EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We try to work to the best of our ability to make sure that we don’t mishandle the wildlife.
I am sure if there was any concerns or problems in the past, that it is now resolved.
I’m sure that we’ll want to use Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit on the research of wildlife.
To the member’s question, if we have the details on the results of these studies, I will be able to give him the information in the near future.
The caribou that have been researched, I know what kinds of problems and concerns people have and the elders don’t really like to eat caribou meat if there’s something odd about it.
So I was wondering if you will undertake proper information and research activities in the future.
Yes, as I have stated, we try to deal with these animals to the best of our ability.
It’s evident that if some better method shows up, that we will be using it.
I know that we have been working on these issues for a very long time and I’m sure the new methods of research are being developed in the world.
So, we will try to use the best methods.
Question 495 – 1(6): Diesel Fuel Testing in Baker Lake
Over the last couple of days in this house, we’ve been hearing questions from members regarding fuel quality, P-50 heating diesel.
Yesterday, I got off the phone with a couple of mechanics at the hamlet in Baker Lake and they expressed to me that we’re having serious concerns with fuel injection pumps and injectors clogging up and plugging and malfunctioning.
Can the Minister commit to the municipality that he’ll have that diesel fuel tested in Baker Lake?
I will talk to my staff and deal with your question at a later date.
I’m a little confused with the Minister’s response.
They’re starting to have engine problems at the municipality, with their heavy equipment, water trucks and sewage trucks.
We don’t want a repeat performance of what happened last year because it could cause major problems with fire fighting equipment, water delivery vehicles, sew delivery vehicles, heavy equipment clearing vehicles.
Can the Minister commit to me, to go in and check to see if there is a problem with the P-50 and the diesel fuels?
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): I’ll inform my staff right after question period.
Question 496 – 1(6): Rental Scale
I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Housing Corporation.
On October 24, 2002, I asked a written question regarding the rental scale.
At this time, the new rental scale is going to have a huge impact on the people of Nunavut.
I have yet to get a response to my written question.
Is it possible for the Minister to give me the plans for the Housing Corporation’s new rental scale and it’s implementation?
Speaker: Minister responsible for Housing Corporation, Minister Ng.
Mr. Speaker, as I’ve indicated, the new rental scale was put in January 1, 2003, this current calendar year for those that individuals that may have had decreases to their rent.
For those that have increases, that will take effect next week, April 1, 2003.
Of course, as member’s know as well, we’ll be in Committee of the Whole this afternoon with the Housing Corporation’s budget and we’ll be more than glad to get into more detail on that particular matter at that appropriate time.
Yesterday, the Minister made some statements about the rent scale but there is no information available at this time.
Are we going to be able to get all the information during Committee of the Whole?
Mr. Speaker, we usually try provide as much information that is necessary and that is practical.
That’s a key work Mr. Speaker, that is practical.
Question 497 – 1(6): Number of Communities Contacting Public Works and Services on Heating Fuel Problems
I was getting a little cold so I put a different jacket on that’s a little warmer.
The House is pretty cold this morning.
I will direct my question to the Minister of Public Works and Services in regards to the P-50 heating and diesel fuel.
It’s becoming more and more evident that the quality of the heating fuel is of low quality.
How many communities have informed your department about the poor quality?
We have heard from two communities that have contacted our department.
In the House, Pangnirtung and Baker Lake representatives have made statements.
Those are the only ones we’ve heard of to date.
You stated that two communities have informed your department.
Are you going to be going to those communities to look at the quality or are you going to be going to all the communities in Nunavut to check the quality of the P-50 heating fuel and diesel.
I think it’s been approximately two days that we’ve been dealing with the quality of heating fuel and as I mentioned earlier we are going to look at the documents in regards to the landing of these fuels, when the fuels were delivered.
Because they were of lower quality we are currently studying the quality at this time.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): I didn’t quite understand your response.
Are these two communities the only ones who are getting the quality studies done or are you going to be doing studies in the other communities as well?
The two communities, Cape Dorset and Repulse Bay are the only ones that are having their quality studies done.
Tabled Document 099 – 1(6): Terms and Reference on Language Issue
I’d like to table two documents in regards to the terms and references for the issue of language.
Tabled Document 100 – 1(6): 2002-2003 Implementation Activities for Nunavut Tourism
I wish to table this year 2002-2003 Implementation Activities for Nunavut Tourism.
Tabled Document 101 – 1(6): 2001-2002 Annual Report for the Nunavut Development Corporation
I wish to table the year 2001-2002 Annual Report for the Nunavut Development Corporation.
Motions Item 17.
Bill 30, Bill 31, Bill 32.
Minister’s Statement 126-1(6) with Mr. Iqaqrialu in the Chair.
In accordance to authority provided to me by Motion 002-1(6), Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out.
Before we proceed, we will take a break for lunch and report back to the House at 1:00.
>>House recessed 11:37 a.m. and resumed 13:04 p.m.
Item 19: Consideration to the Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
We will be dealing with Bill 30, Bill 31, Bill 32 and Ministers’ Statement 126-1(6).
The Committee would like to start off with the continuation of Bill 30, with the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
Once that department is completed, we would like to review the Department of Human Resources, and also Minister’s Statement 126-1(6).
The Committee would like to start with the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
Minister Ng, whenever you are ready, you can move on down to the Witness Table.
You can bring your officials and introduce them.
Thank you for going down to the Witness Table, Minister Ng. If you can introduce your officials, Minister Ng, I hope that you can understand me when I speak.
To my right is Pam Hine, the President.
To my left is Mr. David Akoak, the Vice President.
In the Gallery is Mr. Chris D’Arcy, the Director of Policy and Planning.
All are with the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Ng. Yesterday the Minister made his Opening Remarks, and also the Chairman of the Standing Committee made his Opening Remarks.
We can move on to general comments. We will have ten minutes to speak on general comments. And then after the general comments, you have ten more minutes of questioning.
Are there any comments from the Members?
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): I just want to ask, Mr. Chairman, before I start my general comments.
Perhaps I just cannot find it.
On the Business Plan, I think that it has been two years that we said to the Housing Corporation that we want to have their Business Plan.
If you can tell me where the Business Plan is for the Nunavut Housing Corporation?
They are on separate documents.
Everyone needs a copy of the Business Plan for the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
On page 12-5, that is where we will start.
For those of you who do not have a copy of the Business Plan, they need a copy.
The copies of the Business Plan were already handed out previously, and I am sure that some Members did not get a copy.
I wasn’t here yesterday so I have a few questions.
I wanted to ask the Minister yesterday, the people of Kugluktuk wait too long for a Housing unit.
There are people who are suffering from overcrowding in their units because family members do not have any housing available to them.
Most communities have asked me to mention that because some of these families, that are raising families, they should have their own separate houses, rather than living with their parents, because people suffer from overcrowding in their houses.
I am wondering how we can alleviate this housing problem in our community because a lot of people are waiting for housing in the community.
A lot of people suffer from overcrowding and it causes a lot of tension between families.
A young person and his wife, as a couple, they stayed together for a long time, they should be able to have their own housing, but because people are suffering from overcrowding.
The rent scale issue has been raised many times.
It would be nice if we had an idea of what kind of rent that people are going to be paying.
For the next year, I would like to see more improvements on the rent scales for the communities and people, I would like to see how much rent are they going to be paying for their units.
It has been a year since we have seen the housing prices for staying in rental units, but I would like to see further improvements on rent scales, because a lot of these people that are employed, they pay a premium price for living in the housing unit, but they should have some kind of an idea of what kind of rent that they are going to be paying for their units.
Last year, I had brought up last year, but I see some improvements coming on this, but I would like to see further improvements.
But there are some questions that I have at this time, but once the items are being discussed item by item, I will ask further questions later on.
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I would like to welcome each and every one of you to the Witness Table.
I have a very brief general comment to make. I do appreciate, on behalf of my mother who is an Elder person who lives in a very safe unit.
The homes that we rent through public housing, they are beautiful.
If we look at the communities because there are quite a few housing units that are maintained at the local level who are rented out by the residents of Nunavut.
Last Saturday, we were in Sanikiluaq.
There was an Elder who wanted to her express her gratitude about being given a proper shelter.
Yes, we have to let the Government know about the positive issues that they have worked on and yes, we should be focusing on some good things along with some of the concerns that we have.
But, since the population in the communities are increasing and the number of staff is increasing, we need to provide proper shelter for them, especially the staff, the Government staff housing.
Since the Nunavut Housing Corporation has taken on the responsibility of staff housing, it has to improve.
For example, we do provide housing to the staff with new units and also staff of Government are provided with new homes.
In the smaller communities, the Government staff live in old run down units and their price for the rent for the new unit and the old unit are the same.
This has to be reviewed because they have to pay a premium price for an old unit where the other staff pays for premium price with a brand new home.
So, therefore the Government staff should be provided with proper staff housing and if we treat them well, they would be more willing to work without having to worry about lack of housing, especially for the teachers, so that they can go on doing their duties without having extra worries, especially in the smaller communities and also in the decentralized communities the staff are provided with good units.
