Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement is on housing. Our situation in Nunakput is a serious problem. In fact, the housing situation in the Northwest Territories is a serious problem. Low capital housing projects are planned for Sachs Harbour. In Paulatuk, the rental officer is flown in to deal with people’s arrears and quickly flown out again. More and more administration seems to be done out of the Inuvik regional office level and not being done in the community level. That is wrong, Mr. Speaker. The regional office is working hard and they have good staff, but often they are using Inuvik solutions for small community problems. The government says they are committed to the community capacity building. The government has to start fulfilling their promises made earlier.
Nunakput communities cannot find the manager because the money is given to the regional offices. It is so low that it is unattractive for many people in other jurisdictions. Giving smaller governments responsibility but not enough money is called downloading, Mr. Speaker. There is a serious disconnect between the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the NWT Housing Corporation in small communities. Each community must have one-stop shop where residents can go and not get the runaround, where there problems can be addressed, coordinating in a full complement of administrative services at the community level would start making a dent into the problem.
Each community must be given money, resources and a commitment is needed to fulfill the roles that they have been assigned to do. Without that, it is like setting them up to fail, Mr. Speaker. Housing core responsibility of the government such as water, health care, education, protective services. However, recent developments of the government seem to contradict this principle. This government must get serious and tackle the real issues with real solutions.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted