Debates of Oct. 25th, 2022

This is page numbers 4771 - 4832 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 know.

Topics

Oral Questions

Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Governance Transformation

Flood Response, Mitigation and Preparedness

Government of the Northwest Territories Progress on Rights Agreements and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Action Plan

Fuel Prices in Nunakput Communities

Public Housing Arrears

Medical Travel Benefits Inequality

Closure of Trailcross Treatment Centre

Economic Importance of Mineral Resource Sector

Court Decision Regarding Search of Lutselk'e Cultural Camp

Aging in Place and Long-Term Care

Eulogy for Darlene Grossetete

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Bill 48: Arbitration Act

Impact of Carbon Taxation on Cost of Living

Flood Management and Preparedness

Aging in Place and Long-Term Care

Government of the Northwest Territories Progress on Rights Agreements and United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples Action Plan

Government of the Northwest Territories Support for the Mineral Resource Sector

Closure of Trailcross Treatment Centre

Medical Travel Benefits Inequality

Public Housing Arrears

Court Decision Regarding Search of Lutsel K'e Cultural Camp

Addressing Rising Costs of Living

Tabled Document 739-19(2): Aurora College Corporate Plan 2022-2023 Tabled Document 740-19(2): Operating Plans for Northwest Territories Education Bodies for the 2022-20223 School Year Ending June 30, 2023, Volumes 1 and 2

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Committee Report 33-19(2): Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment Report on the Review of Bill 52, Elevators and Lifts Act - Rescind Motion 302-19(2)

Committee Report 33-19(2): Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment Report on the Review of Bill 52, Elevators and Lifts Act - Public Availability of Report Described in Section 68 of the Act

Committee Report 33-19(2): Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment Report on the Review of Bill 52, Elevators and Lifts Act - Proactive Disclosure of Registry Information

Committee Report 33-19(2): Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment Report on the Review of Bill 52, Elevators and Lifts Act - Government Response to Recommendations

Bill 48: Arbitration Act - Amend subclause 3(5)

Bill 48: Arbitration Act - Addition of clause 73.1

Bill 48: Arbitration Act - Addition of clause 74.1

Bill 48: Arbitration Act - Amend Clause 76

Bill 48: Arbitration Act - Deletion of Clause 77

Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Infrastructure - Deferral of Department (page 52)

Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - NOrthwest Territories Housing Corporation - Deferral of Corporation (page 71)

Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Environment and Natural Resources - Deferral of Department (page 23)

Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Lands - Deferral of Department (page 65)

Report Of Committee Of The Whole

Orders Of The Day

Committee Motion 313-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Infrastructure - Deferral of Department (page 52), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

October 25th

Page 4823

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

October 25th

Page 4824

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have a number of retrofits and improvements that will be made throughout the Northwest Territories. We did complete the core need report was well too. I'll just have Jim respond because I just -- if we were to provide this and provide a technical briefing to share this information that we do have and what has been identified, but it's quite a bit of repairs that would be happening within the next couple of years. I'll have Jim elaborate.

October 25th

Page 4824

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Vice-president Martin.

October 25th

Page 4824

Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. Housing NWT does develop a range of documents which speaks to planned capital investments. We do go through publishing an annual report every year and that gets tabled here in the Leg. We also participate in the annual business planning process of the GNWT and also provide information regarding capital outlooks in that area. And most recently, we've also developed a core need report which took into consideration the age of our assets and provided a 20-year outlook for capital investment needs. Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th

Page 4824

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

October 25th

Page 4824

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The beauty of the internet is I've now got the annual report in front of me here. And the annual report doesn't tell us what houses in what communities are going to be retrofitted by Housing NWT. It doesn't tell us what communities are going to see new houses. And what I'm thinking of here is that if there are community governments or Indigenous governments that want to get involved in housing and don't have kind of the ability to see where Housing NWT is going, it's hard for them to work in partnership with Housing NWT and to really support that work and to work together. And I know that some Indigenous governments are getting more involved in housing delivery across the territory, and I know that there are intimate conversations happening between Housing NWT and these organizations, but we also know that there are grassroots organizations that want to be involved as well, and they won't have those same -- the same ability to sit at those tables either. And so in order to have everybody, including NGOs, available to really work on this together, it requires a little bit of foresight into what that capital plan will be.

