Robert C. McLeod

That is a concern that’s raised across the Northwest Territories. Housing has taken some steps and they do have training workshops for folks that apply for particular programs. There was some concern that some of the seniors didn’t understand how the programs worked and would somebody else be able to take it in their place. The answer was yes. We made those arrangements. But we’re always willing to see how we can improve our services, especially to elders that don’t understand the English language very well. It’s not their first language. So we’re always willing to look at ways that we can...

Mr. Speaker, I’ll commit to the Member that I’ll have that discussion with the department as to whether we can cc the band or not. If it’s confidential information, then I’m assuming that we’re not going to be able to. The elder could take the letter to the band, I suppose, and have a discussion with them, the interpretation. But I’ll follow up on the Member’s request and see if we’re able to cc the community government on the letters that are sent out to the elders. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is true that there is more operation and maintenance required. The operation and maintenance budget is reviewed every two years and if adjustments have to be made, they’re made at that time. The last couple of years, recognizing the fact that there is new infrastructure, the O and M budgets have gone up for the communities and they’re well appreciative of that. But it is reviewed every two years and if adjustments need to be made, then they’ll be made then.

We continue to work with the federal government and bring our case for the need for more operation and maintenance along...

Mr. Speaker, at this point there is no plan. This is something that we can have that discussion with NWTAC. I do know that the communities that do put forward a lot of projects, there are a few of them that have hired their own expertise. There’s a community that’s hired a consultant and their own project manager to bring the project forward. But we’re willing to have that discussion with NWTAC and we’ll go from there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight the significant progress being made by NWT community governments in planning and building the infrastructure they need to deliver quality programs and services within their communities.

Since 2007 when most NWT communities took on responsibility for the planning, design and construction of their community public infrastructure through the New Deal, we have seen impressive results. Community governments are provided with capital formula funding from the GNWT that they can use to bank, invest and leverage other sources of funding so...

One of the questions in the consultation/discussion paper was around the issue of residency requirements and a lot of the folks that did respond did say that there needed to be some adjustments made to the residency requirement issues. So this was taken into consideration and then we will be preparing a report to present to Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member’s comment. We are constantly, when we do meet with our federal counterparts, we are always mentioning the fact that they do flow a lot of money into the Territories. We need to start looking at the O and M, because there are a lot of projects going on the ground, so we need to increase the O and M funding. I think we all know that there has been an increase in the O and M for the last couple of years, recognizing the fact that they are getting a lot of new infrastructure on the ground. We will continue to work with the communities and will...

I will give direction to staff to work with the community of Sachs Harbour to assist them in trying to resolve some of the issues and see where they can improve. There’s still the issue of compliance with the Fire Code. Those have been identified and those need to be taken care of before they will issue a completion of this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are addressing the need for capacity and we have heard the Member’s concerns. We are working with HR, as I announced, to develop a strategy for communities to train and retain. A lot of the people that work in the communities and actually had a meeting with members of LGANT this afternoon and there were probably three-quarters of the SAOs in the Territories at this meeting. There were some band communities there, and the band communities are the ones we are working with right now to form development corporations so they can own real property. We’ve made a lot of...

Mr. Speaker, obviously, MACA has an interest in this, as this was done under the capital money that we advanced to the community. So we are monitoring the situation very closely. We’re hoping to see that some of the issues that are taken care of. There were some issues with not complying with the Fire Code and there were other issues that were identified by the office of the fire marshal. My understanding is they’re taking steps now to try and resolve some of these so Sachs Harbour can enjoy the use of their community complex. Thank you.