EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I just would like the minister to expand a little bit. It says here in the document that we have before us, expansion phase 1, “To provide funding…for the Mental Health and Addictions Service.”
If you can just expand a little bit on what is going on there.
Mr. Chairman, mental health and addictions is a mandate item for the Government of Nunavut.
We all agreed on it in Full Caucus and it got tabled in the winter sitting.
In Cambridge Bay, there was an opportunity to convert an unused two-storey building with 12 beds into a mental health and addictions service, a 24/7 facility. As part of the mental health and addictions expansion across Nunavut, turning it into a 24/7 facility would require a little over 23 PYs and they would provide client referrals, outpatient day programming, and drop-in support.
I believe, in the wintertime, the Minister of Health is planning to introduce a draft framework for action that is on mental health and addictions.
In the last government, we converted the Akausisarvik building out of the old hospital into Akausisarvik.
That was part of our continuing efforts to improve mental health and addictions in Nunavut, then Cambridge Bay, and I think the Minister of Health is looking for something in Rankin Inlet.
It’s not just to serve those communities, but it would serve the communities in the regions. We will continue that expansion.
I’m not 100 percent clear on why they haven’t determined phase 1, but perhaps the Minister of Health could clarify that.
Minister Ell, would you clarify?
I think Minister Peterson said what the amount would be for.
Under Sivumut Abluqta, we did make mental health and addictions a priority for our government and phase 1 is exactly what he described.
It would create more psychiatric nurses as well, in Qikiqtarjuaq, one in Kimmirut, one to provide services for Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, one additional psychiatric nurse here in Iqaluit, and one community wellness worker has been hired as well in Iqaluit.
These staff are required to address critical service needs.
I said in Committee of the Whole previously that Health is working towards creating more psychiatric nurses in the territory, and phase 1 is a process towards that.
Can the minister tell us how many phases are expected in this area?
Mr. Chairman, I would like to just go back a little bit, back in, I think it was May 2012. The Mental Health Commission of Canada came out with a report about mental health in Canada.
They made a lot of recommendations to provinces and territories, but they didn’t commit to any resources to support provinces and territories.
Essentially, what the provinces and territories had to start doing is looking at what services and programs they offered and the facilities they had, and then start redirecting program dollars and money into facilities, but it’s going to take time.
As I indicated earlier and the minister also indicated, with Akausisarvik, the facility in Cambridge Bay, hopefully a facility in Rankin Inlet, and more psychiatric nurses and mental health workers in different communities, we hope to eventually have coverage across Nunavut.
Again, I’m not 100 percent sure why this expansion phase 1… . To me, it’s an ongoing process, whether it’s phase 1, phase 2, or phase 3.
Who knows where it’s going to end, but we do know that there’s a great need for mental health services in Nunavut.
I think we have debated this in a number of sittings since March. I know that we have identified it through our three-year business plan, but we do have business planning by departments.
The departments identify three years out what type of funding they need and what programs.
We’re seeking funding in this current fiscal year through the supp bill for the facility in Cambridge Bay.
I believe, probably in the winter sitting, in standing committee or the main estimates process, the minister will likely provide more information through that business planning and main estimates process.
I just want to make sure I state for the record that I’m not against anything to do with mental health. I agree with you. We need all the help that we can get.
It’s rather just for clarification about the funds.
That’s just a comment. We’re on page 7. Health.
Operations and Maintenance. Not Previously Authorized. Total Health Care Service Delivery. $2,138,000.
Total Department. Not Previously Authorized. $2,138,000.
Environment. Operations and Maintenance.
If it’s okay, I’ll ask a question at this time on (interpretation ends) item 2, “to provide funding to develop a class “D” estimate of the Government of Nunavut’s environmental liabilities.” Will this work involve assessing QEC sites that were inherited from the Northern Canada Power Commission?
Mr. Chairman, we are not assessing active sites. We will only be assessing the inactive sites in Nunavut.
Maybe for clarification then, are the abandoned QEC sites within municipal boundaries taken into consideration, yes or no?
I can’t give you a yes or no, but I can say that we don’t know.
The reason why I asked that question is that we have a land area within the community of Baker Lake that is very well known by the government, the federal government, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and the municipality, which had spills from the past. When I look at Nunavut’s environmental liabilities, it is why I’m asking this question.
Seeing that that site is no longer used, will that be considered as an environmental liability for future cleanup?
Mr. Chairman, I said earlier that we just don’t have that level of information. That may already be on the QEC books to be cleaned up or dealt with.
