EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Over the last few years, Noah has been trying to be independent with the help of CNIB. He is hoping to be able to get his Seeing Eye dog later this year.
Wendy Ireland is from my constituency. She is currently the director of NDMS and has been there since October 2011.
She first came to Iqaluit in 2006 while delivering a workshop for two recreational leaders on how to better include children with disabilities into their programs.
She has been doing this advocacy work for the rights of people with disabilities in a professional capacity for 15 years.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Ell.
Question 314 – 3(3): Dealing with Rabies across Nunavut (Aupaluktuq)
I would like to direct my question to the Hon. Minister of Environment, James Arreak.
Mr. Speaker, the threat of rabies is one which is faced by many of our northern communities on a regular basis. Recently rabid wolves have been near the community of Baker Lake and it is of great concern to community members.
The local RCMP is not always ready to deal with this threat and wildlife officers are not always available in time as well.
Can the minister clearly describe what steps should be taken when there is a threat from rabid wildlife in a community?
I also thank Mr. Aupaluktuq, my colleague, for raising that question.
When dealing with rabid animals, I believe there are different terms used.
If any person sees any animal acting that way, they have to immediately take action, especially if they’re close to a community.
You have to ensure you are not touched by it or get too close.
Wildlife officers should be notified as well as by-law officers who are trained to handle rabid animals or even dog catchers.
If a rabid animal is killed, one must avoid touching it with exposed skin and rubber gloves should be worn.
They have to be beheaded and given to the wildlife officer to be sent out.
If you see any kind of animal that appears rabid, you have to contact people trained to deal with rabid cases right away.
I’m glad that we will be able to inform the public as well as communities as to what steps should be done in order to avoid contact.
Mr. Speaker, I can personally attest to the danger posed by the threat of a rabid animal.
Approximately a year and a half ago, a rabid wolf threatened our home. Our small Jack Russell terrier, Buddy, gave his life to protect the family.
Can the minister update this House on what measures are in place to prevent the threat of rabid animals to our communities and risking the lives of our children and pets?
I also thank the member for relaying his personal experiences.
As I spoke to earlier, any animal that is exhibiting unnatural behaviour should be killed right away.
If a person were inadvertently bit or had contact with an animal, they have to immediately go to the nursing station, whether they were bit or touched the saliva with their skin, especially if they have any small cut or wound on their hand, because they could be infected with rabies.
They have to go to the health centre immediately. We don’t have an actual strategy to stop it from coming to the community.
Every resident of the community should do their part to try and keep these animals away.
So our preference is that these animals be killed immediately.
If there were animals that were spotted, whether they’re wolves that were in Baker Lake, then they ought to track down all of those wolves.
I believe one of the wolves was getting too close to a home and ended up killing a dog.
People should immediately try to ensure that they kill these animals.
I am so happy that the Minister of Environment has replied.
We adopted our dog, Buddy, in Ontario and brought him to Baker Lake. We were very happy to have that pet and he was a very good part of our family.
We regret that we lost Buddy.
It’s good to hear what the protocol is when we talk about rabid animals.
I would like to ask about the next step and whether or not the department will be providing vaccines for dogs. What is the status of that? Perhaps they could announce in the House about their vaccination program for all dogs.
I asked the minister about vaccination for dogs and programs to deal with rabies within Nunavut.
Minister responsible for the Department of Environment, Minster Arreak.
With respect to vaccination for wildlife, I’m unable to give a response at this time on behalf of the Department of Environment.
I can look into it and provide an answer later.
I can say that it might not be a part of our mandate, but we can look into it.
Question 315 – 3(3): Letter from the Local Justice Committee of Gjoa Haven (Ugyuk)
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, the Justice Committee of Gjoa Haven posted a petition asking how many people supported having a shelter for the community.
The petition collected 289 signatures and the Mayor of Gjoa Haven sent the petition to the Minister of Justice on November 3, 2011.
In February of 2012, the Minister of Justice provided a copy of the letter and petition to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Can the minister confirm whether or not he has received the letter and petition from the Justice Committee of Gjoa Haven requesting a shelter for the community?
Mr. Speaker, I have read a lot of materials, letters, binders, briefing notes, and a couple truck loads of other stuff over the last three months to catch up.
I do believe I received a copy of the petition through my colleague, the Minister of Justice.
Ms. Ugyuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad that the minister received the letter and petition. (interpretation ends) As the minister will be aware from my previous comments in this House, I believe strongly in the need to do more to address the issue of family violence in our communities.
Can the minister update this House on how many communities currently have safe shelters and what support his department provides those communities who have expressed the need for infrastructure such as shelter facilities?
