EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Would the minister look into this issue and tell me what kind of support services will be made available to the handicapped individual and also to the care givers.
Mr. Speaker, we do have, as I said earlier, a home care program and the home care program is structured to allow for respite care where needed and as the member knows, we are in the process right now of opening up the first psychiatric, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, psychiatric facility in Nunavut for the first time.
And if in the member’s community or anyone’s community, if we have people who are mentally handicapped, there are difference processes that are in place through the community health centre, as well as through the follow-up through home care.
So, what I would commit to do is work with the member, if the member could give me the specifics in letter form, I would be able to follow that up with the people in Pond Inlet to make sure we are providing the best care, not only for the patient but also for the parents who you know through a lot of work are helping in this case.
Mr. Speaker, and through home care we will be able to work on some of the logistics as well as the administrative supports that we can give to parents and to the care givers.
Question 225 – 1(6): Negotiation Process for Collective Agreement
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Finance and Negotiations, I guess today.
I’d like to ask the Minister, as I mentioned in my member’s statement earlier, if he or his department has started the negotiation process or pre-negotiation process with the Nunavut Employees Union in regards to the upcoming collective agreement.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe that the process have been an initiated.
Mr. Speaker, does the Minister have an idea when these negotiations or the process is going to get started.
Speaker: Minister, Ng.
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker I believe the process is that Nunavut Employee’s Union the formally announces or presents us with a request to begin negotiations and at that point then we get together set up a schedule for the negotiating teams to get together and follow that schedule.
Mr. Speaker I also mentioned in my members statement and I’ve done it before on a number of occasions in this House is, you know, the fact that I don’t believe there is a level playing field out there and that is in regards to employees having an option to go on strike as identified in the current collective agreement.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he could commit to bringing forward to the Union a proposal or the option of looking at moving from the right to strike to binding arbitration in this upcoming negotiation.
Mr. Speaker I’m not prepared to do that at this time.
If you go back to some of the history to the predecessor organization, the Union of Northern Workers, they are the organization that requested the right to strike be put into the collective agreements with the, at that time the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Now if the current Nunavut Employee’s Union wants to have that binding arbitration put back in then obviously the issue about the right to strike would have to be taken out.
But again that would be up to the prerogative of the Union to bring forward in their position.
At this point I’m satisfied with the process that’s in the collective agreement and will continue to work with that.
Word final comes all too quick when you have lots of questions.
Mr. Speaker the Minister indicated that the current collective agreement came from the preceding Union representing all employees throughout the Northwest Territories and again to coin a phrase of my colleague from Baker Lake always states it’s no secret that the demographics of the circumstances have changed regarding the civil service within Nunavut.
It is more specific to Nunavut and as I stated on a number of occasions employees in Nunavut cannot afford in most cases, very few of them, if any, could probably afford to go on strike and that’s why I’m asking the Minister that the demographics have changed, the territory has changed.
And that’s why I’m asking if this is something given those demographics, given this government’s, it’s always said that it’s people is it’s most important resource will the government in a gesture of good faith and willingness to work in a conciliatory manner look at introducing, or bringing forward a proposal to the Union to do exactly what the Minister has stated, one put in binding arbitration and removing the right to strike.
Mr. Speaker I’m not sure if the member recalls but the membership of the Nunavut Employee’s Union accepted the last offer.
They voted on it although we don’t know the significance of the turnout was or what the results were.
They did vote in favour of the collective agreement.
So there is a Nunavut Employee’s Union Agreement right now.
Again if the executive chooses to deal with this issue of binding arbitration in relation to their right to strike, I mean they have that prerogative.
Right now this is a made in Nunavut agreement, their employees all voted on it, their executive, their elected would like at this time to congratulate Mr. Workman on his re-election as the president and all the other NEU executive that were elected at the selection meeting in Cambridge Bay.
Right now the process is working and I would beg to differ with the member on his interpretation of individuals not being able to afford to strike and that’s certainly his opinion and he’s entitled to that.
Any further Oral Questions.
Question 226 – 1(6): Minimum Wage Increase
I know Halloween night, we’re on the eve of Halloween night and I’m not quite as dressed appropriately as the health minister there with his Halloween inspired garb.
My question today Mr. Speaker, is to the Minister of Justice regarding the minimum wage.
Can the Minister of Justice let the people of Nunavut that toil hard for their pittance of minimum wage, if we’re going to get this minimum wage increased in the near future.
Speaker: Minister responsible for Justice, Premier Okalik.
First, I would like to start off by thanking the member for his persistence on this issue.
I believe that it is an issue that can improve the lives of all Nunavummiut.
I committed to consulting and also looking at this issue last spring and those consultations have concluded and I look forward to introducing the legislations in Iqaluit in the coming month.
Question 227 – 1(6): Flash Cards in Inuinnaqtun
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): I apologize.
As I heard earlier, the Honourable Anawak’s comments, we’re very pleased in regards to the Inuktitut flash cards.
I would like to ask the minister in regards to these nice flash cards and I would like to see the flash cards in Inuinnaqtun as well.
Has this process been planned yet?
To the question of the member, I appreciate his question.
The flash cards that I talked about today, when we brought them up in Iqaluit, at the one of the day cares in Iqaluit, the Inuksuk Infant Development Centre daycare.
When they heard about them, they wanted to have copies of them but we didn’t know that they would be so popular.
They wanted to purchase them and they wanted to find out where they can get copies of them.
So, what we’re going to do is try to look for ways to produce more, but I could say to the member from Kugluktuk that yes, we will be providing them in Inuinnaqtun as well and as well to try and teach Inuktitut to children.
We will provide it in Inuinnaqtun as well.
I’m pleased to hear that.
As we know, the Inuktitut flash cards are now done, when we will see the Inuinnaqtun flash cards done.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): I’m sorry but I’m not really sure exactly how long it took us to do the Inuktitut ones, but I can state that we will start them as soon as possible to try and provide them in Inuinnaqtut.
Not today but perhaps within two months and I cannot exactly state for sure when they would be available.
Question 228 – 1(6): Correctional Facility in a Non-Decentralized Community
Yesterday there was a question and the Premier responded by saying about the correctional facility which is in the planning stages.
The Government of Nunavut stated that the non-decentralized communities would be considered when studying a location to build that correctional facility or other government facilities.  Will that happen where this facility is built in a non-decentralized community?
I can’t say whether it is going to be built in a decentralized community but to date, we have just one community requesting that the facility be built in their community.
As we initiate the planning later on this year, we will keep that in mind and will start producing ideas.
I can only say that it will not be in Iqaluit, this new facility for Nunavut.
The Government of Nunavut has stated that the non-decentralized communities would be considered for a building or a facility such as that.
My question was whether they will be considering building that correctional facility in a non-decentralized community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What we want to do is hear from all the communities in every region, requesting that the facility be built in their community.
We welcome the communities requesting to have that facility built in their community.
I would like to have a decision made prior to the next year.
We can’t say exactly where it’s going to be built but we have to review that long as there are no safety issues in that community we will consider any community who would like that facility to be built there.
If we were to receive other requests inviting the government into their community, we would consider that request seriously.
According to his response, what does he mean by as long as there are no safety concerns?
Is it more safe in bigger communities because of the better facilities, such as a hospital?
I can’t say at this time where the facility will be built.
What we are doing right now is to review the matter and this has to be done before any facility is built, it doesn’t matter which community it might be built in.
There are a lot of other matters you have to consider prior to allocating a location.
We have to have a plan whereby if there’s an emergency situation or if there is a safety concern then we have to consider these issues.
Apparently there’s one community that has requested that facility to be built in their community.
Has the Nunavut government provided information to the communities to let them know that anyone wants that facility to be built in their communities has the opportunity to request this facility?
Premier Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I don’t know of any community except for one community that have requested for that facility to be built in their community.
And if that’s the wish of the communities, then we could provide that information to the communities.
We are still open to other ideas.
And what we want to do is finish reviewing the plans that we have in place to built a correctional facility but we would like to be able to find out after we review where the best location to build that facility would be.
Question 229 – 1(6): Fire Arms Licensing Registration
This is a question to the premier in regards to the firearms issue.
The firearms people did some work on the handling of firearms, both in the registration and the training courses for the Inuit.
I just wondered if the minister knows, like those licensing people are not in the communities anymore.
And I would like to be able to find out whether there will be other positions opening up to replace them?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): I have not heard any further thing on that because we are trying to do “challenge the legislation”.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): I’m trying to ask more questions before the question period is over.
Even though the Nunavut people are challenging the firearms legislation in court, this legislation is presently still applicable to us, but the firearms clerks are no longer working and we have no information on whether they will be replaced.
Perhaps if somebody buys my gun and it has to be registered, I have to have a firearms registration.
And it’s an inconvenience at this time.
Even though there’s a court trial that’s going on, I wonder if the Nunavut government could request or provide firearms registration officers.
We are already under some of the provisions, but more of them become applicable in 2003.
Prior to that, we will try to assist NTI with the court challenge against the federal legislation.
