Thanks, Mr. Chair. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 567-19(2) and Minister's Statement 202-19(2) concurrently at the same time. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS

I call committee back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Minister's Statement 202-19(2), and Tabled Document 567-19(2): Annual Status Report - 2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Does the Premier have any opening remarks?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as we pass the mid point for the 19th Legislative Assembly, it's important to take stock of where we are as a government and the progress we're making in fulfilling the commitments we made to advance the 22 shared priorities that we, as the 19th Legislative Assembly, developed at the beginning of this Assembly.

I'm proud of the collaboration that we as an Assembly demonstrated in creating these 22 shared priorities, and I'm grateful for the insight and feedback that Regular Members provided Cabinet on the items and specific actions found in the mandate.

Collaboration is not always easy. It requires a give and take, honest and open communication, and respect for the other side's opinion, even if we don't always agree. It also takes time. But we know that in consensus government, collaboration is crucial, and I believe that these 22 priorities and the action items we're going to speak about today are better as a result of it.

Just over two years ago, we as Cabinet, took these priorities and got to work. And despite the obvious challenges we faced since March 2020, I'm proud of what we accomplished to date.

As we begin this mid term review, I'm happy to report that we're well on track to achieve the majority of our commitments.

Of the 149 actions that we as a government identified in the mandate, 23.5 percent have been fulfilled; 65 percent are in progress; 9 percent are in planning; and 2 percent have been delayed; and one commitment has been discontinued.

Achieving these commitments helps advance the priorities of this Assembly and supports our economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This progress is also a testament to the hard work and dedication of public service servants in a very dynamic and challenging environment and the shared commitment of all Members of this Assembly to work together to advance the priorities we identified in 2019.

Over the next two years, I look forward to continued partnership with the Regular Members in order to fulfill the commitments we made at the beginning of this Assembly. We, as Cabinet, welcome the opportunity to answer any questions and comment you may have to offer as we begin the mid term review. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. We agreed to begin with general comments. Does the Premier wish to bring witnesses into the House?

Yes, Mr. Chair, I'd like to bring in Martin Goldney, the deputy minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs and secretary to Cabinet.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Would the Minister please introduce her witness.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The one witness I have is Mr. Martin Goldney, the secretary for Cabinet and also the deputy minister for Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will now open the floor for general comments on the Minister's statement and tabled document. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess just I'd like to reflect back on how we got here. We all -- we got elected, and we came together in a room and created our priority document. And I think since that time, there's been a lot of discussion about probably having less priorities. And I guess I will just frame that as a comment for future Assemblies, that if you make everything a priority then, you know, nothing is a priority.

But then that priority document was given to Cabinet and different than the last Assembly, this is truly a Cabinet's mandate. There was lots of collaboration with Regular Members, and it's a very -- you know, it's probably the best mandate the GNWT's ever seen in form and substance. It has clear and measurable targets. It improves upon a number of previous mandates which had far too much in them, and there was not clear control of who actually was to get those things done.

And we all know that, you know, you can -- you can only plan as much as possible but we've dealt with floods and COVID, and all around I just want to start by thanking this Cabinet for this work. This has not been an easy time. We actually don't have a single Cabinet Minister other than our Premier who's ever held a portfolio. The majority of MLAs in this House have never been MLAs. It's been a steep learning curve for all of us. And I do believe that -- I wasn't in the last Assembly but from all I've heard, this is a truly collaborative government. I would like to -- you know, perhaps I don't say nice things enough in this House but our Premier has been truly a Premier in consensus, I believe both in her own Cabinet and on this side working with Members. It's clear she has directed her Ministers to work with Members. I don't feel there's a single Cabinet Minister who is not willing to hear my concerns. I believe they're all committed to working with us. I believe our Premier is committed to working with us. And I believe she has, you know, given the proper amount of latitude to Ministers to run their departments and the proper direction to, you know, have them work with MLAs.

I also want to thank our Premier for -- it's not an easy job. It's a job of tough pills to swallow, and no one's giving you a glass of water. You know, day one they tell you how broke you are, and then, you know, the Regular MLAs say why aren't you doing anything, and the Indigenous governments say why aren't you doing anything, and then the union tells you why are you doing this, and then the Chamber of Commerce says why are you doing that. And pile on COVID, it's a job that is no shortage of criticism, but I believe we, as an Assembly and our Premier and Cabinet, and all of our public servants, have got through COVID with a model response, and it's something we should all be proud of.

I would also just like to point out that there's regular reporting on this mandate. Committees have been apprised of each step along the way. I actually expect this mid term review to be a quick exercise and not too onerous because we truly have been informed for each priority along the way, and we are very well briefed on how those priorities are going. So I think we have taken the right steps of, you know, publicly reporting on the mandate. This was also the first government where the Premier published mandate letters. That was another good step. So the fact that we are well aware of where we are and met many mandate items does not make the mid term review the big fight it was in the last Assembly.

Additionally, I think we decided not to have the kind of fake confidence votes that happened in the last mid term review. That was a great step. I can tell you right now if we had a bunch of fake confidence votes, I would not vote nonconfidence for any of these Ministers. I would keep them all exactly where they are, and including our Premier. And I thank them for that. So I don't think we need to do that exercise, and I don't suggest any other Assembly ever do that ridiculousness with the mid term review.

So with those kind comments, I'm sure I will have many more critical ones as we go through this. But I want to point out, you know, a lot of the work we have done has happened outside of the mandate. A lot of the great work we're doing, you know, with the universal daycare was -- progressed much faster than we ever could have imagined due to the federal government. I expect many more big federal budget announcements to come forward next week, and we're going to see even more progress on many of our priorities.

And I want to point out that, you know, this mandate is probably about the right size for the GNWT. There is always an effort to do more, to bring forward more legislation, to make more policies, but there's very limited bandwidth in policy shops in the GNWT and you can pile on COVID, and you can pile on the never ending kind of need to engage everyone, and it becomes hard to do things fairly.

I guess my last kind of comment, though, is that, you know, we all have to kind of define what we want consensus to look like in the next 18 months. You know, everyone kind of has a different definition of consensus. I think we've been operating on a model that probably involves a bit too much consensus, and I think there's probably a bit of a hesitancy to, you know, bring forward things that are going to be ten, eight votes, or very close votes, and there's a bit of a hesitancy to push things through. But there's a mandate here. There's probably some decisions that will have to be pushed through and may make some people unhappy and, you know, this is our Cabinet that we elected as Members and, you know, I just encourage them that, you know, sometimes you got to make unpopular choices and sometimes you don't have to engage the Regular MLAs on every little thing and you just got to get it done. So, you know, there -- we don't always need more talking, more reviews, or more compromise and middle ground. We got 18 months left. Let's make sure we get everything done that we said we were going to do. And with that, I would just like to thank the Premier and my Cabinet colleagues for their work to date. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Member. Premier.

