EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
And I will state in English, (interpretation ends) if your department can fully disclose to income support recipients what their entitled to. (interpretation) I’m asking about that to make sure that income support workers are aware and know what the clients are eligible for.
Chairman (Mr. Okalik)(interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Aupaluktuq.
In regard to the first question on income support workers, there is currently a 42 percent turnover rate with income support workers.
The income support workers are hired at their community level and the majority of them quit their work because they hear many negative words from clients.
I don’t like to see them quit their jobs.
As well, an income support worker’s main job is to write cheques.
We expect that once we get the case management system in, the income support workers will have a better tool to manage and provide services to clients at the community level and if they need additional support or if they need help in looking for a job. So that’s what we’re expecting to see once the case management system is in place.
Also, all of our income support workers are trained ahead of time. They are trained first and then after they have completed their training, they can fill out forms.
Once the case management system is in place, there will be more information at the community level and that’s what we expect to see.
Income support is supposed to be a program of last resort.
The clients vary monthly, so our income support workers have to find out how much each client has made within the last month and their income changes from month to month.
If they won bingo or if someone gave them money and their income has increased, then the income support that they receive would be smaller.
I thank Ms. Okpik for that response.
First of all, I apologize to all income support workers. I know that they have a very difficult task ahead of them and I’m not doing this on purpose.
I know that income support workers work very hard, but there are other people in Nunavut who don’t work.
Perhaps it’s impossible since there are no employment opportunities and they don’t know where to get their money for groceries, so they go to income support.
An individual or a family didn’t know that they could have clothing allowance. That’s one of the examples that I could use.
Also, for the home start-up program, they should be provided with more support when they go to income support.
The clients or members of the public in Nunavut don’t know about these programs of other support that could be provided.
Perhaps Minister Tapardjuk can make sure that these other optional programs are known by the communities.
Minister Tapardjuk, can you respond to his question?
Yes, the member is correct. The assistance program is not just for groceries, they also provide support for clothing but at a very minimal level.
There are also other programs such as the home start-up program. Sometimes they’re provided with monthly support for heating fuel and other things that clients require assistance with when they first start up their homes.
So we have various programs and I know that we need to provide that information to the communities. We can remind the income support workers at the community level to make sure that they can provide all of that information at the community level, Mr. Chairman.
My last question in regard to income support is just for clarification.
I was thinking that the people who move into housing association rental units sometimes don’t even have any furniture when they first move in and they have no income. I was talking more about that.
There are names still on the list.
I would like to ask the minister how useful or effective the Nunavut Social Assistance Appeal Board is.
When I was a member of that board, I was a member for two terms. We had never heard or seen any correspondence that was appealing.
When many clients are not happy with the Income Support Program, their problems or concerns never reach the Social Assistance Appeal Board.
Do the people know about the Social Assistance Appeal Board?
How many have approached the appeal board to relay their concerns?
I’m sure they have good income support workers, so there have never been any complaints received.
Minister Tapardjuk, will you be responding?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, my colleague.
He was a member of the appeal board and according to our knowledge, there was only one complaint.
Some clients are denied and once this happens, they believe that is the end of it.
Once they appeal, the board can review and will look into that because this is very important.
As a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I know that a lot of people out there come to you with their problems. Once this is operational, I believe that we need to have an appeal board level at the communities.
Yes, it’s a concern that when people want to get income support and they’re denied, the income support workers usually have them denied following criteria and policies.
We will have to make sure that we are getting all of the information out there, Mr. Chairman.
Income support workers don’t have computers, so it would be better once they get computers.
Minister Curley was coughing into his hand when he should have been coughing into his elbow, so I’m urging the minister to follow the advisory that came from his office.
Mr. Ningark, I’m sorry.
Mr. Ningark (interpretation): I won’t be shaking Tagak Curley’s hands today and tomorrow.
I wanted you to know that.
The way that I look at the Social Assistance Appeal Board is as a response from the government, where unhappy clients can at least go to voice their concerns.
However, it seems like nobody knows about them and sometimes an individual can get intimidated by the board.
As the hon. minister mentioned that he would look into it, I want you to review it to make sure that the people out there use it and make sure that income support clients have a place to go when there denied.
This has to be a place that you can go to and the appeal board needs to be seen as an organization that is approachable.
The clients have to know and I am urging the minister to make sure that the clients use the appeal board.
That’s just a comment and I’m sure that it was noted.