I don’t know if the Minister of QEC could answer or wants to respond to that question, but as far as this class “D” estimate, we’re not looking at active sites; we’re looking at inactive sites.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) QEC is continuing to impress upon the federal government to do their work in “remediating” the site.
We have taken steps to contain the contamination, but the work is still outstanding.
We will continue to press this matter with the federal government. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for the minister’s response.
Will the community be updated and will there be a meeting with the hamlet council and the community to inform them regarding what actions are forthcoming in the near future?
I thank Mr. Mikkungwak for that question.
Minister Okalik would like to answer that question.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Yes, there have been some past meetings with the hamlet when some progress was made, but unfortunately those have stalled so far.
We will continue to keep the community updated on any progress that may be made in the near future, hopefully. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have a few questions regarding the air quality specialist position for $150,000.
With this position, will the person be based in Iqaluit and have to basically work around here or will it be a requirement to service all of the communities in Nunavut?
I thank Mr. Rumbolt for the first question.
Mr. Chairman, the information we have is that the position would be based in Iqaluit, but the position would work with and support all municipalities in Nunavut. One of the initiatives they would be working on would be an air quality management program, which, of course, is identified in prioritizing air pollution issues and potential impacts on air quality in Nunavut. So it’s all communities.
Has there always been a need for this position here in Nunavut?
Why is it just coming to light now that this position is required?
I believe it has always been a position that has been needed. The Department of Environment has asked for it several times.
Due to austerity measures and priority items, it just didn’t make it to the main estimates and getting approval. We are able to do that now through this supp bill.
With the position of an air quality specialist, I would presume that they would need a lot of highly specialized equipment. Does the Nunavut government have the highly specialized equipment for this position?
The minister of the day signed an agreement with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in October 2012 and by signing that agreement, they had access to some equipment.
They did purchase $100,000 of, as they say, sophisticated air quality monitoring equipment for Nunavut through the National Air Pollution Surveillance Program.
I believe that if they have this position, then the person can start working on developing air quality strategies and programs which will enable them to access other program funds nationally and then, of course, through our own main estimates and capital estimates and programs.
The minister stated that they had some equipment for this position.
Does the minister have any idea whether a supplementary appropriation will come in the near future to acquire more equipment for this position and, if so, how much?
Mr. Chairman, the department hasn’t indicated that they require any equipment. They may in the future, but as of this time, no.
I have a question in regard to this item.
This position has been requested for quite some time.
Why is it so important to fill that position now, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Chairman, I believe that it’s no secret that the issues this year with the dump in Iqaluit and issues with the dump in Rankin Inlet highlighted the need for this type of position.
We constantly hear questions and concerns about dust in communities that cause respiratory problems for our elders and infants.
It is probably a position that is long overdue.
I think we might be the only jurisdiction without a position like that.
By adding this position, we will join the provinces and territories and be able to avail ourselves of their network of programs, services, and information to address air quality in Nunavut.
Perhaps I can ask two questions, with your approval, Mr. Chairman, if I can ask two questions at once.
My first question is that we don’t have any air quality specialists in Nunavut at all. This position is for an air quality specialist.
Would the specialist be required to make annual reports to the Legislative Assembly or to the committee?
What is the process that will be used? If you can elaborate further on that.
There is a part-time air quality… . Sorry, I’ll just read it here. I’ve got thousands of pieces of paper here.
I’ll just read. There is a briefing note. They indicated in their briefing note that the only air quality monitoring that is being done throughout the territory is in Iqaluit and it’s done on a part-time basis by staff of the Environmental Protection Division.
There is no individual who is specifically tasked with that kind of work.
Mr. Chairman, I can’t say with certainty that the position would report to the Legislative Assembly with reports.
They certainly would probably be required to prepare reports for the minister and his officials to utilize when they’re meeting with their provincial and territorial counterparts.
Mr. Chairman, through you and also through the Minister of Finance, I would like to ask the Minister of Environment to respond to my question regarding the production of annual reports made by the air quality specialist.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Enook for asking me to redirect the question.
Minister Mike has indicated that he would like to answer that question.
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation) Thank you.
I have been waiting for this question to come up for a long time.
As the Minister of Finance indicated, we signed an agreement in 2012 with the federal government.
I believe that there will have to be more and more air quality monitoring and a specialist will be required not only here in Iqaluit, but there are also mining companies and more mining companies being developed and established in Nunavut.
If we had an air quality specialist, I am sure that eventually, we will see annual reports on what has been completed and have air quality checks done on our facilities and the environment.
