As mentioned, the Sahtu Training Partnership Committee that's formed I would be willing to meet with that group as well and we can get some dates in place for the Member to see the best time to make the visit into the Sahtu.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently the Housing Corporation announced a plan to build 40 new units for RCMP housing, new energy-efficiency units. Would the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation answer some questions about this? The federal government got out of RCMP housing because it was no longer cost-effective. Why is our financially challenged government taking this on and how we will make it cost-effective? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government is actually getting out of the provision of housing for RCMP officers effective April 1, so we don't have a lot of time to work on this. Their reasoning is that they don't want to do the retrofitting to the current housing that they're in. The NWT Housing Corporation is not looking at taking on their current housing, but providing services to the RCMP. Because of economy of scale, it's easier for us to provide all of the housing versus having to have them negotiate individually with market housing before April 1st. Thank you.

We've heard a lot about how our priorities have to be tempered by our fiscal restraints. I think there's a concern for many people that if the Housing Corporation is overreaching with new projects we may not have enough resources to go to very important social housing. Would the Minister tell us where this money is going to come from and whether or not it is confirmed spending?

Nothing at this moment is confirmed. We're still in negotiations with Justice and the federal government. Once we decide upon it, we would be putting in a request to the Financial Management Board. The money, actually, will not take away from social housing at all. In fact, it will help to provide social housing. Within the next 15 years -- 2032, in fact -- CMHC is expected to delete all of their funding for social housing, so we need to look at revenue sources to be able to continue to provide social housing and this is one method.

Is the Minister proposing that this plan to building RCMP housing is going to be a revenue-generating option for the GNWT? Is the government interested in being a landlord?

Currently, actually, the Housing Corporation does have some market housing. One of the reasons is that within the communities it's hard to find housing for professionals such as teachers, nurses, et cetera, RCMP as well. So yes, it will be a revenue base that we can actually use towards maintaining of our social housing.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question would be: what will happen to the existing stock of RCMP housing? I believe it's over a hundred units. That seems like a sufficient amount and I can't image that they all are in a position to be demolished. I'm sure there's some units we might be able to use. Can the Minister update us on what the quality of the stock is and what the plan to dispose of it is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Actually, there's only 45 units that the RCMP are interested in negotiating. All of their units, they are not interested in retrofitting them. The Housing Corporation is not interested in taking on their old housing either. So they are going to be trying to sell them into the market community, and if not then they'll negotiate with the Housing Corporation to take them on based on land value only.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, as you recall during our election period, I have had a lot of concerns about negotiations, whether its self-government or land claims. Some of these land claims and self-government agreements have gone on for almost 20 years now, with spending in the neighbourhood of $20 million, and then, whether it is a land claim group or the government that is negotiating, they receive that much less. There are some challenges, for example. The reason I know this is eight years ago, these same issues were a challenge at the time, whether it is core principles and objectives or taking over programs at the current level. My question to our honourable Premier is: when can we expect the outstanding land claims negotiations to be completed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have made a commitment to work to negotiate all outstanding land claims in the 18th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That sounds great. It would be great if we could do that over the next couple of years here. That opens up a lot of our territory to development. But the biggest challenge is to ensure that we do this. I would like to ask the Premier: Will we be changing our negotiating mandate to ensure that we have a common interest to settle both land claims and self-government agreements?

In reviewing some of the reasons for why it has taken so long, and as the Member indicated, in some instances, it has been 20, 25 years of negotiations. We have met with the Aboriginal governments to try to determine the problems, the stumbling blocks that have stopped us from settling these claims a lot earlier than this. We’ve had very good discussions. I think part of it is the mandates that are in place that don't allow us any flexibility. As I have said before, we have met with the federal Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and outlined how we saw us going forward. They are very open to it. The Prime Minister, during the federal election, wrote to us and indicated that their objective is to settle their outstanding land claims in a very facilitated manner. We have all agreed to work together. We have followed up with the federal Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs with a letter outlining how we see us moving forward and our officials will be getting together. Right now, we feel very positive about the possibilities.

My final question here. That really sounds great. In what sort of timeline can we actually see a change in the mandate? Is it six months or is it eight months or two months?

Just as an example, the Gwich'in rolling draft self-government agreement-in-principle is currently being negotiated by the Government of Northwest Territories, the Government of Canada, and the Gwich'in Tribal Council. The Gwich'in Tribal Council have expressed their desire to have the rolling draft completed by the end of March 2016. Both governments are committed to negotiating an agreement that meets everyone's interests as quickly as possible. However, there are several remaining outstanding issues to be resolved. We are going to work very hard to address these outstanding issues so that we could have an AIP in a very timely fashion.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about some housing problems faced by the elders in my riding. My question for the Minister is: has the Minister written out any sort of plan to address housing problems as identified in the 2009 Housing Needs Survey. Thank you.

Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 2009 is seven years past. It is a little bit outdated. In April, the NWT Housing Corporation is putting out a new survey to all LHOs, all community band leaders, all people in housing to be able to assess what they think is the best options and then we will be developing a plan from that information that we gather. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.