This is page numbers 3221 - 3266 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 units.

Topics

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. How does I guess the concerns such as asbestos and mould play into deeming the facility or the unit unusable? Thank you.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Housing Corporation.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. There's an extensive assessment that is done prior to any of the units being transferred over to, whether it be another government or an individual or for sale. I'll have vice -- Vice-President Martin elaborate on the response. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Mr. Martin.

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Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. When we do sell units, we ensure that it there's full disclosure of any hazardous materials to any interested buyer. So we make sure that that disclosure is there. If there is any apparent, you know, hazardous material, you know, we would certainly deal with that. But primarily, it's -- if you have a situation where -- where that material is undisturbed and it's safe for occupancy, then we would -- we would disclose the potential existence of asbestos depending on the age of the unit. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. Is there any point where you would -- when you deem the unit unusable or if you did sell it, would you just look at selling the unit itself and keeping the land? Has that been done in the past? Thank you.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of Housing Corporation.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Madam Chair, yes.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to get back to the ratings, I guess the criteria used to -- to deem the unit that it should be tore down. Can you tell me -- yeah, give me some idea of what that criteria is. Thank you.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister, would you commitment to providing that information to the Member, and we'll move on. Member for Nunakput.

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Madam Chair. Some of the -- we thank you for the 17 units that I have going into my communities, and the retrofits for Sachs Harbour and Tuktoyaktuk and Ulu, Ulukhaktok, but where's Paulatuk in this? I really am having a tough time because with the community of Paulatuk I have 18 people on the waiting list, and we have 18 on the waiting list. I have five more that were taken off because of CERB. One was put back on. So I got still four more people trying to get their CERB so they could get back on the list, and that's going to be almost 25 people waiting in Paulatuk. And some of the units my riding has, you know, the Weber units built in the 1960s and '70s. We do have some newer units in the community but the units that we're -- they are looking at renovating, they're long past due in the mould. And it's unsafe because, like right now I have an Elder that the Minister met when we were on tour, and that's her -- that was her problem, she got sick because of mould, and it wasn't good.

I have a lot of young families in the community. Again, like I told in our thing that we have a family I'll take -- like, a young family, I'll take a room. You got a four-bedroom, you got four little miniature families and you got mom and dad sleeping on the couch. That's not right. I get six percent of the total budget in my riding for Nunakput, and that's probably about one or -- one percent of housing out of this whole budget. It's -- you know, it's almost time, like you -- the stresses that it's put on families during COVID-19 times, the stress is -- it's not healthy. Mental health is out the door, and the stress on the whole community, on leadership, and it just -- it's really -- it's critical. We're in a position where we -- we have to get more retrofits coming into the community. So can the Minister tell me where's Paulatuk on this list for retrofits coming this summer? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of Housing Corporation.

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just trying to add here really quickly. We don't have any repairs for Paulatuk. We just have -- I have here listed 15 -- 17 repairs in Nunakput. But I also have -- just a second, I just want to make sure I get these right so I don't misinterpret. Four, eight -- ten units going into Nunakput, and those are going to be the communities, two for Ulu, four for Tuk, and four for Paulatuk. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

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Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Madam Chair, we heard it here first. That's good news. I'm thankful for that. It's -- anything helps. And I think where we're -- where we're at, I guess, with the -- with everything that's going on with the COVID-19 and with the -- I worry about my riding in regards to mental health and stuff like that. It's really making tough situations for families. I got people living in tent frames. Just like the Member from Behchoko. So I'm really -- I'm at a kind of a loss. That's why I went and I got -- I have -- I hired a firm to do a housing strategy for my riding, a ten-year housing strategy, trying to do it on our own with the federal government with CIRNAC to try to get funding to work with our -- our government to try to provide houses for the people I represent. And I always want to -- like, I talked about this before but now we're right at the two yard line, basically to kick it over, is to bring private business in to build the units. And will the Minister or the government be willing to put 25 - 25 percent down on units? They'll come and they'll build them in the long-term lease on it, as long as it was all aboveboard and with all the contracts and stuff, because these are companies from down south. We don't have market housing in my riding, nothing. Everything is -- people even living in smokehouses. Not right. So I want to know if will the Minister and our government be willing to work together for getting the housing strategy for Nunakput and getting private companies to come in and do the work on their behalf to get those houses in there sooner? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Housing Corporation.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the Member, and I'm very passionate and I did go into his riding this -- this year, and, you know, I was able to see firsthand the housing conditions in his riding. I just wanted to say that, you know, Paulatuk was the second in the territory to complete their housing plan. I would like to work with your riding and with the leadership as well too and really look at those federal applications going forward. You know, we did -- the government did commit 5 million over three years to have those applications completed and to acquire some of that federal money. So I'd like to put that commitment forward to the -- to the Member, to work with his leadership and with himself. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.

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Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

That's all. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. And thanks to the MLA from Nunakput for giving me his time.

I'm trying to reconcile that the news release that went out a couple days ago from Housing Corp that says there's an extra $93 million for a number of units versus what I'm looking at here in the capital estimates. So I guess this $93 million is federal money, or a good part of it is. Why is it not shown here as a federal contribution; why is this kind of like off the books somehow. You know, we get other federal money and it's showed as money in and then money expended, but it doesn't look this way for the Housing Corp so maybe someone can explain that to me. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Housing Corporation.