This Homelessness Prevention - Supporting Pathways to Housing NWT Residents is extremely important to my riding. We don't have a homeless shelter and, you know, we made every attempt to address the individual needs of people that are homeless and not one -- not one of those cases came out positive. It goes on deaf ears. Yeah, how many point systems could you take to make a change, you know. It's not about that at all. It's about making sure that people are not sleeping on mattresses. You know, there's an elder that was kicked out just before Christmas with a daughter and sleeping on mattresses and couch surfing. And the house is still all boarded up and locked up. Then you have the other elder who was in a tornado and he has to pay the highest rate ever because now -- and he has -- he has medical problems. And now recently I have two students who are trying to do -- make a better life and were in addictions and they're young; they're young people. They already have three children, and they have one on the way, and they're on a waiting list because now they're rated on a point system. You know, homelessness is extremely important issue within the Northwest Territories and, you know, I'm speaking only on behalf of the -- like, the people of Fort Smith because I don't know what happens everywhere else, but I'm sure it's everywhere. And I don't see a lot of change. I've been here now -- well, we're in our final year, last six months, and positive change has not happened. And I'm very concerned about the way the files were dealt with. You know, we have to go through this, we've got to go through that, we got --you know, and then you never hear. In fact, I had to run down the hall today a couple times just to get an answer. And it's a negative answer again, you know, so -- you know, Madam Chair, homelessness, no matter who it is, whether it be a youth, a single parent, family members, a whole family, it's a major, major issue. And if you don't -- how could you fix anything in society if you don't have a home or some place you call that is your own. And with that, you know, I just -- I think about all these things, and we have to do better.
You know, you can do 20 strategies. I don't care how many strategies anybody does but common sense sometimes prevails. You know, common sense and making a decision and showing leadership. Sometimes I don't see that. And as, you know, a former chief and, you know, I've been in politics now, this'll be my 18th year, and saw many things. It concerns me that these issues we're talking about now are unbelievable.
You know, I met -- you know, I saw a lot of different situations when I was at Salt River, and I see the broader situation now that I've come here and listened to some of my colleagues. You know, like -- like Jackie and like everybody around this table, and I'm sure even across the aisle.
You know, it's a sad situation when we're talking about this in this day and age and the country that we live in, Canada. You know, one of the best countries in the world they say, yet we're sending all this money off to other countries to make sure that they're okay but they don't look after our own. And that really concerns me. And, you know, I'm very concerned about the homelessness situation in the territories, and I will continue to advocate on behalf of the people that don't have a home within Fort Smith, the broader South Slave, and the NWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.