This is page numbers 3793 - 3836 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.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Justice responsible for the maintenance enforcement program.

My statement outlined the complexities of adjusting the amount of maintenance enforcement payments and the difficulties of enacting these changes. The Minister told me that an automatic adjustment regime would be coming into place at the beginning of the year. Can the Minister tell me the status of this improvement? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And like many things over the past two years, it's a story of delays. We were initially waiting for the federal government to make changes to one of their acts, the Divorce Act, which they did, then there was a federal election which meant that our discussions with the federal government on using a recalculation service under the Divorce Act were delayed. But we've restarted those and we've made significant progress, and so while we didn't hit the January 1st deadline, we're hoping by April 1st to have the draft regulations posted for public comment, and I expect that we'll get some good feedback on that. And as soon as we review those comments and see if there's any adjustments needed, we hope to be able to put these into force. However, we do need to still work with the federal government and ensure that there's an MOU in place so that we can use this for situations under the Divorce Act. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The sooner the better. Of course, it's one thing for the changes to be made and another for those affected to be informed. So what activities does the department plan to carry out, first, to identify those maintenance orders affected by the change; and secondly, to inform child support payment recipients that a new regime of annual payment recalculation is being introduced? Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Those are questions for the Minister. Mahsi.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. So those wishing to use the service will have to apply. It won't -- not everyone will be able to use the service. There are parameters. There are certain criteria that people will have to meet. But we will have a broad information campaign through social media through all -- we will update all of our family law publications, the website. The information will be distributed by legal aid lawyers through -- we'll distribute it to the Law Society so that all lawyers have that information, can distribute it to their clients. So every way we can get the information out, we are going to get the information out. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that and, of course, we're starting to get the word out right now.

Obviously, delays in receiving child support payments can have serious consequences for well-being of children. I've dealt with my instances of money paid to -- or some of these cases myself for my constituents where constituents have not been paid promptly.

Can the Minister say what provisions are in place to treat instances such as emergencies and takes swift action to recover and disburse payments for child support? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So most payments, once they're in the system, are swift. 95 percent of the maintenance enforcement clients receive their funds through direct deposit. There's sometimes situations where one of the parties might be outside of the territory and in those instances, we have legislation, and other jurisdictions have complementary legislation, whereby we cooperate. And all jurisdictions in Canada, except for Quebec, also use direct deposit. So there may be delays in some situations, particularly when one of the individuals is living in Quebec. But for the most part, funds are processed within a day. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I got so excited, I jumped ahead one question. So I know that the Minister -- I'll just have to surprise him right now.

But I'm just wondering if there's any kind of annual reporting or tracking of how long it takes for these cross-jurisdictional payments to be made for child support? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have that information. But I will -- I can get back to the Member. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Housing.

In order to address core housing needs in the communities, there needs to be an assessment done on every asset. This is critical piece in building the plan to improve core housing. Can the Minister of Housing provide a total estimate budget to address housing core needs for the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding? Mahsi.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently right now we have the local housing authorities and we also have the district office that is run out of Yellowknife. I don't have those numbers in front of me to look at specific budgets for each of the regions. But as of today, just looking at my housing delivery, for Fort Resolution there will be a delivery of six units. N'dilo, there will be a delivery of two. Lutselk'e, there will be a delivery of four. And Dettah, there will be two units delivered. And the final construction for these units would be 2022-2023. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister of Housing provide me the detailed housing assessment to bring homes out of core need for all homes in the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding? Mahsi.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have that information in front of me, but I can tell the Member that we have been working with the community of Fort Resolution -- I mean, the community of Lutselk'e that has started on a draft community housing plan. And Dettah and N'dilo are in progress, and Fort Resolution has not get begun.

With these housing plans, they start to identify the housing needs right from the ground level. The importance of these housing plans to go forward is to start that communication with the Indigenous groups and with the Housing Corporation to further look ahead and what are they wanting to plan and what it is that they want delivered in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for your answers, and that helps. I just had a couple quick questions here.

I recognize that the NWT Housing Corporation will provide a plan to address core housing needs in the NWT to this Assembly before the end of the session, and this is a very positive one. However, Mr. Speaker, I'm looking for a detail assessment data for every home in my riding, every home by community. Can the Minister provide that level of detail to me? Mahsi.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have a detailed plan for all of the housing ownership in each of the communities. We don't own all of the assets at the ground level. I just have some numbers here for the Member.

So in Dettah, we have an operation of 43 units. In N'dilo, we have 34 units. And in Fort Resolution, we have 94 units. Lutselk'e, we have 63. I also have the population ranging from 548 to 335 in each of these communities. And once again, Mr. Speaker, I want to just -- the Housing Corporation does not own every single house and every single asset on the ground level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3799

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. Can the Minister of Housing explain how the Housing Corporation is engaging with Indigenous governments in my riding to address the housing crisis? Mahsi.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just at this time I really want to highlight the Council of Leaders Housing Working Group that is open to all Indigenous groups throughout the Northwest Territories, and this is where our renewal strategy and our policy review, the whole pretty much revamp of the Housing Corporation, is the main topic of discussion of that table. And it also helps us to work with the federal government. If housing money is not going to flow through from the federal government to the GNWT to Housing Corporation, I'm advocating that the Indigenous groups are able to acquire funding that has been announced by Canada.

Looking at our partnerships that we do have, right now we have a partnership with Deninu Kue right now who is looking at constructing two of our units as well too. And I just really want to emphasize on that partnership as well, and that's not the only one, but with these housing deliveries that we do have coming within the lifetime of this government, I've sent out letters in April of last year acknowledging each of the Indigenous groups whether they would want to participate or whether they felt that they wanted to construct these units.

The other thing that I've put in as the Minister is that each of these contracts going out, they have to have an apprentice. So it's built right into those negotiated contracts. To date, we have 33.

And then for the Member's riding, I just -- sorry for taking so long, but we have one certified boiler mechanic for the local housing authority. I don't have the name of the authority. I don't know which community it is in. I had it right in front of me, but I misplaced it. I'll follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 996-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 3800

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister provide to me at a later time the statistics on population of jails in the NWT over the last five years? Can this information include Indigenous male and female, and the ages. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Justice.