Michael Nadli

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize constituents from the Deh Cho riding and congratulate the new elected mayor of Enterprise, Craig McMaster, and also leaders that perhaps I can’t see, so I'd like to acknowledge their presence as well, and at the same time, recognize people from the New Day Program: Laura, Lisa, and William as well.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be back in the House as a Member of the18th Assembly. I am looking forward to working with both my new colleagues and returning Members over the next four years. As I have done in the past, I would like to update this House about some of the noteworthy activities taking place in my beautiful Deh Cho constituency. In December, municipal elections were held across NWT. I would like to congratulate the new Mayor of Enterprise Craig McMaster and the new Mayor of Fort Providence Sam Gargan, along with their new hamlet councils. Our number one job as a government is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand in support of the motion and I would like to thank my colleagues, Mr. Bromley and Ms. Bisaro, for putting this motion forward. A couple of years back I had the opportunity and the honour to work with some elders. The elders were talking in their language, and this must have been about 20 or so ago. They were talking about phenomena that will happen in the natural environment when the sun floods, and today the motion speaks to those natural phenomena that have impacted several of our communities. Somehow those disasters that we face, fortunately, there weren’t...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to take the opportunity to thank two colleagues who are retiring. It’s been an honour to serve with Mr. Bromley and Ms. Bisaro during this term. I’ve learned a lot from them and it’s been a privilege.

In a statement to their constituencies, I know they’re not seeking re-election, but you’ve placed two very honourable people who have effectively done their work and represented their constituency to the best of their ability. They have been remarkable models, in terms of trying to model my work, and I really thank them. It’s been truly an honour to serve...

There’s money in the budget for some of them, just no bodies in the jobs. So, big savings of a very perverse sort. Big savings that cost our people and our government.

As you can see, fiscal restraint can also mean shameful neglect. Having had some of the boundaries of my comprehension stretched so far, no wonder I came to believe, thanks to my colleague from Nahendeh, that the seven deadly sins were all related to the perpetually pot-holed and pot-marked Highway No. 7, along with many other sins of deadly fiscal omission. So I thank the Member for correcting me with his e-mail the other day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just following up on my Member’s statement on homelessness in the NWT communities, my questions are for the Minister of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Shelter is a critical need in the hierarchy of needs of people for them to lead productive lives. At the community level we are confronted with some realities. One of them, of course, is homelessness, and in some communities there are program initiatives to provide lunch and trying to help out people as best as we can.

So the question I have is: Is there any funding under the Northwest Territories Housing...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Since 2012 over 100 countries around the world have recognized this coming Saturday, October 10th, as a World Homeless Day. This is to draw attention to homeless people’s needs locally and provide opportunities for the community to get involved in responding to homelessness.

In recognition of World Homeless Day, I want to take a moment to voice my concerns about the impact of homelessness in small communities, like those in my Deh Cho riding.

Homelessness is one of the most chronic and damaging social problems in the NWT. Adequate housing provides a foundation for physical...

Thank you for kind of outlining how it is that maybe if another term could be used for community protocol in terms of trying to utilize what exists currently in the community.

The community has strengths, and one of the strengths is that we have caretakers, we have leaders that work sometimes with the front-line workers, mental health workers, the nurses. Sometimes you’re left with all that you have and so it’s really critical that at least an understanding of how communities would deal with circumstances like this is very critical at this moment in time in the NWT.

The other element that I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the mover and the seconder for putting forward this motion. I support this motion.

One of the things that I kind of thought about, and hopefully this never happens, or perhaps maybe it actually has happened, is that the thought of an elder who has to be transported from another community and that elder is unilingual and is brought to a foreign place and that elder is left to their own vices, to fend for themselves to talk their way into a cab and to get to the hospital. You know, I would never want to see a circumstance like that, especially with an...