EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Social housing programs help people who do not have money for housing.
So that all people can have access to affordable, safe, adequate, uncrowded quality housing.
Mr. Speaker, I think the government of Nunavut should put its priority for housing in public housing.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes when we use expressions like social housing we don't have a good image of who we're talking about in this housing.
Let me try to express this.
Mr. Speaker, there is a need for appropriate social housing for elders in all of our communities.
It should be appropriately located in the community to be close for walking to stores, the nursing station, the community hall, the elders centre, and appropriately designed for elders who have difficulty with steps.
There is also a need for social housing for young families, for students at high school or college, for single mothers and their children who are often living in crowded situations with others.
We sometimes hear of people who have no choice but to live in homes with people who are not healthy, with people who may abuse or may be abusing them, because there is no alternative available as there is no where else for them to go and they do not have any money.
While I know that our history often involves several generations of people living together and we celebrate this and sometimes we long for this closeness, in some ways times have changed in many of our communities.
Where there is conflict in families related to alcohol abuse or violence everyone should have the right, the right Mr. Speaker to live in their own housing whether you are an elder, a mother, or a young adult.
There are many people in Nunavut who do not have that right now because we don’t have the housing to make that right possible.
Mr. Speaker, there is also a need for social housing for many hard working families who have low incomes and don't enjoy the extra benefits of housing allowances.
Mr. Speaker, we all know that market rents in the north are often around 2,000 dollars a month for a family sized dwelling.
A person who drives a water truck, or works as a secretary for a Hamlet, or a store clerk cannot afford to pay 2,000 dollars a month for rent when their take home pay may not even be this high.
Social housing allows for people to pay up to 30% of their salary on housing whether the salary is very low and only part time or whether their salary is modest.
They can use the rest for food and for other essentials for their families.
Mr. Speaker, we need social housing for these people too.
Lastly Mr. Speaker, we need social housing for people who have none at all.
There are homeless people in Nunavut and Iqaluit, something that should shame us all.
We have a homeless shelter in Iqaluit that struggles to stay open when we have people literally freezing to death.
As examples of the difficulties they face, only in the last few weeks the staff received their layoff notices, the consequence of sporadic project funding.
Mr. Speaker sadly, we do need to have places for people to put their heads at night and the budget needs to reflect all of these housing priorities. Mr. Speaker this is what social housing is all about and we need to have more in every community.
Unfortunately 20 million dollars won’t fulfil enough building of social housing units.
Mr. Speaker CMHC used to have a social housing program, which built new social housing units.
About seven years ago they stopped building new units and so the local housing associations are simply maintaining units they have and rebuilding the ones that are burnt down.
We need to re-negotiate the contract with CMHC, so that we can once again have new capital and a program for social housing.
We need to look at how to creatively build more social housing out of our own limited capital and O&M dollars.
Mr. Speaker the budget address states that the government is extending the program to help people with the down payments towards homeownership.
Mr. Speaker this will help people move out of social housing and free up that unit for another family.
I think it is a great program, but in order to meet the need, to meet the test for public accountability and good government, I think that all of the housing programs we are supporting in Nunavut, should be income tested.
Low and Middle income earners should have our help, while high income earners have enough money for their own housing and there is no public interest served in giving public dollars to people who aren’t in need of it, particularly, where there are so many other people who desperately need our help.
Helping people with a down payment is a great boost for many people and I commend the government for doing it.
People should only get help that they require to make their down payment and secure a mortgage, not more.
Those who are earning more should pay more towards their down payment.
We also have to look at each housing market.
Houses in Iqaluit are very expensive and in some other communities they are less expensive.
A grant of 15 thousand dollars wouldn’t be enough in some cases and more than enough in others. The programs should provide up to 10% down payment assistance for an average priced house in the community for that community market.
Mr. Speaker, there are many aspects to being able to buy a home, the first of these is the desire to do so and the government can be commended for encouraging people to become home owners.
The second is a down payment, which I just mentioned.
The 3rd is a long term job with a regular salary from which to make mortgage payments and keep up the unit. I know this government is committed in many ways to create these jobs, but Mr. Speaker there may be other hurdles.
There are some people, who might have all three now, but because they don’t have a good credit rating, they can’t get a mortgage.
Perhaps they have a good job now, but at another time they let their credit cards go too high or they had too many long distance calls or some one in their family was reckless about these things and credit rating is not up to par in the bank.
But if they were to pay off this debt by a repayment schedule they could fix this.
Mr. Speaker if we are going to have programs to help people access something as important as housing, we need a companion program to help people deal with some of these other hurdles.
To get credit counselling, to help them consolidate their debts, to get a repayment plan, so that they could move forward with their lives.
This affects many Inuit and we need to put extra effort, so that more Inuit can benefit from these types of program.