Also, Mr. Chairman, you mentioned there was a lease to own program.
In the beginning the Housing Corporation provided training on furnace maintenance program and how to maintain your home.
People in the communities are always asking for more maintenance workshops because more and more people are now starting to own their own homes and they need to know how to properly maintain their homes.
There is interest out there for people who would like to get that training, so I will have questions to the Minister to see if they have any plans in place for that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to make my general comments.
After reviewing the business.
I apologise Mr. Chairman, I was looking for the business plan in the big binder.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation, yes we’re very proud of the department.
We wouldn’t want to have the responsibility of supplying units because it’s very hard provide adequate housing.
I know that we have a housing shortage crisis, although we talked about the task force on housing, because wording is cheap, when it comes time to act on it, it becomes very expensive.
In his statements, we have made a few mistakes to date.
For example, design of the home and the price of the home.
The public housing units that we currently use today, their floors are really cold now because of poor insulation and because many individuals live in that same unit.
It’s impossible to have wall to wall carpeting, especially when there are many people living in the home.
The units that are being used for lease to own are very old units and they’re very cold and they use a lot of heating fuel to keep them warm.
The units that were built through the assistance program, which were constructed by the home owner, the design of the home and the person who constructed it and who owned the home was the best program that we’ve ever had.
For example, in Coral Harbour, in the first HAP program, they have wood stoves and a furnace.
They have two types of heating homes.
We did a study.
I have a home which is built by the government.
It was my private home.
I had to fill up the tank a little bit over two times within one month and my friend who owns and who constructed his own home, he said that at times, the full tank filled four times a year is good enough for approximately a year.
We stop using the heat at the heat at the end of April, but myself, I had to use my furnace until the end of May and start lighting it up in August in the evenings, but my good friend did not turn his furnace on until October.
As soon as the weather gets cold, he would turn on his wood stove.
We now see units being sold privately, private homes are bought, the cost of $250 thousand.
The contents of the home like the 2X4’s, if we take it all apart, if we try to sell it down south for $200 thousand, they would not take it and say that it is worth only $40 thousand.
We have to find ways, a cheaper way to build units cheaper than NWT.
If we had to purchase the material and give it to the applicant and the applicant can construct their own homes.
That was the cheapest way, cheapest program for the Government and if they purchase the material for approximately $60 thousand and the Government would not have to pay additional funds.
If they purchase $140 thousand or $150 thousand worth of material, the individual cannot afford to pay for the heating.
Perhaps, I think we charge rent for 24% and on top of that, the Government subsidize the heating and electricity bills.
We have to incorporate and include Inuit knowledge and to find ways because they know which way would be the cheapest way, how it would be the easiest way to construct.
Yes, we understand that, I think it was access homes, when they were being constructed, it would be cheap to purchase, but it is one of the most expensive units to heat.
So, that is why many people who have to pay for 24% of their wages on top of that, according to the regulations of the Housing Corporation, they have to pay for their heating.
So, for that reason, I think we all understand along with the Department that if we want to get a unit that is well insulated.
The applicants for the homeownership program would save a lot of money for not having to pay for so much heating fuel.
On page 12-10, I am talking about the priorities.
I am running out of time.
I would like to move onto 12-17, after the Task Force had done their work, they would like to work with multi-sectoral groups and they would like to have a diverse proactive work.
I know this is just words; we have to work with the Department of the Housing Corporation to make sure who we should involve because the Task Force had already completed their work.
If we need to go back to the homeownership program, like those programs we had in the past, we could revert them back.
Just looking at cost effective, viable solution for hunters and housing shortages; if we are just going to be working through that, I think it would be more expensive on the heating side.
If we are just going to be focusing on that, we will be making the same mistake again.
If it is going to be the sole responsibility of the Nunavut Housing Corporation, and if it is just going to be the Legislative Assembly Members working on that, it will be difficult.
We will have to find other involvement, so that we can construct the cheapest and the best units.
That way we can keep up with the housing crisis.
Individuals out there are willing to construct their own homes.
I am not saying that we should provide free housing, at least let the applicants pay for half of the price, and let them construct it.
There are all sorts of considerations to do, but I am all out of time.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Arvaluk you will have another chance during Question Period.
At this time I have Mr. Alakannuark.
Just a short comment, Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate the work of the Housing Corporation.
We all know that the cost of housing is very high in Nunavut, especially if you have to run your own home.
You have to pay for your own heating, and pay for the electricity, and so on.
If you have a wood stove, you have to try and find your own wood to heat your home.
