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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you and the Members of this House to join with me in congratulating Joamie School staff and students and all Iqaluit residents for their support of Joamie over the last several months since the difficulty we had because of that tragic fire.
Speaker: Item 3, Members' Statements.
I am pleased to recognise, although they are not here, on behalf of one of the pages from Gjoa Haven, Charlie Ungahainaq is her brother and he is eight years old today and I would like to say happy birthday to him from your sister Sharon.
You are wished happy birthday as well and you have a good day today.
I would like to recognise two visitors from Newfoundland who are visiting family.
Ms. Clark from Victoria Newfoundland, and Wilson Reed from Winterton, Newfound Land.
Question 656 – 1(6): Public Tender to Negotiated Contract – Kivalliq Health Facility
Mr. Speaker, as you know there have been some questions around the health facility contract over the last little while.
Mr. Speaker, in response to my June 13th letter which was part of the tabled document that I received on June 30th, Minister Kattuk had indicated that the government and Public Works and Services was instructed to go and negotiate with the successful person, company, firm that has that contract now.
I would like to ask the Premier, based on that, why they went from a public tender to a negotiated contract?
I have said time and again, we will do our utmost to support Nunavut based companies, locally owned and that’s what we did.
We also had to manage a budget, as the Member so eloquently pointed out.
We have a tight budget fiscal situation and we try to reduce costs wherever we can and that’s what we did right here.
After looking at the costs, we felt we could save a little bit more and at the same time, spend the money in Nunavut for the people of Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Premier if it was the intent of the government, from what it sounds like, they entered into a contract with a local firm, why has in the past, it’s always been the case, they did not enter into a negotiated contract with the firm?
Hon. Paul Okalik: As I have said, we looked at the costs and felt that we could do better.
We could reduce costs and at the same time award a substantial contract to a Nunavut based company, locally owned, for the benefit of the tax payers.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not disputing the Minister’s comments, but I would like to know, if that was the intent of the government, why they bothered putting out a public tender in the first place, and not just go directly with a negotiated contract, if that was their intent.
Our intent was to go through the tender process and that’s what we went through but in looking at the overall costs of the projects and the price difference between a southern based company and a Nunavut based company, we felt that in the interest of tax payers and in the interest of spending more money in the territory, that it would be a better use of our resources to negotiate with a Nunavut based company.
Mr. Speaker, I know I questioned the Premier on this last week and one thing that I’ll be looking for later on is clarification.
He had mentioned in the media that it was a $17 million dollar contract and another $13 million contract. But, Mr. Speaker, under the government contract regulations, section 5 (2) of those regulations require the executive council to record its reasons for not awarding a contract to the lowest bidder.
Would the Premier be willing to table, in the interest of openness and transparency, the record of decision?
I have explained our reasons very clearly.
We support Nunavut based companies and we do our best to do that.
That is our job and we’re accountable for that.
The Member has been very adamant in holding us down for this particular decision and we have explained for it every single day almost.
And I don’t know what else I can do.
Question 657 – 1(6): Airline Choice for Patient Medical Travel
It’s okay to argue and debate and I enjoy watching debates.
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to the Keewatin patients who have to go for medical travel.
Is it up to the patients to decide which airline they want to use, not on an emergency flight but through a scheduled flight?
The Member has been to many debates in the House of Commons over the past several years and now in this Assembly.
I enjoyed the debate and I enjoyed the last one.
We need more debates like that.
So, I will rise to that challenge right here.
Mr. Speaker, no I’m not ready to debate the Member on that question.
If it’s an emergency medical flight, then we actually have a contract in place.
On scheduled traffic flights and I received a letter just recently from the Member from Coral Harbour.
I met with the representatives of First Air.
I know that other Members have met with them too.
Specifically I spoke about the jet service from Winnipeg and Mr. Speaker, where it is conducive to facilitate patients so that they will be better serviced by providing jet services on that route, then they will do it Mr. Speaker.
It doesn’t make any sense as the Member from Coral Harbour pointed to fly people in and out on a smaller plane, have them stopping in three or four different places, then having to overnight in a community when they could have actually got to their home community by going on the jet in one day.
So, Mr. Speaker, we will move forward expeditiously to facilitate that.
My question is not so much for the jet service but rather the care of the patients in regards to his or her feelings.
I am aware, I have been made aware of a patient who was leaving to go down, who had a choice between, in your case, Calm Air, which is either a project passenger or a 38 passenger plane with bathroom facilities or Kivalliq Air, which has a lot of the same with no bathroom facilities and the difference in cost was $50 more to go on Calm Air.
