EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, nursing students are eligible for funding through the Financial Assistance program for Nunavut Students and via the Millennium Scholarship.
All Inuit nursing students receive up twenty five hundred dollars for tuition and their travel is covered from their home community to Iqaluit.
They receive a book allowance of two hundred dollars per semester and a monthly living allowance based on their family size.
Further, the nursing students are eligible to receive the Millennium Scholarship fund at an additional three thousand dollars per year.
The Department of Health and Social Services is planning additional support for nursing students through the recently announced Queen Elizabeth II scholarships.
Return to Oral Question 314 – 1(6): Response to Special Committee on Official Languages
Mr. Speaker I have a Return to Oral Question 314 – 1(6) asked by Rebekah Oki Williams on November 28th, 2002 to the Honourable Paul Okalik.
Mr. Speaker, in response to the question Ms. Williams asked regarding the government’s response to the report that was tabled by the Official Languages Special Committee.
I am pleased to inform Ms. Williams that I have a response to the report and will be tabling that document later today.
Mr. Speaker, I have another Return to an Oral Question.
Return to Oral Question 290 – 1(6): Cost of Incarceration in Various Facilities
Return to Oral Question 290 - 1 (6) asked by Mr. Jobie Nutarak on November 26th, 2002.
Mr. Speaker, in response to a question on November 26th, 2002, from the Honourable Member for Tunnuniq, I can advise this House the following information:
It costs approximately one hundred and sixty five dollars per inmate per day to house our offenders at the Baffin Correctional Centre.
This is a rough approximation taking into account numerous factors such as the aboriginal inmates’ food costs, staffing costs and other costs of operating the facility.
The number of inmates goes up and down and the cost per inmate varies.
Mr. Speaker, I have another Return to Oral Question, that’s by Jobie Nutarak, on November 28th, 2002.
Return to Oral Question 309 – 1(6): Elders Involvement in the Court
On November 28th, 2002, the Member for Tunnuniq asked who appoints the elders who sit on committees to assist the court when the courts sits in communities.
Mr. Speaker, the community members who sit with the judge, when court is held in communities, are chosen by the judges.
They are not formally appointed for this purpose.
The judge selects people after consultation with respected community members.
Question 331 – 1(6): Romanow Report – Additional Funding for Health Care
Mr. Speaker I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, last week the Romanow report was released and Members will recall that there was great interest on how our Minister of Health and Social Services would react to recommendations that could affect the delivery of health care in Nunavut.
I know the Minister and the Premier issued a cautious news release in response to the report, but I would like to probe a little further.
Can the Minister give us an indication of how the recommendation for additional funding for care in rural areas would best be applied in Nunavut where all our communities are considered rural and access to health care is an issue of great importance across the territory?
Mr. Speaker, first of all in response to Mr. McLean’s question; I think what the member said last week that this report would sit on the shelf and would not be dealt with is probably not correct. Indeed Mr. Speaker on Wednesday I will be leaving to attend the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers of Health meeting in Toronto with Minister McClellan to review the recommendations made by Mr. Romanow.
After saying that Mr. Speaker, as we said earlier, the 1.5 million dollars for rural and remote areas of the country we believe will be an opportunity to help us increase staffing levels across the country.
Our concern however with the proposed money by Mr. Romanow, is that the money may be per capita, that is based on population.
However there may be some indications from the federal government there may be a needs-based component to that and this is what we will be following up with Minister McClellan and our counterparts in Toronto on Wednesday.
Mr. Speaker I’ll be the first one in this House to agree with the Minister if it’s not correct that our needs won’t be addressed.
But looking at what the Federal Government has done for the last fifty years, trying to address the needs of Health care in Nunavut, can he sit there and say they have addressed our health care, look at the staff, I don’t want to get into a debate on what’s wrong and what’s not.
I’ll stand up and I’ll be the first one to say yes, I was wrong, if they indeed address the concerns of Nunavut on health care, which they haven’t to this date.
Mr. Speaker, the second part of the question is, can the Minister describe to this House the current status of homecare programs across Nunavut and how those programs could be improved if the Federal Government, if the federal government approves Mr. Romanow’s recommendations to build up a National homecare program with additional funding over the next two years?
Mr. Speaker, I didn’t want to raise the ire of Mr. McLean, he’s articulate, he’s well spoken, and I would tend to agree with Mr. McLean that the Federal Government, since the creation of Nunavut on April 1st 1999, maybe has not done enough. I would be the first person to have said that several times. I believe we’re under funded and we’ve discussed that in committee before.
However after saying that Mr. Speaker, I sincerely believe that some of these recommendations by Mr. Romanow will be put into place; the federal government will put their dollars where they are most needed, and I would suggest to you that is northern remote and rural areas in the country.