With the Department of Environment not having an air quality specialist and should there be a need for such a person to do the work around the communities and our pollution or dust control or fires, we would be more prepared to handle that type of work in the Department of Environment.
That’s very briefly.
Maybe I wasn’t listening carefully, but I didn’t get a response to my question.
Maybe I will rephrase my question.
In regard to the creation of an air quality specialist, when would this position be established and when would the individual start working?
Mr. Chairman, if this item is approved, then the department could begin the process of going through the necessary steps to recruit for that position.
I believe that we are working on both number 1 and 2.
I would like to move on to number 2 regarding $350,000.
It states here that it is to provide funding of $350,000 to develop a cost estimate. This $350,000 is a large amount of money.
When are we going to see an RFP and once the RFP goes out, when would this project start at the earliest?
I know that we haven’t approved this money yet.
With the department, there’s a contract amount for $250,000 and to get the work underway, they identified $150,000 from the corporate services budget and $100,000 from the environmental protection budget, and then through a standing offer agreement, they were able to offer the work to a company called WESA. That’s four letters, w-e-s-a. It’s an engineering firm.
The plan is to get the contract underway as fast as possible and schedule work to be completed by March 31, 2015.
Do I understand that the Department of Environment has already found some money for this project?
So is it okay if we don’t approve this $350,000 because the Department of Environment has already found the money?
I thank Mr. Enook for his question. Mr. Chairman, they identified $250,000 from the two budgets to get the contract underway.
However, an additional $100,000 is identified as a contingency for $350,000.
The purpose of this $350,000 in the supp bill here would be to replenish the $150,000 and the $100,000 to those two budget line items that I mentioned.
They had the money temporarily, but they decided to get the contract to proceed because of time constraints.
They would have to replenish that budget and that’s the purpose of this supp bill.
If I understood correctly and with the time constraints, why is it that we have to do this all of a sudden? Why didn’t you wait for us to approve this before the project got underway?
Again, it is November now and we want to get the work underway. It’s that critical.
I had a meeting last week with the Auditor General of Canada on our public accounts. The Auditor General of Canada has been putting a lot of pressure on the Government of Nunavut that we have to identify these as liabilities, these contaminated sites as liabilities, and get that work done to show that we’re actually serious about contaminated sites in Nunavut.
The Auditor General wanted to see some progress in that area.
This is a class “D.” All we do is identify the inactive sites.
We want to get that report by the end of March or early April so that we can take it to cabinet and discuss what the next steps are. Part of the process would be identifying who is responsible for those sites, who has to clean up the sites, or do they need to be cleaned up or can they be left alone.
It’s a timing issue, Mr. Chairman. There are no two ways around it. If we waited until November, we probably couldn’t have gotten this work done by the time the Auditor General shows up again and starts auditing our financial statements and public accounts.
I don’t want to be construed to think that I am not concerned about the environment.
I think it’s very important, but at times, it seems a little bit much. We’re Members of the Legislative Assembly and we approve the budget. In more cases than not, we hear that we have time constraints.
Another thing I hear is that it was one of the recommendations of the Auditor General.
I do read the Auditor General’s report.
There are many times that many recommendations have not been implemented by the government, so it confuses me at times.
Further, there are a lot of concerns from our communities that barely ever get approved by the government, and here we say we have time constraints.
The projects have already started, even before we approve the budget.
Why do we bother getting all this information if the project has already been started?
Now you’re looking for an approval for some months.
I don’t think that’s the right way to go.
It seems like we only get things that have time constraints and we have no choice but to approve it because there is no other way about it.
I don’t like that sort of a government.
My next question is in regard to the RFPs.
How many tried for this item number 2?
I thank Mr. Enook for his comments. Mr. Chairman, I must clarify.
The Auditor General is very influential on the Government of Canada and all the provinces and territories where they have auditor generals.
They take their recommendations and advice very seriously.
In this case, the Auditor General is our auditor, but there are Public Sector Accounting Standards. Under the Public Sector Accounting Standards, the Auditor General had to tell us that this must happen. It’s not a suggestion or recommendation.
He is saying that it must happen, so we have to. We just can’t ignore it anymore. We must proceed with that.
In terms of using the money from the department, they did identify the $250,000. They did not overspend their budget, so they’re funding within. They had moved money and identified that the $150,000 and the $100,000 would give them $250,000 so that they could go to the standing offer agreement to offer the work to that company.
The company that they chose was through what they call a process called a standing offer agreement. There are a number of companies, I believe, that Community and Government Services can choose from on a standing offer agreement that have been qualified to do that kind of work. They picked that company.
