NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
One hectare of crops in every community was one suggestion delegates from Gameti offered to the second annual anti-poverty roundtable, held in Yellowknife earlier this month.

Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy says community leaders who participated in the second annual anti-poverty roundtable in Yellowknife earlier this month pushed hard for more government funding to help create jobs, but little money is available. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

Judal Dominicata, senior administrative officer in Gameti, said residents in territorial villages are self-sufficient in many ways, but fresh vegetables are often in demand – and expensive to ship in from elsewhere – so his group suggested the GNWT support crop planting across the territory to boost supply.

Dominicata said the Gameti group also suggested the government chip in 10 per cent toward building projects and other income-generating initiatives undertaken by community governments in order to help create jobs.

"People like to work," he said.

Dominicata said people from Gameti have found it difficult to become trained and certified in trades since, at present, they're required to travel to the city where they find the hustle and bustle to be distracting.

"We want them to be able to become trained and certified here in Gameti," said Dominicata. "Since, there's no drinking and noisy nightlife."

Dominicata said those in attendance at the meeting seemed pleased with the suggestion he and his group members put forward and he hopes the territorial government will see fit to act on their suggestion if they think they make sense.

The roundtable in Yellowknife produced a 10-year plan to end homelessness in the city, according to city councillor Linda Bussey.

The event saw territorial politicians rubbing elbows with community leaders, who committed to five- and 10-year plans to combat poverty across the territory..

Bussey added she's uncomfortable knowing youth homelessness is growing, and said that it's the responsibility of municipal 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."

Some of the barriers to addressing the city's poverty problems have been "organizational responsibility" in leadership, said Dayle Hernblad, Yellowknife's homelessness co-ordinator.

Part of the trouble in tackling the problem that, in the past, various levels of government have had difficulty communicating with each other in order to find a solution to poverty and homelessness, she said. The roundtable discussions have helped identify who the partners are, to come up with solutions they can all work toward together.

Identifying who the partners are, and reconfirming priorities in the NWT, were topics for discussion during the event, said Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy, who is also the minister responsible for seniors and persons with disabilities.

"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 10-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 a 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. "Our people, for them to survive, they need to have more funding, and to be subsidized by the government so that we can utilize all the vegetables we get in the community, because the prices are rising."

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."

She said the establishment of a wellness plan was one of the key achievements of the roundtable.

"Most communities have a wellness plan and Yellowknife does not," she said.

"We've got lots of people working in the area, and it's so great to see that happening.

"We're looking at seniors and family violence and students and housing. Five years ago, Alternatives North presented their issues to the government ... so it's really nice to see it moving forward."