Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak about the $50 million that we received from the federal government in regard to housing in the Northwest Territories which has to be expended over the next two years.
Mr. Speaker, this is a perfect opportunity for this government to take concerns raised in this House from groups such as Persons with Disabilities, the Seniors’ Society of the Northwest Territories and also from our communities in regard to finding ways to have barrier-free housing built in our communities to assist people with disabilities, people that are in wheelchairs, the aging population in our communities, but, more importantly, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that we basically have the infrastructure in our communities.
Mr. Speaker, it has been some time since this government has put in seniors housing in our communities and I’ve heard my colleague in regard to the situation in Holman Island, I’ve heard the same thing in regard to the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik and finding ways to replace these facilities, and also find facilities for the communities.
Mr. Speaker, the government has already implemented seniors’ housing in communities in regard to Dettah, Ndilo, Fort McPherson, other communities which already have a blueprint on the drawing board where they own the blueprint, they have built these facilities already, so there’s no need to go back to the drawing board. We have two years to expend this money and I’d like to recommend to the government that they consider putting seniors care facilities in our communities and also have barrier-free houses built for people with disabilities in our communities.
I think it’s a totally perfect opportunity for this government to do what I’ve stated, because we have seniors in our social housing system who have gotten themselves into a situation where there’s no one there taking care of them. There’s no family members allowed to live with them because there is a burden on that senior when it comes to assessing rent. I think we have to get away from that. We have to develop seniors facilities where there is safe, secure housing for seniors, and have a system where we have caretakers in those units.
We need to have a system where it’s located on one side of town rather than seniors spread out all over the community. That’s the type of care the seniors are asking for and the type of housing I’d like this government to seriously consider with the $50 million we have to spend over the next two years.
With that, I will be asking the Minister of Housing if that can be part of the priorities put forward in spending this $50 million.