Are there any other comments on income support or whatever you call it?
Total Income Support. $3,910,000.
Chairman (interpretation): The amount has been approved and we can now move on to another page.
It’s on G-8.
Total Branch. $8,342,000.
Mr. Elliott would like to ask a question.
My first question is in regard to the GED program.
Has your department done a review of that program? If you could update us on that.
Which one of you can answer that question?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We are currently reviewing the program and how we will be planning for the future, but our staff is indeed reviewing the program that the member is asking about, Mr. Chairman.
The minister said that he’s reviewing that.
Could he give us an estimate as to when that will be reviewed? Are we talking by September of 2009 or later?
Ms. Okpik, do you want to try and answer that question?
We have been working with Nunavut Arctic College since they provide services to us regarding the GED program.
We are reviewing the funds available, as well as the budget for that program and which communities will be recipients. We are increasing the number of people at the community level who will be responsible for supervising test writing. So we are working on developing contact persons at the community level.
He had asked when that review will be completed.
Will it be completed within this year or some time in the future?
We will table that plan this coming fall.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under the heading of Literacy, $464,000 is going to be allocated to that.
I know that with the separation from Nunavut Arctic College and the Department of Education, the Basic Adult Education Program was or is handled by Nunavut Arctic College.
What does the literacy component of the Department of Education now entail?
The funding that we provide, $100,000, goes to Nunavut Arctic College so that they can provide services through contribution agreements. We also have $75,000 available for the Nunavut Literacy Council annually.
Would you like to ask another question, Mr. Elliott? Mr. Elliott.
Now that the budget contribution to Nunavut Arctic College is no longer administered by your department, can you describe your department’s working relationship with the college?
Chairman (interpretation): Which one of you will respond?
Just to explain further, this funding that we allocate to Nunavut Arctic College is through a contribution agreement so that they can provide services for our department.
He asked how we are working with Nunavut Arctic College. We will establish two committees called partnership committees. The first will be for NTEP students and the second will be for adult training.
We expect to be meeting not too long from now.
G-9 is just an information item and we will move on to G-10.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $42,193,000.
Chairman (interpretation): That amount has been approved, so we will move on to another item.
Total Branch. $15,996,000.
Chairman (interpretation): That amount has been approved as well.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $119,205,000.
I’m asking this question to either the minister or his officials. There were regional education boards in Baker Lake for the Kivalliq; in Iqaluit and Pond Inlet for the Baffin; and in Kugluktuk for the Kitikmeot.
So are the employees maintained as full-time or are they hired under Contract Services? I ask about this because I wonder if the turnover rate of employees is quite high.
Ms. Okpik, would you like to respond?
The three offices that we have in the regions of Nunavut have an executive director as well as a superintendent of school operations.
For example, in the Kitikmeot, there is an executive director and there’s one superintendent of schools.
In the Kivalliq, there are exactly the same positions, an executive director and superintendent of schools.
In Pond Inlet, there is one executive director and three superintendents of schools.
They are each responsible for their respective schools and they usually visit their communities frequently to visit the schools and also to meet with the principal and the district education authorities.
Just recently, when we started work on the language legislation, we consulted and visited all of the communities. We met with all of the education authorities in all of the communities, all the staff of schools, as well as visiting the communities frequently to look at the school operations.
They have contact people in each region.
Are there any additional questions?
What are the turnover rates of middle and senior managers in each of the school operations divisions?
Can one of you respond to that question?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We don’t have the figures in front of us, so I’ll have to get back to the member with that information.
Chairman (interpretation): I’m sure that he will provide that information before the session is over.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the priorities listed in the business plan was the development of the “Positive School Environment Support Manual for Nunavut schools.” How will this manual address attendance and discipline issues and how will the district education authorities be involved in its development?
Would you try and answer the questions, Ms. Okpik.
Each school commits their own plans for the Positive School Environment Support Manual. We will start off with the DEAs, then the school staff work together and start the planning on what’s important to the community.
Once an important issue has been identified, for example, if it is the attendance, then we will start working on it and that will be our priority.
But if the main issue is identified as being related to the Inuit culture or language, for example, and the school feels that this is important, then they will start working on a manual focusing on this issue with staff members, the community DEA, and the parents.
To address some attendance issues, we will have a policy by July 1 called Inuuqatigiittiarniq, which will ensure that the policies in the schools will be developed. We will work with the DEAs when they start developing the Inuuqatigiittiarniq Policy, as well as receiving support and assistance from the elders who would then act as liaisons with the school team.
