Thank you, Minister of Finance. Pursuant to Rule 8.2(3), Bill 39 is deemed to have first reading and is ready for second reading.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Bill 33, Technical Safety Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the second time.
The proposed Technical Safety Standards Statutes Amendment Act will amend the Elevators and Lifts Act to become the Technical Safety Act which sets out common core provisions that would apply in all fields of work brought under the Act. The proposed Act will harmonize and streamline permitting fees and inspection powers for regulated products currently within the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Act, Electrical Protection Act, Gas Protection Act, and Elevator and Lifts Act. All four current electromechanical statutes will be progressively repealed and integrated into the new Technical Safety Act. The bill will align with similar legislation in other jurisdictions thus facilitating labour mobility and trade between the NWT and other Canadian territories and provinces. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried. Bill 33 has been read a second time and is referred to a standing committee of the Legislative Assembly for further consideration.
---Carried
Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North that Bill 36, Appropriation Act, (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2026-2027, be read for the second time. This bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make appropriations for infrastructure expenditures for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 37, Supplementary Appropriation Act, (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization), No. 3, 2024-2025, be read for the second time. This bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures and borrowing authorization of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried. Bill 37 has been read a second time and is ready for third reading.
Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 38, Supplementary Appropriation Act, (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, be read for the second time. This bill makes supplementary appropriations for infrastructure expenditures of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour, please raise your hand. All those opposed, please raise your hand. All those abstaining, please raise your hand. The motion is carried. Bill 38 has been read a second time and is ready for third reading.
---Carried
Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 39, Supplementary Appropriation Act, (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, be read for the second time. This bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstentions? Motion passed. Bill 39 has been read for the second time and is ready for third reading of the bill.
---Carried
I now call the Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? I am going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, committee wishes to review Committee Report 29-20(1), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Committee Project: Housing as a Human Right. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We'll take a five-minute break to get organized here, and then we'll come right back. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Committee, we have agreed to consider Committee Report 29-20(1), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Housing as a Human Right. I'll go to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development for any opening comments. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, today I rise to speak to the Report on Committee Project: Housing as a Human Right presented by the Standing Committee on Social Development. This report is the result of a comprehensive study taken by committee following direction from the House in February 2024. The purpose of the study was to examine how the right to adequate housing can be implemented through the laws and policies of the Northwest Territories.
I would like to share a quote from a researcher who presented to committee during our study. They said: There has never been a point in time where the Northwest Territories has not had a housing crisis. We have never had enough housing in the NWT since the federal government got involved with delivering housing in the North, end quote.
Over the course of our study, the committee engaged with Indigenous governments, housing researchers, non-profit organizations, landlords, developers, and individuals with lived experience. Through this engagement, the committee heard consistently that the housing situation in the Northwest Territories is both urgent and dire. Nearly 1 in 4 households in the Northwest Territories live in unsuitable, inadequate, or unaffordable dwellings and cannot afford alternative housing. Nearly half of homes in the territory are unsuitable or require major repairs. Close to 10 percent of households are informally sheltering someone experiencing homelessness. Outside of Yellowknife, 73 percent of tenant households rely on public housing with waitlists representing an additional 8 percent of households. These statistics underscore the scale of the housing crisis and the need for immediate and coordinated action.
The committee welcomes the opportunity to debate the findings and 44 recommendations to this report in Committee of the Whole. We look forward to hearing from Members and to advancing meaningful solutions that reflect the right of all residents to live in safe, adequate, and culturally appropriate housing. Individual committee members may have additional comments on this work and the recommendations we have made. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will now open the floor for general comments on Committee Report 29-20(1). Are there any general comments from Members? Seeing no further comments, Members, I am going to be going to the motions. I am going to go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories formally and officially recognize housing as a human right; and further, specifically the Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Government of the Northwest Territories urgently create new legislation that recognizes the right to adequate housing as it is articulated in international human rights law in the United Nations Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People; and further, this new legislation should incorporate accountability mechanisms found in Canada's National Housing Strategy Act, including developing and maintaining a robust housing strategy to progressively realize housing as a human right in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. I am going to go to the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think this is a very important recommendation, and the reason it's the first is it's a kind of paramount that underpins the rest of the -- well, the very essence of this report on housing as a human right.
When we looked at mechanisms to enshrine housing as a human right or officially recognize, it was a bit of a complicated task because even the federal government has legislation that acknowledges it as a human right but goes -- stopped short of actually enshrining it in human rights legislation, and committee was careful to draft this recommendation in such a way that it made specific reference to new legislation that would also underpin a Territorial Housing Strategy Act or something along those lines modeled after Canada's National Housing Strategy Act rather than just amend our existing human rights legislation because we did foresee some challenges with how that would work operationally. And I think it's in -- I mean, this is broad enough that it can be interpreted by the government to see how to take action on it, but I think it's very important that this be put into legislation so there is a firm commitment from the government and it's not just a motion or a speech but it's actually something in law but that there be enough flexibility that we're able to manage the right effectively through our existing systems, ensure they're improved, ensure they're informed by this concept of housing as a human right but not in such a way that creates a kind of paralysis across the government because this is unfamiliar territory, and we have seen that embracing very progressive ideas or very progressive legislation can somewhat be a challenge. So to give comfort to anyone, you know, it's not as broad as enshrining it in human rights legislation, but it is still very significant and very important, the legislation coming forward, to underpin housing as a human right in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour to the motion. All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried. Thank you.
---Carried
I'll go back to the Member for Monfwi, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories publicly recognize the colonial legacies that have contributed to Indigenous homelessness in the Northwest Territories;
And further, to address these legacies the Government of the Northwest Territories should use the principle outlined in the Northwest Territories United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Implementation Act to guide policy changes in the housing sector and increase local government decision-making to facilitate the co-development of new housing policies by the Council of Leaders and Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining?
---Carried
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member for Monfwi.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories create an Office of the Territorial Housing Advocate and appoint a territorial housing advocate;
And further, the territorial housing advocate and its office should operate as an independent non-partisan entity modeled after the federal housing advocate;
And further, its objective should be to advance meaningful action to address inadequate housing and homelessness in the Northwest Territories;
And furthermore, the office should be created within the 20th Legislative Assembly;
And furthermore, an implementation plan to create this office should be developed and tabled in the House within one year;
And furthermore, this office should facilitate the co-development of new housing policies by the Council of Leaders and Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
