This is page numbers 1197 - 1220 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.

Topics

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Yes, I will have to come back to the Member with those details. However, I do want to commit to the Member that I remain committed to ensuring that Northerners are getting meaningful work and training out of these projects and that we will ensure that, going forward, we are making sure that the training components are built in and that people are getting meaningful employment.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary, Member for Monfwi.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Masi, Mr. Speaker. I understand that the Minister is new to the file. I'm glad she's going to follow through. That agreement was before she came on board, so I'm glad she is going to be monitoring this. The last question I have is: can I get a commitment from the Minister that she and/or her senior staff, departmental staff, visit the Tlicho All-season Road construction site and meet with the Tlicho workers to simply hear them out and follow through with their concerns, Mr. Speaker? Masi.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Yes. Yesterday in the House I committed to coming to speak with the workers at the Edzo maintenance camp for the highway. At the same time, I will come to the TASR camp and speak with people there. Anytime, though, I do encourage the Member, if he does have constituents who have concerns, that they come to me directly and don't wait on those visits, which will likely be the last week of June. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Housing. Yesterday, I brought up questions about the lack of housing in Hay River. Since then, I have been thinking about it and becoming increasingly frustrated and angry, and only wrote the questions while sitting here. I will start with: in Hay River, I'm going to start recommending to those residents who cannot find permanent housing to start looking at other communities, as the government just can't deliver the housing they require.

My first question to the Minister would be: I would ask the Minister, considering we have a significant housing shortage in Hay River, is her department willing to work with ECE to cover the cost of relocation and some temporary rent payment supports for those persons and families willing to relocate to Yellowknife or southern Canada? This appears to be the only option this government has to give our residents a chance at the housing they deserve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Member, for your comment. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has, right now, as I mentioned yesterday, rolled out $43 million in infrastructure projects and housing throughout the Northwest Territories. I understand the Member's frustration with the lack of housing or with homeless issues throughout his riding. It has become quite significant throughout the Northwest Territories that we do have a large number of homelessness issues throughout the Northwest Territories, but the Housing Corporation does have programs that accommodate these unique situations. We have a homelessness assistance fund that is available to every resident throughout the Northwest Territories that provides assistance for first month's rent and the damage deposit for each client. We have made changes to our transitional rent supplementary program for the Northwest Territories.

As of right now, we are working with a vulnerable persons working group in Hay River and looking at strategies and options for Hay River, for this area. As we progress and go forward, I will keep the Member up to date on what we will be creating for his riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

It's not only a housing deficit that we are facing in Hay River. It is access to land, as well. Can the Minister commit to working collaboratively with MACA, Lands, and the Town of Hay River to ensure that land for public housing will be made available, with a quick turnaround?

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Yes, I am aware that we do have to work with our Indigenous groups. There is a consultation period that we have to fulfil when accessing land throughout the Northwest Territories. There are several in different jurisdictions and different approaches and different Indigenous groups that we would need to consult with. The department has been working in conjunction with the Department of Lands as we develop throughout the Northwest Territories. That is a relationship that has already existed, and yes, I will be working to continue that relationship, working with the Department of Lands for accessing properties, and also working with the Department of ECE to look at our homelessness fund and financial assistance that we have available to the residents of the Northwest Territories.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Over the years, communities and government have been talking about smaller homes for people, so I will ask the Minister: will she commit her department to seriously look at the construction of smaller homes for those who are homeless or hard to house?

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Yes, that is a conversation that we are actually having right now. We do have a program called the Community Initiative Fund that works directly with community residents, with the leadership, looking at unique projects such as this. Yes, I do commit to working with my department and I will follow up with the Member on the progress of it, and also with the outcome of the vulnerable persons working group in Hay River, as well.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have lots of conversations, and that is kind of part of the problem. What we need is more action. To address the housing deficit in the NWT, it always comes down to money. What action has the Minister taken to address the issue of lack of funding to substantially address our housing shortage here in the NWT? Is the Minister applying any pressure on the federal government to access additional funds for housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Yes, the Housing Corporation is in constant communication with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. I have established a working relationship with my federal counterpart. We do have access to the $60-million co-investment fund for the Northwest Territories, and it's a partnership and an initiative that we are working through within our department. We are establishing staff right now to roll out this project, this funding, so it could be more easily accessible to the residents of the Northwest Territories. As we go forward, I still continue the conversation with the federal government and to lobby for money for the Northwest Territories. We live in a unique territory. We have unique challenges, here, and our construction season, I also display that it's short, so, going forward, I will commit to working with the federal government and accessing more money for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier, I am very happy to see the mandate item: to establish and manage alcohol programs and a medical detox program. During the COVID-19 response, we saw a number of organic beginnings of a managed alcohol program that disabilities council provided a number of the people quarantining with daily alcohol in addition to Aspen Apartments, when people were isolating, were provided with alcohol. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services: is there any intention to grow these programs into a proper medical managed alcohol program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The establishment of a managed alcohol program is a commitment of the mandate of this Assembly. Research into what a managed alcohol program could look like in the Northwest Territories is something our department has done a fair bit of work at. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed our department to move towards a managed alcohol program more quickly than anticipated in order to keep people safe and support the public health orders. Controlled access to alcohol is currently being provided as part of the COVID-19 response for homeless individuals. This is to help people stay isolated when necessary to reduce the chance of withdrawals. Alcohol is being provided, again, like the Member said, to Aspen, the former Arnica Inn, and the Inuvik warming and isolation centres. Yes, our department has done a fair bit of work. It is something that we could easily look at going forward. Thank you.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

I am very happy to hear that. The other half of this mandate commitment is a medical detox centre. Right now, our emergency centre gets overwhelmed with people due to alcohol-related issues. The commitment in this government is to reduce those by 30 percent, a very admirable commitment. One of the issues right now is that we are sending people to emergency to deal with alcoholism, and there are not always beds for them to detox. They are not always treated as they should be. My question for the Minister of Health is: when can we expect to see the medical detox program establish?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Going forward, using insights that we have gained from this COVID experience, we have been able to work with partners to make this type of harm-reduction program a permanent part of addiction services here in the Northwest Territories. However, it's a little too early to say what this would look like or commit to anything definite, definite timeline, but we can see the importance of these programs. Because of this, we will prioritize planning to ensure that this is available ongoing.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

This was in the mandate as spring of 2023, which I thought was a little too long. I am always happy to hear that we are actually beating a mandate commitment. I want to commend the department and the Minister for all the work and the pressure that COVID has put on this. One of my issues is that the programming we are offering right now is linked to people isolating due to COVID, and I understand that. When a constituent comes to me and asks what kind of detox programs are available, what kind of addictions counselling is available, I want to know when I will be able to refer them to a managed alcohol program. My question to the Minister is: when can we expect programming to exist that I could actually refer a person to, not simply because of COVID-19?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

I just want to put this in perspective just to let people know that we are serious about this and this is a big issue. We referenced earlier about the CAPE report, and the Northwest Territories is a little low in some of the indicators. I want to say that we've received some funding, and we hired a senior advisor. This person will be tasked in leading the coordination and addressing the problematic substance abuse here in the Northwest Territories. This is something that we received funding, we are hiring staff. This is not just a health responsibility. It's a whole government approach; it's homelessness; it's justice, just to name a few. It is a whole government approach. This is a good move in terms of dealing with this in the Northwest Territories.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is that there is a number of programs going on right now. I don't think we are quite where we want to be. I understand that we are working towards that. Can I get a sense from the Minister of whether this programming is ultimately intended to be run by an NGO, a non-profit organization, or whether we are anticipating, as a government, to be running the managed alcohol programs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.