Mr. Chair, what can I say? Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Any further questions? Member?

Thank you. While I don't agree with a lot of my colleague's statements there about the leadership and direction of this Cabinet, I will say that I do agree with the fact that the number of priorities was unreasonable and unable to attain. So in retrospect, had I had a chance to do it over again, I would very much not have the number of priorities that I see here, as well too being aware of how things progressed in the first ten months of this Assembly, I'm well aware of how the mandate was developed in such that a lot of this work was already going on. So to then write out a mandate so that you can just get checklists and checkmarks next to things that were already happening, I don't see as being something to really celebrate a lot of. The creation of other money being spent on things that -- the creation of a greater public service, I don't agree with that either. And I'm really disappointed in the lack of progress around the regional economic plans and getting the money into small communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Member. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The only thing I can say is that the previous Member is right, and this Member is right, the number of priorities was too much, and I did say that when we began this Assembly. And I'm hoping that at the next Assembly, and I know that we're only at the mid term point, but I hope that Members that run again, that decide to run again that get back in again, will remember that because I 100 percent agree that when you have too many priorities, nothing is a priority, and it would have been way better if we would have had six or less. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I wanted to -- I have the benefit of having sat through the last Assembly, and I actually served on the transition matters committee that provided its advice to this Assembly and one of the specific pieces of advice was to have fewer priorities, and that wasn't followed. I was part of the process that developed the priorities. I urged my colleagues to have fewer priorities but my views didn't prevail, and I still think we have too many. I think some of them conflict with each other, and some of them are -- it just raised unrealistic expectations for our residents and are just simply not even possible. I'll go on record as saying that trying to promote three big infrastructure projects at the same time is just not something that's even achievable financially, so. But I do believe that, you know, this Cabinet is prepared to actually work with Regular MLAs. That's not something I saw in the last Assembly so I want to give my Cabinet colleagues credit for that, that they are willing to sit down and work with us as Regular MLAs. Even if sometimes I disagree with the outcome, at least they're willing to sit down and talk with us and I think that's a huge improvement over the last Assembly where Cabinet just went to look for their three friends and did whatever it wanted. So that has been a big improvement.

I guess if -- I do want to address my colleague from Yellowknife North about what he characterized as "fake votes." These were not fake votes. We tried to work very hard to come up with a nonthreatening way to evaluate the performance of Ministers and, you know, I was part of the rules and procedures committee. I chaired it when we came up with that process. Like, we put a lot of time and effort into that. At the end of the day, though, Cabinet didn't respect the process in my view, and that's why we ended up with a process that didn't really work. So they were not fake votes. They were -- it was an attempt to try to find some compromise and some way of holding Ministers accountable. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

With this review, though, I don't feel terribly well prepared. It's been a long sitting. I have not done my homework. I'm going to confess that right now, but -- and I don't think that we've spent enough time to actually evaluate what's in this document as Regular MLAs.

I will give my Cabinet colleagues some credit for taking what was a rather broad wish list and trying to put in place some measurable targets in there I think with varying degrees of success. I would have appreciated more measurables around some of the specific priorities. But I think it's better than the last mandate that came forward from the previous Assembly but -- or Cabinet, I should say, but I think it still could use a lot more work.

Yeah, I think COVID has really taken a lot out of us all in terms of the focus that we had as a government at the beginning, our ability to do work even together as this -- as an Assembly, as MLAs, as Cabinet, as Regular MLAs. And I -- you know, I think we do need -- owe it to the public to review that very carefully. I expect that there's going to be another transition matters committee established towards the end of this Assembly, and I'd be willing to serve and volunteer to serve on that again. And hopefully the next Assembly will listen a little more carefully. I don't know.

But I have lots of other comments, Mr. Chair, that I will make as we work our way through the document. But I wanted to correct, I think, some of the things that I think I heard said, but also give this Cabinet some credit for their ability and willingness to at least work with Regular MLAs compared to the last one. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was on the last Cabinet so I do like to think that we weren't all that bad in the last Assembly. At least not all of us, anyway. But we are trying as a new Assembly. We've been really adamant about trying to work with Members. You know, pick your battles has always been a philosophy as I've said, so.

As for the Member saying that he hasn't done his homework and, you know, not really ready for this is that I can personally say that I think that the Member that was speaking was one of the hardest-working Members that I knew in the last Assembly. So I have no doubt that -- that -- you know, that this is still a priority for him. And this is one chance to review the mid term review. But it's not only the chance. We'll be reviewing these priorities for the next two years coming forward. So just stating that this is not the only time to ask questions on these priorities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Mr. O'Reilly. Ms. Martselos.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I too want to just express my appreciation I guess in the working relationship that I developed with Cabinet, and especially the Premier and the Minister of Health, and everyone. There has been times -- there will be times when we don't agree but we have to leave that at the door. And I think that the working relationship that I established with Cabinet is a good one. And some of the Ministers are more open than others, and that's always the case anyways in any political democracy.

I really would stress, though, that we are a consensus government, and many times I feel that consensus is not working because I feel that a lot of the decisions are made at your level and we either take it or leave it kind of thing. And I'm just going to be very open about that because, you know, in the last few days here, I haven't been very happy about a couple things, and hopefully we'd be able to work through those and come out with a positive response because I feel that, you know, many times people see things through a very narrow tunnel instead of looking at the whole picture. And the whole picture shows something different many times. And with the experience that I bring to this floor, with all the business experience and leadership experience, it's not always everything that has to fit in that little box. And -- you know, and I've been able to work through most of my issues, and hopefully -- I only have two small issues, and if I'm able to work through those two small issues I will be very happy about that.

But overall the mandate is being met and like I said, I've had excellent working relationships with the majority of Cabinet, and I just want to thank you for that because I think Cabinet, you can go down the hall very easily and talk to anyone, and I don't know if that happened in the past, whether you agree with them or not, but it's okay. And with that, I want to thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, thank you for the kind comments from the Member. I think -- the one thing I pick up about this Assembly that I never really felt so much, maybe because of the position I'm in, but the different strengths that we all bring as Members. You're absolutely right that we might not agree on everything. But every single person here has immense background and immense knowledge in whatever fields they have, and it's by working together that we actually make better decisions. So what I took, and I'll try to keep that with me all the time, is think outside the box. The Member's right, that sometimes we get kind of stuck in the ways, the comfortable ways, and we need to challenge ourselves.