Each school will have to come up with their own school team so that they can provide support to the students who have problems within the school or outside the school, or if they have any attendance problems so that they can be assisted.
The school teams will also work with the parents and the teachers together to identify the individual student problems so that they can be provided the support that they need to stay in school.
I’m sure the school counsellors will be very beneficial as well. I was very pleased to see some kind of support program for young male teenagers.
I was just wondering if there were any clear deadlines as to when you would like to see the DEAs have those support manuals finished and implemented into the schools.
Ms. Okpik, did you want to respond?
I don’t have the deadline here, but I could get back to you once I have the information.
The information is not available.
Your business plan refers to a young men’s engagement project and also, it talks about a parents’ engagement project. I was just wondering if you could describe what these projects are and how the department will evaluate their success.
Those are very good projects because we would like to see more men graduating and engaging.
These projects are under our department and what we’re trying to do is make a change so that we can get more young men involved in the educational system.
This is going to be one of our priorities because we have to look at a new strategy to increase the number of young men in the school system.
We are working with DEAs and hamlet councils. In Pangnirtung, we have a pilot project that is going to start a young men’s engagement project.
We will be looking at how we can increase numbers and then we will set up some plans identifying what the department has to improve on.
We will have to try all kinds of projects in order to see an improvement and I’m sure that we will get an update once that is started, Mr. Chairman.
It’s true that pilot projects are valuable learning tools. I’m sure that we would all enjoy hearing about any new developments with the project.
I have heard great things about the program that was run in Pangnirtung.
Are there plans of having those projects running in other communities as well and maybe when could we see that happening?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Elliott. (interpretation ends) I understand it’s a pilot project and maybe the minister can elaborate.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We will have to find out from Pangnirtung how the pilot project went and do an evaluation. We will also look at how much it costs to run this project.
Once we have all of the information, we will be able to tell you if we’re going to run these programs in the other communities and if it has made an improvement in the number of young men graduating, Mr. Chairman.
Thanks for the answer. Funding for the DEA Coalition is a requirement under the new Education Act. How was the budget of $665,000 determined?
Ms. Okpik, if you would respond, please.
This $665,000 was determined because the DEA Coalition will have to have an annual meeting. There are 25 chairpersons who comprise that, which accounts for $185,000. The executives also have to attend meetings, the number of times of which I’m not sure, and they can either be face-to-face, via teleconferences, and may involve their staff.
We have two staff positions for which funding has been set aside and this includes travel, operations, maintenance, other contracts, office supplies, educationally geared programs, and also monies for office rental.
In previous years, your department’s business plan discussed an interdepartmental initiative called “Nunavut’s Promise to Children,” also known as the Children First Secretariat.
Is this initiative still ongoing and if so, what are its objectives?
We have no positions for this interdepartmental initiative. We have four positions; the first is for the secretariat for staying in school, the second is for parents, the third for integrating youth into schools, and the fourth is for school health.
It was my understanding that in May of 2008, there was supposed to be a report on the work of the Children First Secretariat that was supposed to be tabled in the House. At this time, it has not been tabled. Will this be tabled in the near future?
Ms. Okpik, if you would respond.
The report is almost done; we didn’t put up the report before the election. However, the Department of Health and Social Services and ourselves and the Department of CLEY will get together and see whether or not the Children First Secretariat will go ahead.
For example, if we look at the youth who have been incarcerated or have had to go through the court system, they’re either ordered to attend or not attend school. We are going to work closer together to make those types of decisions. I’m just using that as an example.
But if they had physical or mental disabilities, what types of services would be provided in regard to health and culture? We’re looking at what types of services would be provided interdepartmentally.
Those are in the planning stages and we’re looking at how we can utilize this avenue for the school population.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Mr. Elliott, I hope you appreciate that Ms. Okpik and her staff had weekly meetings with me in trying to get the Education Act through last year with other groups involved. The priorities were to get the Education Act passed, so I’m sure that’s part of the reasons why we weren’t able to get the report done.
(interpretation) Are there any questions on this page?
(interpretation ends) We’re at School Operations. $119,205,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman (interpretation): We have concluded our review of the main estimates for the Department of Education.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $194,601,000.
Chairman (interpretation): Do you agree that the Department of Education is concluded?
Minister, Ms. Okpik, and Mr. Pealow, thank you very much for making your presentation.
