Frieda Martselos

I don't think it's the only one that I brought forward. I brought forward many, many emails to you, and I never get answers. I remember the two ladies that decided they had to move to Fort Smith to a larger community, and they're both Indigenous, and they were from the Fort Simpson area because of health reasons, and I went back and forth here all I went back and forth every day with emails, and they finally decided to go back south where where they were before because because they never got an answer of getting a house. And one of them both of them had problems, you know, and I never got...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's really easy to say you want to work with the Indigenous groups but there's no follow up. You know, there's a lot of red tape. There's lack of communication. I mean, as an ordinary MLA, I even have trouble getting answers to my emails. I've gone from July 2020, some of the things that I've brought up I still haven't got answers to or conclusions to from Members that I feel are is they're very you know, they are in dire straits. I keep on going back and forth, and then I list a whole bunch of emails that haven't been answered and sent to this department, and I don...

I just want to I'm going to ask the question again because I didn't really get a direct answer.

I would like to know the last time that the Housing Corporation has reviewed and renewed the threshold issue with regards to homeownership, rentals, all these things. And also because it's a major block for a lot of people that are just starting out in homeownership. It's a major block in the rental department. And it's a big concern to a lot of the people that I've talked to throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.

You know, we're a regional centre. We're not I can consider Fort Smith still a small community. That is you know, the amount of homes that are going in there is not going to meet the requirement obviously.

I also want to talk about the homeownership program and the retrofits. I want to know how many retrofits are going in to the community of Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In order to do that, I think that there has to be a process that has to be followed to ensure that the main proponent in this whole Taltson Expansion is consulted, and I think that it's our duty as a government to ensure that they are brought back to the table. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would like to see that. Would the Minister confer on that? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit, in her capacity as ITI and finance minister, to engage with all Indigenous groups near the Taltson Dam, whether in a bilateral or multilateral meeting, to move forward in a positive way to get this project underway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister agree that all sectors of the business community are unanimous in their support for the Taltson Expansion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In relation to my statement on Monday and throughout most of this week about economic recovery in the NWT, I would once again like to discuss the importance of the Taltson Hydro Expansion.

Mr. Speaker, all major infrastructure projects both currently underway, along with those in the future which I spoke about this week, are all interrelated with this hydro expansion. The Minister of Finance even said so herself the other day during question period. She said that to attract greater economic opportunities and investments into the Northwest Territories, our territory will...

Madam Chair, you know, the thresholds that are required for anyone wanting to have homeownership or any other thresholds within the housing department in the Housing Corporation, when is the last time they raised the thresholds? Like, has it been 20 years ago? Has it been two years ago? Has it been one year ago? Because a lot of, you know, young people that are wanting to go into homeownership, they both got jobs and then all of a sudden they're $120 over the threshold to buy the house that they were in when they first started out and didn't were in public housing. And now they could afford...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to stress a couple things. The waiting list in the community of Thebacha is 212 on the waiting list. And I'm just wondering about a couple things with regards to first of all, I want to find out how many homes are going to be available new in the 20222023 Estimates?