My memory is not the greatest these days, but I believe there are six shelters in Nunavut. I think three are operational and work is being done to talk to the operators of the other shelters in Nunavut to see if we can get them operational.
I would like to thank the minister for his response. (interpretation ends) Last week, this House passed the proposed 2012-13 budget for the Department of Health and Social Services and I noted that the amount of funding for family violence services will not be increased.
Can the minister clarify whether the services provided under this program meet the demand?
As Ms. Ugyuk knows very well, there are tremendous demands in Nunavut for all kinds of programs and services. I don’t pretend to say that we will meet all the funding demands.
So I can’t say with any degree of certainty that this meets the demand for family violence or shelters or safe homes in Nunavut.
His response is understandable and I thank him for his answer. (interpretation ends) I recognize that establishing a community shelter for victims of abuse requires a collaborative effort from different government departments as well as other community-based entities.
Will the minister commit to directing his officials to provide assistance and support to the community of Gjoa Haven to establish a safe shelter for victims of abuse?
Again I thank Ms. Ugyuk for her question and I appreciate her concern for her constituents in Gjoa Haven. It’s a very nice town.
I have visited there many times. I have a lot of good friends there.
Mr. Speaker, I can’t commit to that, but I will assure Ms. Ugyuk that we will review the petition and the concerns from the community.
Question 316 – 3(3): Offshore Drilling in the Canadian Arctic (Enook)
Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Environment.
In December of 2011, the National Energy Board issued a major report on the issue of offshore drilling in the Canadian Arctic.
The NEB held consultations across the north, including my community of Pond Inlet.
It’s my understanding that the Government of Nunavut has a representative on a committee that tries to protect the Arctic.
I would like to ask the minister to describe what work this body is currently undertaking.
I apologize to my colleague because I’m not exactly sure what he is asking about.
Can he rephrase his question, please.
Mr. Enook, could you please rephrase your question.
I will try to clarify that.
Perhaps if I ask the question in English, the minister will understand it better.
(interpretation ends) It is my understanding that the GN has a representative on the Arctic Regional Advisory Council on Oil Spill Response.
Can the minister describe what work this body is currently undertaking?
My officials at the Department of Environment haven’t completed their briefing notes, so I don’t have that information with me. I will have to take his question as notice and I apologize that I’m unable to answer at this time.
Question 317 – 3(3): Investigations under the Fire Prevention Act (Ell)
I would like to direct my questions to the Minister of Community and Government Services, (interpretation ends) the Hon. Lorne Kusugak.
(interpretation) Mr. Speaker, I asked questions to the minister last week concerning what authority the fire marshal has with respect to privately owned buildings and what inspections are routinely made. The minister took my questions as notice and I look forward to his response.
My new questions concern the investigations of fires under the Fire Prevention Act.
Can the minister indicate how many investigations were undertaken in 2011?
I currently don’t have the information on the number of fires that were investigated. Every fire is investigated, I believe, by the Office of the Fire Marshal.
Ms. Ell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that, minister.
Section 5.4 of the Fire Prevention Act provides that “An Assistant Fire Marshal shall, within a reasonable time after completing an investigation under subsection (1), provide the Fire Marshal with a written report of the results of the investigation.”
Can the minister provide details on the 2011 investigations that were conducted following fires that occurred here in Iqaluit and will he commit to tabling the 2011 investigation reports?
If the reports are available and ready, then we will make them available.
Ms. Ell (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will await the reports’ availability so that I can read them.
Section 8 of the Fire Prevention Act provides that “The Fire Marshal, an Assistant Fire Marshal or any person designated by the Fire Marshal with the approval of the Minister may conduct an inquiry into the cause, origin and circumstances of any fire that caused an injury or fatality or destroyed or damaged property.”
Can the minister indicate how many inquiries were conducted in 2011 in Iqaluit and what were the results of these inquiries?
If the report that Ms. Ell is asking about includes the kind of information she is requesting, we will provide it when it’s available.
Question 318 – 3(3): Implementation of Territorial Power Rates (Curley)
My questions today are for the Minister of Energy.
On February 21, the minister informed the House that phase 2 of the Qulliq Energy Corporation’s general rate application had been approved.
Originally, QEC applied to have the new rates take effect on April 1 of this year, as per the minister’s mandate.
However, the Qulliq Energy Corporation’s proposal to delay the move towards territorial rates will be delayed until April 1, 2014.
Before making its decision, the government was required to consider the recommendations of the Utility Rates Review Council.
Can the minister tell the House what the recommendation of the URRC actually was on this issue?
Mr. Curley, could I ask you if you could clarify if your question was for the Minister of Energy, who is Minister Taptuna, or the Minister of the Qulliq Energy Corporation, Minister Kusugak.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Mr. Speaker, I stated clearly that I was directing my question to the Minister of Energy.