And other expenses that you have to pay when you own your own home.
With all those, Mr. Chairman, it gets pretty hard for a family to try to have enough money for other expenses such as groceries.
Some people who are elderly and they have their children in the same household.
Some have chronic illnesses, but they still have to provide for their own expenses.
We have to look for some way in order to make it a little bit easier for the families in Nunavut.
For them to have a bit of comfort, and at the same time, keep up with their expenses.
Due to the fact that there are so many family members in the same household it gets very hard for them and they can get sick easily, because there is a large family in the house.
I know that it is hard for the Housing Corporation because there is not enough funding to provide for more housing.
Some units are not energy efficient.
They are expensive.
At the same time you have to pay a lot of money for energy, especially in the wintertime.
I think that we have to start doing some studies on them to make sure that they are more energy efficient.
I thank the Minister and his staff, Ms. Hine, and David Akoak.
I do not know the person in the middle.
We all know, as Members of the Legislative Assembly, that providing houses for Nunavummiut is very hard, and very expensive.
The Public houses that are provided to the majority of Nunavummiut, we all understand that the Public Housing are for people that are out there that cannot afford their own homes.
There are also houses that we have to provide for the Government of Nunavut.
Quite a while back when I was a member of the Housing Task Force, we had a lot of recommendations that we made to the government.
What we did was we made recommendations and I thank the Minister and his staff for some of the recommendations that have been implemented, such as houses that have been occupied for some time that people can purchase now.
At the same time, one of my colleagues mentioned the fact that access housing as well as HAP housing, that are being acquired by Nunavummiut, are the ones that are more popular now a days.
They’re not energy efficient enough, especially if you have to pay for all kinds of expenses.
Homeowners have a hard time although they wanted to be self-reliant and not want to live in public housing is how they acquired access or HAP houses.
I know that they were given assistance by the Housing Corporation and from there they did it on their own, for those people that have access and HAP housing.
We appreciate the Minister and his staff for letting the people of Nunavut to be able to do that.
Some of them though, when they can no longer provide all those expenses, they seem to want to get rid of it.
Once that happens, they have a hard time selling their homes and I have heard of a lot of people in that situation in my constituency.
Perhaps, if they can get a mortgage that’s a little bit longer than the present situation right now, it would be better for them. I think it was quite a while back where some people had bought a house and they didn’t have to pay for the expenses when they got a HAP house at the beginning except for the rental expenses that they have.
The person had the choice of paying the contractor.
Those people are in a good situation and they’re not the responsibility of the Housing Corporation right now.
Individuals that own their own homes, appreciate the house that they got through access housing.
They’re much happier.
I’m happy to say that they don’t have to pay for their homes anymore and the Housing Corporation doesn’t have to worry about them anymore because they were treated so well that some of them even get their income support right now because of a lack of employment in their community.
Those people that got their houses quite some time ago are in a better situation and I think we should consider what Mr. Arvaluk said.
Say, Housing Corporation paid half of the expenses and bring back the HAP program for housing again to the communities in Nunavut.
There are a lot of people who are unemployed in the communities.
It’s getting kind of hard for them to pay for their monthly expenses and that’s probably the reason why not many people are happy with what they’re getting today.
There’s also the public housing that is provided to the people of Nunavut and the government pays for the monthly rent and the energy and everything for the communities that don’t have employment.
At the same time, for those people that have jobs, they have to pay for their own expenses, but it would be better for them if they were some from the Housing Corporation in terms of paying some of their expense and then in turn they can do their monthly expenses.
For the people that have their houses through income support, they get help for everything.
I just thought maybe, I wanted to mention that because of the different ways the people are finding it in the communities, some with HAP housing and some with their own homes and some in income support.
I just wanted that to be considered by the Housing Corporation. Mr. Chairman, my time is almost up and I just want to stress again that if you’re considering providing more home ownership that they should pay for half of the house and then the homeowner in turn would pay for their own expenses there after and then the Housing Corporation doesn’t have to pay for them from there on.
At this time I don’t have anymore.
Mr. Tootoo: Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Chairman.
It’s good to see you with a smile on your face.
Just a few comments that I want to make on this and I know that the Minister indicated in his opening comments that he uses the word acute shortage of housing and I think we’re probably in more of a crisis situation with housing.
I know that the corporation has been doing what it can with what it has to provide housing and maintain the housing that we have out there.
I think that more efforts that we need to try and find a way, something that’s palatable for the Federal Government to be able to assist us in providing more housing units on the ground for people through out Nunavut.
I think this is a fiduciary responsibility of the Federal Government that they’ve ignored for years.