Michael McLeod

Mr. Chairman, that is our goal. The numbers are very much correct and our target is to bring the core needs down. They are all relatively high. Based on 2004 information, we have to remember that and we should have our new core need figures for review or for public release in early summer of this year.

Our target, our goal, is to get all the core needs in the communities down to the national average, which I think is around 12 percent. We are still a long ways from that. We have, or will have, spent well over a million dollars in the last couple of years on housing and housing repair. We need...

We are trying to do something. We have a number of communities that are in the same situation. We are looking for options of how we can accommodate that. Our dollars come with rules. There are criteria. There are accountability issues. We have had requests from a number of band councils, aboriginal governments, to look at the concept of block funding. We are exploring that right now. We haven’t come to any type of conclusion whether that is doable or not.

We are checking, but I believe all our core needs, for the most part, our communities are at 30 percent except for Colville which is at 76 percent.

Mr. Chairman, it is a question, I guess, from the aboriginal government as to who owns the actual land. It would be relatively simply if everybody agreed that the federal lease would be in order, but in this case we are not getting that positive response from the band.

Mr. Chairman, I will have Mr. Anderson respond to that.

Mr. Chairman, in most cases or situations we sign a universal partnership agreement with the community, the band or the municipality that allows us to work together in a partnership arrangement. The other area and probably more challenging is the ability to build houses on IAB lands or federal Crown lands. Our requirements are that there is a land tenure or a document that testifies to that. In most cases we have two ways we can go and that is to deal with the federal government to give the person a direct lease or the community a lease or the band a lease. The other one is to set up a third...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I’d like to say thank you for the comments Members have made, the suggestions, observations. Certainly I think everybody is very interested in the new federal funding that was highlighted in the budget. We still have to firm that up. We have a number that has been given to us as an indication of what the dollars are going to be flowing to the NWT. We expect to have those signed off in a couple of weeks and have that presentation to the standing committee, along with a number of other initiatives that were raised today that we are looking at making some changes...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, again, I certainly agree with the Member. We have heard and we recognize that there is a need for probably a new type of housing design; a very basic facility, a very basic unit. Possibly something that could be built in the community. We are looking at ways to use this as an economic stimulus, whether it is log -- that is a question that we haven’t quite figured out yet -- stick built, and the other option that we are looking at for consideration is a modular. We have some communities that are saying we need units right now, so we are looking at all fronts, all angles. We will...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the issue of board reform, specifically how it will impact on the delivery of housing programs and services at the community, regional and territorial level.

As Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, my priority is to ensure that every community in our Territory receives support to improve its housing conditions. For nearly 35 years, local housing organizations have been the primary source of community input on housing matters and have been critical partners of the Housing Corporation in the delivery of programs and...