EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): The staff of the ministers don’t necessarily go through competition. Because of politics, they don’t go through the normal competitions.
Was this a direct appointment? If so, did it go through cabinet and follow the normal cabinet approval process?
Hon. Eva Aariak: This person is not part of the public service. It is political staff.
What’s the salary of this particular appointment?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Madam Premier.
I don’t believe I have that in front of me right now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Maybe the Premier could explain what political experience and qualification that this individual has.
With the inception of his employment, this person has been quite immersed in interacting with the elected officials and their staff. He was hired due to his qualifications and experience in dealing with the federal government, as well as their officials, including Inuit in Nunavut as well as their counterparts in the NWT.
He also worked for many years in the north, so he comprehends our reality. To analogize, when we were elected, some of us had no political experience whereas he would be like an old hat, as he has been working with many players in the federal level in Ottawa, both with the MPs and the civil service located there.
His representation and disclosure of the realities here in Nunavut has assisted us greatly.
Did this individual previously work for you or consult for you in any other of your previous roles or in any capacity?
Hon. Eva Aariak: When we hire political staff, especially if they are going to be directly advising you, you need to know who you’re hiring.
I don’t think she answered my question. I asked her if this individual had worked for her prior or consulted for her in her prior roles or capacities.
Perhaps it’s clearer now. (interpretation ends) Madam Premier.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Yes, it’s pretty clear. (interpretation ends) The reason why I hired him was because he had worked for me before.
Prior to receiving this job, did the individual receive any contracts from the Department of Executive or your office?
Hon. Eva Aariak: Not that I’m aware of.
Did he help out in your political campaign?
Hon. Eva Aariak: He was not campaigning for me.
That’s not what I asked. I asked her: did he help her in any way in her political campaign?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Schell, for your clarification. (interpretation ends) Madam Premier.
Hon. Eva Aariak: I’ve had quite a number of people helping me when I was… . If he’s referring to a time that I was putting forward my interest in running as a political member, I may have consulted him. I would have to think back and go from there.
Now I’ll go on to devolution.
On page 12 of your business plan, it indicates that there is over $1.8 million allotted to the Devolution Division. In the main estimates, page B-1, it indicates that there are nine separate PYs. Are all of these positions located here in Iqaluit?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Schell. (interpretation ends) Madam Premier.
Hon. Eva Aariak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation) Yes, they are all located in Nunavut.
I recall your department had previously listed a special advisor of negotiations.
Does this position still exist?
He was working on devolution when we were in the midst of the negotiations.
He has since returned to his previous position.
The deputy chief negotiator, is that the same position that was previously the special advisor for negotiations?
Hon. Eva Aariak: I will point out that I have the Devolution Division staffing in front of me.
The director is staffed indeterminately with Mark Thompson. The executive secretary is casual right now.
Indeterminate staff is on educational leave.
The manager of devolution is staffed indeterminately.
The senior policy advisor, bilingual, is staffed indeterminately.
The senior policy advisor is staffed indeterminately. The policy advisor is vacant.
The senior advisor for negotiations is staffed on a transfer assignment as deputy chief negotiator.
The deputy chief negotiator is staffed indeterminately. The position is filled… .
(interpretation) Let me ask my official.
Chairman: Madam Premier, if you need to take a moment to consult, will you please try and remember to mute your mic. (interpretation) Thank you. (interpretation ends) Go ahead, Madam Premier.
It’s under transfer assignment, (interpretation ends) reporting to the chief negotiator.
The last position is research advisor, outreach engagement.
The position is frozen; it has been removed in the chart.
When was that deputy chief negotiator created?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) When we assigned the chief negotiator, he needed a deputy chief negotiator. That’s when we assigned him.
Is this individual occupying this position a beneficiary?
Hon. Eva Aariak: No, he is not a beneficiary.
Mr. Schell: What’s the salary range for this position?
I don’t have that in front of me. I’m happy to say that the chief negotiator is a beneficiary, but the deputy chief negotiator is a non-beneficiary, as I just reiterated.
Was there an advertisement for this competition through the normal competitive process, yes or no?
The chief negotiator has every right to hire who he or she would like to hire.
The person who was assigned as the deputy chief negotiator was obviously from the Devolution Division, who is very much versed in devolution topics.
Was this a direct appointment? Did this particular direct appointment receive cabinet approval, as required for all direct appointments?
It’s a transfer assignment.
Was cabinet consulted or involved on this very significant appointment?
Our chief negotiator wanted to have someone who is very capable of assisting him. It was up to the chief negotiator to hire him.