So Ministers, think outside the box. Challenge yourselves. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Ms. Martselos.

I have no other comment at this moment, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I've got feedback from my earphones.

So I just wanted to start off by saying thank you to my colleagues for the opportunity to speak to this, and I know that some of what I have to say will be somewhat repetitive a little bit. But I think it's important for residents for the Northwest Territories to hear, and I think one of the most important pieces of that is that piece on the number of priorities. And this was something that we talked about a bit in the very beginning of our time together, was the number of priorities that were appropriate for an Assembly. And I can't stress enough the importance of taking and kind of demanding that extra time upfront in order to really question how many priorities are appropriate. And one of the numbers that we kind of kept talking about that I remember in our brief conversations at the beginning were about that number to be about five to eight priorities would have been ideal, and that seems to be a number that has come up throughout the Assembly as the less the better.

And another conversation that we have had a lot in different kind of social circles and our time where we can really connect kind of out of formal meetings and out of session is the conversation around kind of legacy of an Assembly.

And so the other thing I guess that I'd like to challenge the next Assembly to do is to have a conversation upfront together about what each Member would like to see as their legacy together and then try building their priorities around that, because then you're deciding upfront what you're leaving behind for the people of the Northwest Territories. And I think that's so important, that key kind of message and piece about what you're really leaving behind. So I just wanted to reiterate that piece.

And then I also wanted to acknowledge both the hard work of public servants but then also our private sector. I think that this has been a very unique Assembly in that we have worked through COVID, but it's not just the Assembly; it is -- well, the entire world that has really kind of persevered through COVID and through change and trying to figure out what this all looks like and still move forward through that. And I think that the residents of the Northwest Territories all together need a huge kudos to that, including our colleagues on the other side of the House. I know that there were times where I myself stated that the excuse of COVID was no longer an excuse we were willing to hear. And that being said, it was still very much part of the lives of public servants and of Cabinet Ministers, and so I want to acknowledge the hard work that they did in spite of that and under immense pressure from this side of the House.

I look forward to this conversation, this public conversation about our priorities and what the next 18 months look like and note that it's not the end of this. I know that we discuss our priorities on a weekly basis with Cabinet, especially when we're in session. There's always items that relate directly or indirectly to our priorities.

And I also wanted to acknowledge what the Premier just said about thinking outside the box. And I think one of the important things that comes up a lot that I hear when listening to my colleagues or myself speak with Ministers on the other side of the House is quite often people will bring forward a challenge that they have with constituents. And often we hear a response of this is what the government is doing, or this is the process we've created. And sometimes, not all the time, sometimes some Ministers are very good to sit and kind of work through, you know, where's the gap or where's the break in communication. And I think that that think-outside-the-box piece is really important, especially as MLA Martselos referred to as that kind of tunnelled vision versus the whole picture and being able to say okay, this MLA or this constituent has brought forward a challenge and how does the current service or current process not working for this person is so important, and I think that some of our big challenges can be solved just by trying to, like the Premier says, think outside the box. So thank you very much, and I look forward to this conversation with our colleagues today, I know for the next 18 months. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Absolutely, again, the priorities -- number of priorities, can't stress enough, bring them down. Although I do have to say that although we've had 22 priorities and we've had COVID, you know, we're on the way at 65 percent are in progress; 23 percent are done. So, you know, we're still working on them and I'm quite impressed with this -- the public servants, as you state, because of that.

I think it's also important -- I like the idea of a legacy for the Assembly. You know, I think about the legacy when I first began and people were asking me what legacy do you want to leave. And more than a legacy.

I know Minister Green in the last Assembly, we were really big on women in politics. We achieved that in this Assembly. And so, you know, I mean, that's one legacy that I'm really proud of with my colleague and all of us here. But that wasn't enough. And I was debating what it would be. And then COVID hit, and my whole focus became one, keeping people safe, if I was to say what legacy it was at the beginning. And maybe even now with what's going on in Ukraine, it's keeping people safe was a priority for me.

The other thing is, you know, I did ask every time I see an ex-MLA or an ex-Premier, mostly the Cabinet Minister, I tend to ask them what can you teach me. And I've gotten some valuable advice from that. But I think I'm going to change my tone because I think it's, like, I'm going to start asking them what would you have done differently might be a better question for them. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Ms. Cleveland.

No further comments, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Any other questions? MLA for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am -- actually for me to come in mid term -- midway through the -- this term for the 19th Assembly is -- has been interesting so far for me as MLA for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. And you know, I was -- had a chance to review some of these documents of the mandate that was put together in 2019 to 2023, and my immediate thoughts were they're very ambitious, in particular, you know, when you talk about the United Nation Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People; you know, how we're going to get there and, you know -- and I'd still like to see that through and the work is continuing on that area.

So I hit the road running, and I'm trying to catch up and understand, you know, what's been happening here and -- but you got to keep in mind too as well that, you know, as a former chief, band councillor, chairman for the impact review board, I did a lot of stuff here in the North, and I do understand how government works. And we talk about consensus government and how, you know, we're supposed to work together in trying to look for common ground and to build relationships. And at the end of the day, you know, we're trying to be accountable and transparent to our constituents in our -- here in the Northwest Territories.

You know, but when I think back about how I was involved in the communities as a tradesman and as a housing manager, and how I worked in government and later on became involved in construction management and that kind of thing, so I had a chance to sit on the national level and different levels and for DFN housing committees and etcetera, and housing's still a pretty passionate thing for us here in the Northwest Territories, and it's part of your mandate. And you know, your -- principles here, they're very important principles. And the thing is that how do we get there? And I know it's going to be talked about as well as the mandate of the Housing Corporation, how do we better bridge the gaps with Indigenous governments here in the Northwest Territories if in fact that it's been born in 1972? You know, here we are today, and we're still trying to figure out how we're going to resolve this issue of housing. And it's a huge undertaking.

But again, I said right from the beginning that I want to work with the Minister and the Premiers and the MLAs and colleagues to really trying to solve some of the issues in our community constituency, and I had no involvement in this document, but I would say that, you know -- you know, the work that was done by the 19 MLAs and the -- it's important document here. And for me is that I wanted to see how we can continue to improve the lives of our -- the people here in the Northwest Territories. And, you know, whether it be looking at fuel reduction of fuel, power subsidy.