So, she was refused and had to go on Kivalliq Air and was told that because she had to go on Kivalliq Air and because she had problems with herself where bathroom facilities were available on Calm Air, she had to go on Kivalliq Air and was told by the nurse to bring along Depends rather than going on Calm Air for her, which she had preferred to do.
So, can he check into what the nurses and the people in health services are doing in terms of giving the patient a choice between going on one plane or another?
Mr. Speaker, part of the process we have gone through on the request for proposals for airline travel, number one was to provide the best level of service for the patients and the Member has just indicated to us that that is not occurring.
Indeed if a flight is leaving and does not have washroom facilities and then if there is a flight leaving at the same time, logistically and technically, then they should be able to get on the other flight if that is in the best interest of the patient.
So, Mr. Speaker, if the Member has the information, if they have the patient’s name and so on, then we can follow up on the case and we will direct the staff to ensure that instances like this do not occur again because that is not acceptable.
We apologize on behalf and for the Government and the Department of Health if the patient was put into a very difficult position, based on what the Member has said.
Mr. Anawak: Thank you. (interpretation): Yes, it is not acceptable when the patients do not have the choice to get on which airline.
As the Minister, I had asked the Minister a written question, I think it was last year and it is related to this issue.
There are some people on Calm Air, Kivalliq Air and First Air who travel from Winnipeg and there are scheduled flights from Winnipeg with those airlines.
I think it was last year that we heard that the patients coming back have to take Kivalliq Air, even though there were spaces available in First Air and Calm Air.
If the Minister is going to look into this issue, if perhaps if he can look into this also to ensure that the patients are given the option which airline they would like to use on their way home from Winnipeg.
Mr. Speaker, we have put in a set of standards for medical travel as well as scheduled medical travel.
Mr. Speaker, on that, those also include for scheduled travel, the standards include the issues around ticketing, faster customer services, experience of the company, operations and probably most important is patients’ safety and comfort.
One of the concerns that we have heard in the past was that no bathrooms available on flights, especially if the flight was more than an hour, then that was not acceptable.
If the person had the condition, Mr. Speaker, which means that they should have access to a washroom facility and there are two planes on the ground and the plane is leaving and has the facilities, then by all means, Mr. Speaker, the person who is doing the referral for the patient should have the cognitive ability to be able to put the patient on the plane that is most suitable.
We do have a contract in place that we are facilitating the Kivalliq Air for scheduled medical travel.
However, that does not preclude any opportunity when there are equal planes on the ground, that the plane on the ground has the facilities available for the patient and therefore and thus, Mr. Speaker, that patient should have an opportunity to take that plane.
Again, we will make sure that that is enforced.
The Member has some legitimate concerns.
And if I had that information that the Member has in writing then I will be able to review that case specifically, and make sure that no other case raises its head.
Then I would like to thank the Minister for his response, but also I would like to have the Minister ensure that what he is saying is carried out in the field out there.
Send a Director to the Department of Health in various areas as well, so that they can pass on his directive to the nurses to ensure that patients who are not special needs patients, do have that choice.
Mr. Speaker, like I said, in instances, in cases like the Member had described, then we will make sure that the best vehicle, airline, plane is available for the patient’s use.
That is what we are committing to.
In most cases, Mr. Speaker, when patients who are going for medical travel, it could be they have a tonsillectomy, for example, then we use the ticketed agents, the airline of choice from the RFP.
Question 658 – 1(6): Location of Liquor Commission Staff (Liquor Board)
I did not expect you to call my name.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister responsible for the Liquor Commission in Nunavut made a Ministers’ Statement that there would be a Liquor Warehouse in Rankin Inlet.
Mr. Speaker, I listened to the Ministers’ Statement yesterday. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for the Liquor Commission.
Where did you locate the staff for the Liquor Commission?
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Statement yesterday, for the new warehouse proposed in Rankin Inlet, there will be an expectation that there will be two additional individuals who will staff that operation.
I would like to just clarify for the Member that on the ‘Footprints 2’ model, in respect to the Liquor Commission, or the Liquor Board, I think that the Member is probably more referencing the Liquor Board support that was considered for Gjoa Haven at the time of the establishment of the new Government.
Yes, it is true what the Minister has just said.
I wanted to speak on this issue in regards to the Tumiit II Report.
I remember the plans contained in the Tumiit II Report.
So therefore I would like to ask the Minister why the Liquor Board staff is being relocated other than Gjoa Haven.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister responsible why they are trying to relocate the Liquor Board outside of Gjoa Haven, if you can understand my question.
