Mr. Speaker, today I'm pleased to recognize the following people from Dene Nahjo in the gallery today. They are authors of "We are One Mind - Perspectives from Emerging Indigenous Leaders on the Arctic Policy Framework," a document that I will be tabling later today; Nina Larsson, Kayla Kakfwi Scott, Mandee McDonald and Deneshe N'akehkoe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would look to recognize our interpreter who does the interpreting in my language, Mr. Tommy Unka. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize a couple of the Pages from Hay River North who have been here with us this week, Ms. Madison Beck and Mr. Ricther Ignacio. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery, welcome to our Chambers. It's always great to have an audience as part of the proceedings. Masi. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've heard a lot of concerns and questions about the Western Canada Lotteries Act, and we're soon to be hearing about some multi-sport funding issues within the budget here. So my first question is to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs: can the Minister please advise if the Western Canada Lotteries Act has a clause in the bill that allows the lotteries to be used for multi-sport games? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, yes, the proposed bill that was submitted to standing committee does have a clause in it that allows the dispersal of funds to cover multi-sport games. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Just a friendly reminder to Members that this bill is before standing committee. So if you could not go into detail on specific questions, I'll allow further debates, but not specific details. Member for Nahendeh.

Uh, oh. We'll work on it.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank you for the clarification on that. This is going to be a little bit challenging, but I guess we'll go into what's in the budget and -- the budget is before the House, too. Oh, well, here we go: what is the intention in the budget with the bill in adding this multi-sport games funding to the bill? Can you answer that question?

Basically, Mr. Speaker, why did I include the line in the bill, is my understanding of the question. So I'm going to try to state that without getting into trouble for talking about the bill. Basically, it's important that the -- I'm struggling to not talk about the bill.

It's important, Mr. Speaker, that all of the monies that are obtained through the Lottery Fund are protected and that we can actually use it for sports and recreation, which was the intent of that funding. So I am proposing that we would maintain that, as we have historically done, that we would do that in the future.

I thank the Minister for that answer as we navigate on some difficult grounds here. Can the Minister please tell us how much money the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs put into exploration of funding excluding salaries?

Currently, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs provides $8.3 million for sport and recreation programs. That includes $4.7 million from the Western Canada Lottery Fund revenues and $3.6 million from the Government of the NWT operation funding for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess $4.7 million is on taxpayers who actually play lottery, so I appreciate that's where the money is coming from. So can the Minister actually give us a breakdown of the $3.6 million, where this money is actually spent and allocated? Is it in salaries? Is it programs? Or what variety of programs is this money accounted for? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To divide down the actual monies from what we spend on actually supporting of youth and taking part in sports activities, and from what we pay staff, is a process that would take some time. If the Member would like, he can either present a written question or he can come to my office and I can provide him that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Again, I'd just like to remind Members to refrain from asking questions when the bill is before standing committee. Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the properties, the 10 units that we're talking about, three of them are occupied and seven need repairs. We have actually met with Chief Fabian, January 19^th, actually, when my department went down to talk to him, and there are a couple of things we're doing with it. It's really exciting. Like I stated many times in this House, each community has different needs when it comes to housing, so we're looking at my community housing plans. Part of that was working with Chief Fabian, so with the 10 public housing units that are on reserve land, there have always been some issue with land tenure. We've got that straightened out, but what we're also doing is we're moving forward. We're actually working with the chief to actually look at how we can provide employment in his community. He's going to be providing us with a proposal to do a training program so he can train residents on the reserve to do the renovations, and a proposal so that he can maintain the public housing units. That will meet not only the housing needs of the community, but also address some of the employment concerns and the economic development that they have in that community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I really have to commend the Minister for taking some extraordinary and constructive steps in ensuring that, ultimately, at some point, more housing will be made available to the residents. So I thank her for taking those steps. The Minister indicated that three houses of the 10 units will be occupied and seven need repairs. What is the current status of work to secure the remaining seven homes?

For clarification, three of the units are currently occupied. They are not looking at it, so, out of those seven units that are looking at needing renovations, we are working with Chief Fabian. Because of capital plans, we have to make sure that we spread the wealth throughout all communities, all 33 communities, so, in this fiscal year we are looking at them working in partnership with the chief, with the band, to actually develop five units. Five of the remaining seven will be renovated. Like I said, we are hoping that the chief will come forward and provide us a proposal so that we are training community members to provide services in their community.

The next question I wanted to ask is just the next steps: how will the Minister prioritize this work in the months ahead? She has indicated five of the seven units will be renovated.