Updated December 11, 2011
Page révisée le 11 décembre 2011

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Jump directly further down on the page you're now reading: * Key Welfare Links in the Northwest Territories (scroll down to the grey box below, right column) * Latest Northwest Territories Budget * Poverty reduction in the Northwest Territories * Non-governmental sites in the Northwest Territories

 

The Federal Government’s Northern Strategy and
Implications for Housing in the Northwest Territories

On November 24, Frances Abele and Nick Falvo presented findings from their respective chapters in How Ottawa Spends 2011-12: Trimming Fat or Slicing Pork?
at an official launch and panel discussion (small PDF file), in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

In the November 27 issue (3rd item) of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/personal/news271111.htm
... you'll find links to a blog posting by author Nick Falvo in the Progressive Economics Forum about the project, to a summary of and presentation notes on Nick's work, and to a summary of Frances Abele's chapter in How Ottawa Spends on the subject of the Conservatives’ Northern Development Strategy. The link below is to the complete 19-page chapter by Nick in How Ottawa Spends.

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Government-Assisted Housing in the Northwest Territories
and the Role of the Federal Government (PDF - 460K, 19 pages)
http://www.mqupblog.com/falvo.pdf
Nick Falvo
[Excerpt:]
This chapter [of How Ottawa Spends] examines the housing situation in the Northwest Territories, especially as it affects low-income residents.
Topics discussed in this chapter include the manner in which government-assisted housing is administered in the NWT, as well as the uniqueness of government-assisted housing in the nwt. Building costs, forms of government-assisted housing, recent policies of senior levels of government, and other emerging issues in the NWT combine to create a unique public policy study.
Source:
How Ottawa Spends, 2011-2012
Trimming Fat or Slicing Pork?
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2697
By Christopher Stoney and G. Bruce Doern
A critical examination of the Harper Conservative's fiscal austerity strategies in the wake of Budget 2011-2012 and the often bitter politics of continued minority government.

[ Table of contents of the book:
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/extra.php?id=1179 ]
[ McGill-Queen's University Press
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/ ]

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Housing in the Northwest Territories
By Nick Falvo
November 26, 2011
Last week, I was in Yellowknife, where I released results of new research on affordable housing in the Northwest Territories (NWT). The research project was sponsored by the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada, and was a collaboration with the Centre for Northern Families. (...) The research results, which appear as a chapter in the 2011-2012 edition of How Ottawa Spends, suggest that a long-term, permanent commitment is required by the federal government in order to sustain housing in the NWT. The chapter argues that it’s more cost effective for the federal government to reinvest the savings it accrues (as current agreements run out) into fixing already-existing housing, than it would be to allow current units to disappear completely and to then rebuild from scratch.
Source:
Progressive Economics Forum

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Use it or Lose It : The Conservatives’
Northern Development Strategy:
Summary (PDF - 146K, 1 page)
By Frances Abele
This chapter is about the Conservative government’s policies and actions towards the North since 2006. The Conservative policies are compared to those of earlier Liberal federal governments. They are also compared to the needs and wishes of northerners.

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Government-Assisted Housing in the Northwest
Territories and the Role of the Federal Government:
Summary (164K, 1 page)
By Nick Falvo
This chapter is about housing (especially for low-income households) in the Northwest Territories. The chapter compares housing in the NWT with housing in the rest of Canada.

[ Download Nick's Powerpoint presentation - (1.7MB, 37 slides)] [ Free Powerpoint viewer ]

Source:
The Homeless Hub : Northwest Territories
[ The Homeless Hub : National (Canada) ]
The mission of the Homeless Hub is to provide a single online tool for homelessness stakeholders from across Canada to use, to find the research, strategy and policy information they need to make informed decisions when creating effective solutions. (...) As a one-stop-shop, the Homeless Hub is a place where community services providers, researchers, government representatives, people who have experienced homelessness and the general public can access and share research, stories, and best practices

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From CBC North:

New Report Paints Grim Picture of Public Housing in the NWT
CBC Special Report
November 24, 2011
This is a transcript of the interview by the CBC's Joslyn Oosenbrug with the authors of the study, Nick Falvo from the Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration, and Arlene Hache from the Centre of Northern Families in Yellowknife to discuss their findings.