Like in the Yukon, there's so many things that we could -- could take a look at to improve the lives of the people in our communities. And as a former chief, you know, it makes it really tough because I was on the other side. I seen the business side as the chairman for the impact review board. Now I'm here, and I -- this document that was put in front of me here is -- it's a big one that was put together by everybody here, and it's a very important document. And my question is how do we get there?

And I don't want to see, you know, some of the big ticket items fall off the table. You know, the biggest one I would say I'm in support of is the implementation of the United Nation Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, you know. The other one is settling the implement of treaty lands and resources and settle government agreements. Those are big ticket items. But, you know, for me is that we also need a strong economy here in the Northwest Territories. We need to -- it's -- I know the two years that's been happening here already is -- you know, we hit the wall with, you know, this COVID, and before COVID, and life after COVID. You know, we got to work together I guess and see how we're going to address all of these issues.

You know, and -- so I'm looking forward to move through this document and really look -- maybe help provide some input to the Premier and Cabinet, and continue to look for ways to improve the lives of our people in our communities, in particular housing is still the number 1 issue. We have to look at new ways as to how we could work with aboriginal and Indigenous governments, you know, through contribution agreements, maybe work with Ottawa so that they could continue to get money back into the communities.

At the end of the day, you know, we still need work. People are looking for jobs. Mining industry is not going to always going to be there. Oil and gas is down. So, I hear that almost every day. You know, people who need jobs, you know, so.

Anyway, so I just want to say to the Premier and the Cabinet and MLAs here, it's been a privilege and an honour to at least been here for the last month, and we're hitting the road running, and I'm trying to -- there's so many issues that I could probably talk about but this one here, I'm hoping that we go through this document and I will continue to provide input. So I just want to say that to Mr. Speaker and to the Premier and the Cabinet and my colleagues. Mahsi.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're right, you did come in halfway through and you hit the road running. Probably the not best; no time to stumble, but. Could be on Cabinet; that's what we always say - hit the road running and you keep running.

I think housing is a priority for this government on both sides of the House. It's why I came. I think you've learnt today I've spent 20 years of my life before politics working with low income family, specifically running homeless shelters. My -- that's why I came. And that's where I'm going when I'm finished, back to that work. So, and I always -- one thing I'd like to say is I always ask people for advice whenever. I don't have all the answers. I'm old enough to know that I don't know everything, and that's a strength in itself. So if you don't have my number, get my number from me. Call me any time you want, whether it's to complain about something, less of that, but if you have an answer or a solution, give me a call. I'm always willing -- Members call me at all times, day and night.

And one advice I'll give you, though, if you hit the road running, it's true. I think you're old enough that you probably were -- back in the day, you probably did some of that bumper riding on the ice road to Dettah. I used to do that. It's illegal now. Don't do that, anybody out there. But if you see a bus running, don't grab that bumper because that bus usually isn't very good in politics. But other than that, that's my advice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Mr. Edjericon.

That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further questions?

Seeing no further general comments, does the committee agree to review Tabled Document 567-19(2): Annual Status Report - 2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, February 2021 - January 2022, by priority?

Committee, we will begin at pages 21 to 22: Increase the number of affordable homes and reduce core housing need. Questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Although it's not one of the specific action items in here, we did get the Minister and the deputy minister to agree to prepare a plan to get our housing out of core need, and I had understood that that plan was going to be available before March 31st so I guess they got three days to go. But I'm just wondering if I can get an update as to the status of that work. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Mr. Chair, that would go to the Minister of Housing.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just received that document today, and I'm just taking a look at it right now, and it's up -- we're reviewing it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can I look over the Minister's shoulder while she's looking at it? Okay, all right, great. So I expect that we're going to get it in the next two or three days. That would be great.

And the reason why I keep raising this is when my colleagues from Cabinet go to Ottawa and talk about our housing needs, it's very easy to identify what the needs are. The more difficult part of the conversation is translating that into a plan and the costs associated with getting our housing out of core need. So that's why I keep harping on this. I harped on it in the last Assembly. So here I am five, six years later asking the same questions. If you don't have that kind of document ready, you don't really have any case to make with Ottawa in terms of our needs in a financial sense.

I know that we also need partnerships and, you know, skilled people but if you don't have a way of starting to put, you know, a financial cost on any of that, we're not going to get anywhere. So I guess I would also ask, you know, about this partnership arrangement.

Indigenous governments are increasingly getting money directly from Ottawa, and I think that's partly because we just can't do the job as a government, and/or that the Indigenous governments don't really trust GNWT to do it for them or with them anymore. So they're going directly to Ottawa to get the money.

So how are we going to deal with this as a government, not just as a government but as the Northwest Territories, so that, okay, if Indigenous governments are getting some direct funding themselves, what are they using it for and how do we know about that so that GNWT can better direct the money that it has available to it to meet other sorts of needs? So it seems like we need to have some better coordination, information sharing at the Northwest Territories level. And I don't really see anything in this particular area, and I think this is something that's quickly evolving and is likely to change even more in the next couple of weeks, but how do we start to build better trust and information sharing so that there's like a whole-of-territories approach to improving housing? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Premier.

Mr. Chair, I'll take this one. The Indigenous governments are getting more money from Ottawa, and the reason they're doing that I'm hoping is not just because that they don't trust us and we're doing a horrible job, I think it's because as a Cabinet we've been lobbying for the Indigenous governments to get money from Ottawa.

In the last Cabinet, which I was a part of, the philosophy was give us all the money because we know best and then we will decide where the money goes. That didn't work well for that Cabinet in honesty. Like I said, I was part of that, and I did see one Indigenous government get money and no other one. And so I learned from -- I try to learn from my mistakes as well as learning from our successes, and I learned that that was a bad strategy for the Cabinet. And so this Cabinet, from the very beginning, I've been saying to Ottawa and to the Indigenous governments, we are not your enemies; we are not a Cabinet that says give us all the money. We will stand beside the Indigenous governments. I've told Trudeau; I've told Carolyn Bennett that; I've told all the ministers that. They were shocked at the beginning and now they take it as normal. I told the Indigenous governments and I had to gain their trust, and it took some time, but I listened to them and I've gone to Ottawa with their asks and asked for their asks, not only for our asks but for what they need as well. So I think that we're doing a great job of working together with the federal government and with the Indigenous governments.

One of the things that I'm most proud about in this government, one of them, is the Council of Leaders table that we took part in. So we formed the Council of Leaders table. Every single Indigenous government is on it.

