SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A plan to end homelessness in ten years is what the city takes away from an anti-poverty discussion held this week, according to city councillor Linda Bussey.

Dayle Hernblad, left, the city's homelessness co-ordinator, and Linda Bussey, city councillor, said a plan to combat poverty was laid out during the second annual anti-poverty roundtable this week.- Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

The second annual anti-poverty roundtable, held at the Explorer Hotel, saw territorial politicians rubbing elbows with community leaders, who committed to five- and ten-year plans to combat poverty in the city, and across the territory, Bussey said, near the end of the session Wednesday.

Bussey said she's uncomfortable knowing youth homelessness is growing, and said that it's the responsibility of city and territorial politicians to address the problem.

"There is an immediate housing need, and there is also a long-term housing need," she said. "What we developed today is a long-term plan because we want to get out of emergency housing. We want people to have a house to go to. That's our plan ... a 10 year plan, to end homelessness in Yellowknife."

Part of the trouble in tackling the problem of poverty, said Dayle Hernblad, homelessness co-ordinator for the city, is - in the past - various levels of government have had difficulty communicating with each other in order to find a solution to poverty and homelessness. This week's discussion has helped them identify partners to come up with a solution they can all work toward together, she said.

That, along with reconfirming priorities to combat poverty in the NWT, were topics for discussion during this week's event, said Glen Abernethy, minister of health and social services.

"A lot of commitments (were made), a lot of policies from aboriginal governments, community governments, non-government organizations," said Abernethy. "There's been a fairly unified push to have the government provide more funding. Unfortunately there isn't a lot more funding."

The priority for groups in Yellowknife has been housing and coming up with a plan to combat homelessness, said Abernethy.

"And they've come out with a ten-year outline of what they're going to do - what different groups in Yellowknife are going to do - to move forward with solving the housing crisis and the homelessness," he said.

The plan includes accessing funding to renovate homeless shelters in the city, said Be'sha Blondin, of Northern Integrated Cultures, a non-profit organization formed around the idea of giving voice to community elders.

Blondin said the rising cost of living has to be addressed if Northern communities are to survive.

"The whole economy in the North is so expensive," she said. Sandy Little, senior instructor of social work at Aurora College, said she was inspired to see so many people coming together to focus on the issue of poverty.

"I am rejuvenated and inspired to think about anti-poverty initiatives," she said.

"I feel more connected to the partners, here and across the NWT."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.