Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member raises probably one of the most fundamental issues that the Housing Corporation is dealing with, not only in Fort Liard but elsewhere in the NWT.
In particular, in Fort Liard we’ve been fortunate in that we’ve got a very good partner in the Hamlet of Fort Liard, and in particular, we’ve seen some really good advancements made over the last year and a half.
In Fort Liard we had some housing stock that had previously been under the control of the Kotaneelee Housing Authority, which was an old federal program. The hamlet has really come to the table to work with the Housing Corporation very closely on all aspects related to housing and is very keen on the development of a working relationship, not only with the Housing Corporation but to take on responsibility for housing in the community. That’s proven to be a very good partnership, not only relating to the houses in Fort Liard but also on the identification of land and lots in Fort Liard.
In the case of the Nahendeh in general, we’ve also seen an improvement lately with some recent staff changes, as well as some increased focus on working with communities on the identification of lots.
Throughout the Northwest Territories, though, land is going to continue to be an issue. It’s an issue not only with regard to the Affordable Housing Initiative,
but it’s also an issue with respect to securing some of the land tenure that has been a problem with the Housing Corporation over a number of years.
That’s something we consider to be one of our highest priorities: continuing to deal with the land, identifying land needs so we can move forward. We
also want to look at where some of the land issues are that have existed for a number of years related to tenure and securing that tenure but doing it in a way where we work closely with the communities. This way we can not only identify areas where we need to secure tenure but also work with the communities from the perspective of overall community development.