Minister of Energy, Minister Taptuna.
Hon. Peter Taptuna: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would rather defer the question to the minister responsible for the issue and question at hand.
The Utility Rates Review Council has quite a bit of responsibility.
There were 18 recommendations, of which 13 have to be responded to prior to them undertaking their other utility rate review.
There are quite a number of recommendations. It would take a bit of time to speak to URRC’s recommendations to the Qulliq Energy Corporation.
I also thank you for your assistance. This is for the Minister responsible for QEC as well.
Can the minister clearly explain why the recommendation of the independent Utility Rates Review Council was rejected by the government?
I also thank the member for raising that issue for the benefit of the people who will be paying these electrical bills.
When we conducted that review, we didn’t have to present any concerns on the recommendations of the URRC.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is also for the Minister responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation.
The current Legislative Assembly took office in the fall of 2008. A new government will be in place after the general election on April 1, 2014.
Can the minister explain how the current government considers it appropriate to allow the next government to inherit this decision?
Generally these things continue to move forward even when we change government.
It was our opinion that the impact would be too great. Although we agreed with the majority of the recommendations, we decided to phase in the increases in electrical rates to reduce their negative effects.
That is the way it stands now, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, my final supplementary is on an issue that concerns me.
How can this government make it binding for the new government to implement the general rate application policy to a government that doesn’t exist nor has a mandate for it?
We had to make a decision on how to implement the recommendations this fiscal year, especially if there’s going to be an increase in utility rates.
If we hadn’t postponed the increase and put them into effect immediately, then Nunavummiut would be greatly impacted.
Last year, we had already increased the utility rates by 18 percent for businesses and private homeowners.
We do agree with the recommendation that we have to change the utility rates that the Qulliq Energy Corporation charges its customers, but if the rates were increased right away, many customers would find it harder to keep up and they would be overwhelmed by bills.
Even those who are working would have to reduce their consumption.
So in the coming years, we have to make preparations to reduce consumption or to change the way we pay our rising bills.
We will also look at subsidies that the government provides in the coming years.
We will be reviewing all of these issues and that’s why we made the decision to defer this matter.
As a government, we had to make a decision because the next government coming in 2014 will have to deliberate on postponing it again.
Question 319 – 3(3): Protection of Paleontological Sites on Axel Heiberg Island (Elliott)
I have heard a number of concerns from my constituents in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord concerning the issue of cruise ship visits to the fossil sites on Axel Heiberg Island and the lack of monitoring and enforcement by the Nunavut government during these visits.
Can the minister indicate how his department is working to ensure the protection of the Axel Heiberg Island fossil sites from tourist visits?
I thank our colleague representing the High Arctic.
With respect to the Axel Heiberg sites, I believe it’s called an ancient forest area and it’s being made into a national park.
Apparently tourists were starting to take out samples of the ancient forests and leaves as souvenirs to take home.
It is being made into a park so that it can be put under protection.
That’s what we’re planning on doing up to this point.
It’s my understanding that a consulting firm completed a final report titled “Fossil Sites on Axel Heiberg Island and Ellesmere Island Background Study” for the minister’s department.
Can the minister provide details on the results of this report and will he commit to tabling it in the House?
The study has been completed and, yes, I can commit to provide the details of the results of this report in the House.
Is the minister aware of any mineral development or exploration projects currently being conducted near the Axel Heiberg fossil sites?
If so, what role does his department have concerning these projects?
Hon. James Arreak (interpretation): We’re not aware of any possible development in that area, whether it’s mining or petroleum.
There is none at the moment.
We had a study done because we really want to protect that site. It’s a subject of interest for many publishers worldwide.
At this point in time, we will be looking to try to ensure it has protection status prior to allowing petroleum developers in that area.
Can the minister provide an update on the department’s plan to establish, and he had mentioned the name, Napaaqtulik on Axel Heiberg Island into a territorial park?
The Nunavut government is able to deal with the fossil sites on Axel Heiberg. Those fossils are petrified and they’re vulnerable to burning.
They’re approximately 40 million years old and are of great importance internationally.
We’re currently working on a study of the area which was completed in December.
Once we have the details of the final report, we will table them in the House.
My good friend from Akulliq, Mr. Ningark.
Question 320 – 3(3): Single Entrance Only Housing in Compliance with Code (Ningark)
My question is for the Hon. Minister of Nunavut Housing.
I know the hon. minister recognizes and supports healthy, secured, independent, and dignified lifestyles through working with our community to assure the role of providing housing to Nunavummiut.
Several of my constituents have brought their concerns to me about certain types of housing units having only a single entrance door. That is a safety concern.