After saying that Mr. Speaker, our partners at Health Canada have allocated about 4.9 million dollars to the community homecare programs.
We have over 110 people right now across Nunavut, 110 people who are being helped with their homecare basic programs.
We have hired homecare nurses in Cape Dorset, Pond, and Igloolik; we have coordinator positions in six communities.
Mr. Speaker, we have over forty seven, forty eight people trained across Nunavut to deliver the homecare programs.
Mr. Speaker, we believe that as a government, the Federal Government help in this matter has been essential.
We believe that this is one of the better programs that the Federal Government has helped us put into place.
We are continuing to roll out that program across Nunavut.
Healthcare is a serious issue in Nunavut and the Minister is always telling me how little funding that he has to deliver the programs in Nunavut.
There has been a big announcement on the Romanow Commission about rural and remote communities.
Historically, we can go back to the beginning of time that we are going to be funded on per capita.
If we are funded on per capita, that means a pittance of two or three million dollars.
The Minister made us very aware and we have seen it our budget that our 78 million dollar deficit is because we are just trying to deliver a basic level of service, and I support the Minister, don’t get me wrong, I support him in his endeavours to bring a better healthcare system for Nunavut.
We have a 78 million dollar deficit in Nunavut because we are trying to have a healthcare system like down south when we are building three hospitals.
I just want to let the Minister know that I support him fully on providing a healthcare system in Nunavut that is equal to anywhere else in Canada.
The concept of consolidating funding for Aboriginal Healthcare Programs is not a new one in Canada.
Can the Minister update this House on what discussions he has had during his term as Health Minister with the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada on the issue of partnership for Healthcare?
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Nunavut just over the last couple of days actually announced a program on homecare, we were working with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association on rolling out some healthcare positions and nurses, over 200 thousand dollars.
We have also, Mr. Speaker, proactively been working as you know with Pauktuutit on the tobacco cessation program.
I must say the tobacco cessation, as well as the HIV/AIDS Awareness programs, with Pauktuutit have been very successful.
We have partnered with them.
We have had some success, Mr. Speaker, in partnering with Inuit organizations.
We would hope that would continue.
I heard the response from the ITK president, Mr. Jose Kusugak, and I fully endorsed, agreed, and concurred about what Mr. Kusugak said about the Romanow Report.
We will be looking forward to working with them again in partnership.
At the executive level, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that I know that the Premier has been working concurrently with not only the Premiers and the other leaders of the Territories, but proactively with NTI.
Those are the types of things that we have to continue to follow up on, the Clyde River Protocol and so on.
There has been a lot of ground work done.
We need to be able to come to the table unified.
Mr. Speaker, I think that it is important to note that healthcare and health dollars were only transferred to the Northwest Territories in 1988.
Before that all health services, as everyone in this room knows, were delivered by the Federal Government.
And the governments of the day, the GNWT, they were so, if I can say it bluntly, hawkish to take over healthcare.
I believe that we signed a very detrimental deal or agreement for the people of Nunavut.
The reason why I say that was that the deal was grandfathered into Nunavut.
For example, for every patient that we send south for hospital treatment, if we send a patient to Ottawa, to Winnipeg, to Edmonton, to Yellowknife, if we send someone from Pond Inlet to Iqaluit, the Federal Government pays 250 dollars per ticket, Mr. Speaker, that is all that they pay.
Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government does not pay any escort charges.
So for example, Mr. Speaker, if an eleven year old child was sent south from Pond Inlet, the Federal Government would not pay to send the mother, the Federal Government would only pay 250 dollars for the ticket.
Mr. Speaker, your government in Nunavut has to pay that total cost.
We believe that is unacceptable.
The Premier has made that known.
The Premier and I met with Minister McClellan, the new Minister of Health, and told her that in no uncertain terms in the meeting that we had with her.
The Federal Government has been made aware of these concerns and we will raise them again.
We are not unique in that fight, Mr. Speaker; it is similar to the situation in the Northwest Territories, as well as in the Yukon.
Like I said earlier, he has been a good Health Minister for Nunavut.
I will be the first one to stand up in this House and say that he has done a great job.
But with what he has got to work with in regards to financial resources, he can only do so much.
I know that he and the Premier have gone to Ottawa many times.
It is almost on the radar after April 1st, if we are not.
And the stats that we have seen over the last four or five years in Nunavut are horrendous; I don’t know that we can do any more.
I know what he is saying in regards to the medical travel.
The medical travel takes up 20 or 30 percent of the budget.
It is astronomical what it costs.
It does not cost Joe Blow down in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2,600 dollars to go to a hospital.
It is all paid for, he can jump in his car and go in five minutes and it would cost him a dollar.
And he knows more from the last four years from his meetings with NTI and ITK about the funding formula.
