I think housing is absolutely fundamental. And as the minister suggested, transportation is important, because in one of the aboriginal communities I work with, putting $800,000 into a winter road lowered the cost of living for citizens by 30% this year. There are really big impacts from investing well in winter roads, and that's a federal and a territorial responsibility.
But housing is also a responsibility. If people cannot be in a secure house, they can't get off to work. I know many families who are living in houses where, because of the effects and the legacy of colonization, there are addiction issues and social trauma. They can't leave their home for fear of what will happen to their children.
They can't leave their home because they don't have another home to go to. There is no housing. The housing they're in is inadequate. You go into a house, you see grandkids, kids, aunts, uncles, lots of people housed in a place. How could you, as a responsible adult and a parent, leave your child in that situation when you have no other choice? They outmigrate if they can or they choose not to work, and that's the unfortunate position they're in when housing is inadequate and substandard, which it is in northern regions, as you've identified.