EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
The member brings up a very important point and concern to all residents in Nunavut.
He is right in saying that we are, as we go on, everybody is seeing new species of wildlife and weather phenomena occurring that have never been seen before. There are new wasps.
In my home community of Arviat this summer, there were five muskrats caught, which is not normal either. There are things that are happening and changing.
We all know that the climate change file is happening. I think that the rate that it’s happening is something that we can control with the rest of the word. This is why all countries and nations in the word are collaborating to try and lessen greenhouse gas emissions and dealing with that problem.
As far as Nunavut is concerned, we are part of that voice, that we’re a voice.
Working with other federal environment ministers, we are addressing that problem and trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across Canada.
However, as Nunavut is concerned, we have a Tululutuk project going on in partnership with INAC, Natural Resources Canada, and the department. We have a project on five test communities of creating adaptation plans to climate change. There will be an upcoming meeting, I think, in Iqaluit in February addressing and updating everybody on those projects.
We are presently in the final stages of completing a Nunavut-wide climate adaptation strategy.
Also, the Premier and I are working with the other two territorial leaders to establish a pan-territorial climate change strategy.
So we are aware of the issues and we are working towards the best we can to resolve, which is adapting to the changes that are coming.
I think it is incumbent that the people who are most impacted should be telling their stories.
Usually when they write their story, this is how we planned out what’s happening and then they start recollecting what is happening around our environment.
If they accumulated all of these stories in all of the regions of Nunavut, perhaps there would be more action taken by the federal government.
I am hoping that they are collecting a lot of stories of what is appearing, disappearing, and changing.
If the Inuit are able to relay their stories about their experiences, then they could compile that and turn it into a report that is available to everybody outside of Nunavut. They would see the daily impact that is occurring up here.
We cannot stop it on our own.
My question again is: what are your plans to resolve these issues?
As I informed the member before, in the five test communities, that information will be given all to the public.
I would also like to say that the communities, the elders and all community members have been involved in creating these adaptation plans for communities, so they will be heavily involved in all communities.
It’s not just the Department of Environment that is involved; it’s working with Community and Government Services in regard to infrastructure and permafrost.
So it is an all-inclusive, involved process, and I assure the member that elders will be involved.
I am very happy that the minister is trying to move ahead with this file.
It was identified that those five test communities are currently under study. What about circumstances that are occurring outside of these five communities?
If our people in other communities want to relay their stories, who do they go to? Your department is fairly large, so who could they approach to talk about the situations that they experience?
Again I say, with the five communities that this test project went and worked with, our plan is to have all communities in Nunavut having adaptation plans in dealing with climate change.
However, anybody who has any concerns or input into climate change and any ideas can contact our department at any one of our conservation offices in all 25 communities. Through that avenue, their voices can be heard.
Question 513 – 3(2): Nunavut’s Aging Infrastructure (Elliott)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Community and Government Services with respect to the aging infrastructure in some of our communities.
Mr. Speaker, constituents and the hamlet councils in two of my communities have brought this issue forward a number of times.
In Resolute Bay, for example, the hamlet has written letters to the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation and the federal government with regard to having the community work cooperatively to demolish the old World War II infrastructure that is currently on airport property.
In Arctic Bay, an old, condemned Government of Nunavut building sits vacant with windows broken and doors ajar. Unfortunately garbage and used propane canisters are scattered all over the building.
Mr. Speaker, at the most recent Hamlet of Arctic Bay council meeting held last Thursday, this building and the issues around it came up.
Can the minister advise this House as to whether he is aware of this building and the issues surrounding it?
His comments are so correct.
There are so many old, dilapidated buildings in every municipality.
Unfortunately many of them fall by the wayside because some of them go so far back that the issues arose from the territorial government days where there are old buildings that may have belonged to the federal government at one point, the Ministry of Transport or something that have fallen through the cracks and are still sitting in many municipalities pretty much ignored, and then it becomes the responsibility of the municipality at the end of the day to try to figure out how best to deal with it.
That story repeats itself throughout every municipality in Nunavut.
Specifically to the building that you are asking about, I am not personally aware of it, but I assure you and I am sure that our department, in one way or another, knows something about that building that you are asking about.
Personally I don’t know any specifics about it.
During discussions about the old government building in Arctic Bay, it has been suggested that because of the building’s age, there may be asbestos in the structure.
The minister made a commitment to looking into the specific building, but I was wondering if he could also confirm, while he is looking into it, whether this building has asbestos in it.