I have to press the Minister even more to get on the rampage.
Don’t be scared to offend Big Brother in Ottawa.
Slam more doors than they have already?
In his meetings with the other organizations, will the Minister inform this House on what kind of model of an aboriginal health partnership could best work in Nunavut?
Mr. Speaker, first of all, just as an example, and I think that it is important to point out, that the Government of Nunavut at the present time is spending almost 5 thousand 380 dollars on average per patient.
We spend the highest amount of money on a patient and patient costs anywhere in this country.
Mr. Speaker, the average in Canada is only 2 thousand 380 dollars per patient.
That is not sustainable, there is no way that this government, or any government in future years will be able to continue a three percent or four percent escalation in your healthcare budget because they will have to take it away from Education, from Sustainable Development, from Housing, from carvers and so on.
I can say to the Member, that every time we have an opportunity, not just me, but every member of this Cabinet, we have brought this issue forward to our federal partner.
When you only have one Member of Parliament in Ottawa, when you only have one Senator, when you have a population of 27 thousand people, the Federal Government tends to look at smaller jurisdictions differently than they do larger jurisdictions.
That is just a political reality.
We are still fighting the same case with the smaller jurisdictions like the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador. We have found some success.
For example, Mr. Speaker, under the primary healthcare transitions fund, the Federal Government agreed that we needed a floor or a base in that fund and with smaller jurisdictions like Prince Edward Island we were able to work out an agreement.
I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, that a needs based approach with the Romanow Report, I believe that there is some opportunity there to bring that forward.
And that is the point that we will be making this week with our Federal, Provincial, and Territorial colleagues.
Question 332 – 1(6): More Inuit Counsellors Needed in Baffin Areas Using IQ
In my Member’s Statement, I mentioned that I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I have asked him in the past about how the counsellors can be assisted using Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
There are only two counsellors in the Qikiqtaaluk and they are unilingual, only in English.
The Baffin Region is a large area.
For those people who go to the hospital, if they need counselling and there is something wrong mentally or those who have attempted suicide, or people who are sick, those people who are feeling lost. When there are only two or three counsellors trying to handle a great number of people, maybe close to 13 thousand people being handled by only two counsellors.
This should be looked at as an emergency.
Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the Member that we need to get more services available to people in that vein.
Mr. Speaker, that is why we announced some of the programs today with the homecare workers that are 90 percent Inuit.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve increased our mental health, drug and alcohol workers, and community wellness workers in every community in Nunavut. And 95% of them, Mr. Speaker, are Inuktitut speaking.
With staff at the regional level and the member was correct, we haven’t been as successful for example, here in Iqaluit, having more trained regional coordinators who are Inuktitut speaking.
And Mr. Speaker, that is something that we’re trying to put into practise and into place today as we speak.
I know that over the next several months, I was hoping, Mr. Speaker, that you know, in the coming months that we would have a greater presence in Inuktitut at the regional level, not the community level but at the regional level, for example, here in Iqaluit, serving the region from this community.
I asked a question in our previous sessions regarding the ability of unilingual Inuit people to beg given counselling jobs even though they don’t speak English.
I directed that question to the Human Resources Department as well as your portfolio, Mr. Minister, but I didn’t get anywhere, I didn’t get any concrete responses and as a matter of fact, this was like a seesaw turf war.
So I feel that this is not a priority for this government.
I keep raising this issue due to its many connections back to our lifestyle and if I was educated and had a recognized certificate, even if I had no experience but just had the formal training, then I still wouldn’t be able to work on it properly.
I know that there are unilingual Inuit in Iqaluit who have the necessary background and skills to perform the duties.
I wonder if the Minister can start hiring those counsellors on an emergency basis because they have the necessary experience and counselling skills to counsel Inuit.
Mr. Speaker, under the community wellness plan, Hamlets have the opportunity to hire whoever they want; we don’t dictate to them who they should hire.
And they have hired, they have hired people at the community level who are Inuktitut speaking.
Mr. Speaker, the department has also moved in that direction and has been for the last three and half years.
We have increased our community counsellors who are Inuktitut speaking at the community level.
And, Mr. Speaker, we have also introduced new positions…
Speaker: Your earpieces.
Okay Mr. Picco, please proceed.
Mr. Speaker, at the community level, we have increased the numbers that we have in place and I agree with the member that we don’t have probably the numbers that we need at the regional level.
So, there’s reason from a regional standpoint.
However, we have introduced, over the last month, there’s been an advertisement in the newspaper, I’m sure the member has seen it.
Instead of going for a social worker 3, for example, we are going for social worker 1, which gives the opportunity for people who may not have the academics but have the community skill and the ability to do counselling and so on.
