Caroline Cochrane

The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation abides by all the standards, building codes, et cetera within Canada. In fact, our standards are actually higher than some provinces and territories. The reality is, though, that each individual is different and so what determines what one person who is aging in their own home needs will not be the same right across the board. So we look at each case on an individual basis to determine what supports they need in there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs was recently the subject of a performance audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. The audit assessed the department's performance as it relates to supporting community governments with the provision of essential services to residents.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is always looking for ways to improve our programs and services. Given this commitment, we welcome the report and recommendations of the Auditor General.

The report of the Auditor General was tabled in this...

There is a variety of supports that seniors can actually access for renovating their own homes that they currently live in. Recently, we also put an extra $500,000 into our budget specifically for seniors' homes, that they can actually use to help renovate so that they can stay in their homes as long as possible.

We are working hand in hand with Health and Social Services. We recognize that, seniors, there is a huge need, that the population is growing, and we are doing the best we can to try to help seniors to be able to age in place, whether that means staying in their own homes or having...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently at this moment I do not know if we have tracked the seniors' needs in Tsiigehtchic at this point. I can make a promise that we will do an assessment on the community and see how many seniors there are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Members are aware, the housing survey actually just closed the other day, and so we will actually have the statistics coming in which we will share with all Members, which will identify the prioritized needs of each community and what they say. So, once that information is all compiled, I will share that with all of the Members.

The current practice is that we try to do an assessment every year, and we try to look at all of the housing needs throughout the whole Northwest Territories. In my opinion, that was not always the best practice. That is why we are doing the survey and actually developing community plans, because, at that time, each community would have its own identified priorities, which, in my opinion, is a better way of providing services.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the work that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has done as part of the Government of the Northwest Territories’ commitment to education, training, and youth development. Today, I would like to provide an update on the progress the department is making in the area of governance, capacity building, and support for community governments in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, the cost of attending or delivering training in the Northwest Territories has always been high and can be challenging for community governments to work into their budgets...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, as stated, we are not anticipating that it will cause any delays. We will be conscious of it, though, and watching for it in the future. The planning for the communities isn't done all the time. It is not a constant thing. It is usually done annually. Therefore, we don't see it as being a huge issue, and not all communities are doing it at exactly the same time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We looked at this program because, like I said, we did not have this position in every single region. It was already an inequality amongst the regions, and when we looked it over, we decided that we could provide the services more effectively with the two positions versus having an extra position in the one region. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The multi-sport games, actually, we still have it in our mains, and the budget is $500,000 that we have in our mains, separate from the lottery funding.