And one of the first priorities that we're doing, the Council of Leaders and Minister Chinna -- kudos to Minister Chinna -- is that we've agreed that there is a working group that is formed from that table that will be looking at every single one of the housing policies. How more working in collaboration can you get than actually sitting at a table with all of the Indigenous governments and looking at all of the policies for housing?

And I'm hoping, Mr. Chair, that that will just keep going. Not only ending with housing but every program because that is part of United Nations declaration, is doing that work. And it's going to take time but we're committed to doing it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, that's good to hear about the work at the Council of Leaders with the working group on housing, and they're going to look at policies. But I guess I'm hoping that they're going to look at more than just policies, that they're actually going to be sharing information, as our government can and should as well, about what the housing needs are in terms of our stock and the programs and so on that we have in place.

Look, I don't really care who improves the housing. The question is getting the work done. And if partnerships are part of the answer, just go and do it, but. So I guess I want to get some assurance from the Premier that this working group is more than just looking at policies; this is about information sharing, coordination, and improving housing for everybody. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Mr. Chair, to begin with, we started as just a housing, looking at the policies. But Minister Chinna can expand on what she's doing and what she plans to do, if you can pass it to Minister Chinna, Mr. Chair, through you.

Minister of Housing.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, you know, since I've gotten the portfolio, I'm, you know, absolutely grateful that, you know, to be sitting in this seat as well too and really highlighting and looking at what is needed at the ground level. Policies is just -- it's just a fraction of what needs to be done.

We need to improve the relationships. We need to improve the programs that we absolutely deliver at the ground level. Our relationships with the Indigenous groups is key, and it is priority. And looking at -- I just want to elaborate on those partnerships as well too, where we're able to -- for an example, we looked at furnace repair. We did that in one of the communities where we funded the community to go ahead and establish and provide that service. We looked at building decks. We looked at siding. We looked at pilings as well too. So working through those initiative -- those projects.

Not only that, the other one is apprenticeships and working through that as well too and trying to highlight the opportunity with our 90-unit delivery coming through the Northwest Territories and really enhancing and connecting with the communities. And as we move forward, we are going to see a lot of improvement in a lot of -- a lot of housing moving in a really different direction and really putting the Northwest Territories first and also looking at the funding.

I did just finish a presentation to the standing committee with the House of Commons last week as well too, which turned out to be very successful and was very well received as well.

We do also have a federal working table where I wanted to work with the federal government and look at all of the funding pots that are out there because there's not just specifically one; there's several of them. And I wanted those pots to be available to the people of the territories. But in response to that, very grateful that we did end up getting the $5 million over three years to support those federal applications.

I don't want to take up too much time but I'm, you know, quite passionate about it as well. All of our housing designs and energy efficiency designs as well, and that's all available to all of the Indigenous groups as well too. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

No, that's -- thanks, Mr. Chair. That's all I've got on this one. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Martselos.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just going to make a couple comments. I just -- one of the comments that my -- one of my colleagues said about Indigenous governments.

Indigenous governments always facilitate that they always want to have control of the funds for housing. It goes back, like, 17 years now, and every time there was allocations of $59 million to the federal -- to the territorial government, it was just another roadblock for them to actually do -- to actually control the funds and do the work. So saying that -- because I know that's the way it was every time we met as a group.

I also want to just make a statement on -- policy is not always the correct way of looking at the delivery of services. Once again, one size doesn't fit all. There are individual needs out there that have to be addressed. And many times as ordinary MLAs, we get calls of people who are couch surfing, people whose names have been on for four years on lists and have never been called. There's always these other issues that are very dear to all of us in this House, including the Cabinet Members, I'm sure.

And so you get into the homelessness issue and, you know, homelessness you said was, Madam Premier, one of your -- one of the things that you advocated on before your time as an MLA. And this government has addressed a lot of those concerns within the last budget with -- in this past budget with -- this budget that we're doing I should say with Hay River and Fort Simpson. And coming from a large community, a regional community, and all small communities, we should all be addressing homelessness in -- in our -- in a way that is innovative and -- so that we can all succeed. And I just feel that, you know, sometimes we have -- we have -- we have mini roadblocks just by expressing on some of the things we want to do.

And in consensus government, we should be able to sit down and work through those roadblocks but when you just get a -- no commitment and just oh, you're going to go back to the federal government, well, by that time there will be double the amount of homelessness in the community, and I don't agree with that.

And you know, I've been advocating on behalf of a group on homelessness, and this group has carried the homelessness -- majority of the funds have been coming from this one group, and now they have a solution, and they have an innovative solution, and I'd just like to know how you feel, Madam Premier, about the whole issue of homelessness and the whole issue of policy that the delivery of services doesn't always one size fits all. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the MLA knows me well and she's just trying to testing me, but she's right. One size doesn't fit all. I know that we've -- you know, and I come from the NGO world. I'm a social worker by degree, and people always said one stop shopping and I've always been the one that says no, because what happens when that one person can't go in that building; they have nowhere else to shop. So, you know, I always say that you need to have flexibility in programs.

The reason I say that it's really important and it's a huge milestone that the Council of Leaders is actually doing a working group to look at the policies of the Housing Corporation is because the Housing Corporation doesn't have any legislation. All they have is policies. So being able to get them into the policies is like looking at their whole -- the whole way they operate. It's a huge milestone in my opinion. If they had legislation, it might be different. I might be saying move into that direction. But they don't.

So I think that you'll find -- I'm very hopeful that as they go forward, that -- I know all the Indigenous governments know one size doesn't fit all, and I know that they will bring flexibility -- I trust, in the process that they will bring flexibility within the policy.

So give us a chance. I know that we're just beginning that work. Let's see what happens. We're at mid term. This is new work. It's just, I think, in the last six months or so we put this on the table, and Minister Chinna's just getting her head around it. And I am hopeful that things will come, positive things will come from this. And I am hopeful that -- I also agree that homelessness is an issue that needs to be addressed, and if we can't address it all -- in fact, we can't address it all. We don't have enough money in the NWT to address it all from the GNWT. And we don't have all the answers. But by working together with the Indigenous governments, as you say that was what they wanted in the beginning, and us being open enough to being able to take that jump and working with them, I think we'll have better answers and better housing solutions for people. And my wish is that every single community in the NWT will have some kind of accommodations for homeless people because that's where I come from, and that's where my heart is. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The other thing I wanted to address is the homeownership program.