I do not believe that this legislation is stronger then our aboriginal treaty rights.
We believe that the rights outlined in the land claims agreement are stronger and we have tried to conduct more research into this area and whether we have a strong challenge against the gun law.
We are not just rubberstamping this legislation, we’re going to ask Inuit to provide more information, and to send people to look after the firearms registration process.
But we will also continue to go through court to challenge the federal government.
If we are successful in our bid, then Inuit would not have to undergo this bureaucratic exercise.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): According to what I am hearing, it seems like the minister is saying that I shouldn’t worry because the Federal Government has it under control.
Perhaps I could tell my constituent that had the concern not to worry about it because the Premier has stated that we should not worry.
Is that my understanding?
What we are trying to do is challenge the Federal Government and until it is resolved, I can’t really say anything right now because it is under the Federal Government mandate.
But, whenever there are some problems that arise, then we have to try to bring up something that can resolve that problem.
What we are trying to do is get the Federal Government to agree with us, but they did not so we have moved along in the process.
So, what we’re going through court to challenge them and perhaps this year we will go in front of the Supreme Court to deal with this.
Question 230 – 1(6): Fuel Contracts
Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Public Works and Services.
Mr. Speaker, referring to his minister’s statement today, and referring to the last paragraph, the tender for transportation phase closed on October 17, 2002 and the evaluation and I point out the word evaluation, will be completed within the next two weeks.
I will look forward to sharing more information with you when these contracts are finalized.
Mr. Speaker, it’s no secret that five or six years ago there was a large controversy in the Kivalliq regarding the fuel contracts.
You, yourself were personally involved in it and I was involved in it also as the Chamber of Commerce President.
And at the time the concern was that, if we lost a fuel delivery contract out of the port of Churchill, then a dry cargo will be affected and subsequently maybe NTCL would pull out of the Kivalliq region.
Because of this, there were a lot of unhappy people in the region thinking that we’d have to start ordering things through Montreal and historically the Kivalliq has a great working relationship with the province of Manitoba and I think our annual trade is around the number of 250 million a year and we’re very comfortable with the service that NTCL delivers.
My question to the Minister is, when he’s doing that evaluation, would he consider the level of service that we’re currently receiving out of Churchill, Manitoba and that, that would be a factor, maybe in his evaluations on awarding this contract.
Hon. Peter Kattuk: (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The member asked a very good question in regards to the transporting of petroleum products contract.
I can tell the member that when we do the review, that we will do our best to consider the fuel transportation and the petroleum transportation to the Kivalliq region versus the dry cargo. I will try and provide the people of Kivalliq with the best thing that they would like to get in terms of this contract.
I’m glad to hear the minister say that this government’s not above listening to the people territory wide but my point that I’m trying to get here is that currently, NTCL provides a level of service in Kivalliq that most communities get barge service once or twice a year and they do have a good working relationship with the province of Manitoba in regards to ordering lumber, trucks, cars, sealifts and other items.
The reason why I’m pressing the minister on this, is that before he decides or if the price is so low that he decides to give the petroleum contract to a company operating out of Montreal, that he first consult with the communities involved before it happens because like I say, I just want to make the minister aware that people in the Kivalliq are used to a level of service that NTCL currently provides.
So could the minister confirm before he awards that contract, to let the mayors and the MLAs in the region know.
Item9.
Item10.
Motion 010 – 1(6): Call for Federal Investment in Nunavut Infrastructure
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 3, I’ll move the following motion.
I move seconded by the Honourable Member from Qammanikjuaq that the Legislative Assembly recommend that all minister of the Government of Nunavut commit themselves to a concerted campaign to raise awareness among their federal counterparts of Nunavut’s circumstances and requirements and further I move that a special invitation be extended to the Federal Minister of Industry to come to Nunavut in order to gain first hand understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I’ll be seeking unanimous consent to deal with my motion tomorrow.
Speaker: Item14.
Notice of Motions. Item 15.
Notice of Motions for First Reading of Bills. 16.
Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the Honourable Member from Iqaluktuusiaq, that withstanding rule for that when the house concludes it present sitting in Pangnirtung that it shall stand adjourned until 1:30 p.m. on November 19, 2002 in Iqaluit.
And that further that any time prior to November 19, 2002, if the speaker is satisfied after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires the house should meet at an earlier time during adjournment the speaker may give notice there upon the house shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact it’s business as it has been dually adjourned to that time.
Question has been called. All those in favour.