At the same time, Mr. Speaker, in some cases, under regulatory and other regimes that are in place for employees of the government, there are rules and regulations, but we try to be able to facilitate that within the scope and frames that are available.
I suggest to the member that we have done a lot over the last three years in the department to increase those numbers and we’re continuing to do that.
I’m not asking about the hamlet level positions; I’m not talking about the communities of Baffin.
My question is in respect to the Baffin hospital, here in Iqaluit; I am talking about their health counsellors.
Because they have so many patients coming from the Baffin region and with too many patients, sometimes they start giving out their tasks to the unilingual people or to the other people there because they’re overloaded with patients as there are only two of them.
Everybody knows a human being can get very tired, we can burn out.
It’s easy to remedy that. The Department of Health should take it as an emergency and not just by policy or anything like that.
Never mind the policy and the rules.
That they should, be on an emergency basis be able to, there’s no emergency only when an accident happens but I’m asking the Minister is what he has done now, even though you know that they have no certificate, but because you know the elders in Iqaluit that could do counselling, to hire somebody, because a lot of people from the communities in the Baffin want to be able to be counselled by their elders.
Can the Minister, as soon as possible, try to get more counsellors up in the hospital, even though they don’t have a diploma or certificate?
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member’s question.
I said that I concur with him at the regional level which is at the hospital and I know the physician there, I know where the physicians are located, but we don’t have enough at the present time.
I said that and I agree with you.
All I said Mr. Speaker was that I need to be able to get the physicians in place.
How many positions do I have right now? I just can’t create them out of thin air.
You have to have a PY, you have to have dollars for it, it has to be put in place.
So I’m suggesting to the Member, Mr. Speaker, that we will be able to look at that and that’s one of the areas that we want to cover off.
Mr. Speaker, I live here, I use the services here.
He’s not the only one who knows about some of the concerns that we have at Social Services on counselling issues.
So we are trying to put that in place Mr. Speaker, and that is what we are doing and as the Member said as expeditiously as possible.
But I appreciate the Member’s question and we will try to have those positions filled.
At the same time we have to look at how many positions are there, and is there need to create positions and how do I facilitate that, that’s the question we are trying to answer right now within the framework that I have and that’s dollars and budget and so on too.
Just a caution to the member to refer to the member as member, not as he.
When we are questioning important things we want to have it done.
I really believe the questions that I ask, like I said earlier on, that there shouldn’t be a barrier because life is very important.
We’re all living people, whether you are a non-aboriginal or an Inuk.
There should not be any barriers.
Even if they don’t speak English, there should be counsellors.
Where English is not required, it could be applied for by everyone. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member and I said that, in this line of questioning, again I appreciate the question and bringing attention to the issue.
I am not going to mislead the House and say I can do this tomorrow or next week.
I have to be able to find the money to pay for it, Mr. Speaker, when the Operations and Maintenance budget comes forward in March, the Member has an opportunity, through the Standing Committee on Health, to make that recommendation.
We have followed several of recommendations of the committee to put things and programs in place and if I have the ability to do it, then I will find the position and PY and indicate that.
What I can’t say Mr. Speaker, at this time without knowing the fiscal cost and so on, if I can facilitate that, that would be, that wouldn’t be correct to mislead the House.
So I have said and I commit to the member that I will look at the opportunities that present themselves in the budget to see if we can make available the positions.
Question 333 – 1(6): Assistance or Funding for Soapstone Carvers
Mr. Speaker in my statement earlier I stated that I would ask the minister in regards to soapstone, but I’m not sure which Minister to ask the question to.
The carvers in the Nunavut communities have to purchase their own raw material, and then they go out on the land to find soapstone.
I just wondered which Minister’s department could assist them to purchase soapstone and what kinds of subsidy can they obtain from which department?
There are various departments that can deal with that.
Some people around here, some carvers go up to a place near Kimmirut, and they sell stone to carvers. This is different in every community, so I can’t really say what kinds of subsidy or assistance they could be providing and I can probably respond to the member that I’ll take the question as notice.
As a result there will be no further supplementaries.
Question 334 – 1(6): Federal Funding for Patient Airfare
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
When the Minister was questioned by Mr. McLean he stated that the patient is paid in the amount of two hundred and fifty from the federal government when they go on medical travel, or hundred and fifty.
Where does that money go to?
Does it go to the part of the ticket, or does it go to the Nunavut Government?
Mr. Speaker the two hundred and fifty dollars is a co-payment from the federal government and what that means is when we purchase a ticket for someone to fly let’s say from the member’s community of Pond Inlet to Iqaluit and the ticket costs seventeen hundred dollars, we send the bill into the federal government and they will pay up to two hundred and fifty dollars. So the Government of Nunavut pays the 14 hundred and 75 dollars outstanding.