The homeownership program and also the -- we -- they're always -- there's always these thresholds that seem to be a barrier to ownership. So if you're at the very lower end of the scale, you can get ownership of -- because I know a couple, a young couple in Fort Smith who just started jobs and just started a new family, and they were told that they were over the threshold. And, you know, they're just starting out. They don't -- they bought a car and they wanted to buy the house they were in. And everything's with a threshold in this department. You have to think of all the inflation issues, all the other issues that are pending in our -- today's world, you know, with cost of food, cost of living, cost of fuel, cost of gas. All those things come into play. And I think that we have to be more innovative in the way we think with regards to these thresholds because, you know, every one of us, including all 19 of us, know that this is a -- the major problem with homeownership, there's always -- you know, and you want to give it to the people that are going to actually pay for the homeownership program that -- you know, and -- you have to be able to minimize those barriers, and I just wonder how we're going to be able to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Mr. Chair, if you can divert that to the Minister of Housing, Minister --

Minister Chinna.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, you know, thank you to the Member for these questions because it's exactly where I'm sitting with the corporation, is looking at all those in flair -- rising costs, looking at all of those, and because I come from a smaller community. You know, Fort Good Hope in my riding was the most expensive community to be living in. We're looking at -- I think the last was $2.78 per litre for gas. And looking at the limited amount of time to get your supplies on the winter road just, you know, according to Minister Archie, the last post that we're going to be closing down in 72 hours. And I -- I hear you when I'm looking at -- looking at the housing needs in the North and looking at what needs to come with it.

Looking at those thresholds is something that I'm bringing back to the department because if you're making a hundred thousand dollars in Nunakput and you're paying, you know, $50 for a package of steak, you know, and if you're living in a home in Colville Lake and your fuel is $1,400 in four weeks, those are -- those are costs that I'm absolutely looking at. And I want to make those changes within this government. I need to look at those policies, and having the Council of Leaders at that same working table and getting that information right from the ground level, it really fuels and emphasizes the need for change in the Northwest Territories and how the Housing Corporation is actually doing business.

And I also just wanted to highlight, the other thing too is we have 2600 units, 45,000 people. I have an issue with that. You know, and when I had met the last -- and Nunavut had made -- had made some comments, and they've got, according to them, 10,000 units. And I thought, there's -- I asked my department to go back to making sure, is that number correct, because we only have 2600.

So it really fuels that conversation with the federal government as well too to -- to really look at those numbers, and looking at the operation and maintenance as well too for those units. But also I want to see more homeownership throughout the territory. I was, you know, born and raised in the Northwest Territories. I was around when they had the HAP units. Very successful program. And I would like to look at that and look at the opportunities. But with that, community driven, where we are able to provide that funding to the communities, support them with the -- the stipend based funding that they did receive. But it's up to them if they want to invite us to the table, and if they want to see what it is that we have to offer to them. But I'm more than open to be meeting with them. Council of Leaders is the first place to start. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Martselos. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My first question for the Minister -- or sorry, for the Premier is in regards to the very first status on the first piece, which is working with -- including federal and Indigenous governments to increase funding for housing programs that currently that reads as fulfilled, and given that accessing -- or working with people or different partners to access funding is an ongoing and kind of a constant within the housing portfolio, I'm wondering if the Premier is willing to change that to ongoing and maintain that as ongoing for the life of this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd just like clarification. Exactly what is the Member wanting to get changed out of this -- how we do it? I want to make sure that I'm clear with that direction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, currently I'm in the line item of work with partners including the federal/Indigenous governments to increase funding for housing programs. It is marked as fulfilled.

Given that this is something that the Housing portfolio is constantly working on and that we don't want to lose sight of, I'm wondering if the Premier will commit to changing the status of that to ongoing so that we are consistently looking for additional funding opportunities. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you for the clarification. I thought she was looking at a different one but this is fine.

What I do recommend -- I'm not going to change all of these mandates. That's not going to happen. But what I will do with the status is put fulfilled and ongoing, if the Member's okay with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll accept fulfilled and ongoing on that one. So thank you to the Premier for that.

One of my points of that one is, for example, the $60 million carveout that is identified under progress to date was a commitment that was made during 2018. So we weren't even within the 19th Assembly at that point. And so this is something that we are thankfully reaping the benefits of, of work that was achieved in the 18th Assembly for that $60 million carveout. And so I'm wondering if there is a commitment from Cabinet to pursue additional carve-offs like that from the National Housing Strategy so that we as well are leaving the 20th Assembly with a similar carve-off of funding for additional housing initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Absolutely, I do know that, yes, the co-investment money was a carve-out and it was from the work of last Assembly; however, it was -- did come into effect in this Assembly. So that is money on the table.

I also know that we're constantly talking. Like I said, it's the biggest priority that we have, I think all of us as Members of this Assembly. So it's not only are we asking at the table. We've identified it in our budget ask to the federal government. Hopefully, we'll see -- the budget should be coming out in the next month or so hopefully. And so hopefully we'll see more money.

We do know that Indigenous governments are getting a lot of money. And it's in our Arctic and Northern Policy Framework. I'm not sure if the Member's had a chance to review that, but it's also in there as well - housing is a key thing. It's -- so we've been pushing that. The three northern Premiers have been lobbying for housing as our number 1 priority. We're saying housing at every single chance and every single table we have we can. And if the federal government doesn't hear us, my commitment is I will say it louder so that the federal government does hear us, that housing is a core need. Not only core need to the people but a core need to the people, all residents of the NWT. And so I am hopeful that this budget, this federal budget, will see new money coming. And if not, you can count that my voice will get louder at those tables. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the commitment of pursuing additional funding that the 19th Assembly can also secure for the 20th Assembly as well. I think that's really important to keep that narrative of housing going and the pursuit of access to safe and secure housing for all Northerners going.

My next comment that I wanted to make in regards to that one is that that first piece of work with partners, including the federal and Indigenous governments to increase funding for housing programs, to me housing programs are completely different than the co-investment fund and the Rapid Housing Initiative because those, really, are infrastructure dollars for housing. And, in fact, with the Rapid Housing Initiative, it actually came with a caveat of having to secure operations and maintenance dollars for the future of that investment in housing infrastructure and so I really question whether the progress to date of referencing the $60 million carve-off and the Rapid Housing Initiative actually achieves the target of this priority at all, because it doesn't speak to ongoing funding for actual programs for housing. And so the programs in my mind, really would be programs that allow for operations and maintenance on ongoing basis of housing.

