Richard Edjericon

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all I want to do is bring baby Alma home as soon as possible. The Archaeological Sites Act defines an archaeological site as any location where an artifact typically is over 50 years old with no continuous chain of possession. If found, if the Minister maintains that the marked graves of children in an active cemetery are not archaeological artifacts, then why is she invoking this legislation to classify their remains as such? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to respond to the point of order. I want to be very clear I was speaking to the situation and the facts surrounding it, Mr. Speaker. The Minister's mandate letter is a tool this House uses for accountability. It should not be off limits for Members to speak to.

The government is following colonial policies, and the Minister is responsible for those policies in this House. It is important that Indigenous people be allowed to call out colonial policies, laws, and actions and attitudes, as part of the ongoing process of reconciliation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise here today just to -- I'm very emotional about this whole thing. I'm first generation residential school survivor, federal day school survivor, and I think about the mother -- the grandmother that's in Fort Smith that wants her child to be brought home, a promise to her sister.

Mr. Speaker, I tried everything here to figure a way where we could try to build collaboration, relationship and trust, but I'm not hearing it here today. It saddens me that we can't find a solution. Again, policies of government overriding over our treaties, our culture, and our values.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister is creating precedence where remains are over 50 years old can be designated as archaeological artifacts regardless of being marked and located in an active cemetery, does that clarification now extend to all remains in Lakeview Cemetery here in Yellowknife that meets this criteria as well, or is this elective interpretation being applied only to the remains of Indigenous children? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And some of the programs that was provided back in the early days was programs like the homeownership assistance program, the home improvement -- the homeownership improvement program, the senior citizens home repair program, emergency repair program, and they also provided public housing. And so, Mr. Speaker, and it would be -- will the Premier advocate for restoring and reinstating these programs in partnership with the federal Government of Canada and ensure the use of that -- these funds for the delivery is directed to regional Indigenous governments? Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to also recognize the former sergeant-at-arms Mr. Floyd Powder. I want to say mahsi and good to see you here. I also would like to recognize Irene Roth, Marie Douglas, Tanya McCauley, Sholto Douglas, North Douglas, and I have an elder there; I just don't know their name. But I just want to say welcome to the House. And Sholto, you look like a politician. So welcome. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the Akaitcho region, this year we got funding to do homeownership inspections in our region, and thank you to the -- sorry, I want to say mahsi to the Minister of housing for helping out.

My question to the Premier, though, is that once -- this report is going to be done by this fall, and the chiefs from the Akaitcho would like to work together with the Premier to bring this report to the Prime Minister and ask for further funding for homeownership repairs in our region. Thank you. So my question to the Premier, can he help us out with Indigenous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you know, some of the policies that are in place in government now sometimes don't really meet some of the community needs. So, Mr. Speaker, with CMHC funding set to expire with Housing NWT by 2038, there's an urgent need to build capacity with Indigenous governments immediately so they can deliver and manage their own housing.

Will the Premier work to ensure that the annual federal public housing funding, along with the operational maintenance support from CMHC, is directed to regional Indigenous governments so they can begin building and maintaining their own public...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, prior to 1993, the Government of Canada provided funding to CMHC on an annual basis so that they could provide funding to the GNWT through the NWT Housing Corporation where they built at least 600 homes per year up to 1993 from approximately 1988 or so.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, with Prime Minister Carney coming into power now, he's asking to build 5 -- sorry, he made a commitment to build 500,000 homes per year. My question will be to the Premier.

Will the Premier seek a commitment from the Prime Minister to ensure federal housing funds flow directly to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my constituents of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh following the spring federal election with great anticipation, a sediment echoed throughout this Assembly. For some time, there has been serious uncertainty about how outcomes of the federal election could affect our efforts to tackle the many challenges facing our territory, in particular the ongoing housing crisis.

The result is not clear. Mr. Carney and the Liberal party have returned to office promising a new government agency dedicated to building 500,000 new homes a year across the country. While this plan is...