Mr. Speaker, in fact there was an effort made, and there was an individual hired from Gjoa Haven for the position of the Manager of the Liquor Board.
Subsequent to that, the individual resigned from Gjoa Haven.
The competition went out again, and there were not any qualified candidates for that position.
I met with the Nunavut Liquor Board subsequent to that hiring process where there was no successful applicant, and discuss the matter with them.
As the Member knows, Mr. Raymond Qamukak, is chairman of the Nunavut Liquor Board and he is a resident of Gjoa Haven.
They have requested that we provide administrative support to them on a temporary basis here in Iqaluit where there are a bit more resources available to support the Board, recognizing in long term that they will still move to establish those offices in Gjoa Haven in the future.
Supplementary. Mr. Puqiqnak
As a Member for that area and I live in that community and I understand exactly what’s happening in that community, the plans contain how many positions there will be and the community themselves were expecting to see these positions.
They are still expecting to see these positions.
I would like to ask the Minister, if there are going to be new positions being relocated, the ones you were going to decentralized to Gjoa Haven, will something else have to be put in place with respect to the agreement?
Mr. Speaker, I’ve indicated earlier that specifically to the Nunavut Liquor Board support staff, there are still plans in the future to establish them in Gjoa Haven.
Having said that, you know that decentralization is a government-wide initiative.
Liquor Board positions are very small, are a small part of that and if there is need for adjustment because of the decentralization plans of the government, I’m sure the Premier or the Minister who’s responsible now and in the future will deal with that issue in the Assembly or government level.
Thank you to the Minister for his understanding on this matter.
However, there were expectations regarding the Liquor Board that there would be new employment opportunities and now they are planning to relocate these positions after they raised their expectations in my community.
And now I understand the Minister’s statement that there would be other new positions, but I’m wondering if the Minister can say when those new positions would be created for Gjoa Haven to replace those ones that are being relocated. Any idea?
Mr. Speaker, I can’t say today definitely when that would happen.
I can say the government has by and large addressed the large majority of the decentralize positions in Gjoa Haven quite successfully.
I understand you are one of the first communities really to reach their targets and should be applauded for that particularly given the hires work from community.
And having said that, it’s really up to the next government, the next MLA and the Member himself will be back here to deal with that matter and to ensure that it is followed up on that matter.
Oral Questions. Mr. Iqaqrialu
Question 659 – 1(6): Identify Contractors as Nunavut Based Tenders
Ministers, the Cabinet Members who deal with lot of stress in their job even with that it does pass thankfully.
My question is directed to the Premier regarding the contracting policy of the government.
For Nunavummiut, how do you know whether they are identified as a Nunavut based company?
The Department of Public Works and Services looks after that and has a list of Nunavut based businesses.
They have identified whether they are Inuit firms or not according to the land claims agreement and they do have a list of the Nunavut owned businesses and Inuit firms.
Do you look into whether or not, on that list of companies, how the process is done to ensure that it is actually a true Inuit owned company?
Do you know for sure that it is an Inuit owned firm?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): My apologies but I don’t understand his question.
Can you please clarify?
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): My apologies Mr. Speaker, for the unclear question.
What I am asking him is that there are different ways that companies are composed, through contract and so on, at times the companies that have an Inuk front, and that is truly not Inuit owned.
So, how do you identify whether it’s actually an Inuit firm?
The Department of Public Works is responsible for that and ensuring that the companies that claim to be Inuit and Nunavut based, are actually Inuit based and they do have checks and balances to ensure that.
Through the Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated business administration, they are supposed to be identified through that process.
Thank you, for the response.
I’d also like some clarification regarding the future businesses in Nunavut that they get Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated listed as an Inuit owned firm.
What does the Government of Nunavut do in conjunction with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated on that matter?
According to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, we work with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and their Inuit firm status listing.
There are different types of ownership that are categorized and recognised under the land claims and if Inuit ownership is over 51 percent, then they can be recognized as an Inuit owned firm.
There are different categories that businesses can fall into according to the type of ownership they have and that is done through the Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Inuit owned registry and that is what we used in the selection of our contractors.
Thus, does the Department of Public Works know and have a list of the Nunavut Inuit owned businesses at the Department of Public Works, so that they know who are eligible and are participants in the businesses in Nunavut?
The Department of Public Works makes that list publicly available.
They have made it available on their website.
It states where they are headquartered and what the percentage of their Inuit employees are.
This type of information is compiled by the Department of Public Works as well.
Question 660 – 1(6): Concerns Raised on Same Sex Marriage in Nunavut
In my constituency there are three communities that I represent that depend highly on the Nunavut Government Acts.
