Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2015, the Aurora Research Institute did a study at the request of the NWT Seniors Society on Influences on the Quality of Life of the Older Adult in the Northwest Territories. This study found that Indigenous elders have a better quality of life when they feel connected and supported; active and independent; and safe and secure through a traditional lifestyle, which is bound in place at home. That is why it is so important that the government do everything it can to make sure that our elders have living places in their home communities and can access support and programs as their needs change with age.
The 19th Legislative Assembly identified enabling seniors to age in place with dignity as one of its key priorities. In the mandate, government is committing to have 10 percent more seniors with access to housing programs beginning in the summer of 2021. In the meantime, the mandate has set aside more than an entire year for the government to identify gaps. Mr. Speaker, I can help them do that before this summer comes, never mind next summer. I want to invite the Ministers of ECE, Health and Social Services, and the Housing Corporation to come to Nunakput to meet with the elders in some of my communities. It won't take long to figure out their needs.
Their needs are simple. They need access to safe, appropriate housing, where they can be near their families and friends, but where they can also feel safe from abuse when they have family troubles. They need access to affordable insurance, or they need the Housing Corporation to relax some of its policy requirements, so that simple repairs can be made without the need for insurance. They need to know that they can travel, hassle-free, with family members, when they need to travel outside their communities for medical care. They need access to palliative care and to die at home with dignity when the time comes.
I am ready and willing to work with the Ministers who have these responsibilities under this mandate item to make good things happen on the ground for the elders of Nunakput. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.