CBC NorthBeat (YouTube video : duration 5:13)
This news video focuses on the release of the reports by Frances Abele and Nick Falvo.

Canada’s federal Arctic policy must start with the people who live there
By Carolyn Bennett, Liberal MP
November 21, 2011
This ‘father knows best’ prime minister writes prescriptions for the North without any comprehension of, or consideration for the real challenges of the people living there. (...) Since taking office, Mr. Harper has embraced a simplistic, narrow, and purely militaristic approach to the North, with the recent addition of a little nod to resource extraction. Nowhere in this annual rite is there a commitment to additional housing, education or community-based health care supports.
Source:
The Hill Times

Canada's North Beyond 2011 - Conference
October 11-13, 2011
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada’s North Beyond 2011 will assess and debate the critical challenges and opportunities in Canada’s North. We intend to make this Canada’s preeminent event on the North, engaging a wide range of community, business, and Aboriginal leaders and representatives from local, regional, and national government to collaborate on three critical aspects of northern prosperity and sustainability—thriving communities, economic development, and sovereignty and security.
Participate in this unparalleled event, and collaborate with public and private sector leaders from across the country and its northern communities

All registrants for this event are eligible for a 50% discount on travel from First Air! Please visit our Accommodations and Travel page for more information!
You can help change the future outlook for Canada’s North.
Source:
Conference Board of Canada

From the
National Council of Welfare:

Welfare Incomes 2010
September 2011
The Welfare Incomes report reflects the estimated incomes (in constant and current dollars) for 2010 of four typical welfare households in each province and territory:
- a single employable person
- a single person with a disability
- a lone parent with a 2-year-old child
- a two-parent family with two children aged 10 and 15
Click the link above, then move your cursor over each province or territory to view welfare incomes by household type for 2010 .
Click on a province or territory to see a chart of welfare incomes over time for that jurisdiction. This feature requires Macromedia Flash; if you don't have Flash or if you've disabled it, click the link below the map of Canada to access the same information in HTML.

Adequacy of Welfare Incomes
Compare welfare benefit levels for all jurisdictions and all household categories for all years from 1986 (1989 for a person with a disability) to 2010 using any one of five measures of adequacy: After-tax average income - After-tax LICO - After-tax median income - Before-tax LICO - Market basket measure (MBM).

Earlier editions of Welfare Incomes (annual)

Source:
National Council of Welfare
[ Conseil national du bien-être social ]
Since the Government Organization Act of 1969, the National Council of Welfare serves as advisory group to the federal Minister responsible for the welfare of Canadians - in 2010, that's the Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - regarding "any matter relating to social development that the Minister may refer to the Council for its consideration or that the Council considers appropriate."

Homeless in Yellowknife: An Emerging Social Challenge
By Nick Falvo
There is a considerable amount of visible homelessness in Yellowknife (NWT), yet very little third-party analysis of the situation. This report begins by briefly discussing who is homeless in Yellowknife and then outlines program responses, including emergency shelters and various models of housing. An overview will then be provided of major funding initiatives from the federal and territorial governments, as well as various forms of homelessness assistance provided by the City of Yellowknife. The report concludes by making policy recommendations with respect to the need for increased accountability, shelter standards, more housing options for the homeless, and a public health response to alcohol and drug use.

Download the Full Report (PDF - 447K, 27 pages)
* Executive Summary (PDF - 339K, 4 pages)
* Plain Language Summary (PDF - 326K, 3 pages)

Source:
The Homeless Hub
The Homeless Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find homelessness information from across Canada. Launched in 2007, the Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and information center representing an innovative step forward in the use of technology to enhance knowledge mobilization and networking.

Related link:

Top 10 Things I Learned About Research
While Preparing a Report on Homelessness in Yellowknife
By Nick Falvo
May 25, 2011

[Author Nick Falvo is a PhD Candidate at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. He also teaches a course on affordable housing and homelessness at Carleton's School of Social Work.]

Minimum Wage: Current and Forthcoming Minimum Hourly Wage Rates for Adult Workers in Canada - federal govt. site --- the best resource for info on current and upcoming minimum wage levels Source : Minimum Wage Database

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