My question to the hon. minister is: are these units, triplexes, with a single entrance door in compliance with building code requirements?
Yes, they are in compliance with the code. That doesn’t mean that we can’t change the safety of these houses.
We are looking at some of the older houses, even though they are built to code, and of course, we are looking at a new code here also.
They were definitely built according to code, but it is a safety issue, which we know.
In some communities, what we’re doing is we’re changing some of the windows that are on the opposite end of the units so they can be used as a means of exiting the house.
We are looking at ways eventually of either replacing these units or looking at alternate ways of fixing them up in order to put the second escape door.
I appreciate the minister’s sensitivity to the concern.
Many of the people in my riding who are the tenants in these units with a single entrance door have a concern.
Rules are made in Ottawa where the environments are different.
Rules are also broken in Ottawa in this area.
Will the minister seriously look at alternative ways to have safety requirements in units with single entrance doors, perhaps enlarging the windows and putting in extra doors, so that our tenants in Nunavut under public housing will have the confidence of living in these units?
We are looking at all safety issues in units.
We are also looking at units that are actually built to code but, like you say, have safety concerns, especially now with the fires we’ve had here lately. So we’re taking it very seriously and we’re doing an inventory of all the units in all the communities. As money becomes available, we are going to be renovating these units.
How soon will the hon. minister report to this House about his findings in the area of safety in public housing units?
I appreciate the member for the question.
I can’t give you a definite time, but I can definitely tell you that this is a serious issue we’re looking at. Hopefully, within the next fiscal year, we will be able to get an answer for you.
Question 321 – 3(3): Investigation under the Environmental Protection Act (Aupaluktuq)
Mr. Speaker, during our fall sitting, I asked a written question on the enforcement of the Environmental Protection Act to the minister at the time.
The return to my written question indicated that there were no charges laid between April 1, 1999 and October 31, 2011 under this legislation.
Can the minister tell me how many investigations there have been under the Environmental Protection Act to date?
There are about 115 investigations in Nunavut annually. Perhaps I’m speaking to another matter. Excuse me.
There are about 115 investigations annually.
I appreciate the response to indicate how many investigations there have been in regard to environmental protection.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask, in the department’s 2009-2010 business plan, it indicated that “A lack of modern community waste management infrastructure impacts compliance with the Environmental Protection Act.”
As of today, how many communities are not in compliance with this legislation?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Aupaluktuq.
I also thank my colleague, Mr. Aupaluktuq, for asking that question.
Twenty-five communities of Nunavut are not in compliance with these regulations.
I would like to ask: can the minister update the House on how his department is working with the Department of CGS on the government’s Waste Management Strategy?
I also thank our colleague for speaking about the environment we hold precious.
We collaborate with the Department of CGS as we work on these waste management strategies and we’re always looking at ways to improve waste, water, and sewage systems.
We work closely with the Department of CGS and keep each other informed to ensure regulations are complied with.
I would like to thank the minister for his response regarding the 115 investigations looking at the 25 communities. I look forward to hearing from him and I will be submitting written questions if they will keep me updated. I will ask more questions once I receive more information.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Aupaluktuq. (interpretation ends) Minister of Environment, Minister Arreak.
Yes, we will be able to do that, although I didn’t hear a question.
I spoke about 115 investigations that are taken each year. They include these types of fuel spills and their effects on the environment.
The investigations also look at whether anyone is legally liable for the incidents.
Question 322 – 3(3): Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy (Elliott)
My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Hon. Keith Peterson.
In Committee of the Whole on February 29, I asked the Minister of Health and Social Services about objective 2.6 of the action plan for the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy, which promised Nunavummiut culturally appropriate grief counselling resources for communities in April of this year.
Health and Social Services is clearly identified as the lead partner on this objective.
The minister’s response was that he had asked a number of questions and will keep his officials working on this.
Mr. Speaker, my question for the minister is: will the department meet its commitment to release culturally appropriate grief counselling resources next month, yes or no?
I thank Mr. Elliott for the question since it’s just a yes or no or maybe or possibly. Mr. Speaker, I can’t confirm that we would be able to meet those timelines.
As I said somewhere along the way last week, there are eight commitments on how many actions and tasks, all the timelines, and we have our people working very hard, diligently trying to meet these timelines.
We recognize that suicide is a very serious issue in Nunavut.
The strategy was tabled in October 2010 and the action plan was tabled in the last sitting.
We have an implementation committee, four partners, and everybody has a role to play.
So I’m confident that everybody is working very hard to try to meet the timelines, but if they don’t, I assure the member that they will continue to work towards meeting the timelines as soon as possible.
Thank you for that response because it actually leads into my next question.