As the Minister stated, we have less than two months to get our orders in place here to have more tenants get their orders in place and get caught up on their arrears or come into a payment plan. Has the department looked at an action plan to help these tenants who are in arrears to get into an action plan to get their payments back on schedule? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are going to be a follow-up on a moratorium that was brought forth to us earlier or actually towards the end of our last session. It is for the Minister of Housing in regards to the short-term moratorium on evictions due to public housing arrears. I just want to get an update from the Minister on how many tenants were in arrears or actually getting caught up on their rental payments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity one more time to recognize my constituency assistant Maia Lepage, doing great work here at the Assembly this week.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Consequences range from inability to focus in school to behavioural issues. Combine these with the health conditions that were previously seen almost exclusively among adults but are now seen in children, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol and sleep apnea are all leading to a preventable health crisis, something that we can address here in the Legislative Assembly in this government. Recognizing the importance that nutrition plays in educating our children, we need to look for ways that we can ensure that children in our territory have daily access to healthy foods. School meal and snack programs are effective and measurable in this regard. Schools readily recognize the impact that hunger and poor choices have on learning, yet schools are forced to cobble together meal and snack programs, taxing already overburdened school staff to plan, shop for and prepare as well as serve the food. On top of this, schools are constantly having to source funds for these much needed programs.

Breakfast for Learning has been providing funding to the support of NWT schools since its inception in 1992. They are well recognized as leaders in the field of school nutrition. I am proud that our government brought public recognition to the work that they do. However, we must find additional ways to support their work and, by extension, school nutrition. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Breakfast for Learning program plays an important role in helping our children succeed in school, and I’m pleased that this government recognized them with a gift of $5,000 following the most recent Governor General’s visit.

Breakfast for Learning provides grants and support for school-based breakfast, lunch and snack programs. Last year Breakfast for Learning provided grants to 47 of the 49 schools in the Northwest Territories. More than half the students in the NWT had access to these nutrition programs on a daily basis.

When students are hungry, it is hard to learn. Nutrition impacts the student’s ability to focus. It impacts their levels of fatigue. It impacts their classroom behaviour, their self-esteem and their classroom attitude. But most of all it impacts their health and their school attendance. We know that education opens doors, but the first step is to open the door to the schools and the classrooms.

This government is working hard to increase the schools’ attendance and graduation rates. School meal and snack programs not only encourage students to get to school but they also help them learn once they are there.

Corporate donations and non-government agencies are keeping snack and breakfast programs running in our communities. By collaborating with organizations like Breakfast for Learning, we can maximize our efforts in supporting students. There currently exist a significant number of stakeholders that share a common desire to ensure that our children are well nourished and ready to learn.

We now need to solidify our collective efforts and establish shared goals and objectives while building on existing infrastructure and valuing work that has already been done.

Mr. Speaker, it is disheartening that in Canada one in 10 children and one in four First Nation children live below the poverty line. Those are national statistics and not NWT statistics. This places them at a risk for hunger and for food and security. At the same time, more than one in four children and youth in Canada are overweight and obese. While pairing hunger and obesity may sound like a contradiction, their impact is similarly devastating. The immediate and long-term consequences of childhood hunger plus overweight and obesity affect both the academic performance and the health of children.

Mr. Speaker, at this time may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement? Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

I would just like to recognize that I do understand that the Minister has quite the workload becoming the new Minister of Health and Social Services, and I do also like to recognize that I’ll take into consideration that as soon as possible means that as early as tomorrow starting up some conversations, even just sending out some…opening up discussions with our leaders in the Beaufort-Delta region that will affect what’s been going on in that region for the last little while.

No further questions.

With all due respect, in filling the CEO position there are a lot of people in the surrounding communities who just listened to the Member for the Mackenzie Delta and his issues that he has that need to be addressed, and I think they need to be addressed before a CEO is put into place, and that comes with a board. Can the Minister please provide me with a definite timeline as to when a board can be in place with the Beaufort-Delta Health Authority?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It’s in reference to the leadership meeting that we had in January, again, where he did a presentation. There was a lot of really strong support for reinstating a board for the regional

health and social services authority. I just want to get an update as the Minister had agreed to look into this matter. I’d like to get an update from the Minister on what’s been done – the Minister of Health and Social Services – since the discussions back on January 10th . Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again I really enjoy hearing what the Minister has to say about making sure that people who are selling to our people actually are evicted, and that should cut down on our problems with the selling of alcohol and drugs to our people. Has the Minister done any work from the housing side of things with the Minister of Justice or RCMP division to find out who these people might be in our communities? Has there been any communication? Thank you.