The GN publicly announced the appointment of the chief negotiator, who also happens to be the DM of Environment, but a long-time northerner and beneficiary with years of senior executive experience.
Given that the DM of Environment will have many other responsibilities, one can only assume that the deputy chief negotiator’s duties will be significant since it’s listed as a full-time job.
Why have you chosen to keep the Members of this House and the public in the dark on this new position?
I was not aware that I was keeping the position away from the public’s knowledge.
We actually made an announcement on that. We have our chief negotiator as the Deputy Minister of Environment. It was with careful consideration whether he can handle both.
At this point, while the three negotiators are trying to come up with their negotiation mandate, he felt that this is something that he can undertake while he is still a deputy minister.
That could very well change should the devolution negotiations advance.
I’m referring to the deputy chief negotiator.
How did you discover this individual?
Was this individual recommended by your staff?
Hon. Eva Aariak: The deputy chief negotiator was already in the Devolution Division and very much knowledgeable of devolution issues.
I guess that sort of answered my next question.
What political experience and qualifications does this individual have?
He was hired under devolution because of his skills and knowledge. That’s why he is in his current position now.
Did the individual ever work for any significant government negotiations? Was the individual part of a team that worked for the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement?
I was not in the hiring process at the time, so I don’t know.
Does the individual chosen have a specific educational background in negotiations or a law degree?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) He has a master’s degree in negotiations.
It appears that the Premier has created special positions without informing this House and without giving Nunavummiut an opportunity to apply. The previous Premier did not need to magically create new positions or special advisors.
Why does this Premier do that?
It is the prerogative of the Premier to hire extra staff when needed. Maybe I didn’t quite understand which position he is asking me. If he asking me about the deputy chief negotiator, as I said before, he was hired by the Deputy Minister of Environment, who is also our chief negotiator.
Mr. Schell: Basically what I was alluding to was… . Sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I was basically alluding to was that she has created special positions without actually going and looking and seeing if there’s anybody else qualified in applying for it. Not giving any Nunavummiut an opportunity to apply for the job, but she is basically filling these positions without informing people until after the fact.
Can he please clarify what position he is talking about.
Please provide clarification.
All of the positions I was referring to is the special advisor, the deputy chief negotiator, all of those positions that didn’t go to cabinet, nobody was informed on it until the fact that it was done.
Perhaps that clarifies it. (interpretation ends) Madam Premier.
The deputy chief negotiator was always in the Devolution Division. He was hired there even before, I believe, I got there. So it’s not a question that he’s asking.
In regard to a political advisor, I feel I have every right to hire someone as a political advisor if I feel I need it, which is a practice of any other Premier.
It may not necessarily be of the previous Premier, but perhaps in the future, if the position is required, then it’s the prerogative of the Premier to do so like it is practised in any other of our provinces.
We’re on page B-4. Mr. Tapardjuk.
Further, I welcome the bureaucrats to the table.
Although I won’t be asking any questions, the person on your right, is that person able to work? Those are not the type of questions I was trying to ask about your employees. Rather, I’m asking about procedural items as I know they can be managed as long as the main estimates are not over budget.
They will be managed by the bureaucrats.
Mr. Chairman, I believe we’re under Directorate, B-4.
I can’t seem to find it, although I keep looking for this item. I would like help from you whether or not I’m on the appropriate page or if I should wait until we get to B-5. I have a question on one of our government’s foundation principles regarding the Inuit cultural traditions or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit that our government is attempting to use as one of their foundations in their policies.
However, I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for, so if I’m in the wrong place, please advise me.
First of all, I would like to ask the Premier about Inuit societal values. She stated that that would be their foundation, including Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
That was from 1999 to 2004 with the first government elections and from 2008 onwards. Is that still part of the foundation of this government? That’s my first question, Mr. Chairman.
This government completely believes in that principle, in Inuit cultural principles and values.
Further, the Department of Culture and Heritage also works on the same principles.
How complicated is it to implement these principles?
Is it very hard and too complex to try and implement these Inuit values into the policies of this government?
In respect to that, to use the MLAs and the cabinet as an example, when reviewing policies for approval or amendment, we receive a briefing note on each possible impact, enhancement, or connotations of implementing Inuit societal values into the policy. This definitely helps.
The IQ coordinators are involved in incorporating Inuit values into the office environment.
With respect to the other aspects of incorporating these values into the operations of this government and with respect to the complexity of the implementation, I can’t comment since I am not involved in day-to-day operations as a bureaucrat when faced with those situations.