Minister Tapardjuk, do you have closing comments?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): I would just like to say thank you. Education and the implementation of the Education Act are going to give us a lot of work ahead and once that’s approved, we’re going to be able to get on with business.
I would just like to thank my colleagues.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Tapardjuk and your officials.
Do you agree that we can move on to another department?
Bill 01 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2009-2010 – Nunavut Arctic College – Consideration in Committee
Chairman (interpretation): We’re ready to start with Nunavut Arctic College.
I would like to ask Minister Shewchuk if he can make his opening comments.
I thank the members for being here and hopefully we will be out in a short time.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here today to present and discuss the 2009-2010 Main Estimates and Business Plan for Nunavut Arctic College.
I look forward to the opportunity to work together and advancing Tamapta, especially as it applies to Nunavut Arctic College.
As the only post-secondary institution in the territory, Nunavut Arctic College plays a central role in providing Nunavutmiut with adult learning programs and services.
Our core business is training for employment. Our goal is building self-reliant communities and families through training and employment.
Our programs cover the full range from adult basic education to trades to certificates and diploma in careers to university degrees in education and nursing.
Nunavut Arctic College is governed by a board of governors made up of six public members from Nunavut’s three regions, a student member, and a staff member.
The board has set four strategic goals to be achieved within the broader context of Tamapta.
Communities: improving programs and services to communities.
Culture: building a culturally responsive college.
Excellence: achieving academic excellence.
Strength: strengthening college systems and operations.
To achieve the goals of Tamapta and the board, Nunavut Arctic College is organized into seven program divisions and two service divisions.
Nunavut Arctic College respects and promotes Inuit language and culture through the Inuit Language and Culture Division.
One of its programs, the Fur Design and Production Program, has received national recognition from the Fur Council of Canada.
Three winning designs from our students, Karliin Aariak, Meeka Kilabuk, and Connie Pewatualuk, were featured at the North American Fur and Fashion Exposition in Montreal from May 3 to 5.
Since then, the board of governors approved a request to grant a diploma to second year graduates from the program. The program maintains a balance between traditional and contemporary methods and uses seal pelts almost exclusively.
Nunavut Arctic College’s roots are in the communities. Our roots are the community learning centres. The community learning centres are managed by the Community and Distance Learning Division.
In funding, this is the college’s largest division with CLCs in all of Nunavut’s communities except for Grise Fiord.
Most Nunavutmiut start their formal adult learning in their local community learning centre.
We are striving to embed more programs and services into the communities.
The college’s career programs are organized into five divisions. Each division is responsible for the delivery of its programs across all of Nunavut.
Though most career programs are delivered from our three regional campuses, some of them are offered in the communities, most notably, the Nunavut Teacher Education Program.
We are eagerly awaiting the major expansion in the Trade and Technology Careers Division.
The trades training centre being constructed in Rankin Inlet will enable Nunavutmiut to stay in Nunavut and to take housing maintainer and oil burner mechanic and the first two levels of electrical and plumbing. This is in addition to four levels of carpentry already available in Iqaluit.
We look forward to the official opening of the Nunavut Trades Training Centre in the fall of 2010. However, in the meantime, we are doubling the capacity of the carpentry program in Iqaluit and have started level one of housing maintainer in Rankin Inlet.
Nunavut Research Institute is an important division of the college.
The recent announcement of federal funding for the replacement of the institute’s headquarters in Iqaluit is welcome news. By bringing research, teaching, and licensing together, we will promote Nunavutmiut research both in the classroom and on the land.
And finally, Nunavut Arctic College has two service divisions: Student Services and Administrative Services.
Student Services promotes student quality of life at the three regional campuses, particularly student residences.
Administrative Services is responsible for the strategic leadership and administrative management of the college and is headquartered largely at Arviat.
The Vote 1 Main Estimates account for the base contribution from the Government of Nunavut to Nunavut Arctic College. The increase from 2008-09 is due to the second stage of forced growth funding for the trades centre in Rankin Inlet and to normal cost adjustments related to staffing. It does not include any new initiatives.
The Vote 4/5 Main Estimates include the base contribution and third party revenues. The main estimates are organized on the basis of our headquarters, Nunavut Research Institute, and the regional campuses.
Our business plan describes how the main estimates are applied in the college’s operation.
Since this is our first independent main estimates and business plan, there may be questions that we are unable to answer today, but we are committed to doing our best.