Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it was 100 years ago this year that women got the right to vote. Women in Alberta were the first to be enfranchised and voters there elected the first female MLA, Louise McKinney, in 1917. Suffrage spread slowly across Canada, with women in Quebec getting the vote in 1940 and Aboriginal women along with men as well in 1960. Women slowly entered political life and in small numbers, and today we are still well short of parity.

A quarter of members of Parliament are women, and here in the NWT, as you know, there are just the two of us. This Assembly has committed...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm looking at page 70, and I see that the community of Gameti has one unit that will be retrofitted. I know that Gameti has one of the highest core needs in housing in the NWT, so I'm wondering what the relationship is between the core need and the allocation of retrofit dollars. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few more questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. So given the fact that these new services will be introduced to the intoxicated and homeless population downtown, what is the future of the day shelter? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister could tell us whether he is looking at contracting a nonprofit to deliver the services of the sobering centre or whether that will be done by departmental staff? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I know the Minister was at the launch of the Downtown Road Map report last week and that he's been a supporter of its development. It's my understanding that the investment in services for intoxicated people falls to his department. Could the Minister confirm that the 11 priorities in the report are his priorities? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those of us who live downtown in Yellowknife have witnessed how dramatically it's changed in the last few years. I've received numerous complaints from residents who find the downtown a more challenging place to live because of a growing population of people who are homeless and/or intoxicated. According to a City of Yellowknife report, the use of emergency shelters increased 14 per cent in just one year, 2015. The RCMP decision not to take intoxicated people into custody just because they are intoxicated has produced a 30 per cent increase in ambulance rides...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that answer. What I was trying to get to was that there was some evidence base to the allocation of retrofit dollars among the various needs of the housing authority. It is good to know that there is an evidence base to that. I think it would be useful to include a little bit of an explanation of what that evidence is in this capital plan in years going forward. That is a comment. I don't have any other questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm now on page 71. I'm looking at the second line from the bottom, that says 103 units will be retrofitted this year. I'm wondering how the NWT housing survey was used to determine that 103 units need retrofitting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the witness has said that the Housing Corporation considers core need but other factors, so could he confirm that age and condition are factors that are in addition and outside of core need, or does he mean something else? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have the housing survey in front of me, so I just remember that their core need number was in the high 40s. Is the witness then saying that most of that core need is that the houses are too small rather than the houses are in need of repair? Thank you.