Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the number one issue facing small communities is the lack of employment. That means there are many opportunities for the government to create jobs within our small communities. Job creation must be strategic, and can contribute to the GNWT's financial health as well as to our communities. If there is one thing we have to do in the life of the 18th Assembly, it is to create jobs where jobs are needed most. Mr. Speaker, jobs in our small communities will have a positive impact on all communities in the NWT, including Yellowknife and the regional centres.
When our small community members are working, they will spend most of their money in the large centres. For example, you will see an increase in snowmobile and boat sales. In other words, Mr. Speaker, all boats shall rise, as the saying goes.
Mr. Speaker, homecare is one such strategic spending item. If the Department of Health and Social Services creates a homecare program in all small communities, it could keep seniors out of long-term care. As I have said many times in the House, for every senior who stays at home instead of entering a long-term care facility, the government would defer spending of $140,000 per year.
This has an additional benefit of allowing seniors to age in place, which is what they typically want to do. However, before seniors can age in place, the NWT Housing Corporation must start retrofitting seniors' homes to a level that is more barrier-free and senior-friendly. The Department of Health and Social Services and the NWT Housing Corporation must begin to put some real money behind aging in place. I am talking about improving at least 150 houses across the NWT. If we were to average five houses per community, it would create many jobs in our small communities. This would be very, very positive for Yellowknife and the regional centres. Just imagine that number, Mr. Speaker, spending $80,000 to $100,000 per unit towards aging in place over the next three years. That would be expenditures of about $15 million into our economy. That would put builders and suppliers to work.
Mr. Speaker, a community access road program are a low-cost way to create many benefits. Some benefits include increased mobility, increased productivity, savings costs for transportation of people and materials, greater access to lakes, rivers, trap-lines, campsites, and hunting grounds. Access roads provide a much-needed opportunity for people in our communities to connect with traditional areas, to provide more opportunities for other on-the-land recreational and cultural activities, and would help reduce the cost of living. Building access roads creates good local jobs and will reduce the need for some types of social spending. Increasing spending to the access road program by 50 per cent would bring the amount close to $2.5 million and would see great benefits to our residents.
Mr. Speaker, we need to put more funding into combatting addictions in our territory by working with the local Indigenous governments to create on-the-land treatment programs in each community, including Yellowknife. Support should be provided by a mobile treatment system, perhaps run out of the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the K'atlodeeche Reserve. The cost of addictions to its victims, their families, communities, our health system, and our justice system should be incentive enough. However, the added benefit to the GNWT will be a much better bottom line. Mr. Speaker, if we were to do this, we would see a large decrease in social spending and our people would be in better health.
We will create a society that is educated and ready to work. We can concentrate on our economy. We can put our money into supporting small business. The businesses, in return, can put more people to work.
Mr. Speaker, we need a new approach to the issue of absent students in our schools. Firstly, we must understand that poor attendance is usually a result of deeper social issues which are created within their homes, like parents with addictions and poverty. Parents who cannot feed their kids properly have difficulty sending them to school. The way a child acts in school is a direct reflection of what it's like at home, so if there is dysfunction in the home, the child is more likely to "act out" in ways that may be disrespectful, rude, or even dangerous. Over long periods of time, such interactions fuel a negative relationship between students and schools. Students facing these issues are far less likely to graduate high school. A student who does not graduate from high school has a greater chance of being in the social services system than one who graduates.
Children must have positive reinforcement that they can look forward to going to school. That is what will ultimately boost attendance rates. This will also result in higher graduation rates in our smaller communities. When a student graduates, it increases their potential to get a job by 25 per cent. Imagine what that would do for our economy and the finances of our government.
Mr. Speaker, we must pursue a reorientation of our correctional facilities to ensure abundant, positive opportunities to improve inmates' life skills and foster quality socialization. The aim must be to help each inmate reintegrate into society as a rehabilitated and improved individual, not a more broken and potentially more dangerous person than they were when they entered the justice system. A concentrated effort focused on inmate rehabilitation will lower the recidivism rate of inmates. There are many benefits to these programs, and some have been measured, studied, and reported.
Additionally, there should be a systematic program to help people stabilize their lives after being released. Such a program should include an element designed to eliminate all possible barriers to future employment for former inmates. A person who is rehabilitated and working in the community as opposed to being in jail will save the system more than $100,000 per year; that is the cost of incarcerating one inmate for one year.
Mr. Speaker, the land-leasing policy system in small communities must be reviewed, and the cost to community members must be lowered. I realize that the government is working on its land-leasing policy, but we have people right now who are asked to pay 10 per cent of the property value as an annual fee for renting the lot. That cost is prohibitive to most residents who would like to obtain a lease. If they cannot obtain a lease, they are unable to access Housing Corporation programs and would not be able to decrease their cost of living by making their home more efficient and comfortable. This is especially true for our elders.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Alberta has an Advancing Futures bursary that provides up to $40,000 in education funding for youth formerly in foster care, aged 18 to 24. A program coordinator is also available to assist case workers and youth with the education portion of a transition plan. The bursary is available to obtain high school equivalency through adult education for entry into post-secondary schooling, to earn a license or certificate, to learn a trade, or to earn a post-secondary diploma or degree. Advancing Futures will also assist students to learn life skills and to obtain meaningful employment. This is a system based on young people's potential and helping them overcome challenges.
In British Columbia, another good program exists for former youth-in-care, aged 19 to 26. For eligible applicants, the province will waive tuition fees for students seeking an undergraduate degree in a public post-secondary institution in the province. The program also covers apprenticeship and trades programs. I am concerned that our government does not do enough to help youth emerging from foster care into adulthood and that our system is fragmented and not holistic.
Mr. Speaker, the conservation economy has tremendous potential in the Northwest Territories. In Lutselk'e there is a group called "Ni hat'ni Dene," which means "Watchers of the Land." The Ni hat'ni Dene are protecting the land and enjoying what they do, and for every dollar that they are paid, the GNWT reduces social spending by $2.50. This is more strategic spending. Each time the government chooses to replicate this type of process, we will see a reduction to large budget items like income support, housing, and health and social services. This is important because strategic spending can help foster greater economic self-sufficiency in our people and thereby less reliance on government. Furthermore, our government would be working alongside Indigenous governments, working on and caring for the land of our ancestors.
Mr. Speaker, we must begin working with Indigenous governments and the federal government to clean up more waste sites. There are hundreds of these sites in the Northwest Territories. This work would bring many jobs to the North and will help us build a cleaner, more sustainable environment right across the territory, especially in the Akaitcho and Tlicho regions where the majority of these sites exist.
In order to provide certainty to our government, Indigenous governments, and industry, we must put more money and effort into completing land use plans in regions without settled land and resource agreements. The goal should be to get Agreements-in-Principle signed before the end of the 18th Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, this government must begin to invest heavily in early childhood development, and more must be put into the budget for prenatal care, covering children up to the age of three. People working in the field of early childhood development tell us that the return on early childhood development spending is about 7 to 1, possibly as high as 10 to 1. Mr. Speaker, for every dollar that is spent on early childhood development, we will see a decrease in social spending by up to $10 over a person's lifetime.
Mr. Speaker, these adjustments to the budget will increase spending by a modest amount of $20 to $25 million. We will then see the benefits being accrued to the Government of the Northwest Territories and our people. We must have faith that we can speed up social change with sensible, targeted programs and strategic investment. We must show faith in our people of the Northwest Territories, and the Government of the Northwest Territories will do right by the people of our territory. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
