EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Indeed, the funding the member stated was not enough is true and we can’t fund all requests. We would prefer to have more funding, but these funds are generally used for appropriate means.
Since we are dealing with cultural matters, we are preserving our culture and trying to preserve it for future generations.
A program that would be applied in all communities is not a path we have taken. However, when communities request assistance, then these projects generally are managed at the local level quite successfully.
We try to ensure that we retain some funds to put towards these programs.
If an application is made, then the criteria are checked for compatibility and, if approved, then the funding would be disbursed.
Excellent news to hear that funding is available.
The reason why I am commenting is because groups are put together, such as training workshops, as written here. What I want to state is that this is our government and the funding is specific to the residents of Nunavut. Some communities may go through dangerous situations requiring further assistance.
Any hunter who is on the land goes through dangerous areas.
Anyone hunting can go through risky areas, even if you are an experienced hunter. (interpretation ends) It’s a risky job (interpretation) and we have no insurance, no liability insurance, no life insurance, so you hunt at your own risk.
Due to risks involved, we have to teach our youth how to hunt and survive, both from ourselves and this government.
I would like to see some kind workshops offered on these skills. The government employees should not just collect their pay, but provide these workshops and include them in these reports.
We should make this a local initiative, especially programs about culture and survival, because we have to improve the future of our youth. Can the minister consider that so that their programs are more available to the community, to try to encourage more youth to deal with their emotional problems, and to provide emotional support, including survival skills? If it is a group of men being taught, you can train them in both hunting and in emotional support.
There was an elder in Rankin Inlet who used to teach survival skills and sometimes he would sit them down and then speak about suicide prevention issues, emotional problems, and not to dwell on these problems.
The trainees were very happy to speak about this and they respected that elder.
So I would urge you to support more of these programs.
Hon. James Arreak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank the member for being concerned about his constituents.
I am in support of that. We will try to ensure that initiative is moved forward, specifically relating to survival skills.
We also make funding available specifically for on-the-land training exercises.
There is also a training program that is being delivered and the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School will now have courses on that.
If a person wants to get trained in particular skills, they can go take those courses and go back to their home community and teach what they have been taught.
Now, we have heard about the dog team trips lasting for a period of four weeks to ensure that youth are taught how to look after a dog team.
There are some programs that have been developed as a result of community requests.
Every community has the ability to create a program geared towards very specific challenges, and we are collaborating with various other departments and communities if they so wish to develop these types of programs.
When our employees go to a community, they generally go on the local radio to speak to programs that are available and provide assistance to the groups wishing to apply for funding. If they are unable to apply due to the lack of proposal writing skills, our employees can provide training and assistance on the proper way to write up a proposal to ensure a successful proposal when they are in the communities.
Yes, respecting elders and youth as per the mandate of the CLEY department, elders and youth issues are under the minister’s portfolio.
Historically, in our community of Kugaaruk, the elders and youth were provided a facility by the Nunavut government that was to be a meeting place.
This was the (interpretation ends) elders’ and youth centre, (interpretation) administered by the Hamlet of Kugaaruk specifically for the use of the community.
Although this Legislative Assembly is not responsible for the administration of the hamlets, under the block funding agreements, the Department of Community and Government Services provides funding to the hamlets and they manage their buildings.
The building set aside for the elders’ and youth centre was reallocated to another group and I regret that this happened.
I have youth in my extended family since most of my children are now grown, but my grandchildren are mostly in their youth. The elders who taught me about life in Kugaaruk are all elderly and I must thank them for those lessons.
It’s unfortunate that this proposed facility was reallocated. Based on my understanding, the elders and youth would have closed the generation gap, but this decision places them apart. There is no longer a place where the elders and youth can get together.
I believe the Nunavut government, at least within each hamlet, should carefully consider this.
There should be a facility in every community specifically for elders and youth. When that kind of a facility is removed, the opportunity for elders to teach the youth is also taken away.
Again, you widen the chasm between the elders and youth.
Mr. Chairman, I have a cap with “GAP” on the front.
The meaning of the word is “separation.”
I certainly hope that these facilities, such as the elders and youth centre, are noted for their importance to each community.
I want all the communities to recognize the challenges.  We are in the middle, at least those of us sitting here in this legislature.
Perhaps in my case, I am leaning closer to the elders’ category.
I’m sorry that I have coined myself as an elder publicly.
However, I am a representative of both elders and youth.