Mr. Speaker I want to see at the end of day who did get help by this down payment program and if there are not 85% Inuit getting access, then we will know that there are other hurdles that this government did not address in their program.
Mr. Speaker we need general financial services in our communities to ensure that people receive information and support on how to run their financial affairs.
From help with income tax forms to obtaining mortgages and loans to setting up their own businesses, to obtaining credit counselling.
People need help holding on to their homes and assets during difficult periods.
Mr. Speaker I believe community based credit unions may be our hope for this, credit unions owned and operated locally with the profits in the community and in Nunavut.
I look forward to seeing the government initiatives in regards to this in the future.
Mr. Speaker in terms of housing, I also note that the Housing Corporation has now been brought within the government departments.
A stand alone Housing Corporation was set up after a thorough study in 1972.
I suggest that it would help resolve a number of problems, it would consolidate all services relating to housing in one place under leadership with a dedicated focus to housing, in order to become more effective and efficient.
Over the years it has evolved through experience to a corporation which did pretty well with what it had to work with.
It was also flexible, for example, it had a two year capital delivery cycle which worked well in Nunavut with the sea lift schedule.
Mr. Speaker I am concerned that we are going to have fragmented service delivery through the policy with Community Government, Housing & Transportation responsible for parts of it, public works and telecommunications and technical services responsible for another part of it, Human Resources for another part of it and Finance yet another.
Mr. Speaker the direction of this government is to take more and more service delivery in house, into the government, in health, in education and in housing, but I would like to see more of the studies to show that we will really benefit from this direction.
I do not want to see us five or ten years down the road re-inventing the wheel and saying, "oops maybe we should’ve left some of these more independent mechanisms for service delivery outside the departments and have the departments focus more on good policy, ensuring good evaluation, and ensuring that we have dollars in place to do a good job".
Mr. Speaker I have many more concerns about housing but I want to quickly raise a few other matters today.
Mr. Speaker another area that I care very much about is education and I have two small children who will be entering the education system soon.
I want the best for them and for all the other children of Nunavut.
I want an education system that will instil a love of learning and curiosity about the world.
That will invest children with the skills and knowledge that will allow them to contribute to their communities.
That will put them on par with the students in southern Canada.
That will allow them to celebrate skilfully the use of the language and culture and give them a solid foundation for their future lives based on respect and excellence.
Mr. Speaker I am pleased to see seventeen new teaching positions will be added this year.
We all know the ratio of teachers to students in the classrooms is a very important component of quality education, however, I am concerned that this increase is not even one new teacher per community.
For a community like Iqaluit we are seeing many new families moving with their children.
This increase in teachers won’t even begin to deal with the new numbers of children.
It is expected that class sizes will increase here, we must look at the need for teachers again before the year is out.
Perhaps this is an area where some of the savings from phasing out the Regional Education Council can be emphasized.
Mr. Speaker another theme that I would like to speak on is caring.
Mr. Speaker I am concerned that this budget focuses on creating a solid future for Nunavut, which I applaud, but didn’t pay enough attention to the past.
The fact is there are many people in Nunavut who have suffered in the past from violence, from abuse, from sadness due to loss of loved ones, to suicide or losses on the land or who hurt for other reasons.
There are people who are not dealing with these losses in healthy ways, there are also people who are caught, torn or lost between two generations, between two cultures, between two languages, it has been very hard for some people.
They may have turned to drugs and alcohol or to violence and they have a negative impact on themselves and on many people all around them.
They are the people who are in the courts and in the prisons and they are in the hospitals from suicide attempts.
They can’t keep their jobs or their children may be in foster care.
Mr. Speaker we have a drug and alcohol centre in Iqaluit that is closed.
It is the only one in Nunavut and they don’t even know when it’s going to be re-opened.
There are many people in Nunavut who need this help, I don’t see anything in this budget that says how we are going to help people deal with a troubled past.
I don’t think it is enough to build a better future for them, we also have to help them move forward with their lives into the better future.
More employment opportunities will not be the full answer, not the total solution.
Mr. Speaker the budget address says the priority for government is creating healthy communities, families and individuals, but where are the initiatives in the budget address that help parents who have children in care, help victims of sexual abuse, help people who were wronged in residential school, that took them many miles away from their families and their culture.
Where are the initiatives to help men and women in the jails deal with their anger and violence and to learn new skills.
Mr. Speaker we see the statistics, the southern news papers are always printing them for us, but here in Nunavut we see the people behind those statistics, we care about them and we want more effective programs to help them.
We know a lot of what has been delivered in the past, hasn’t always helped people, how is Nunavut is going to be different?
Mr. Speaker the budget talks about shuffling government structures around, phasing out health boards and education boards, phasing in the Departments.
