Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Further to that point, the Yellowknife Housing Authority had a fairly significant surplus, which they wanted to spend on creating more housing for their extensive waiting list. Has the Housing Corporation come to an agreement with the Yellowknife Housing Authority about how that money can be spent? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate that the 2017 report came out this week, and so I will just say to the Minister that I'll come back to this before the end of the session. One of the things I did wonder about, though, with service levels is how long the wait is to see a legal aid commission lawyer for someone who is looking for that service. What's the waiting time? Thank you.

Thank you for that response. I have nothing further.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to hear that the Minister is willing to do that. What we heard from the inmates we met was that this was critical to their success. Rather than being discharged into the same kind of housing situation that they left when they originally got into trouble, they would be in a place over which they had control of who was in and out, and what was going on within the place. I recognize that this is an investment, keeping people in their own homes at a cost of, let's say, the average rent for a two-bedroom in Yellowknife, which is around $1,650. It is a lot cheaper...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sure, I would appreciate having an idea of how long it takes from the time there is an application made until the time it goes to court, which would be the only part that this office would have responsibility for. Other than that, I have no further questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are the challenges, and I am happy to hear that they are being considered up front. One of the real successes that Guthrie House has is working with residents to find them housing. They start working on the question of where they are going to be released to, almost from the time they come into Guthrie House. The idea there is that no one would be released into homelessness. I would like to know whether the department is also making this a priority; that is, where are inmates going to be released? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Minister may have heard me ask questions about the public guardian. I realize the public trustee is a different position, but I do wonder about the kind of backlog, if any, the public trustee office has on applications for its services. Thank you.

Thank you. I would like to thank the witness for the detail on that. Could he just now fill in a little bit around the timing? At what point does he anticipate the department will be ready to come forward looking for money to fund a pilot? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think this is the right place to discuss the legislative backlog that we talked about quite a bit in the fall. Could the Minister tell us how the department is getting on top of rolling out the legislation that we're all so anxious to see? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Standing Committee on Social Development had the opportunity to visit a place called Guthrie House at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre. It is a therapeutic community within a corrections setting. I know the Minister has been there as well. I wonder if he could give us an update on the planning that is taking place to pilot a model such as Guthrie House within the NWT corrections? Thank you.