Thank you for that, Mr. Allison.
Alternatives North is a social justice coalition that operates in the Northwest Territories. Among our ranks are representatives of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, organized labour, environmental organizations, small businesses, and other concerned individuals who care about social justice issues. We've been in operation primarily in Yellowknife, but in the Northwest Territories for almost 17 years, so we've had a fairly long time to grow roots in the community.
Over the years we have had special interest in poverty issues. We have produced papers on territorial government clawbacks of the child tax benefit supplement and on poverty specifically, trying to encourage a different strategy on the part of the territorial government when it comes to their income security programs. We have a paper on child care and the need for a universal child care system in the north. We have frequently commented on housing issues, cost-of-living issues, such as energy, and other issues like that.
On behalf of the organization, I'd like to thank you all for coming north. It is a good opportunity for us to exchange views on what may be different perspectives.
To get to the meat of the issue, Alternatives North believes there are two reasons why the federal government should be especially concerned about the eradication of poverty in the north. Issue number one is our territorial status. It means that our tax base, our ability to raise funds to deal with issues on our own, is more limited. Approximately 70% of our budget is a direct grant from the federal government. To deal with any new programs is a huge challenge for our legislative assembly members and the people of the Northwest Territories.
The federal government believes we are best suited to be a territory--I guess in cooperation with the people who live up here. But along with that territorial status comes an obligation to treat us with special care. That includes Yukon and Nunavut as well.
The second characteristic of the north that gives extra responsibility to the federal government lies in the composition of our population. With a large number of aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories, the federal government has fiduciary responsibility for them. When you look at the statistics on how people live in the Northwest Territories, there is clearly a race divide on an income basis. The statistics from the NWT Bureau of Statistics bears that out. There is a special problem with aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories when it comes to income security.
Those are the two primary reasons for our believing that the federal government should take a lead on the anti-poverty issues. But it should also address the territories in a different way from some of the provinces.
We are now in a recession. The most recent statistics you'll find from the Bureau of Statistics are from 2006. I think we have a fairly serious problem developing in the Northwest Territories as a result of the recession. Mines are slowing down, governments are trying to pull in their horns, and large employers like the transportation sector are all trying to pull in their horns.
With unemployment comes greater poverty. So this is a bad time, and it's an especially propitious time for the federal government to be looking at an anti-poverty strategy. This is the time, when we're looking for solutions to the recession, to also look for solutions to poverty.
On the specific area of an anti-poverty strategy, we believe there are examples both in the country and internationally that I'm sure members of the committee are more familiar with than I am. But programs are successful if they have measurable goals and goals that measure the social conditions of the people who are affected by them.
We want to look at the health of children. We want to look at housing situations, and other things like that. So any anti-poverty strategy that comes out should have measurable targets. It should have funding that is dedicated to the task. And it should be an upfront and open program resulting from consultation with the people most affected by the issue.
In the Northwest Territories there's a special problem with homelessness. I mentioned this before. But I do believe that any strategy that comes out is going to require a national housing program of some sort. It should deal with providing resources to the territorial and provincial governments to allow them to augment the public housing situation. It also would be wise for us to go back to the idea of co-op housing, where private ownership is not necessary. There are cooperative principles that operate in the Northwest Territories as well as in the rest of the country, and it would be good for the federal government to show leadership in those areas and move in that direction.
Another area that I think the federal government has a special role in accommodating is the universal child care plan. In Yellowknife there are presently only three operating child care centres for a town of 19,000. It's very difficult for anybody to find child care services that are very accessible.
Another area where I think the federal government has a role to play is in facilitating the greater unionization of the workforce. The statistics are quite clear that poverty levels go down as the proportion of the labour force that is unionized goes up. There's a direct correlation there. That's a federal government responsibility.
We also think that the feds can help with improving the minimum wage. The number being bandied around is $10 an hour on a national level. But for high-cost areas like the Northwest Territories, if there is to be a minimum wage, then there should be a cost of living factor added on top of that for remote areas, where $10 an hour is just simply not adequate.
I realize I'm out of time. I just want to get in the fact that Alternatives North believes the first pillar that needs to be addressed is getting more money into the hands of poor people. We believe one of the ways to achieve this, one of the ways that seems to be most efficient for dealing with this, is through a guaranteed annual income. We endorse that as a principle. We believe the federal government could achieve this, with its relatively deeper pockets and its ability to set national standards and to make the money that is available to the territories and provinces conditional on those national standards.
I thank you for that.