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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member as well too because she has brought this up quite a number of times. And looking at what we do have, the low income housing program throughout the Northwest Territories and looking at, you know, the apprehension of children as well and looking at the movement and, you know, domestic violence and, you know, how are we going to be working with the -- with the individuals, I have to work in conjunction with my colleague with the -- for the Minister of Health as well too to address these concerns. But also, Mr. Speaker, we have a limited amount of housing units at the ground level. And I'm not wanting to create or look at what it is that we can -- how we can House people at the ground level. I'm trying to work with the department and changing and acknowledging those barriers that we currently do have.

We do have a massive policy review that is going to be coming into effect in the next few months, and hopefully we're able to really look at those documents and being able to pass that in the lifetime of this government. Those policies will be reviewed as well by the Indigenous groups as well. And there's a number of issues that is brought up at that table that is concerning housing as well.

But I want to make it very clear that when it comes to domestic violence that I'm not -- I'm not looking at trying to create more barriers when we're looking at families fleeing from other communities and wanting to be moved into another community. We've got to also think about the waitlists that are there too and those circumstances in each of those communities, they vary in every one of them. But we do have a limited amount of housing units, and we do have a significant waitlist.

I am trying -- I am working with the federal government to address the significant housing need and crisis that we do have in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question was does the Minister agree that we must prohibit the apprehension of children on the basis of poverty and access to housing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't agree with that as well but I don't see where that is -- where we can highlight that within the way that we look at our public housing waitlist and the way that we look at our applications coming forward. I haven't heard of any concerns like that as of today. But I would like to work with the Member should she have a constituent that may be needing those -- needing that addressed in what specific community that she's speaking of. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. I'd just like to remind Members to please take your time here. Our interpreters are having difficulty keeping up so keep that in mind. Member for Kam Lake.

My apologies, Mr. Speaker. My apologies to the interpreters. I do speed up when I get excited.

Mr. Speaker, I am bothered by the Minister's response of not agreeing with that one. And later this session, we -- well, social development hopes to table a response that shows our social development's feelings on that one.

But I guess my next question then for the Minister is does Minister agree, as the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, that Indigenous people must have access to safe housing? Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason I asked the first two questions of the Minister was because those are directly from the MMIWG Calls for justice and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. And I think if this government is truly serious about implementing those, then we need to make sure that our policies don't stand against those.

My next question for the Minister is the Minister told me after the first question that the policies are being reviewed by Indigenous groups. The Minister said yesterday to me that LHOs decide their own policies. And so I'm wondering, then, if the Minister is talking to Indigenous groups about reviewing these policies; should I be talking to Indigenous groups and not the Minister of Housing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I want to be very clear that I've been challenged as well too to be making sure that we do include the Indigenous groups, and they have provided a lot of feedback and a lot of advocation as to how we deliver the housing program. We've been high -- we've been very much criticized at the ground level for not making drastic improvements to how we deliver housing. And, you know, we have created a Council of Leaders Working Group, and this is important to the Housing Corporation to making sure that we have that direct partnership, and we are making changes to the policies that we are working with today. And also, I want to recognize the local housing authorities and the service contracts that they provide as well too. We are going through a huge overhaul throughout the Housing Corporation. And I know that a lot of concerns have been brought up, and we are trying to work with them and we are trying to address them. But, you know, we will be following up with committee as well too once we are -- we do receive feedback from the Indigenous groups. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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