Therefore, I will have my Deputy Minister, Mr. Dan Vandermeulen, speak to this matter as to what he has heard within the bureaucracy.
As the Premier already stated, all submissions that go to cabinet are asked to show how it promotes Inuit societal values.
We are reviewing all of the IQ coordinator positions in the departments, and in fact, I just got a list of them gathered in the last week, to ensure that all of the departments have active IQ coordinators. If they don’t, we’re encouraging them to fill those positions.
The Department of Culture and Heritage is also now meeting, I believe, every two weeks with the ISV committee.
On top of that, I think I would recommend for your reading some excellent directives that have come out on IQ and culture and immersion days just recently from the Department of Human Resources.
I’ll be speaking in English so that I am understood, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) During the time when I was in cabinet, I noticed that there were attempts to find ways to incorporate ISV in policies and programs.
However, there was a lot of resistance, but there seems to be some inclusion from Inuit culture.
A lot of proposed policies met significant structural and philosophical resistance, particularly from Health and Social Services and Justice. Is this still the case?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Tapardjuk. (interpretation ends) Premier Aariak.
I don’t know anything about this issue and I don’t know about the department, so I’ll have my deputy respond to that question.
The request for decision template that was previously used only asked for legal and financial considerations.
We’re now using a template that also asks for cultural or ISV implementations right away.
So the departments have to identify these. Basically, what we’re doing is we’re moving ISV to the centre of policy rather than from the edge of policy.
We’re asking all departments to consider ISV right when they begin developing policy.
In terms of resistance from those two departments, I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman, but in my sojourn as the secretary to cabinet, I haven’t seen anything.
It indicates that you haven’t seen it, but I’m sure you will see it. As you are well aware, we’re creating a new Department of Family Services.
Inuit have repeatedly asked about the children. For example, Inuit have always been saying that Social Services just take away their children and bring them somewhere else.
Nothing has ever been done about that part or any of the policies have ever been rephrased to include that. If we’re going to look at IQ and the implementation, I believe it’s hard because the staff don’t know anything about the Inuit traditions.
You stated that there are IQ coordinators. When they’re opening those positions, what kind of criteria do they follow and what type of knowledge or experience do these Inuit coordinators have to have?
I can’t talk to you about what type of knowledge or experience they need, but I can tell you that in the Nunavut government, those services or programs are geared towards children and youth. That’s what we’re trying to fix. We are looking for a representative for children and youth so that this individual can look at circumstances or cases that are brought forward to them.
With the job description or what type of experience or knowledge they need, I will have to look at it and get back to the member.
I’m just trying to get some information to find out where the government is at because Inuit societal values were an important piece that the government wanted to implement within their system.
The children and youth representative would be responsible to look into such problems.
That is a total mistake, Mr. Chairman.
We have to look at the family. There has to be a father, a mother, and grandparents.
If we don’t look at the nuclear family, then we’re going to be breaking Inuit societal values.
If we have to take a holistic approach, for example, from our home, we might keep digging and the hole gets larger and larger and we’re creating more policies, and then the hole gets even bigger and bigger, and then we can’t climb out of it again.
Regarding the representative for children and youth, we’re going to scrutinize it further, but I can’t agree with you because what you’re doing is not based on Inuit societal values.
We’re just paying lip service.
That was just a comment and I’m done.
That was just a comment, so I will proceed with the next member.
In regard to my fellow MLAs’ earlier comments, I want some clarification because it’s going to be included in the branch summary.
It has been quite a while that they were presented within Nunavut. For the positions in the decentralized communities, it states that they’re included in the description.
They are dated from June 2012.
I want to ask about the main estimates. At the time when we received these documents, the total number of positions was 92.
I think there were still 37 vacant positions and 55 positions were allocated. That’s about 60 percent. Have there been any changes to those figures?
They will have an effect on the main estimates, so we need to have an understanding. I want clarification on that first.
I would like the member to clarify as to which document he is referring to so that we can provide a proper response. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Oshutapik, please clarify your question so that you can get a concrete response.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): They’re not available in Inuktitut, so I’ll try to clarify it in English.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs Employment Summary by Category, (interpretation) that’s the title, and the (interpretation ends) capacity is to June 30, 2012, (interpretation) that’s what I’m referring to.
The other one is the (interpretation ends) accounting structure chart (interpretation) for that same department, (interpretation ends) Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. (interpretation) I have the document with me here and that is why I asked my question.
Premier Aariak, does that clarify the question?
There are 125 positions. Are you referring to that?
Chairman: Qujannamiik, Madam Premier. (interpretation) Mr. Oshutapik, can you clarify your question?
