Merci, monsieur le President. Someone on the other side of the House may say that I'm not known for and may not recognize the good work of Cabinet. Well, today is their lucky day.
--- Laughter
More seriously, I want to recognize the work done to produce the Yellowknife Homelessness Road Map Action Plan and the individuals who contributed. The regular members of the working group who produced the plan were Jeff Anderson, NWT Housing Corporation; Sheila Bassi-Kellett, Homeful Partnership; Linda Bussey, Yellowknife City Councillor; Bryany Denning, Yellowknife Women's Society; Lyda Fuller, YWCA Yellowknife; Mayor Mark Heyck, City of Yellowknife; Catherine Lafferty, Yellowknives Dene First Nation; Matt Peggs, RCMP; and Dusty Sauder, Salvation Army.
Minister Caroline Cochrane played a key role in all of this through the Homelessness in Yellowknife Partnership Forum that took place in April of this year, that was the catalyst for this work and the resulting Action Plan. Minister Glen Abernethy has also assisted with enthusiasm, including a commitment to wrap-around services and to explore innovative harm reduction approaches.
I have reviewed the Action Plan and find it to be a balanced approach, a good mix of short, medium and long-term actions on homelessness here in Yellowknife. The actions are based on best practices and lessons learned from other jurisdictions. The plan will require an increasing investment from GNWT and other governments, but I look forward to this investment from our government in the 2017-2018 budget.
Homelessness and the situation in our downtown were the top issues during my summer engagement of residents in Frame Lake. I look forward to the action plan as a clear path and commitment to address these important issues. Again, I applaud the work done by Ministers Cochrane and Abernethy with the City of Yellowknife and others, towards a real Action Plan on Homelessness for Yellowknife. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.