As for the building, I told my colleague that I’m sure that our department or someone in our department is aware of the situation with the building.
But as for looking into the asbestos and all of that other stuff about it, we would have to first figure out who is responsible for the building and who owns the building.
In terms of looking for whether there are asbestos or other harmful contaminants in the building, we could always look to see who is responsible for finding that part out and working on that end of the detail.
We will try to answer those questions as well then, I guess, Mr. Speaker.
As the minister has stated, it’s not just my communities that have these old buildings, so I’m sure this next question will be of interest to all regular members.
Mr. Speaker, these old buildings are potential health and safety hazards, as well as having an impact on the aesthetic value of the community.
Could the minister explain what options are available to a community if they want to work towards tearing down and removing these old buildings?
My colleague would appreciate the fact… I will stress again that I don’t know who owns these old buildings that is responsible for their removal; it depends on what buildings you are talking about.
Again, some of them may be the Ministry of Transport, or they may be old DEW line sites, or they may be something that is not the responsibility of this government.
So it starts from there and once we know who owns the building and who is responsible for it and who is responsible for the upkeep of it, and if we find out there are contaminants or dangerous goods inside that building, who is responsible for that.
It’s not just a matter of going to a community and saying, “There is an old building. Could your department tear it down?” It may not be ours to deal with, it may not be this government’s to deal with, so let’s not get ahead of the cart.
Let’s find out what building we are talking about, who is responsible for it ultimately, and then who is responsible for finding out what contaminants may or may not be in the building, and go from there.
Unfortunately it’s most of them.
This is something that is, like you say, amongst every one of the communities in Nunavut. It’s a long process like everything else.
Our department is doing what it can to help every municipality deal with those very questions, and try to steer them and work with them into the right direction so that the right departments and right governments would deal with those buildings.
If these buildings are Government of Nunavut assets, and I’m asking specifically for GN assets, can the minister inform this House whose responsibility it is to ensure that they are demolished or secured?
Is it the responsibility of the Government of Nunavut?
If the building itself is under the ownership of the Government of Nunavut, then I believe that it is the responsibility of the Government of Nunavut to look at getting rid of the asset.
Question 514 – 3(2): Southampton Island Caribou Harvest (Ningeongan)
Mr. Speaker, in 2009, I corresponded with the minister regarding the establishment of a meat processing plant in Coral Harbour.
Mr. Speaker, in his correspondence to me, he stated that his department “supports the establishment of a meat processing facility in Coral Harbour.”
However, the minister also indicated a number of issues would need to be resolved before the department would consider a meat processing facility.
Can the minister provide an update on these issues?
As I indicated in my correspondence to the Coral Harbour HTO and the hon. member, there have been a few issues within that island and the boundaries of Coral Harbour, one of them being the quota for caribou.
In the past, the quota used to be 4,000, and with some diseases that were identified, the quota was cut to 850.
At that time, the quota of 850 wasn’t deemed feasible for any sort of meat plant in Coral Harbour. At this time, we are working with the Department of Environment to determine what the numbers actually are in Southampton Island.
The minister indicated that the Department of Environment was scheduled to do a population count in July of 2009. In his letter, he indicated that he would maintain dialogue with the Department of Environment.
Can the minister provide an update on the status of the population survey?
According to the information I have here from the latest numbers on the caribou herd in Southampton Island, there has been a decline of approximately 60 percent between 1997 and 2009.
With the meetings that the Department of Environment had with the HTO, both parties agreed that there is still a need for a precautionary approach to the whole work that has been happening there with the survey, including the numbers that were gathered from the Southampton Island, in order to collect data to determine what kind of recovery and what kind of approach the government should take on this.
I made a suggestion before to HTO board members to allow for a prompt time to sit down with the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation to come to terms with the present situation.
If the freeze on the commercial sale of caribou meat and caribou on Southampton Island persists, then I think there would be a need to have a face-to-face meeting with the community members.
Would the minister be able to commit to that kind of dialogue with the community of Coral Harbour?
I will work with my colleague, the Minister responsible for Environment, and also with the community members of Coral Harbour, especially the hunters and trappers organization.
The issue with caribou numbers, there is another survey that’s going to be taking place in 2011, and that’s yet to be determined 100 percent whether that’s going to be conducted.
In the meantime, my department and the Nunavut Development Corporation are still looking for ways to communicate the issue that the community has brought up, including yourself, and how to establish such a business within Coral Harbour.
We do have the logistics, and some of the information that we have been using goes back to 1997-98.
The latest feasibility studies were conducted in 2006 by the community and the HTO of Coral Harbour.