Let us go and provide more assistance to the elders and youth as representatives of Nunavut residents. Let’s work together with our hamlet representatives and let’s try not to widen the gap between the elders and youth. Let’s try to close that gap between the generations.
I just wanted to comment on that and I don’t have any questions to the minister.
Although I didn’t hear a question, perhaps you would like to make a comment, Mr. Minister.
I totally understand the member’s encouragement to every community to look at closing the gap.
There is funding available specifically for elders’ and youth facilities.
We do provide some operational funding for those types of facilities, but we don’t have any funding for construction or fuel and electricity.
We do have funding for the operation of the facility, although we can’t pay for all the expenses. If there is such a facility in a community that’s geared towards elders and youth and they apply for operational funding, we will provide assistance.
However, we don’t actually provide the facility and we don’t provide funding to purchase a building.
My colleague from Rankin Inlet raised a question and I want to continue with that idea.
In your business plan, it states that you will be conducting more oral history recordings. Is the contribution funding that has been allocated for this fiscal year specifically for recording?
How many communities is it geared towards? Are you looking at continuing this program?
Let me first get information on this question, Mr. Chairman.
Oral history recording will continue and this will provide a really good foundation as well as a resource for future generations.
At this time, although we have recorded a lot of elders in most of our communities, we are returning to some communities where elders have been recorded and we’re also recording different elders.
Perhaps my Deputy Minister, Mr. Awa, can provide a bit more detail.
I just want to comment that in the communities, which I believe is the case in the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq regions, we have identified some positions for the people who will record these stories.
Usually, our employees within the CLEY department can’t visit very many communities due to their limited number.
What we usually do is hire a local person on an hourly basis to conduct recordings of the elders for a period of a week or two.
Just recently, we identified a number of temporary hires who will conduct the recordings of the elders, where we selected individuals and signed off their hourly wage agreements.
However, at this time, we have not identified how many communities will be getting coverage via this initiative, but we hope to have that soon.
Can the minister outline this so I can envision this process? Once the elder is recorded, then what?
With this recording, where will it be housed? What is the purpose of the recording and who uses it?
Will it be transcribed?
Will it be published?
What will they be using these recordings for? Why are these recordings being recorded?
Let me understand that first. After the recording of the elder, what happens then?
Minister Arreak, can you please provide an outline to Mr. Tapardjuk.
I can’t really give him what he wants, but Mr. Awa can do that.
Chairman (interpretation): Mr. Awa, could you do that, please.
Mr. Awa (interpretation): Let me say first, as it was brought up previously, I recall the statement that people who are intimately knowledgeable of Inuit culture and practices are disappearing at a rapid rate.
This is quite true.
Prior to too many elders passing away, we wanted to record their oral history and life experiences. What we wanted to try to retain is the invaluable history and knowledge of these elders so as not to lose it. With that as our foundation, one of the primary goals is to record Inuit traditions, culture, and their practices so that we will have a documented history of Inuit.
The first step is to record the history.
A later utilization of these tapes or recordings is possible, as they can be used in the schools for children, as well as elders. All the recorded information is being documented.
They are documented unrevised and they are recorded verbatim on paper. We haven’t completed that part yet.
Even though they are being documented, we are also recording this information on CDs.
With those CDs, we can make many copies at minimal cost and those CDs could be made available to anyone who would like to learn about Inuit history. They would be instantly available.
These are the main purposes for our plans for these recordings, but I don’t know whether I have provided a picture to the member and, if not, I apologize in advance. Hopefully he now understands the purpose and goals of these recordings.
There are many reasons, obviously, for recording these histories.
Let’s say I wanted to research the traditional names of the months and I wanted to use the Kitikmeot region since I already know the Foxe Basin wording for the months.
If I wanted to make a comparison to find out about the Kitikmeot traditional names of the months, since Inuit recognize 13 months in a calendar year, how would I be able to discern the place where this information lies?
Would I have to listen to all the Kitikmeot recordings to find this out? Where would I find the month and names of each month?
I still don’t quite understand this aspect.
How are these tapes indexed? If I wanted to find this out and went for assistance to your department to find out the traditional Kitikmeot terms and I asked for this information, would your department be able to divulge this information?
Ask Ms. Jeannie Ugyuk.
Yes, the other matter I referred to was the living dictionary.
