Today, Honourable Shane Thompson, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance, announced the creation of the Emergency Disaster Assistance Advance Program (EDAAP).
The Emergency Disaster Assistance Advance Program allows for immediate payments to provide funding to residents, small businesses and community governments impacted by this year’s flooding in the Northwest Territories.
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Mr. Speaker, today, Northwest Territories residents will come together to march through the streets of Yellowknife to honour the 215 Indigenous children found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School last week.
This is an important opportunity for all of us as residents of the NWT to come together and show our support for people during this difficult time. It has brought to the surface painful memories for many, and with the strength of the community, we will get through this, together.
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Mr. Speaker, today’s mineral resource industry in the NWT is innovative, collaborative, environmentally conscious, and has the highest standards of safety. It collaborates with the GNWT and with Indigenous communities to enhance resources for capacity building and supports Indigenous participation in, and benefits received from, the mining industry.
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Mr. Speaker, every community in the Northwest Territories is different and has different needs and priorities. I am pleased to say that our Community Housing Support Program recognizes these differences and puts the priorities of local people right in the center of our planning processes.
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Mr. Speaker, June is the month we make a special point of acknowledging and celebrating Seniors for their contributions to our families and communities.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to update Members and the public on the Community Access Program administered by the Department of Infrastructure.
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Mr. Speaker, like all of us here today, I recognize the importance of and value education and its role in creating long term successes for our residents and our territory. I am pleased to say that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, through its apprenticeship program, also reflects this value while also working hard to improve housing for many Northwest Territories residents.
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Mr. Speaker, five years ago the Government of the Northwest Territories took on responsibility for the tugs, barges and marine facilities that have served our communities for decades. Since then, Marine Transportation Services, also known as MTS, has evolved and improved and provides reliable and professional marine shipping service while also supporting the Northwest Territories’ economy and workforce development.
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Mr. Speaker, June 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of the release of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and its demand for a world where First Nations, Inuit, and Métis families can raise their children in an environment that offers the same level of safety, security, and human rights as non-Indigenous families.
To mark this date, I will be tabling the first annual report addressing the government’s actions to respond to the Calls for Justice.
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Mr. Speaker, this government recognizes that owning your own home leads to physical security as well as emotional and financial security. Our goal and our mandate is to increase the number of affordable homes and reduce the core housing need across the territory. Throughout my time being responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, I have made it my priority to listen to community members and look for resolutions to the barriers that have been identified.
