I’m quite pleased to hear that autism and programs in the North for autistic children will be on the transition document going into the 17

Assembly. What I was asking is that

the Minister is going to be the Minister for the next couple of months, regardless of the election. There’s a great opportunity for the Minister to direct his staff to start doing some research into the alternate programs that exist in southern Canada. Every jurisdiction in this country offers programming for autistic children except the Northwest Territories. I’m asking that he in the interim have his department start doing the research and pulling together some facts and information and preparing some quality analysis of what’s out there so that we or the future 17

Assembly can make some

informed decisions on autism programming here in the Northwest Territories.

Some of that work is already being done or has been done at headquarters. It is an issue that I, as well, am familiar with. I do have recollections of dealing with

it when I was Minister previously. I’ll commit to the Member that that information update is available.

I look forward to receiving an update on the research that they’ve already done.

Once again, this is an incredibly changing field. More information is coming forward all the time. We’re learning new things about autism. New programs are being developed. I’m asking the Minister to go out and research some of the new programs that exist. I know that in Alberta they’re doing very proactive and productive things. I’d like the Minister to commit to having... I did provide the Minister, as an example, with a large list of programs that are offered in Alberta, and I would like the Minister to have his department look into those programs and provide a bit of analysis on what aspects of those programs might be doable here in the Northwest Territories, given our limited financial situation, and which ones can and can’t. I’m looking forward to a commitment from the Minister to actually look at some of the program areas that I did provide to him.

As I indicated, there is some work being done, and I do thank the Member for all the work that he did pull together. Of equal importance, I believe, and I know that there are very many capable people that I know who are dealing with autism with family members, that I think of equal value would be to find out what kind of supports could be put in place within the resources available to assist them. I know that over the years they’ve done an incredible amount of good work. Just on their own, often with little or no support from government, and they’ve amassed a very, very valuable amount of information and experience. It would be helpful to see how things could be done better in the North.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Minister. There are a lot of good things that some of the private citizens of this territory have done. We still have citizens who are looking for services in the Northwest Territories and they’re not finding anything that suits their child’s needs.

I did provide the Minister -- as I indicated in my last question -- a large list of different program areas that are new, and unique, and cutting edge in Alberta. I know that some of these organizations would be willing to come up here and help. I am just asking the Minister to commit in his reviewing, to actually contact some of these organizations, and have some of these organizations and his department look at some of the alternatives that exist that may not have existed when they did their original analysis. It’s a simple question. Will he commit to having his department look at some of these alternatives? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was under the impression that I committed to two things: to look at the information that the Member provided, as well of equal importance to look at what Northerners have learned and what experiences they have amassed and the things they have been able to do in a very, very effective way here in the North. I think there should be a combination of the two. So, yes, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke of policies of the Housing Corporation that need to change to provide work incentives and try to develop some sort of market in small, rural and remote communities. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister if the Housing Corporation is going to be working on some sort of policy, or if he’s going to be directing the corporation to actually make changes in the rent scale to provide work incentives on reviews that are being done by the corporation now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members know, there’s been a lot of work done on the Shelter Policy Review in the last little bit. Part of that review was looking at the rent scale. I have met with committee. I’ve given a bit of an update on some of the work that’s been done. I can inform this House that the rent scale review, for the most part, has been completed. We are hoping to use a lot of the data and some recommendations in there in the transition document to the 17

Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

Because it’s very important to communities and it’s something that the communities have complained about frequently over the last several years, I’d like to ask the Minister when he anticipates that there will be some sort of positive impacts of the rent scale in as far as developing work incentives. I mean, it’s not really the corporation’s responsibility to develop work incentives, to remove these incentives from the rent scale for working. Thank you.

I believe a lot of the work done on the rent scale review goes a long way in addressing some of the concerns that have been raised by Members of the Legislative Assembly and folks across the Territories. I think folks, for the most part, will be pleased with some of the information that will be coming out.

Again, because it’s such a major decision and one that requires a little more work, I think it would be

best if it were put into a transition document as part of the 17

Legislative Assembly, and they can have

a look at it and determine how early they want to roll this thing out. But most of the work has been done and, again, the decision, because it’s a major policy shift, would be one that would be made early in the 17

Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

The Public Housing Program for the most part should essentially be a stock program that helps people in a certain state of their life. If the government is directing staff or putting in a transitional document removing the disincentives to work, then will this government or will this Minister direct staff to further develop a process so that public housing people can easily transition into homeownership? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is one of our goals: to work with the tenants in public housing and make the transition into homeownership as seamless as possible. We are hoping with all the new information... We are just completing the evaluation of the Housing Choices Program, which some recommendations again will be made early in the life of the 17

Assembly. I think, all in all, Mr.

Speaker, a lot of good work has been done that has been addressing a lot of concerns that were raised in this House with motions passed. We’ve heard in every community that we’ve travelled to about some of their concerns. I think the new document will go a long way to answering a lot of questions and coming up with solutions, a lot of concerns that people have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. As a representative from a small community, we were seeing one program in the Housing Corporation, the programs, I’m sorry in the Housing Corporation, are there to address all the housing concerns across the Territories, whether you live in a larger centre like Yellowknife, Hay River, or Fort Smith. That same program is used to address the issues in small communities. I would like to ask the Minister if in the transition document, the Minister could ensure that there is a different set of programs for small communities versus larger communities contemplated for the next government. Thank you.

That would be part of the Housing Choices Evaluation Program, if there is a difference in small communities versus small communities. As I said, it’s an evaluation we are undertaking right now. We are expecting to have -- as I said in committee the other day -- a preliminary report hopefully done by the end of our term here. So we are still available. We would be able to have a quick glance at it, and it would be a transition document and recommendations to the 17

Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Before I go to the next Member, I’d like to recognize in the gallery the presence of the chief from Behchoko, Mr. Clifford Daniels.

The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the housing situation in Nunakput. Mr. Speaker, is the government allocating necessary resources for Nunakput to get our fair share in housing resource dollars with regard to the upkeep and the units in the communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We try very hard to distribute the resources for housing fairly across the Northwest Territories. I think if we add up the numbers, we’ll find the smaller communities get a higher average of money than some of the larger communities. I know in the Member’s community alone, Paulatuk, the one he referenced, this year there was a $2 million investment in the community. That’s with the homeownership, the MNI work that’s being done. We recognize some of the units need some work, and we’ve been fortunate the last few years that we’ve been able to allocate a lot of funds to some of these smaller communities across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

It’s good to see $2 million being spent in Paulatuk. But Sachs Harbour has been waiting for a unit since I started my term here three and a half years ago, almost four years ago. Is the Minister going to put in his transition document to the 17

Legislative Assembly a four-plex or

something for Sachs Harbour? I hope to be here to push that through, but is the Minister going to do that?

We recognize the fact that some of our communities have gone longer without units being put in their communities than others. We are starting to recognize the fact that some of the smaller communities now are being left behind a bit, so they are going to need an investment. I can assure the Member that I will make a recommendation that the smaller communities and the one he brings up quite regularly, and rightfully so, Sachs Harbour, does need an investment in infrastructure on the housing side in their community. Thank you.