In Inuktitut, it is called “Uumajut,” and you can reference it and it is available to the public through the website or by contacting our offices to request the information. The answer could be provided quickly if you wanted to know the term for the month of June. They can check it on the website or if you prefer, you can check it out yourself via the website.
We also have Asuilaak, which is another database to access that type of information.
If what you’re looking for is not available, you can call the Kitikmeot Inuit who would know or alternatively, it is up to you to try to get that information.
We have these options to either do some of the research or if you prefer to do that yourself, it is your prerogative to check with Inuit who speak other dialects as to the term.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): Okay. Why is it then we are trying to approve the appropriations for these recording?
The minister’s response did not fit into the appropriations in front of us. I thought that part of the department’s mandate was to provide services.
I was told that if I really want to know a particular word, I can personally call the Kitikmeot district to find that out.
Look, these funds we are trying to appropriate are for your department to provide these services to our residents. The department wanted these funds to undertake these recordings, but if we approve them and personally want to know, we have to call our fellow Kitikmeot Inuit.
These funds you are asking to be appropriated are for these services.
Mr. Chairman, I would like your assistance. What is happening here? What is the minister trying to say, Mr. Chairman?
Perhaps the minister can respond to that.
What I was trying to say is that each of us has the discretion to either use the formal system or our own efforts.
However, we are trying to fund this so that we can work with communities and to have monies for the temporary workers. Further, we have funds available for these projects if local people would like to undertake recording Inuit oral history.
I didn’t literally mean that the member has to research this on his own. It is up to you to use an avenue or source where you can access the information. You can either do it yourself or have somebody else look for you.
Furthermore, we want to hire employees as well as casuals to assist us in doing these tasks as we will make this available to the public.
If that didn’t occur, then members would raise questions about why these tasks were not undertaken and why we don’t fund these projects, even though we could have.
If these monies are approved, we would have ongoing programs and enhance the existing programs we have available to the public. Like so, anyone can use any type of avenue to access information that is available out there. We cannot manage other departments or people, as we can all initiate our own personal research.
If there’s funding available and if these appropriations that we are requesting are approved, then we can provide programs that people would like funded, not just those advocated by the Members of the Legislative Assembly.
Our fellow Inuit and constituents clamour for certain programs. We also state that elders and youth will be our focus and this is part of these assistance efforts towards that.
The department is requesting appropriation for these funds, according to these documents, to record our elders’ oral histories.
Why do we have to go that route when providing funding?
These funds the government contributes should be answerable to my questions about the exact usage of this fund where it states, “the recordings of elders,” and that was the basis for my question. If I want to understand the meaning of the months, could I access the recording to find out?
What I was told is that Asuilaak and the living dictionary are good sources of data. That information is already there.
What I was going to raise is that if I want to look up the definitions of the Kitikmeot Inuit dialectal terms for the months via these recordings, how could the department assist my research efforts?
Would they provide help? That was my question. I was told that I would have to personally check with the Kitikmeot Inuit.
So why is the department requesting this funding, even though we have expectations of the provision of service towards this end?
That was why I wanted an understandable answer. How does the department accomplish this service?
If I wanted to find out about the meaning of the months based on the departmental archival recordings, then how can I look for this specific item?
Do I have to listen to every recording in the Kitikmeot region to find out the seasons or months? That would probably be several recordings with these items.
Do I have to personally conduct research to find out the meaning of the seasons?
Do I have to do my own indexing?
When I asked for the exact purpose of this funding the department is requesting, I didn’t get an appropriate response and that is what caused my confusion on this matter, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, the Member for Amittuq may have overlooked the departmental line to call our offices for assistance on issues.
I tried to say that if he calls our offices, then an immediate answer can be provided. That is what I tried to respond with.
You can even call collect or toll-free to our offices.
We can check through that avenue.
However, I kept reiterating the reason why I responded the way I did.
Everyone has freedom to pursue their own research efforts. I was not saying that I am urging you to check out the Kitikmeot.
Instead, you can start with calling our offices. This includes a query if you want to listen to any of the recordings.
You have that opportunity and ability. We have made them available to the public.
As we stated, the recordings are being transcribed where the recordings can be listened to and transferred to CDs.
These archival recordings are available to anyone and this has continued to date. We want to record the histories of our aging adults as well as our elders and we want their histories recorded by our part-time workers in the communities.
We are not saying no, that our office can’t assist with these types of requests.
What we’re saying is that you have to check with our office and based on your discretionary judgment, you can check any other source of information.
