Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is for Minister of Finance, and I think Minister of housing can answer this as well, but due to FMB, I'll stick with Minister of Finance. The Financial Administration Act allows the financial management board to forgive debt owed to the government or a public agency where it would be just, unreasonable to do so. Can the Minister agree that it is not just or reasonable to require repayment of debt to the GNWT for elders that cannot afford their housing. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can agree because that is one of the considerations that is within the Financial Administration Manual that if an individual is indigent or in other words is unable to repay, then that is one of the considerations and could be one of the reasons for forgiveness or remission of a debt. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Can the Minister commit to taking special consideration for elders specifically when reviewing GNWT policies that guide forgiveness of debt. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did note before, again, that there are some considerations already listed, including the inability to pay. With respect to elders broadly as an individual category, that is not currently a consideration and would probably be difficult because of the multitude of circumstances that elders may find themselves in and defining who may railroad may not be an elder. I can say, Mr. Speaker, being a whole of government, I know there is the policy review going on over in housing that you've already heard about, and to the extent that there may be an opportunity to build in what appropriate considerations are when an agency as housing brings forward debt for management to the financial management board, then that may be an opportunity to see if we can better define what it is that the Member's hoping to see. That would be an opportunity for that. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Can the Minister commit to reviewing the information bulletin 640.01, forgiveness and remission under the Financial Administration Manual to deal with this circumstance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is the document that guides what happens when first an agency or other department identifies a debt for repayment and then brings it forward for consideration. As I noted, the consideration does already include circumstances where an individual's indigent, so if there's a disconnect happening, if there's someone who's in those circumstances and is not finding their debt forgiven, I am going to commit that myself and my colleague Minister of housing will work together to make sure that if there's a -- something -- if there's disconnecting, we could speak to the Member about what's -- if there's something that's not achieving the goal here that we can in the course of work that's already happening in housing make sure that we fill that gap. There's been over $20 million already forgiven with respect to housing debts as well as other debts of this nature. And, again, with the indigent portion already there, I am concerned we're missing something, so I will speak to the Member further and my colleague and fill that gap. If you

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have any more further questions, but I will talk and meet with the Minister of Finance and housing later on. Thank you.

Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions today deal with housing, but I'll direct them to the Minister of health and social services as they relate to a program that is split between the two departments. So there are really encouraging plans to develop a transitional housing program for those returning for addictions treatment, and the pilot will involve one in Inuvik and one in Yellowknife. So does the Minister know, first, how many spot are needed in Yellowknife as in how many folks in Yellowknife do we generally have at any given time who are returning from treatment and need somewhere to live to get back on their feet? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yellowknife North. Minister of health and social services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my understanding is that the program in Yellowknife will have the capacity to house five to six people at any one time for 30 to 90 days, but if there are more than six people in Yellowknife that need transitional housing after returning from treatment, how can the department still support those people? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while the five to six spaces may not address the full need of the -- once we start to, you know, monitor who's coming back and whether or not what the type of facility or recovery or aftercare that they're going to need, housing they're going to need, it's -- this specific area is for those that are returning back and being able to support them through transitioning on to living on their own; however, I understand the Member's concern that right now we don't know how many we're going to need this. You know, we may. You know, at this time, I can't -- I couldn't answer that. But there are other programs and other services that we -- you know, we will continue to support residents returning back from any type of treatment. Thank you.

(audio) oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my understanding is that this is meant to be a pilot project, which implies that it's time limited, so how long is this pilot project intended to last? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this funding is for two years, and then we will -- as part of the business plan, we'll continue to move forward into the 2026-2027 business planning cycle for -- you know, for future funds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of health and social services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'm going to throw this last question at the Minister, but if she doesn't have the stats on hand, I'd be happy to get a written response later, but does she have any idea of the number of people in a year that go to -- away to addictions treatment and who might be returning to Yellowknife. She said they do keep numbers on those sorts of things. I'm wondering if she can give us a sense or if not get back to me with a sense of, like, what volume of people we're talking about that are returning from addictions treatment to Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit to getting the numbers that people that are being sent out from Yellowknife necessarily -- you know, if they come back to Yellowknife doesn't mean that this may be their end location because if somebody goes out and is getting well -- has gotten well, recovered from -- you know, and they may go to -- back to their home communities as they may have supports in those communities, so I -- what I can commit to is knowing the people that have been sent out from Yellowknife to the Member. Thank you.

Minister of health and social services. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of housing. Can the Minister describe her position on acknowledging housing as a human right in the NWT. Thank you.