrial zone. There have been no interim measure land with withdrawals agreed to with the Akaitcho Territory Government as of now, so where is that good faith? He says that the territory and the city are frustrated with Yellowknives lack of progress on their negotiations. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you there are many people in the NWT who are frustrated with this government's lack of progress on just transfer of land for housing needs, you know, and I haven't seen any significant changes in that area as of today. So I just want to ask the Minister, what actions in good faith is the Department of Aboriginal Affairs willing to take over the next couple of days? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say, first of all, that there was an interim lands withdrawal protocol that was agreed to in November 2005. Our government continues to negotiate with the Akaitcho on the withdrawal, or identification of lands withdrawal, in what's called Commissioner's land area. The federal government continues to negotiate with the Akaitcho on federal Crown land outside of where the Commissioner's land boundaries are. So, Mr. Speaker, we are working through a Lands Working Group. The Lands Working Group meets at least once a month and, in fact, has been meeting more often to identify land for withdrawal, and we continue with that process. Mr. Speaker, in the meantime, because there is no land identified as land to be withdrawn, then we have to continue to carry out our responsibilities to all of the people in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I know, the draft interim land withdrawal protocol that was agreed to by the federal government and the Akaitcho government, but not agreed to by the territorial government because of some issues that the territorial government had under the disposal of Commissioner's land. I just want to ask...You know, issues under discussion with regard to the GNWT policies on one of their land lease-only policies that the GNWT agreed to abide by with the Akaitcho Territory Government, but now they've just sort of circumvented that whole policy in itself, like a lot of other government policies, for reasons who knows why. But why doesn't the government follow its own policies if they're going to draft up a policy and get the First Nations to work with them on that policy? How come the government doesn't even do itself any justice by following their own rules? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are following the land lease-only policy. The land lease-only policy does not provide for an absolute freeze on land, but it does, consistent with the interim measures agreement with the Akaitcho and the federal government, provide for a process we have to go through in consultation where there is going to be a transfer of land. Mr. Speaker, we have been following that diligently and in no way have been circumventing our own policies or negotiating in bad faith. Mr. Speaker, we are following all of the agreements we have in place. We follow our own policy; we follow the interim measures agreement. Mr. Speaker, just one correction for the Member is that we have agreed to the interim land withdrawal protocol as of November 2005. But what has happened is there has been no interim land withdrawals, so there's nothing the protocol can apply to until there are some withdrawals. So, Mr. Speaker, we need to move along to that step at the negotiating table

and we're certainly prepared to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) My questions will be to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. This is one concern that comes from the community when I recently visited. (Translation ends)

...it is common for two or three generations of Dene family to share a home. Not only is the tradition of our culture, but also necessary for the lack of housing in our communities, Mr. Speaker. Those who work in the mines also depend on this custom of grandparents raising their children while they're at work. The reality is the head of the household, usually an elder, Mr. Speaker, is the rent payer. I would like to ask the Minister why the rent scale does not reflect this reality, by basing the rent on the income of the head of the household instead of the total household income. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason that we use the rent scale is to ensure that people don't take advantage of the social housing that we do have where it's based on the income of the whole household, not the individual. But we are looking at ways of getting people to sign co-leases with the elder and whatnot, because we found a lot of elders have found themselves in the situation where they do run into arrears and problems with arrears because individuals that have worked, their relatives and whatnot, have come lived with them and then have gone back to school or whatnot. But again, we're trying to find a way to be more flexible in that area, and one of the areas we are looking at is signing co-leases with other occupants of the unit instead of just the household. So we are looking at this problem and we're hoping to bring something forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Some are on the verge of being condemned in the communities.

Why isn't there some requirements for at least, Mr. Speaker, a certain portion of the rent be set aside for maintenance and repairs of these units? Some units are so bad that they can't even live in the household where elders are living in the mould.

Would the Minister consider putting in such a requirement within the Housing Corporation? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have an avenue by way of looking at the rent scale, but also looking at the condition rating of the unit which is subtracted from the rent where a person only pays the rent based on a subtracted money on a condition rate. So the building they are renting is in a certain condition rate, which is lower than a certain percentage and you deduct that percentage from the rent. So you don't pay the full rent. You pay rent based on the condition of the facility you are renting. So we do have that already in place. Mr. Speaker, we are hoping to be able to look at a new Supported Lease Program and I think that program going forward, we'll be able to deal with all these issues that come forward in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Mr. Speaker, every time we talk about housing, we talk about our elders and the well-being of our elders. (Translation ends)

...elders in the community, like granny in Nahanni. They pay the ridiculous prices of the units in the communities. At the same time, some community members, especially elders, are not fully aware of the process of changes, or changes within policies or regulations within the corporation mandate, which also creates a huge problem in the community with outstanding debts and owing, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be committed to provide clear direction for housing officers to ensure that they are doing everything they can to assess clients with paperwork, or counselling, or whatever is needed, so they are not paying more than they should be according to their current income? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Krutko.