It’s in regard to the 135 PYs.
Did you get that, Premier?
Thank you again for that question.
We’re currently evaluating the 50 percent increase in the PYs, assuming the member is asking about the 135 PYs.
If not, he will have to explain exactly what he is asking about.
Mr. Oshutapik, in order to help us out and allow the Premier to give a full response, you can be clear and specific.
It would be very helpful if you can quote a page number.
We are under Directorate on page B-4.
Indeed, it pertains to contents of the first page and it says 135 PYs. I was trying to ask about the budget amount that the Premier is requesting. Specifically, I wanted to know how many of these PYs that were vacant last year have been filled.
I simply wanted an answer to that, Mr. Chairman. I can try to explain my question further if that still isn’t clear enough.
Thanks again for making that clearer.
If you want an answer to that question, it is DM Mr. Vandermeulen’s expertise on the information contained in that first page.
Mr. Vandermeulen: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for some of the confusion.
This is all on page B-1. The major change from previous years is because we have taken the training and development unit, Sivumuaqatigiit, from Human Resources. It’s joining Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs as of April 1.
That increases our PYs by a total of 33. As to how many of those PYs are vacant and how many of them are occupied, we would be quite willing to draw up a table and provide that information to the member in writing.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
I look forward to receiving that information. It is this kind of information that we get to be the last to have our hands on and we’re the ones who have to face questions from our constituents such as the one I just posed.
I wish to turn my attention to another issue under B-4. We are under B-4. Is that correct?
Under B-4, your department’s 2013-16 business plan identifies 24 communities for the placement of GLOs.
It states that 16 of these communities have already had that position filled, with five communities in the process of hiring and three other communities are unsure whether they will fill that position.
Have these three communities identified if they will hire a GLO to date?
I also thank our colleague for his question.
These three communities that are undecided or that didn’t want the GLO position are currently reviewing the issue and are being asked again to reconsider.
Mr. Oshutapik, any further questions?
Mr., Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Your department’s 2013-14 main estimates include funding estimates for 25 positions under the GLO budget.
Now, if these three communities continue to not want these GLO positions, won’t that impact the funding for these positions as you have identified it here?
I will ask my Deputy Minister, Mr. Vandermeulen, to respond.
I will ask him to respond.
Where a community chooses not to have a GLO, then those positions will simply be frozen and the money will lapse, but it’s important too and hopefully we will have a new director in place April 1.
That new director will be contacting all three of those communities and re-inviting them to accept GLOs.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you, deputy minister, for responding to my question.
Another matter from last year, (interpretation ends) your department’s business plan indicated that the GLO position will serve as the delivery agent for certain government services.
Which specific government services are being delivered by GLOs?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Oshutapik. (interpretation ends) Madam Premier.
As I have continued to repeat over this past week, I will again state our position and I hope you won’t mind that I have continued to maintain this position.
(interpretation ends) These government liaison officers are responsible for delivering Government of Nunavut information and services at the community level and ensuring two-way communications with the public. As the GLOs will be the one central point of contact for each community, the GLOs will provide the quality of professionalism and services through ensuring government services are easily accessed, reliable information is being delivered, providing bilingual Inuktitut and English services, ensuring reliable information is distributed, and obtaining feedback from the public on government delivery of some GN programs and any other services that the public may require that is not being delivered.
The GLOs will be the point of contact for that information. (interpretation) If you need additional information from the government, for instance, about government operations, then the GLOs will be the point of contact.
If the public requires additional help in the communities through filling out forms and what have you, then any document pertaining to them will be available.
Chairman (Mr. Ningeongan): Qujannamiik, Premier. (interpretation) Maybe we finally understood the comment you keep making.
We have been on this issue for quite a while.
Mr. Elliott apparently had his hand raised, so I give you a final opportunity because we’re getting close to adjournment. Mr. Elliott, I will give you that opportunity.
On page 5 of the business plan, one of the priorities for 2012-13 was to “Develop a social media policy.”
I was wondering if the minister could give us an update on what has happened with that priority.
Mr. Vandermeulen will respond to that question.
Chairman: Qujannamiik, Premier. (interpretation) The question wasn’t directed to you, but if you can respond to the question, Mr. Vandermeulen.
The social [mediums] many of you use on a regular basis in your private lives include things like Facebook, Twitter, and all of the other various means of just communicating with friends and getting the news out.
We are in the process of developing a social media policy.
However, one of the major obstacles we face is simply bandwidth.
We simply don’t have sufficient bandwidth to make broad use of social media in government.