Absolutely. The Housing Corporation is in support of assisting the Yellowknife Women's Society to resubmit their application. I also just wanted to express that the Housing Corporation did enter into a partnership with them in December, and we did complete a women's shelter, and the Housing Corporation did contribute $750,000, and the centre was opened prior to Christmas.

Once the application is approved by CMHC, the application will now be supported by the NWT Housing Corporation. With the missing criteria, that has to be completed first because it is a federal program; it is not a territorial program. I would strongly advise the women's society to go ahead and look at their application, revise it, because they do have a deadline, and to contact our office, reach out to us, should they need us to go ahead and assist them in completing the application, as we did provide assistance before. I would like to strongly advise that the women's society reach out to the Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The project for Arnica Inn and the NWT Housing Corporation, I would like to elaborate on it a little bit, is that the Arnica Inn was advised to submit an application to CMHC. Once that application is approved and it's going forward, and it's supported by CMHC, NWT Housing Corporation would have followed up after.

We have gotten a letter from the CMHC that was addressed to the Yellowknife Women's Society, and they were given the instruction to resubmit their application and to fill the missing information that needs to be on that application and that would meet the affordability criteria for Yellowknife and that the long-term viability was not demonstrated. I would strongly encourage the women's society to go forward with the application and resubmit.

As the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I would not like to see the offset of forecasting of programs. I want to find solutions in the community and with the federal government in how we can work to not have any financial breaks for the communities. Also, going forward, I would really like to express and really emphasize to the Member that we are working as a department and wanting to find solutions on how we can work with that gap, but also I really want the Member to be mindful that safety is number one. I'm looking at water and sewer to make sure that, in our communities, we do not have those issues going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My response to the Member was to give him some insight on what MACA is actually potentially forecasting in order to come up and work with that municipal gap that we do have. We are trying to work with the community to look at other solutions of how they can collect revenue at the municipal level. We are very mindful of working with the solid-waste sites, the water stations, and making sure that we do have the quality of service and the safety of each of the communities.

In the communities, they are entitled to be working and going towards accessing additional federal funding. Some of the communities in the Northwest Territories have accessed the federal funding and have been able to pursue projects in regard to climate change and in regard to transportation, as well, with the help and the support of Municipal and Community Affairs.

While new funding is important, "reducing the municipal funding gap," this mandate item, is about more than just new funding. MACA is also looking at actions that can be taken to mitigate expenditures or provide additional opportunity for own-source revenue.

For an example, the department intends to work with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to support implementation of the NWT Waste Management Strategy. This strategy includes actions to support training and develop support to waste site operators, identifying funding to remove bulking hazardous waste from landfill sites, in order to extend the lifespan of the existing solid waste sites and working with the regional land and water boards to support tools which will assist community governments in managing their solid waste site in accordance with their water licence. The activities should improve on local waste management practices, but allow the government to support some of the cost to contribute to the community government.

Furthermore, MACA is working with the Department of Lands to develop and implement a process for the transfer of vacant Commissioner's lands to the community governments, which will take on authority and responsibility for land administration and provide potential own-source revenue for the sale of some land. The process will include such things as developing and implementing land administration training through MACA's School of Community Government to give community governments skills in land administration.

I want the Member to know that I am very mindful of the funding gap that does exist and the effect that is felt in the smaller communities, but I also want the Member to mindful that the departments are funded, and they do have to come up with their own capital plan and their budget of how they are going to be spending their money going forward. MACA is very open to what projects they're going to foresee, and we are there to support them through the process. We will be working very closely with the community governments.

Can I have the Member repeat his question?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize that you can feel the funding gap very strongly at the community levels. Coming from a smaller community, I realize that, a lot of the government funding that we provide at that community level, you can feel the cutbacks. It's drastic.

Going forward, we are looking at solutions to try to work within our department to access federal funding. I don't want to elaborate on it too much, because we are in discussions about this and how we are going to be working to fulfill this, and we do have our budgets and our mandates that are just barely new. Discussions are happening within the department, and I want to follow up with the Member by email or I'll be speaking to him, because it's a very sensitive topic, and I just want to make sure that, once our department has reviewed what we have, I am displaying it for the whole of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to highlight and celebrate the recipients of the 8^th Annual Arctic Inspiration Prize, Northern Compass and The Dehcho: River Journeys. The 8^th Annual Arctic Inspiration Prize Awards Ceremony was held in Ottawa, Ontario, on February 5^th. At the ceremony, Northern Compass received the grand prize of $1 million, and The Dehcho: River Journeys project received $370,000.

The Arctic Inspiration Prize recognizes and promotes the extraordinary contribution made in the gathering of Arctic knowledge in the design to celebrate and bring further awareness to organizations and their plans to implement this knowledge to real-world applications, for the benefit of the Canadian Arctic and the Arctic peoples. I had the honour of presenting to Northern Compass with their $1-million prize in Ottawa last week, and would like to share with you an overview of their award winning program:

• Northern Compass is a skilled team of educators, students, and community members from across the North.
• The team includes representation from a program that has been supported by the GNWT over the years, the Northern Youth Abroad program.
• Northern Compass provides northern youth with tailored support and tools that will allow them to overcome the barriers that they may face when transitioning from high school to post-secondary education. They aim to:
• "Dramatically increase achievement amongst Northerners pursuing their education and career goals after high school, enabling them to become full participants in their communities and beyond."
• The project motivates youth to graduation from high school and for them to make informed decisions about their future. It also provides support and increased access to training and programs that allow northern youth to pursue and achieve their goals.

Thank you to their nominator, the honourable David Joanasie, Minister of Education, Minister of Culture and Heritage, Minister of Languages, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut.

I would like to congratulate the team leaders, Jim Snider, Karen Aglukark, Lois Philipp, Rebecca Bisson, who have put in so much time providing accessibility and the relevant resources with information on funding, housing, budgets, and other areas related to the northern students' success.

The Dehcho: River Journeys project was also a recipient of an Arctic Inspiration Award. This project did:

• Travel on the Mackenzie River, from the Deh Cho to the Delta, and bridged the past and the present, offering a multi-media experience that explores how the past 100 years have been transformed on that river.
• Students have collaborated on two short films, one based on materials and the other based on modern-day journeys on the river with the present-day elders. The elders will describe and explain the changes that they have seen during this lifetime.
• Throughout the project, the development of the interactive and educational online experience will allow students to view the films and then use their new-found knowledge to resolve real-life environmental issues of the Mackenzie River and the watershed today.

Thank you to their nominator, Dr. Frank Tester, professor at University of British Columbia School of Social Work. Team Members include Dr. Gordon Christie, Alison de Pelham, Brian Jaffray, Terry Jaffray, Martina Norwegian, Brenda Parlee, Daniel Seguin, and Sharon Snowshoe. Thank you for your work on this project, and congratulations on your achievement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.