And so is, then, really, this item not fulfilled and that really the piece of securing funding for housing programs needs to be more in the form of ongoing consistent funding for operations and maintenance for the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Mr. Chair, actually on this one, I beg to defer with the Member. Being the housing Minister for a few years the last Assembly, I do know that every single program within the Housing Corporation is considered a program, not just operating and maintenance. There's lots of care and mobility, care, care of -- what -- 13 programs, and they're all -- not all of them are just about operate and maintenance, about fixing up homes. Some of them are about fixing up -- putting technology in so that people can age in place. Some of them are about doing homeownership programs. There's a whole vast of them. They're all called programs. So I beg to differ. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So I'll move down, then, to the address home repair barriers to assist low income seniors and disabled individuals with aging in place. And then I'm happy to see that there were policy changes, then, that took affect that were implemented by the NWT Housing Corporation.

One of the big barriers to housing repair programs in the Northwest Territories is really the cost of the programs. And without an increase, then, to the budget of the NWT Housing Corporation, a policy change is only a portion of that barrier. And so will, then, the Premier commit to ensuring that there's an increase to the budget and the budget asks of the NWT Housing Corporation in our future capital and main estimate budgets? Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The process of the budget negotiations is just that. It's a process of negotiations with Regular Members. I think that the Minister of Finance, myself as Premier, and all the Cabinet, have heard directly from Members in this session about the importance of housing. I know that in the last budget that there was an increase; thank you to Members for further increase with this hearing now again.

I'm not going to say that I'm going to just put in an amount. I have one vote in finance; I don't have seven votes, you know. And so I know it's a need for us. But what I would like to say is let's wait to see what the budget comes from with the federal government. If the federal government is going to give us what I think is going to be substantial money and is going to give Indigenous governments substantial money, my fear is that we will have more money than we can spend. So before I make a commitment that I cannot keep, I'd rather say let me see what comes in this budget, the federal budget, and then ask me on the floor. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My next question is in regards to the second piece of this priority, which is work with private sector and Indigenous governments to improve the availability of private market and housing options.

We've heard a lot about increases to public housing options in order to address the waitlist, and then we've also heard, especially even in the sitting of the Assembly, how the availability of private market rentals has had an impact on the ability of, even specifically the Minister of Health and Social Services, to fill vacancies in communities, specifically Behchoko and Tuktoyaktuk because of a lack of private market rentals. And so this piece here says fulfilled, but can the Premier speak more specifically to how private market rentals were fulfilled under this line item? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to refer to the Minister of Housing, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. [Audio] priority, we were able to enhance our agreement with the federal government, looking at the Canada Housing Benefit to really address that, the private market as well. And trying to be innovative as well too and just the recent purchase here in Yellowknife to try to relieve us of those Northview leases here in Yellowknife. But then outside of Yellowknife, I -- what I have noticed is that the -- we do have businesses coming forward and expressing interest but not necessarily we have a commitment from them, but then we're open to having those discussions and if there's an opportunity for us to be working with other stakeholders besides what we have been working with so far, then we're open to be working with them. But I just really want to emphasize that with the improvement with our Canada Housing Benefit Program that was reconsidered by the federal government, and we did get an increase in federal funding with that program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions in this section on housing? Mr. Edjericon.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to -- I'm just looking at that document here in the previous number about affordable housing and reduced core housing needs.

Right now, as it is, you know, we already know that the Housing Corporation's been around for a while. It's actually 50 years now. And how housing and HAP houses and public housing ended in 1993 when Ottawa cut back on social housing, and then that was the beginning of the end of a very good program that was talked about for a long time. And I'm not really sure how -- how come 2038, I believe that's when these CMHC's looking to cutting funding off to the Housing Corporation, how -- and how housing's going to be handled. My -- I did ask that question earlier during budget process as we were going through it. So I'm just going to make a couple comments of -- maybe the Premier can help clarify a few questions for me on this one here is that, you know, as we talk about new funding coming from Ottawa to -- to help address the housing needs here in the North, sooner or later we need to ask ourselves as a government, you know, we are at $2.2 billion now -- we are at 1.6 in the debt limit, the borrowing limit -- the maximum is 1.8 billion I believe. We're going to be hitting that wall soon. And, you know, our population is going down. The royalties that are coming up with the mining industry is going down. You know, we're really in a tough situation here in the North in terms of the economy with the diamond mines and some of them are at reclamation stage right now, etcetera.

How do we really trying to address the need of housing overall here in the Northwest Territories? And I know the Premier talked about trust and new relationship, and it's true. You know, the Housing Corporation needs to look at a new vision, a new mandate. Sooner or later, you know, land claims are going to be done. Self-government agreements are going to be done. And, you know, some of these agreements that are already in place have chapters in there for housing and then how they're going to, you know, work with Ottawa or work with the territorial governments to how the money's going to go from this pot to this pot so they could address their own needs, etcetera. If they hadn't said that, though, you know, my concern is that, you know, what happens when we reach that limit in terms of going to Ottawa and saying hey look, you know, we need to increase our debt limit? What happens if they say no? You know, I mean, they may not say no but I'm just saying sooner or later, as a government, we really need to take a look at ourselves within the government here. So I haven't said that. I mean, we may need to really look at, you know -- the days of the Housing Corporation being 50 years old, we may have to go back and restructure that and really look at that piece of pie and how that's going to be carved up, if that's what, you know -- being something that needs to be talked about.

But sooner or later, it's concerning now that -- you know, right now I'll just mention in the budget here for this fiscal year, you know, our budget for just to repair public housing is $3.4 million, and there's $1.7 million for homeownership repairs for 33 communities in the Northwest Territories but yet I still have constituent members calling me and saying that my bathtub is full of -- that sewer's backed up in there again. And again, the policies are there that are hindering, you know, constituent people in our communities from getting homeownership repairs because they don't qualify or if they make too much -- or if they don't make too much. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done in some of areas.

So my concern would be to the Premier is that what happens when we reach that limit with Ottawa and how do we fix these problems? Because I know that it's a big issue but at the same time, you know, I -- I heard new vision, new mandate, but yet the Housing Corporation is 50 years old already. You know, so I just want to get some of your feedback. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

I mean, I have the same concerns as the Member. I mean, I -- I'm old; I'm 61 years old, and I don't like to borrow money. I learned a long time ago don't borrow it because if you can't pay it back, you're in trouble. And if you can't live within your means, you're in bigger trouble. So I think that we have learn that. It's not as simple as just going and asking for more money every time we hit the limit.

We're going to have to make tough choices, not only this Assembly, in the next Assembly as well. There's going to have to be really tough choices. When you got 22 priorities, you're not making tough choices; you're trying to address them all.

