Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to say that the sale of rental units, I know there are some people in the Sahtu region that because of the high cost of those rental units, some really good people have a really hard time being motivated to work because it will come off of their cheques. To sell those houses to those people, it may be one way to have some pride and some ownership that they are putting good money down that will go into their houses. At the end of their 20 or 25 years, at least that house will belong to them.
My grandparents lived in one house for a long, long time. They were moved out of a little shack along the river. People in housing, not this government, told them to move into a house, and they moved from their shack into a house and they lived there for a long time. When they both passed away, that house reverted back to the Housing Corporation. It was very hard on our family because we felt that was our Granny's house. If housing could do something in terms of changing that around, that is what people need to look at, some ownership and some pride in their houses. If you could look at a way that you could move those types of units into someone's house and give some pride to our people through homeownership. We had that at one time but it was taken away. Now it is coming back again.
So I guess in terms of the dependency, I lived in a unit for a long time growing up in Tulita in a house that belonged to the Housing Corporation, and when we moved that was it. So the concept of ownership is growing, it is growing in the Sahtu. People have to get away from their dependency. They are finding out what it is like to be on their own and it is instilling pride into people in the Sahtu that there are professionals that are wanting to be in the region, they are looking for housing. We have to give a hand to our people in the communities, and units like that, it still burns me when I walk by that house in my hometown, and see that house that my grandmother and grandfather that sort of raised us and it belongs to the Housing Corporation and somebody else is now in there. Where is my grandmother's house, where is that lot she had? It is torn down and it is gone, there is nothing there for us. I would like to keep pushing this issue in hopes that one day we can have all people in the communities owning their own houses and becoming independent again. We crave that dependency, it is hard on us, and to move away from independence is going to be a tough job. It will be really tough, I know it, I have been there. Hopefully one day in the Sahtu, or wherever, we can have these units built in the Northwest Territories. I would like to see that.
I have always said to support the northern businesses and have these units built in the Northwest Territories, home-grown units. In the Sahtu we drive to Yellowknife because groceries here are cheaper, and cloths are cheaper, stuff is cheaper. It is really expensive in the Sahtu, and I can see the rationale on that, but also I would like to see the business, especially the northern businesses, being supported in our region. I hope that we can work out something like that, that there are some good facilities in the Northwest Territories that we can support these types of units and keep it in the North here. That is my comment to the Minister and his staff, Mr. Chair.