Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Northwest Territories, there are 2,400 people living in public housing units across our 30 communities. Most of these people are good, hard-working people who require housing assistance in the most difficult circumstances. I believe that our job as a government is to lift these people up and to help improve their situations, not sit in judgment of them to contribute to the stigma that is attached to social housing.
Mr. Speaker, because public housing rent is geared to income, public housing tenants are required to prove their income to their local housing organization, or the LHO. A number of my Nunakput constituents in public housing are frustrated with the NWT Housing Corporation's practice of using T4 slips to confirm their income.
As you know, employers provide T4 slips once a year, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of that T4 slip is to show what the income was the previous year, and not the current situation that they are in.
The practice of using T4 slips has a result of clients being assessed at a much higher level on the rent scale, based on past income when unemployed or seasonal and not making nearly as much income as in the current time period. To make matters worse, if they want to appeal the LHO's decision, Mr. Speaker, it takes 20 days, in writing, before the decision can be made.
As an MLA, I am getting mighty tired of hearing complaints from my constituents who are running into bureaucratic red tape. The Minister says a lot of nice words about the GNWT and how it is working for the people, but in the front lines, Mr. Speaker, it's a different story. This government acts like it has the authority to sit in judgment of the poorest, most vulnerable citizens of our territory. It seems like everything can try to prevent people from accessing services, rather than helping them.
Mr. Speaker, it's time for the Ministers sitting across the floor to commit to putting the concept of service back into the public service. I urge my Cabinet colleagues to show the leadership needed to ensure that all GNWT employees put public service first and remember at all times that they are working for the people of the Northwest Territories. That's who we serve, is the people of the Northwest Territories, and not the other way around. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.