Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this again is timely to have this conversation in the House. It's timely to have these questions. ECE and ITI, of course, have released the arts strategy not long ago and are indeed, as I mentioned, undertaking a review of all of the programs and the funding associated to it. So in the course of that, we can certainly commit to working together to look at whether or not there is funding that's available that's perhaps not being utilized, whether there are programs that could be better advertised to those who need it, or if in fact, there's a gap and that there's programming that's not being best directed where it -- when there is actually a need. So we'll certainly commit to looking at it in this review process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that many of the artisans are actually bringing in hides from, like, Saskatchewan and Alberta because they don't have access to them here. So, you know, it's important that, you know, that they have access to tanned hides but also they need access to the raw hides as well. And this is where harvesters come in. It's important that we also provide incentive incentive to harvesters if we expect them to bring the hides out after a successful harvest. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to working with the Minister of ENR to work out a program that compensates harvesters for delivering the hides, moose or caribou hides, to ENR or directly to the artisan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm certainly happy to take up a conversation with another colleague. I know that ENR does have a lot of programming in place to support traditional harvesters in the communities and around the Northwest Territories. And the Department of ITI, of course, is responsible for the NWT fur program. So we'll certainly take it away and see if there's more that can be done with our own fur program and of course to confirm with my colleague what better response we have to this. The opportunity to have homegrown and home-sourced hides really is the ultimate solution, and of course I'm going to see if there's a way that we can get there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the local housing authorities as the Minister responsible, I am interested in looking at unique and different innovative ideas. And if we're looking at what has happened in Fort Good Hope and if Nunakput is interested in doing something like that, I would like to bring the two organizations together and looking at possibilities. But I do commit to working with the Member's riding as well in trying to find strategies and different approaches on how we could work with housing in his communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for that. You know, working -- I guess working on a housing strategy, I do have a housing strategy being done, but I really like how Fort Good Hope did it and in regards to doing their society. I really think that something like that would do a lot better than some of the housing boards that we do have in place, because housing boards could give the units that they do have and allocate and stuff like that but a society could do much better on -- and being able to pick what they want to do. So if you have Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk want a new Elders facility so we're going to get the society to work together with the Minister which we had the Minister last week say that they want to work with us. So are they willing to do that; are we able to pick what we want to work with, with them to go forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the questions. I do want to highlight the community housing working plans that we do have. Paulatuk was actually one of the first communities to finalize theirs and through that initiative, they're able to identify their housing needs. And looking at the structure of how housing is wanting to be delivered in that riding, I'm interested to continue those conversations with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister's ready to work with the community. Paulatuk is -- she brought it up that Paulatuk is in need. We have young families with nowhere to go. We have overcrowding. We just don't have enough houses. How does it work? Do we take some out of our old stock, give them to residents that could handle it, and then get CMHC to come in and backfill in regards to take -- I guess give away and bring in new stuff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to work with the Member's riding as well. And looking at the federal funding that is available that's there, we do have some successes throughout the Northwest Territories with communities allocating their own direct funding from the federal government and looking at putting houses on the ground. So I would like to commit to following up with the Member and with his community leadership and looking at those possibilities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, that's been kind of one of our problems, is when they do get the federal funding gets into -- to the development corporation's hands, it's staying there too long. It's the same problem that we have here, that they can't spend the money fast enough and get materials in. So there's got to be a better way to do that, and I'm looking forward to work with the Minister to find a solution and being able to I guess spend money on houses and providing service to the people that we represent. More of a comment; thank you, Mr. Speaker.