Bill 13 – An Act to Amend the Workers’ Compensation Act – Second Reading
Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin South, Whale Cove that Bill 13 and act to amend the Workers Compensation Act be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this amendment to the Workers Compensation Act is to increase the amount of years maxable insurable remuneration from 63 thousand, 350 dollars to 64 thousand, 500 dollars, effective January 1, 2003.
This amount will apply for both benefit and assessment purposes.
All those if favour. All those opposed.
The motion is carried and Bill 13 has had second reading and accordingly the Bill stands referred to a committee.18.
Bill 12 – The Human Rights Act – Second Reading
Seconded by the Honourable Member for Pangnirtung that Bill 12, the Human Rights Acts, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this new legislation will enhance the recognition and protect of the Basic Human Rights of all Nunavummiut.
For the first time, we will have a meeting in Nunavut Legislation relating to this part of our lives.
(interpretation) Because we now have two Human Rights at the time we use it in Nunavut but this Human Rights Act is the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and we don’t have our own Human Rights in Nunavut so therefore that’s why we’re trying to create Nunavut Human Rights Act, to protect the lives of the people of Nunavut.
And part of this, on Human Rights pertain to the Human Rights Act, federally, although they have provisions in the Human Rights Act, even though we don’t deal with them we still have the responsibility to have Human Rights and Federal Human Rights Act recognize all the provinces so therefore we require our own territorial Human Right Act.
I know a lot of people will be opposed to this but there is no other way.
Like even we try to stop this or stop this act we have to abide by the Federal Legislation.
For that reason this Human Right Act, we want it to be Nunavut relevant and to be relevant to our culture as Inuit people we liked to have our Human Rights recognized for job opportunities and to protect these opportunities of people.
For that reason this Bill, I know that we’ll have to reconsider it and I’ll be requesting for support from my colleagues.
(interpretation ends) And hope that this Bill is introduced at our Legislative session in Pangnirtung.
At the first consultations that lead to the development of the Nunavut Human Rights Act, a resident of Pangnirtung, Peter Kanayuk, told other participants, I’m very pleased to be part of this process, to develop Human Rights Legislation.
To us it’s the reality of the dream of Nunavut.
I believe that all members of this Legislature should be proud to have the Nunavut Human Rights Act fostering the life of our first Government of Nunavut, as an important indication at the priority we place in our people in the protection of their rights.
The motion is in order to the principle of the Bill.
A question has been called.
Bill 12 has had second reading and accordingly the Bill stands referred to a committee.
Consideration of Committee of the Whole and Bills and other Matters.
Bill 14, Bill 15, Bill 16.
Mr. Puqiqnak in the Chair. And in accordance with the authority vested in me, by Motion 002-1(6) the Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out.
We’ll now take a short break and be back in about 15 minutes.
>>House recessed at 3.50 p.m. and resumed at 4.22 p.m.
Item 19: Consideration of Committee of the Whole and Bills and other Matters
Chairperson (interpretation): I would like to start the meeting.
In regards to Bill 14, the Nunavut Elections Act, we’ll proceed with that Bill.
If the speaker and the witnesses could sit down at the witness table.
In regards to the official copy of the names, so it will be shown on record, please introduce your witnesses, Mr. Speaker.
Please tell us who your witnesses are.
Speaker: Two witnesses, on my right is Ms. Sandy Kusugak, Chief Electoral Officer for Nunavut.
To my left, your right is Mr. Patrick Orr.
Chairperson (interpretation): First before we proceed with Bill 14, I’d like to ask our legal counsel on the changes to the Bill or other developments that may have occurred since our review of the Bill.
Sue Cooper.
Ms. Cooper: Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
I’ve been asked to take this opportunity to advice members of a development, which will impact on deliberations on Bill 14; the Nunavut Elections Act.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Canada released a decision that affects the constitutionality of a provision of Bill 14, the Nunavut Elections Act.
We were aware that this matter was pending before the Supreme Court of Canada and we had been monitoring its progress, as we knew that the outcome of the court matter might require changes to the bill.
The decision of the court deals with the right of federal prisoners to vote.
Federal prisoners are individuals who are serving sentences of two years or more.
Section 7 of Bill 14 provides that person serving a sentence of two years or more are not eligible to vote.
This provision would affect prisoners serving a federal sentence and was consistent with elections provisions across the country.
A similar provision in the federal elections act was challenged by an inmate as being an infringement for a person’s right to vote which is protected by section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada held that federal prisoners do have the right to vote.
And accordingly, in order to bring Bill 14 into compliance with the Supreme Court of Canada decision, two amendments to the Bill are required.
One amendment will delete section 7, sub 2A, which prohibits prisoners serving sentences of two years or more from voting.