Mr. Speaker I don’t think a lot of my Constituents really care that much about who is going to be doing what or what part of government democracy is responsible for what type of program.
My constituents and Nunavummiut want programs that will work, that are culturally sensitive and that make a difference in their life, in the lives of the people they love and are concerned about.
Mr. Speaker I would have liked to see more on our caring programs in the budget address, more than one paragraph and I hope we will hear more about this in the future.
Mr. Speaker the last theme I want to touch on is a need to work together as regular MLA's.
I want to work effectively with the other MLA's in the House and on the Standing Committees.
I want to work effectively with the Cabinet and the government departments to ensure that we can deliver the best programs and services possible in Nunavut in a way that is affordable, sustainable, cultural and builds our future. I want to work effectively with NTI, Land Claim Organizations and with the general public.
In order to do this, we must have full and open sharing of information between the government and the regular MLA's, in the budget process, in the review of programs, in the drafting of policy, in legislation.
I also welcome the government commitment to public consultations and look forward to involving Nunavummiut in the important debates affecting our futures.  Mr. Speaker I hope the government will very carefully consider the recommendations of all four standing committees in this regard.
Mr. Speaker these are my comments on the budget address. Mr. Speaker I would like to thank all the members for listening.
I’d like to take a short recess for 15 minutes.
Members can go upstairs for coffee and also I’d like to invite the pages to join us at the members' coffee room. 15 minute break.
>>House recessed from 3.28 to 3.49 pm.
Speaker: Item 10 replies to budget address.
Item 11 petitions Mr. Nutarak.
Petition 5 - 1 (2): Release of Juda Taqtu from Baffin Correctional Centre
Mr. Nutarak: (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Speaker.
I apologize Mr. Speaker, I made a mistake earlier.
The member for the high arctic has asked me to table this petition.
He is the Speaker and this is for the Minister of Justice.
We have 69 signatures from the people of Arctic Bay to get Juda Taqtu out of the Baffin Correctional Centre as soon as possible.
This was signed by the people of Arctic Bay, because he is supports a family, he provides meat to the community and he also helps the people who are in poor situations.
Mr. Uyukuluk, who is the father of Juda Taqtu, is the oldest member in the community and he is concerned that he might be gone for a long time and he doesn’t believe that there’s going to be enough food provided for his family.
They are requesting that his sentence be reduced to five months.
Speaker: Qujannamiik Mr. Nutarak.
Item 11 petitions, item 12 reports of standing and special committees.
Item 13, Reports of Committees on the Review Bills.
Item 15 Notices of Motions. Mr. Ng
Item 15: Notices of Motions
Mr. Speaker I give notice that on Thursday, May the 27th, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Tunnuniq, to authorize the Speaker of the House to set the sitting hours as the Speaker deems fit in respect to the business before the House.
At the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker I’ll ask for unanimous consent on the motion today.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Ng. Notice of Motions for First Reading of Bills.
Item 17 motions.
Item 17: Motions
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion today.
Speaker: Thank you Mr. Ng. The Minister is seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion.
Mr. Iqaqrialu
Mr. Iqaqrialu: Thank you Mr. Speaker.
I say nay.
Speaker: There is a nay.
Motions out of order.
I didn’t quite get the Motion, would you read again please.
Speaker: (interpretation): The motion was defeated, if it’s not approved today.
As the member had stated, he said that he would like to deal with it on Thursday.
Hon. James Arvaluk: Mr. Speaker, I believe that if anybody was going to say nay to this motion, we should’ve been informed this morning during our full Caucus, so that we would be fully informed.
I don’t know why there was a nay possibly these speakers can give us a briefing.
Speaker (interpretation): The motion just asked for consensus, there is no debate allowed.
He wanted unanimous consent and stated here that he would like to deal with it today and there was one nay.
Mr. Picco
Mr. Speaker I think, the Minister if I’m correct on the proceedings, I think I am, the Minister was asking for consent, not unanimous consent, so it doesn’t matter if one Member says no, we were asking for consent, I think it’s a full vote of caucus, not unanimous consent.
Unanimous consent was in order to deal with this motion.
We have no unanimous consent.
Item 18 first Reading of Bills.
Item 19 Second Reading of Bills.
Item 20, Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other matters.
Bill 1 Appropriation Act 1999/2000.
Bill 2 Boards of Management Dissolution Act.
Bill 3 Divisional Education Council Dissolution Act.
Committee Reports 1 – 1 (2), 2 – 1 (2), 3 -1 (2) and 4 – 1 (2), with Mr. Puqiqnak in the chair.
Chairperson (Mr. Puqiqnak) (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Speaker.
At this time we have a full agenda for this afternoon.
What is the Committees wish?