I don’t have any other details on that. Presumably, they’re a qualified company. As I said, it’s WESA, w-e-s-a, and they’re an environmental engineering firm.
What I was trying to say and just to have further clarity, there are a lot of recommendations made by the Auditor General. They make quite numerous recommendations.
Sometimes it takes years and years because of lack of funding and so on that those recommendations are not implemented at the appropriate time.
Before the regular members are told anything, it seems like projects are started, even without our knowledge and without us approving any money until after the fact.
As we heard, the Auditor General… . I’m not sure what year it was, but it says here that this could be started in the spring.
It was too late for the spring sitting and we’re rushing to get it approved this fall.
Is that the situation?
Mr. Chairman, the Government of Nunavut and the Department of Environment weren’t ready in the spring to proceed with the project and we’re proceeding now.
I would just like to question on the air quality specialist position. The minister that if the budget is approved, the job would be advertised right away.
That must mean that a job description and powers and duties have been done.
Will the person in this position have regulatory powers or are they just going to be able to say, “Okay, your air is no good.”?
Mr. Chairman, I don’t believe I said that they will hire the person right way.
The department would take the necessary steps to proceed to fill the position, then, of course, you do have to write a job description, you do have to send a job evaluation, then you have to assign the pay level, and then you begin the recruiting process. It could take… .
I don’t know. I’m not going to put a… . I hope it’s not 318 days, but I think the average is 81 days.
We got it down to 81 days.
I don’t know what level or if they even have a job description yet. This is something that we do need to get the budget approved first before we can proceed to even consider what Mr. Savikataaq was asking about.
I’m aware that you probably wouldn’t have that level of information, but the Minister of Environment is in the House and they have been requesting this position since 2012, so they must have an idea of what the position entails. I would like to know.
If I can just quote from the notes I have here, some of the key roles of the proposed air quality technologist position would be: developing air quality strategies and programs, including regulations, standards, guidelines, and codes of practice for adoption under the Environmental Protection Act for the protection and enhancement of air quality within Nunavut; providing input into environmental assessments of potential development projects across the territory to assess potential impacts on the north’s air resources and atmosphere.
I’ll just apologize to the interpreters because I realize I’m reading too fast. I apologize to them.
...and developing an air quality management program for all of Nunavut. Those will be some of the key roles.
I think it’s obvious that we’re not sure whether this position will have regulatory powers or not.
I believe that it would be nice if that position did because at times, we don’t need someone to tell us that our air quality is no good, but at times, you definitely need to be able to tell someone to do something about the air quality.
I don’t know if that’s in there or not, but it’s just a comment saying that I believe it should have those powers.
On the same subject, if we approve this budget, the process starts, as the minister indicated, to write a job description, duties, pay levels, and all that.
He admitted that it takes a while to recruit a person. This person might be a very specialized technical person.
Would the minister say that there is a good chance that this money will lapse, and then ask for new funding in the new year for the very same position before it’s filled?
On one of his earlier points, the Minister of Environment is in the House and I’m sure he would probably talk to his officials about your concerns about having regulatory powers.
In terms of the funding, if it gets staffed this year, then we will pro-rate a portion of funds to go towards the position.
The position is in the department’s business plan for next year and subsequent years and that will be coming forward in the main estimates in February and March.
We’re on page 8. Environment. Operations and Maintenance.
I have a question about item 1, the $150,000 for the creation of an air quality specialist position.
Can you help us understand if that person will be studying the outside air or the air inside buildings or both?
I thank Mr. Joanasie for that question.
The information that we have down here is it’s the air quality outside buildings and, as I mentioned, dumps, dust, and those sorts of things.
We’re on page 8. Environment.
Operations and Maintenance. Not Previously Authorized. Total Program Management. $500,000.
Mr. Hickes: My apologies, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Joanasie touched on something that I understand, through most of the responses, it’s talking about outdoor air quality. In Minister Mike’s response, he quoted our facilities and environment.
Maybe I need a little bit more clarification on it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, it’s my understanding that indoor air quality would be something dealt with through CGS in office buildings and the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission’s workplace health hazard programs.
If Minister Mike has some additional information about what this position would do with indoor air quality and outdoor air quality, I defer to him to answer that question.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson. Minister Mike.
I did not say that a facility would be put up. I did not say that in Inuktitut.
I only stated that the federal government… . For air quality, dust, and dump smoke, if we had an air quality specialist position, then we would be able to set up air quality testing equipment.
We could have that available if we had a position.