There are indications that with a small meat plant there, there are specifics within the study that indicate the costs of putting in such infrastructure for a meat plant is around $2 million.
In order to proceed, we have to make sure that there are factors there that can sustain the operations of such activity within the community.
Thank you, Minister Taptuna, for your response.
My main reason for requesting for the various departments and stakeholders to have a meeting is to identify what possibilities there would be, even if we didn’t concentrate on caribou meat itself.
I would like to ask the minister: as suggested in the feasibility study, would you still be open to discuss species other than caribou when it comes to harvesting and processing in Coral Harbour?
With our public engagement for poverty reduction, we are looking at all avenues. The Nunavut Development Corporation intends to use its expertise in looking at especially some of these smaller communities. We want to bring more productive, sustainable activities within the smaller, non-decentralized communities.
With the help of the Nunavut Development Corporation, the department has done that.
We assist a lot of smaller communities, especially the HTOs in their acquisition of fishing vessels, and we have put in a lot of contributions into that.
I just want to give you some examples of that. There is $250,000 into Arctic Fisheries Alliance that is owned jointly by the HTAs of Arctic Bay, Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord, and Qikiqtarjuaq. We do put a lot of assistance and funding into these smaller communities through their HTOs.
In Southampton Island, Coral Harbour, there may be other avenues to explore and that could be fisheries, but it’s yet to be determined.
We are hoping that we could get some applications from the locals there for exploratory fishing.
As the member is well aware, there is a need for exploratory fishing to determine a quota, so that’s got to be looked at.
Yes, the Nunavut Development Corporation and the department would be willing to assist, take a look, and keep an open dialogue with these smaller communities, including Coral Harbour.
Question 515 – 3(2): Compensating Affected Polar Bear Sport Hunts Outfitters (Ningark)
I have been asked by a resident of Pond Inlet who is a long-term sport outfitter and guide to raise an issue on his behalf and I am privileged and honoured to rise to do so, Mr. Speaker.
The federal ban on the export of polar bears from the Baffin Bay management unit has had a devastating impact on Nunavut outfitters.
I would like to underline that, Nunavut outfitters, Mr. Speaker. The outfitter had eight hunts lined up for 2010, but the federal ban resulted in all but one being cancelled, Mr. Speaker. This has also hurt employment opportunities for seasonal guides.
My question on behalf an acquaintance in Pond Inlet, Mr. Speaker, is: what assistance or compensation is the GN providing to Nunavut outfitters who have suffered because of the federal decision?
I don’t know who you are directing your question to, Mr. Ningark.
Mr. Ningark: Thank you for reminding me.
This is a question for the Hon. Minister Shewchuk, Minister of Environment.
As we all know, this was a very important issue some time back and still is.
In his question, what have we done with communities, as committed, I travelled to all communities that were affected in the Baffin Bay European ban on polar bears and the non-detriment finding.
We have travelled to those communities and advised that there is assistance through ED&T and the Government of Nunavut to diversify their outfitting businesses into other areas, and we still have those programs available.
We have also established two programs in wildlife in regard to polar bears that if there are polar bears around and threats to cabins and [outpost] camps, we would assist in preventing that damage and also compensation claims that come in for that too.
I think what needs to be clarified somewhat here is the misunderstanding about the ban is that the European Union is really the ones who drove this ban on Baffin Bay polar bears.
If there hadn’t have been a non-detriment finding put on the Baffin Bay polar bears due to the population estimates that we have in place now, and we are working on that with Greenland to rectify that problem, there probably would have been a ban on the entire Nunavut and no polar bears exportable anywhere.
As we all know, polar bears are banned in the US and in Mexico, so those hunter opportunities are limited and they’re not there right now, but we still do offer and have Europeans coming in to the rest of Nunavut hunting polar bears, except for Baffin Bay.
We have to look at it at that side, at that angle too. But as far as assistance, we do have assistance programs under ED&T that we are willing to provide, and we have communicated that to all communities.
I thank the hon. minister for his answer.
I understand, recognizing that we have programs within the jurisdiction, but we also need help from the federal counterpart.
Mr. Minister, my supplementary question is outfitters want to go back to work. We all know that. What is the minister doing to pressure Ottawa to end this ban on the export of polar bears from Baffin Bay?
As I answered this question in the House the other day, I have been in contact with the federal minister and I have written letters to the federal minister that once we have taken this initiative with our joint commission with Greenland and are pursuing activities to get new research done and new population estimates done, I have asked for him to consider lifting this ban.
