This Hansard has not been finalized - this is the "Blues" in Parliamentary speak, or unedited transcript in regular speak.

This Hansard is the unedited transcript and will be replaced by the final copy soon (generally within 5 business days). In the meantime, direct quotes should not be used, when the final is published it will seamlessly replace this unedited copy and any existing links should still work.

This is from the 20th Assembly, 1st 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 housing.

Topics

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Lucy Kuptana

Lucy Kuptana Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will be updating the business plan with targets. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Kate Reid

Kate Reid Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's fantastic. And will the Minister be sharing that information publicly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Lucy Kuptana

Lucy Kuptana Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that material will be available publicly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Kate Reid

Kate Reid Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's good for me, thank you.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Any further questions from Members? Seeing no further questions, we will not be voting on this activity.

Moving on to nonresidential buildings and operations starting on page 392. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Regarding the housing operations and support, I want to ask the Minister -- she is well aware of it too because she, you know, Tuk is in the same situation as we are in Tlicho region, especially in Behchoko. You know, with the housing crisis we have a waitlist of over 200 applicants on -- you know, in Behchoko alone. And I don't think the waitlist decreased but it increased, it went up because there's more family coming back, that are moving back to the communities, and it's having an effect, you know, on the families that, you know, taking in the family members that just moved back to the community. So I just wanted to ask the Minister if they have a plan in place to eliminate the waitlist, especially in my region, the Tlicho region. Is there a plan in place or, like -- I know that we need more houses. I hope that she will say we need to build more houses, you know, in Tlicho region to eliminate the waitlist. I know Yellowknife is in the same situation too but I'm just -- I'm advocating for my region. Thank you.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Lucy Kuptana

Lucy Kuptana Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And the waitlist, the housing waitlist, is something that is quite surprising considering the need across the Northwest Territories. And like the MLA mentioned, especially in regions like the Tlicho region, I look at numbers - Fort Smith, Hay River, Inuvik, my community of Tuk, Yellowknife, the waitlist is long. Some of the work that we've done and that we're continuing from the 19th Assembly is addressing some of that waitlist. And then we're also looking at working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, especially around income support clients, to determine the viability of the waitlist with the clients as there are stipulations within the policy that they apply for housing. So is that need in terms of waitlist 900 families on the waitlist, or is it something that's much smaller? But, again, we have to do the work through the housing needs assessment to determine that as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you for the information, yeah. So that's all I have for this page.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. Are there any other questions for page 392? Seeing none, again we will not be voting on this activity total.

Moving on to the rent subsidy program starting at page 394. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions, we will not be voting on this activity total.

Moving on to unilateral CMHC and other programs starting on page 396, with information items on page 398. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions, we will not be voting on this activity total.

Committee, there are additional information items on page 399. Are there any questions?

Thank you, committee. Please return to the Housing Northwest Territories summary on page 379. Are there any further questions or comments from committee? I'm going to go the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Denny Rodgers

Denny Rodgers Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a general comment, and maybe a question for clarity. I know initially when certainly the Indigenous government in my region, and likely others, received the federal housing initiative funding, there was a fair amount of work done in cooperation with NWT Housing. Units were built on NWT Housing land I believe, and then transferred for a nominal fee to allow the NWT Housing to add that to their inventory, list of inventory of public housing. So going forward -- and I know now, and I mean we've said it in this House that in my region certainly, you know, the Inuvialuit, I think has just purchased 22 lots in my region. I know the Gwich'in Tribal Council are purchasing lots as well and building their own homes and have set up, you know, some for market rental, some for other programs that they are involved in. So I guess I'd like to hear from the Minister. Did we miss the opportunity, I guess, to continue to work with the Indigenous governments in our region? I notice that work is now kind of they've went on their own with their funding and so yeah, so a couple of questions. Did we miss that opportunity? The previous government obviously missed an opportunity. And how is the relationship now and kind of what are our plans going forward to work together on some potential, whether it be seniors facilities or other facilities that are required in the region, that there may be some redundancies there that we can work together and certainly look at pooling some resources to get that infrastructure built. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Lucy Kuptana

Lucy Kuptana Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand the MLA's question, and the work that we do in collaboration with Indigenous governments is critical, especially in advancing our mandate and business plan.

In terms of missing opportunities, I think at this point Indigenous governments, with their distinction base funding that they're getting from the federal government, see that as an opportunity for market houses in their communities, and they're advancing that. They're advancing their own plans. So that's fine with Housing NWT if they want to do that. The thing is that nobody is interested in public or social housing builds. That's going to be the Government of the Northwest Territories' responsibility. They're going to stick with market homes from what I understand. We will continue with public and social housing rentals, and that's the job that we have to do. But what I can do is ask President Young here to provide more information to the question from MLA Rodgers. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'll go to the president.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Eleanor Young

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And in addition to what the Minister said, there are still some partnership projects in the works. We do have, for example, in the Beaufort riding a joint plan to do an elders' unit where some of the units will be administered through potentially HELP programming, and some will be public housing. That's a conversation that's still underway but we're active in it. We understand that one of the Indigenous governments is hiring two housing staff to work more closely with us because they've been understaffed the last couple years in the housing area, so we'll be able to have a team to work with. We have a new collaborative agreement with the other Indigenous government in your area that we're quite excited about working with. And we're taking all sorts of tacts. We're looking at any land that we may not need that we can make available to the Indigenous government. We'll work with Environment and Climate Change and Municipal and Community Affairs to work on the land needs in addition to what we may be able to support, you know, looking at supporting the development of housing plans. So although it may not be out in the public as much as it has been previously, there is still a lot of work ongoing. And whether it's through formal partnership agreements or just ongoing working group conversations, the activity is still ongoing and work with each other. I think the distinctions-based funding has just given them other work to do. So, you know, some of these partnership projects are not as high on the radar and the public view as they maybe were before. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Denny Rodgers

Denny Rodgers Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Madam President, for that information, and Minister Kuptana. I'm very happy to hear that the elders' unit is still in discussion and that we're still -- and the fact that you're looking at working with other departments to make that land available, very important, particularly in the smaller communities and the coast, I know that, in the Minister's riding. So very encouraging to hear that. I would encourage you to sing that from the rooftops, Minister. I think it's a good news story that we need to get out there to let them know that NWT Housing is not now an afterthought for Indigenous governments, that they are, indeed, still working with them, appreciating that, yes, they are doing some of their own initiatives, but I don't think everything they're doing is market rent so to make sure we're involved in that. So no, important to get that out there, and I appreciate the answer. And no questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. Is there any further questions from Members? I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Julian Morse

Julian Morse Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I want to dig in a little more into a line of questioning that the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake was getting into. So the first question I wanted to ask is it sounds like there's a fair number of builds planned for the coming year and yet infrastructure investment is listed as $13 million. So can the Minister or her staff kind of help me understand what money is actually going out the door? Maybe it is just $13 million, but I thought I heard $33 million is going out the door, we've got $60 million sitting there, so if I could just kind of get a better understanding of how the capital money is budgeted for in this budget and where the other money ends up landing, you know, on this page, I guess. Thanks.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

The Chair

The Chair Richard Edjericon

Thank you. I'm want to go to the Minister.

Committee Motion 31-20(1): Tabled Document 93-20(1): 2024-2025 Main Estimates - Industry, Tourism and Investment - Deferral of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 11th

Lucy Kuptana

Lucy Kuptana Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I mentioned, we do have a $93 million carry forward plan in capital, which includes new builds and MMI projects. We also have the $13 million outlined in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.