Okay, Mr. Speaker, I know that we have talked a lot in this House about the needs for elders and seniors to age with dignity, and my motion that I put forward, it's actions behind these words. There are many elders in my ridings and other regions as well. There are many elders out there who are struggling to make ends meet. We know that the NWT is faced with high cost of living, the fuel price, the groceries. It's very difficult for people in the small communities, especially the elders, especially with children too as well because many of the elders are caring for their grandchildren. So it's difficult for them to make ends meet. And I met many elders in my ridings who, over the years, have accumulated many bills and debts, and there are many reasons why people go into debt with the government. Some elders, some people have bills piled up during the time when housing was limited in small communities and adult children were living with parents, and they were working and that's how a lot of these bills were accumulated. So as a result, I know that over the years housing made some changes to the policy that people who are living in the unit, they were on the lease, they were added to the lease that were, like, an adult. So that was okay. But before then, many of these bills were accumulated. So in other cases, people were desperate. And it's not just this. It was also for the mortgage as well. In other cases, where people were desperate to acquire housing back in the '90s that I know. And my colleague -- one of my colleague knows about this as well, you know, some people were given free houses. Other people were provided mortgages. And in many of these business dealings, language was a real issue because the mortgage term was new to many of my constituents or to many of the residents in the NWT, especially in small communities. So many of the elders -- they are elders now. So many of them signed on to mortgages not fully understanding what they were signing up for. So as a result, many of them fell behind with payments and some of them refinanced some of their housing and some of them was sent to the collections or they did a mortgage with the financial institutions and some of them lost their houses. And some of them went through foreclosure. So in either cases, I know that several people are still to this day try to pay off mortgages they signed over 30 years ago.

And my concern, Mr. Speaker, is that elders and seniors, once they age, once they have aged out of labour force, they have very limited financial resources. Many elders in communities live in great financial needs across the NWT. And when we went to Aklavik, we also met some people that were in that same situation. So the cost of living with their debt to the GNWT is beyond their means.

Mr. Speaker, this debt is a debt they will never get out of for the remainder of their years. So we need to do something about it. And this is why, Mr. Speaker, I am moving this motion, to ask the government to make consideration for elders and seniors over 60 years and older who owe housing debt to the GNWT. We need to be able to help and support our elders and seniors to age in place. We need to ease the financial burden for elders and seniors to allow them the dignity to live the remainder of their life in their homes, the place where they raised their families and built all their memories. And some of these elders have medical conditions that as I am currently speaking. Some of the elders have medical issues. They're on dialysis. Some of them are cancer survivors. Some of them have cognitive issues. There's all kinds. And, you know, and other illnesses that's relate to aging.

And I also talked to some of my constituents due to debt accumulated over the years. And what they did is that some of these elders -- an elder that I know, they consolidated all their bills with the bank. This is what they did with the bank and used their house as collateral. And these elders -- some of these elders, they don't understand the term. So it's added stress for some of these elders that are already living on fixed income. So for me, how I see this is that it is an abuse by the financial institution as well.

And I also met some people here, some elders living in Yellowknife who are living on the Gitzel Street in a townhouse. They must be Northern Properties tenants. They are paying over $3,000 for rent, plus utilities. And it is a disgrace because there's no cap, rent cap, on many of these residences. And there's no way anybody will get out of debt if you're paying over $3,000 for rent. And if this elder's going through that, it's more difficult for families with children. So with that in mind, so, Mr. Speaker, I'm asking this government to review the financial procedures for debt collections, and I am asking the government to think about elders and seniors, specifically the financial burden they carry as they age, and whether this financial burden is unjust or unreasonable.

We have responsibility to take care of our elders and seniors. We must be able to find a way to easy their financial stress so they can live the remainder of their days in peace, not forgive the debt when they're gone. Do it while they're still here so they can enjoy life, so they can do things that they want to do with their grandkids, spend more time with their children and grandkids. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.