However, this funding is specifically for part-time workers to record the elders’ oral histories.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): Using this example will help illustrate why I am trying to understand this aspect.
I personally used to work in this field as an oral history recorder and recorded over 540 hours of elders’ histories.
I had to also convert them into English, created a database, and transcribed them in Inuktitut with an index.
If I wanted to check a particular month of the moon, let’s say, for the Kitikmeot term, I just need to query the computer database.
It is very easy and would take just five minutes to complete.
What I was trying to ask was whether or not these recordings are just being stockpiled by your department.
I would like to thank my previous Annuraaqatik.
I also thank him for having recorded 540 hours of Inuit oral history, as he stated.
It is commendable and it is good to hear that the member did this type of work, as I imagine that information is useful for many people.
Yes, when gathering these recordings, we keep trying to state that they are not just being stockpiled; they are being transcribed with transcribing equipment.
The recordings are also available for public use with the right media, copies are available at the libraries, and the schools should have copies of the more recent recordings.
The written copies are made available in the communities via computers.
These recordings are not just being buried and deposited with no access by anybody. We are making the data available for everybody who wants to access this information.
The public funding appropriated for this is not so that these important pieces of information are just archived.
We are on page F-7.
Elders and Youth. Total Operations and Maintenance. $2,168,000.
Now turn to page F-8.
Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. I’m sorry, but I’m on the wrong page. I apologize.
Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. Branch Summary. Sport and Recreation.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $5,751,000.
Going right along.
Page F-9. (interpretation ends) Branch Summary. Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
In your main estimates, you have identified $3,379,000 for the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School.
Does that include the satellite campuses in Igloolik and Baker Lake?
In the same page, a fund of $300,000 is identified specifically for preserving the best practices of Inuit culture.
This is for providing traditional methods of counselling, anything related to Inuit cultural practices, such as improving the required skills to be an Inuk, or when couples experience relationship issues, these funds are for counselling the couple, for repairing their relationship without a court battle, but through Inuit traditional methods. Is this money specifically for that?
The funds we’re requesting aren’t specifically for that.
If it’s not geared towards that, what specifically do you want that funding for?
We have to understand the reason for your funding request.
The funding we have requested has a description at the top and it explains what the funding will be used for.
It includes our business plan and that is the reason why we requested that funding for approval.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): My constituents in Igloolik and Hall Beach don’t have this information in front of them.
Can the minister at least make that statement clearly so that everybody can hear?
We work hard on behalf of our constituents and we try to make sure that they have all the information using different media.
My deputy can elaborate on what this funding is going to be used for.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Minister. (interpretation ends) Deputy Minister.
The member’s viewpoint of the $300,000 item is correct in that it is specifically for communities.
The funds are for the community, elders’ committees, or anyone who wants to assist people into becoming more culturally adept as Inuit outside of the court system using traditional conflict resolution.
If they want to undertake these Inuit cultural practices or if they want to undertake traditional methods, then this funding would be available if this appropriation was approved.
This is specifically for dealing with Inuit conflict resolution outside of the court system.
The issue I wanted clarified is now understandable.
However, the minister and his deputy seem to be stating opposing views.
The minister is saying that it is not for that purpose while the deputy minister seemed to indicate otherwise.
Down the road, can they ensure they are singing the same song and not two songs?
I didn’t hear a question. Even though I believe it is just a comment, Mr. Minister, if you wish to respond.
Yes, it is for teaching Inuit cultural skills. However, it is more for processes outside of the court system. I was simply stating that it is for outside the court system and what I tried to differentiate in my response.
The details within our fund request that were identified by my deputy are correct.
We are on page F-9. (interpretation end) Branch Summary. Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $4,726,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Let’s go back to page F-3. (interpretation ends) Department Summary. Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $27,942,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Do we agree that the review of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth is concluded?
Mr. Minister, do you have any closing remarks? Mr. Minister.
I also thank my colleagues for raising their questions on issues they feel strongly about.
It is obvious that culture is a very big factor in Nunavut and we all want to preserve our culture, language, and traditions.
It is quite obvious to me that a lot of members are very passionate about this.
All of your questions and comments related to how you want to make improvements will not just be thrown away and have been taken note of.
I also thank my Deputy Minister, Simon Awa, Michael, and our other officials for all the hard work that they do.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Minister and your officials. Thank you.
>>Committee recessed at 14:49 and resumed at 15:15
Bill 24 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2012-2013 – Human Resources – Consideration in Committee