Housing, like I said, that's why I came into politics because I cared about housing; I cared about people that weren't getting in to housing, people that were on the streets and people that were struggling to keeping their homes. That's why you'll see one little tiny one in here. I have to thank my colleague Minister Green who stood beside me on this one. The only one I fought for really hard in all of these priorities when it came to was the one that says "transition 100 individuals/families to homeownership", because I do believe, from my experience from all the years I've worked with low income families and just the couple of years I was housing minister, I seen the HAP houses and I seen homeownership and I seen that people that own their own house took care of those houses. Not all of them; there's always people that fall through the cracks. But the majority of them took care of those houses. There was pride in them. Their furnaces were heated and their houses were clean and their kids were fed. It made a difference.

And I also seen the other side when they were in public housing units. In one community - I use it all the time - 400 windows in one community I had to fix as the housing Minister. Why? Because people didn't care. They didn't own those houses. So as soon as I fixed those windows, they would -- kids were breaking them in the community. That taught me that homeownership is the key.

I hear Mr. Chair talking about HAP houses. I was also impressed with that.

So if we can make this priority in this one little piece here that says transition 100 people into homeownership that are in public housing now, hopefully, my hope is that that's going to prove what I suspect all along, and that we will continue, not only in this Assembly but in Assemblies to come, we need to give people the houses that they ask for.

People -- Indigenous people have told me from the beginning the federal government promised us housing. I haven't forgotten that. And I believe you don't reward bad behavior. So if people are wrecking their homes, you don't give them the home to own; they need to be in public housing. But if they are taking care of the homes, reward them. And that's going to help address that 2038 number. Because you're right, 2038's the operating and maintenance money's supposed to be gone. However, some of you will be here in 2038 and I have faith in politicians that the federal government, they might say that they're going to put it off the table but they -- hopefully, there will be wise politicians of the day that will not let that happen. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Edjericon.

Thank you, Premier, for your comments. Going forward, though, again, I'm only adding to the discussion because, I mean, I wasn't here at the beginning of this whole thing, but I think in order to continue to build new trust and new relationship with Indigenous governments, I think this government's going to have to really take a look as to how we're going to deal with the issue of housing, how we're going to work with Indigenous governments, but most importantly we're going to have to work around the policies that are already in place. And if there's a way where we can look at maybe working with those Indigenous governments, we can do it through the contribution agreement, because to eliminate the -- if we were to use the Housing Corporation or even the policy becomes barriers, etcetera, the aboriginal governments and Indigenous governments, they also have capacity. You know, they have good people working there. And, you know, it's only a place for them to continue to grow. So we -- if there's a way we could build on that and really work to build that trust and look for new relationships, because we seen what the Housing Corporation did in the last 50 years. But now as claims get settled, you know, we're going to have to look at new way of doing business. And I know that I mentioned it before, there's also going to have to be some constitutional discussions down the road anyway and it's kind of -- if all the claims were done today, how is that -- how is this government going to take shape? And so those are some of the things that we need to talk about. So anyways, new relationships and looking at new contributions ways of being -- working with aboriginal governments. Mahsi.

Premier.

I'd like to defer that one to Minister Chinna.

Minister Chinna.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I love this question because, you know what, I come from a settled land claim area and also self-government is happening in my riding as well too. We've got some seven of those discussions happening right now. And housing has often come up but one of the things that I really pride on is Indigenous partnership and looking at new ways of doing business in the smaller communities.

I just want to just reflect very quickly on my riding is that my home community of Fort Good Hope had created the K'asho Got'ine Housing Society, because they were tired of dealing with our programs, with our -- the way that we allocate money, and working with the local housing authorities. So they came together. They created the society. So now we are working in partnership where they're able to look at operate -- not operate -- repairs for homeownership in their communities. And this is something that I'm really wanting to do across the Northwest Territories.

But also the Housing Corporation has entered into several partnerships as well too. And like I had said, they range from, you know, cleaning fuel tanks, replacing fuel tanks, stairs, sidings, pilings, and whatever that -- that is a priority in those communities.

And also working with them, I want to say the collaboration that is happening as well too, that we're going to see more of those announcements coming forward. We do have 18 months in this government and I'm guaranteeing that you're going to see a lot of improvement within the corporation that I would like to now be more focused on as well as what is going to be left for the next government and what kind of funding allocations are we going to be able to pursue through the federal government, also looking at the federal pots that are there too.

There's a number of co-investment applications that have been submitted by Indigenous groups. I want to say the last number I looked at was 16. And they're going through the process as too. They want to own housing as well.

The corporation is also available to be working with those Indigenous groups as well. One of the ones that I'm ready proud and we've made a lot of headway with is with the Metis and working with Mr. Bailey in his community as well too and in looking at his submission and looking at improvements and where we can actually meet halfway.

So just establishing those relationships, improving them, is a priority of what it is that I would like to accomplish within this portfolio. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions on increase the number of affordable homes and reduce core housing need?

Seeing none, committee, we will move to pages 23 to 24: Settle and implement treaty land, resources, and self-government agreements. Questions? Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the goals here was that the GNWT was going to publish its principles and interests. You know, we're really supposed to have done that spring 2021; it's now spring 2022 and we haven't. But I see here that in the coming months it's supposed to be published. Does the Premier have an update of when those principles and interests will be published. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll start it now and then turn it to Martin for more -- dipping into that and the timing.

So the first step we did was we reviewed the whole thing through Cabinet. Cabinet has reviewed them all. We will be working with the standing committee. We will also be working with the Indigenous governments. And then we will be releasing them.

But Martin, do you have more -- sorry, through you, Mr. Chair, if I could turn to the deputy minister to give a more definitive timeline for those actions to happen.

Thank you. Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I look forward to getting these out there and I think they give something for the public to have a conversation about. They give, you know, something for Regular MLAs to talk to Indigenous governments about. They allow us to have some sort of negotiation conversation in public. But to me, this -- I would view this as step one. I reviewed the federal principles and interests. You know, there's not a lot of controversy in what they say but then they went, and they made a lot of significant changes to their negotiating mandates on very specific things, you know, such as funding formulas or cede and surrender clauses; you know, things that really get into the weeds that I suspect these principles and interests will not do.

So my question is once these are finalized, is there then a plan to overhaul the mandates that our negotiators have, you know, that those are not public documents; they're not -- the other parties at the negotiating table will see them but they're really what's driving it. So I'm wondering if these will then flow into an overhaul of our mandate directions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.