He stated earlier regarding same sex couples, that it is the authority and jurisdiction of the Federal Government, and he stated in his Ministers’ Statement that there are three provinces in Canada that have been challenging this in the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Minister is a lawyer and is aware of the legal ramifications of this issue, and I am glad that he is keeping up-to-date with this issue.
So my question is while those three provinces in Canada have formed an opinion, why is Nunavut not voicing what their concerns are?
This was before the Courts by the provinces and we were not part of that challenge because it was in the court system; we really had no say because we were not a party to it; we are not a part of it.
In English, this question will probably not will mean much in Inuktitut.
When will the Nunavut Government stand up and voice what the views are and not just follow after the provinces and stand alone as a territory, and say this is what our views are?
When are we going to make our views known as Nunavut to the Federal Government?
As I stated earlier, the right is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.
We can say whatever we want about it but until it is dealt with we cannot really have a say on it because we do not really have the authority.
If we had the authority then we can say whatever we wanted and make our views known whenever we wanted and that is unfortunate but we are going to wait until the court challenge is dealt with and not have a statement regarding this matter from Nunavut until it is dealt with through the courts.
Mr. Speaker, I am sorry.
I would like to ask the Minister that since we’ve been dealing with this issue, whether he has received any correspondence or any concerns voiced to him because we have heard on the media about what the Inuit feelings are towards this matter.
The statements made by Inuit so far, how strong is their message and what has the Minister done about it?
Yes, we have heard of some differing views.
If we had not heard of it we would be recognizing same sex marriage within Nunavut.
Because we know that there is a lot of opposition out there, we will not and do not have the authority and jurisdiction in this matter.
If they say so in the Supreme Court of Canada, then we will follow in their footsteps according to that.
We are not going to just go out of our way to do the opposite of what Nunavummiut want.
In his response, he said that church ministers will not be forced to recognise same sex marriages in his Ministers' Statement.
So I would like to ask him once again, when do you expect the Supreme Court or the Federal Government decision, when will Nunavut have their separate view?
We have our government and our own bill should be out there as well.
Perhaps, under the constitution, the status of same sex marriage is determined by the Federal Government.
I don’t know how else to say it.
Maybe she doesn’t understand the legal stand point.
We as a government do not have the jurisdiction over this matter.
I don’t know how to say it any other way, except that we as the Government of Nunavut do not have that authority.
Perhaps, if we were not a part of Canada anymore, we can come up with our own constitution and set of laws.
But, we have to follow by what the Canadian government sets.
As aboriginal people, we have a separate recognition of our rights and provinces as well have the right and set of laws and we have to follow those.
Question 661 – 1(6): Scientific Studies to Include Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
I have a bad voice.
I’m sorry, but I will try my best.
My question is regarding an earlier statement about the inclusion of elders in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, so, it is a question for the Sustainable Development Minister.
When there is a study of wildlife in the territory, is the inclusion of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit made along with the scientific data?
Close to Kugaaruk there is an absence of caribou at this time of year and scientists are going to say that no caribou left, when in fact the caribou will return during the migration.
So, I’m just wondering how much of the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is included in these studies.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Thank you for finally asking of me.
It’s been a while since I stood up during question period.
During the study of caribou, we would like to have this knowledge for the future and the Qamanittuaq herd is also being studied at this point.
There was also a study being done in the Coral Harbour area, but it is not completed yet.
We have stated as a Government that Inuit would be involved in the study of any wildlife and that they have to be included as participants in any study of any wildlife because they know best about the wildlife and the migration patterns and stuff like this.
We want this further recognized in the future so that it is common place for Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit to be included in all studies in the future.
Thank you, to the Minister for his response.
As well, I would like to ask him further, in our area, they’re aware of the caribou migration pass.
I keep using caribou but there are other wildlife as well that Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit can be applied to.
In September they move away from the area and then in May, start coming back to our area.
During the winter, they are around the area as well but I’m wondering how much of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is used in those studies.
Yes, as I stated, we will involve the communities more during these studies and that the knowledge of those communities will be recognised with reference to the caribou migration routes, not only caribou, but other wildlife as well.
We will strive to include Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in any way possible because we recognise that they are more knowledgeable in this area.
Thank you to the Minister.
There is a lot of knowledge out there that elders have not only on wildlife but about the land as well.
I’m really grateful that they will be included in those studies and will be a big part of these studies.
When you hear Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, then it means the whole thing.
And so, these studies will be more complete if the scientific and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit methods are used so, will that continue?