R.J. Simpson

What is the deadline for compliance with this new order?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In response to the high-rise fire, a public health order was issued to the owner of the high-rise on April 10th. It detailed what needed to be done before it could be assessed whether or not residents could return. The owner was ordered to obtain a qualified environmental professional to prepare a plan for assessment and remediation in order to prevent mould growth due to water damage and to submit a report detailing the remediation work that had been done.

Mr. Speaker, no report was provided, and there is...

As I stated, 18 people are homeless. I know for a fact one of those is an infant. There could be other children, as well. I can't go back to Hay River and tell them that there have been talks. I need to tell them that there's a plan to put them in a home, and to give them somewhere safe. What can the Minister tell me that's happening to put these people in actual homes? I need a plan. When is there going to be a place on the ground that they can go and live?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm not going to get to ask the four separate Ministers all my questions. Questions and answers are going a little long today, so I will keep this brief. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation: what has been done to date to address the housing issues of the evacuees of the Hay River high-rise? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, we are joined today by the grade six class from Princess Alexander School. They managed to make their yearly trek up here despite some concerns that they wouldn't make it because the bus that was carrying them was coming out of high level. I would like to introduce half of them, and then my colleague from Hay River South will introduce the other half.

We have Mr. Jacob Alyward, Avaia Ashton -- and I'm sorry if I've mispronounced that; I was just introduced to her -- Joshua Barnes, Cameron Bateman, Julianne Groenewegen, Brayden...

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion to report progress. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

I will rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister spoke of some of the challenges that they are facing, but does the department have a plan in place if this order is not complied with? Is there something concrete that he can share with us right now? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You can't get blood from a stone, so I am not sure that fining the owner or doing work and then billing it back is going to do anything here. I am not sure if there is money there to do any of this work. It certainly doesn't seem that way. What is the department willing to do on its own if the owner doesn't do any remediation work? At what point does this become a public health issue that the department has to deal with?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister said there were no housing clients in the high-rise. Income assistance was paying the rent for about a third of the residents of the high-rise, which means that those people, for the most part, were on the housing waitlist. It's not like Housing doesn't have clients in there. They have people waiting to get into housing, so this is an issue. What can I tell them is going to happen in the very near term? What is the plan to house them in the very near term? I know there are long-term solutions. I know all about the rental issues in Hay River. What is the...

I appreciate the update. That's basically the same update that I received back in April at the community meeting. There are still these 18 people who are homeless, essentially with unstable housing, and there are 26 who are temporarily housed. They could be the ones in the leased units from the federal government. Going forward, what's the plan? The Minister said there was a plan. Can you please elaborate on that, and tell us what he's going to do to make sure these people have stable housing?