But I want to go on to my next question, and what I want to understand more is when I look at the statistics of housing in NWT communities and the last kind of overall snapshot we had was in 2019 of -- done by -- sorry, Statistics NWT, and what that showed was that Colville Lake had the highest percentage of dwellings with housing issues in the Northwest Territories, and it showed that Colville Lake had 90 percent of its dwellings had housing issues. And what I see when I look at this list is that one unit is earmarked for Colville Lake. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can explain how Housing NWT decides what communities it works on projects in. Thank you.

October 25th

Page 4824

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.

October 25th

Page 4824

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just having a hard time to hear. My earpiece keeps on kind of shutting off and on I guess. But the Member had asked about the number of units that were going to be retrofitted in Colville Lake and how those numbers are determined, is that correct? Thank you.

October 25th

Page 4824

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Yes.

October 25th

Page 4824

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

I'll have vice-president Jim Martin respond to how the information is collected and how these communities are identified in determining what retrofits need to happen in those specific communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th, 2022

Page 4824

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Vice-president Martin.

October 25th

Page 4824

Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. Each year Housing NWT goes through a fairly comprehensive review of our housing stock. We take into consideration factors such as the age and condition of our housing assets. We work very closely with our district offices, our local housing organizations, to get a really good sense of things such as maintenance history and other issues that may be emerging throughout the year such as failing foundation situations, etcetera. So it's a fairly comprehensive process to look at the current condition of our stock. We then -- once we have that baseline information, we then look at our available resources for the year within our fiscal framework, and then we do have to enter into a prioritization process, and we come up with a proposed plan based on need within the resources available.

And Colville Lake, for example, there's two public housing units in the community. And right now the average age of those two units is seven years. And there's other communities that have assets that are much older and that are in greater need of investment. And as a result of that, our limited dollars would be directed to some of those higher priority areas. But we certainly recognize the importance of ensuring that Colville Lake, those units are maintained in a safe condition for our residents. Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

October 25th

Page 4825

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So as was already noted, last year was a great year with lots of additional investments from the federal government to Housing NWT where they saw revised estimates of $104 million. And so given that at this time last year we didn't know that this was coming, is Housing NWT anticipating working towards the same type of investment in the territory, where they've kind of set that bar and know that hopefully we'll all be able to be seeing the same kind of success next year with revised estimates in the capital plan? Thank you.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

October 25th

Page 4825

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. And the Member is correct, and we did receive a -- out of the federal budget, we did receive 30 -- $60 million over two years, and we do see carryovers on this submission as well too that just increases that number to $104 million. So I anticipate that we probably would see something very similar as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Are there any further questions, comments to NWT Housing Corporation? Member for Hay River South.

October 25th

Page 4825

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I look at the list here and it's fairly extensive, and then I look at Hay River and I see 29 units. And I'm just -- for retrofits, major retrofits. With the flooding that happened this last spring, I'm just wondering where we are with those retrofits; has flooding impacted the work that's being done? Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

October 25th

Page 4825

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. And this delivery here for the retrofits are for public housing. I wanted to just clarify that. And I'll have president Young elaborate on the flood response that happened this year in Simpson and the surrounding communities in Nahendeh and Hay River. Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

President Young.

October 25th

Page 4825

Young

Thank you, Madam Chair. And just this morning I had an update so I can provide a fairly timely update to the Member on the work in Hay River.

We are happy to report that we haven't had an awful lot of supply chain issues with the contractors in Hay River. At this point, we're pretty confident that we should have our seniors back in their accommodation by mid to third week of November, and the single family homes very close to that. The only possible slippage we may see is we had one unit that was identified late with the foundation issue. Depending on what our contractors tell us there, that work may have to be completed in the spring when the freezing lets up but we will find that out in the next few weeks. So very good progress from our contractors there in doing the recovery from the flooding in Hay River, and we're really pleased with that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

October 25th

Page 4825

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I see that in Hay River you have the RCMP units going up, and they seem to be moving along fairly steadily, making good time on it. There's two other units I think in Hay River as well, individual units that are going up in the same vicinity. Are they on schedule? Thank you.

October 25th

Page 4825

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Debates of Oct. 25th, 2022

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