As of right now, he has not agreed to do that, but we will insist and keep on pursuing that avenue.
We will probably have better means next year once our planned survey is to happen next year. With that information, we probably would have a better case.
I will pursue and commit to keep on pressuring the federal minister to deal with this issue.
Mr. Ningark: Second supplementary, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the hon. minister. Now we know that the minister has been in dialogue with his federal counterpart.
My second supplementary question is to do with the community. I believe the minister travelled to Pond Inlet earlier this year to discuss this issue. What commitments did he make to the local outfitters?
Not only Pond Inlet, I travelled to all of the communities affected.
The commitment I made to them is that we would assist them in any way we can, and that was by helping them implement and approaching ED&T for small business loans and new programs that they can diversify their outfitting business in, and that commitment is still there.
That was done to all communities. I have explained the programs that we initiated under Environment too for prevention and compensation for polar bear damage.
So those are the commitments that I made and nothing more than that.
Before I leave the issue, I don’t know if I heard the minister right earlier in my question. Did the minister indicate that he will be providing direct assistance to outfitters in Nunavut who are hurt by the decision of the world around us?
I’ll just repeat the same answer that I just gave because the commitment that I made to the communities is that there are other avenues out there for assistance for small businesses and outfitters to look at, and that is through the Department of Economic Development.
We will assist outfitters in any way through our conservation officers or the ED&T personnel in the communities to access those programs.
Question 516 – 3(2): Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy (Ugyuk)
I will be directing my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
There was a report entitled the Suicide Prevention Strategy and the focus is on assisting Nunavummiut to deal with this particular issue. In my review of this strategy, I did not see any reference to this matter.
What about the victim’s families? The people who are left are devastated by their loss. How can we provide more support to these people in need?
Today, we were informed that there have been 27 suicides so far this year in Nunavut.
I assume that most of them had parents.
This means that we have 54 parents who are grieving over their loss, and that is only for this particular year.
That number is much too large.
When a person commits suicide, it impacts more people than the victim. The person’s grandmother, grandfather, parents, and their relatives are all impacted by their loss.
We seem to be forgetting these people who are impacted, aside from the victim, and I would like to see this matter dealt with in the strategy.
I would like to see more emphasis placed on healing, especially towards the people who are grieving and how they can best deal with their pain and suffering. I wish to ask the minister if he can include this matter in that strategy.
That is a significant question the member raises and I thank you for bringing up your concerns with respect to that strategy.
Quite a few elders have advised me about that particular issue, that we should not forget the people who have lost their relatives. In discussing issues with the elders, that was one issue that they wanted resolved.
I would like the members to note that this strategy is geared towards Nunavutmiut who may be depressed or mentally stressed out and who have placed themselves in high risk. It has been incorporated into our practices.
At this time, our system is set up so that people who may be experiencing difficulties in their lives are usually dealt with by the social workers.
Additionally, the regional Inuit organization’s Brighter Futures divisions are our partners in dealing with parents who have lost their children and they are made immediately available to the community to assist the people in need.
As an example, last week, this unfortunate event occurred and we had to ensure that we made people with the proper training, such as mental health counsellors, available and we sent them to Cape Dorset. We also contract several individuals who work in the healing circle field.
They were on the team that left for that community as well.
This will be an ongoing initiative and it will be included in the report. It is obvious that once the report has been completed, we will be able to offer more resources, both financial and otherwise.
To reiterate, once the report is completed, we can deal with that matter you raised in your question. It will be included and my expectations are that this will help to alleviate the problems we face, at least in reading the contents.
Another question that is raised often relates to this issue. As we all know, the largest number of suicides are committed by men here in Nunavut.
Whenever we meet with male clients, they are often reticent about discussing issues and they note that they have difficulty discussing issues with female social workers.
They are often ashamed to discuss these issues with a female social worker.
I believe that this issue, amongst others, is one which should be considered by the Department of Health and Social Services. Is that the case?
When you spoke to this issue last week during your Member’s Statement, our department officials took note of the issues you highlighted, especially about Inuit men who undergo tremendous stress. In particular, we noted that younger men are at risk and we are having difficulty responding to their situation.
Some of the parents are quite knowledgeable about child rearing, although many have never gone through formal schooling.
We know that many of our residents are experiencing hardship.
Due to that reason, we will try to be cognizant of their concerns about social workers and where possible, we can try and task a male social worker to go to that community. If that means shipping a male social worker from another community to try and resolve some of these issues, we will do that.
We will note that concern.