Thank you, Madam Chair. And my apologies, I'm not sure if I was supposed to inform you that I wanted to switch witnesses.

Okay. We haven't switched sections yet.

Okay, just in response to the MLA from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, it was just the appropriate witness to be responding. Is that all right? My apologies that I done that without getting the approval first.

If you want to get your president to respond, or you? I mean, this is the last speaker on this section, so.

Because I switched out the witnesses without letting you know. Just that I really like those comments coming from the MLA.

And looking at our Indigenous partnerships, you know, for the territories, we have made significant progress within the last two years of this government and looking at creating the -- and working with the Council of Leaders and looking at our policy review and the renewal coming forward. And really highlighting the work that's being done on the co-investment fund, that we've had a large number of submissions that have come forward which gives us the opportunity to be working with those Indigenous groups directly.

There has been a number of announcements that have been made by the federal government to directly fund the Indigenous groups, and our messaging to Canada was if you don't want to -- if we're not going to be receiving the funding directly to the Northwest Territories, then fund the Indigenous groups and we'll work together; we'll work in partnership with them. And so far, we have been able to also address the partnerships in the communities looking at homelessness, looking at our Northern Pathways program and what is that we can offer.

But specifically for the Member's riding, the Housing Corporation is open to be an invitation to coming into that community. What is that needs to be done? If it's home repair, then we do have a community housing initiative that we can start working with the Indigenous groups there as well. If we're looking at housing repair and our policies are a barrier, that is exactly what that program is for. If we could directly fund the community and they can provide those services on our behalf, I'm absolutely open to that. But for further elaboration and our commitment and our relationship building, I will turn it over to associate deputy minister Jamie Fulford. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Mr. -- sorry, I didn't get the last name.

Thank you. All right, so if there are no further questions, we will move to the executive beginning on page 380, with information items on 381. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see there's one additional position in the executive. Can the minister explain what that position is?

Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have president Young respond. I'm not on that section; I'm just trying to find my page here. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. President Young.

Thank you. Member for Hay River -- Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My understanding of how the government works is assistant deputy ministers are essentially in charge of operations of a department, and I know the Housing Corp's a little different, and then associate deputy ministers are usually deputy ministers in waiting or on terms to eventually take over. Is that kind of the thought with this position, that the associate deputy minister may one day be the president, or is he just here for a term for the sake of the renewal? Can I just get some clarification on -- really, I don't understand "assistant" and "associate" partially. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, member. I will give this to the Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Actually I appointed that position directly because I wanted a total policy review of the Housing Corporation. So that person is responsible for doing the policy review with the Indigenous governments at the Council of Leaders table so that all of the policies within housing will be done, reviewed, and hopefully changed within the term of this government. So it was an appointment from myself. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I would like to thank the Premier for that answer. I think that that's great. I think it's great to have a senior person leading, you know, what is a very important renewal, and I look forward to the results of that.

I guess I have some questions a bit about where we think this renewal is going. I know we got the new statement and vision today. And I think the way I would frame the long-standing tension in the Housing Corporation is whether it is a social envelope department or whether it should be a corporation that is solely focused on assets and infrastructure. And I'll note this has led to some weird situations where a lot of our shelter money is in health, and then the other half is in housing. Sometimes there's a distinction made between day and night shelters, but that has even been blurred. Most of the shelters in Yellowknife are predominantly funded by health in a lot of cases.

So I'm just wondering if part of that conversation is perhaps bringing in some more homelessness experts and bringing in some of that perhaps shelter money and positions from health, if that's on the table. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. For further description and response, I'll have president Young respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. President Young.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.