1 – 1, 2 – 1, 3 – 1, 4 – 1.
Bill 1, Bill 2, Bill 3.
Appropriation Act for 1999/2000, and Bill 2 - Boards of Management Dissolution Act and Bill 3 - Divisional Education Councils Dissolution Act.
We have three bills, I would like at this time to ask which bill you would like to deal with at this time?
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): We could skip Bill 1 and go on to Bill 2 and Bill 3, once we are done with bill 2 and 3 we can then go back to bill 1.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Nutarak.
As Mr. Nutarak stated he would like to deal with bill 2 and bill 3.
That’s the Member for Mitsimatalik, are we all agreed?
We have Bill 2 Boards of Management Dissolution Act and Bill 3 Divisional Education Councils Dissolution act, we’ll deal with these two Bills this afternoon at this time.
Is it okay, since there’s no reply we’ll deal with Bills 2 and 3 and after we have completed those two bills, we’ll go back to bill 1, afterwards.
Bill 2 - Boards of Management Dissolution Act, we'll start with that one.
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the Deputy Minister of Health and Social services is not here right now, but I’m willing to take questions, comments or anything from the floor.
My opening comments for the Bill are not here either, because we were expecting to do that on Saturday, that was our consensus that we had reached.
I’ve just asked my Executive Assistant to call the Deputy Minister for Health to come here right now to the Hall.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
Chairperson: (interpretation): The Minister for Health and Social Services would like to ask the Deputy Minister to attend.
Thank you, Mr. Nutarak, did you have another comment to make?
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Chairman.
I just had a conversation with the Speaker, and Mr. Ng. I would like to revoke what I said and start with Bill One, as they are ready, I believe.
We will then go to Bill One, Appropriation Act 1999/2000, and for your information, we also have a Standing Committee Report, 1-1, Standing Committee Report 2-1, and Standing Committee Report 3-1.
These will also have to be included.
At this time, I believe it would be best if we deal with Community Government, Housing and Transportation.
We will deal with that first.
I would like to ask the Minister of this Department – Community Government, Housing and Transportation, Mr. Jack Anawak to go up to the witness table for opening remarks.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Chairman I am very pleased to present the 1999/2000 budget for Community Government, Housing & Transportation that we will be dealing with.
I would like to ask Mr. Mike Ferris, Deputy Minister and Mr. Michael Rafter, to come and help me and we will try to deal with questions that will be arising from the House in regards to capital items or transportation.
As you are aware, Community Government, Housing and Transportation used to be three departments during the GNWT days; Transportation, Housing and MACA. They were combined into one Department and we were able to realign our department.
This amalgamation brought three very similar operations together. This has allowed us the opportunity to begin looking at new ways to deliver our programs and services more effectively.
The departmental structure reflects four basic branch operations. These are: 1) the Directorate, 2) Community Government, 3) Housing and 4) Transportation. The chart on page 7-1 of the Main Estimates document reflects the divisions within these four branches.
I should note that the Housing Branch is also referred to as the Nunavut Housing Corporation. It operates under the Nunavut Housing Corporation Act very similar to the NWT Housing Corporation. The Nunavut Housing Corporation has its own budget which is made up of funding provided by the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation (CMHC), plus funding provided by the Nunavut Government.
The Corporation's budget will be finalized once the Main Estimates are approved.
Mr. Chairman and Honourable members, we face a major challenge in the area of Social housing, especially since CMHC is no longer providing the capital dollars to build new units.
Furthermore, as the Minister of Finance indicated in his budget, CMHC is also reducing annually the operations and Maintenance (O&M) funding it transfers to us.
We will need to work together as we attempt to deal with our social housing needs.
We must look at new ways of doing things.
We must seek out innovative ideas and solutions.
I would like to have a review of existing programs, to see if there are ways we could do things differently, to be more effective and more efficient.
I would like to look at some new ideas, some new initiatives, and some new partnerships.
I invite the ideas and advice of the members of this assembly to assist me with this challenge.
The mission statement of the Department, along with our current goals, flow out of the business plan document.
You can see in our goals that we want to develop open communication and consultation with our partners.
We want to help communities enhance their capacities, making it easier for local management and delivery of programs and services.
We will also be enhancing community fire fighting training. This is an effort to reduce our high fire loss record and stabilize fire insurance rates as the insurance industry has been expressing concern.
We will also be much more proactive in prevention programs, especially in the “Learn not to Burn” program offered through the schools.
I have also asked my Deputy to ensure that we enhance our search and rescue training and become more supportive to local authorities during local community search operations.
In addition to communicating with our partners, we will be developing a communication/consultation plan, so we may keep the people of Nunavut advised of our programs and services and seek their input in helping to better meet their needs with our programs and services.