Check against delivery

Mr. Speaker, appropriate community engagement is vitally important to all Government of the Northwest Territories departments and agencies, including the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

I know first-hand the value of having the voices of small communities heard at the political level. It is also important to me, that instead of having community representatives come into the capital to discuss their issues and concerns, that I come to them. To speak to our people in their home community, to see housing conditions for myself, to speak with the staff on the ground.

Mr. Speaker, this summer I travelled to 14 of our 33 communities. I had the opportunity to have productive discussions with local and Indigenous leadership in those communities and took those opportunities to highlight the many opportunities of NWT Housing Corporation programming and promote the Community Housing Plan process.

During these community visits, I toured housing corporation assets and on-going construction to see what we are putting on the ground. It is one thing, Mr. Speaker, to read in briefing notes about the good work that the corporation is doing, it is another to see that infrastructure come to life. I also had the opportunity to talk with district and local housing staff, congratulating them for the work they have done and discussing areas of improvement. These are our people on the ground in our communities and working hard to get the work done. 

Mr. Speaker, it was also very critical for me to highlight on these trips that one of the most effective tools for community engagement is the Community Housing Plan process.

These Community Housing Plans are developed hand-in-hand with local and Indigenous governments to ensure that locally appropriate housing solutions are developed for all communities. When completed, these plans will guide and support the housing aspirations of all communities in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, at this time one of these plans, for the community of Whatı̀, have been completed. Further to that, Housing Corporation staff have met with representatives of
15 other communities to discuss their community housing plans. Despite the difficulties that a global pandemic can present to community engagement activities, I am pleased to say that four more community housing plans are close to completion.

We recognize that developing community housing plans for all 33 communities in the NWT is an ambitious undertaking. We are committed to working with all our partners and all community members in a meaningful and respectful way. Development of these plans can take time, especially while ensuring that all of our staff, partners, and community members are following appropriate COVID-19 precautions. But these plans are too important to rush.  I am confident that these plans will be of tremendous benefit to all the communities of the NWT. I look forward to sharing the completed plans with members as they become available and, importantly, I look forward to the improved housing outcomes these plans will bring to our communities.

In closing, I want to thank all community leaders and residents who were able to meet with me or simply greet me on the street.  Our schedules as leaders of our government are
jam-packed and we can not be everywhere at once, but I want to get to the point sometime in our four years, where the appearance of the Housing Minister on any given street in any given community does not seem too out-of-the-ordinary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.