EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
And, there are a number of people, teachers, who come up north to teach but they are retired teachers. They don’t have the same eagerness or anticipation of teaching the children well.
For those teachers who have the jobs, who are not qualified, that is one of the things where the students are kind of hesitant to attend school.
This is one of the factors that should be looked at more by the Department of Education and those teachers might be teaching something wrong but they don’t realize it. This should be looked at further in our communities.
Member’s Statement 036 – 2(3): Golf Club Donations (Kilabuk)
As he just said, about National Child Day, (interpretation ends) I rise today to inform the House of the generous support Pangnirtung youth and children, and Nunavut, as a whole, have received during my Golf Club Donation Drive.
Almost two months ago while traveling to Winnipeg for meetings; I came across a colleague of mine who initiated a chain of emails asking for unused golf clubs from the Ottawa area that they may be able to donate.
A couple of days later we were getting ten phone calls from all over the country from people and youth wanting to donate golf clubs, balls, and equipment.
Mind you, we even had offers for a couple of golf carts, some mountain bikes, and artificial greens, which due to transportation costs, we, unfortunately, could not accept.
At the end of our two-week’s donation drive we had over a thousand golf clubs, over 8,000 golf balls, and other equipment that kids badly needed.
All this equipment had to be transported, of course, up here and First Air generously offered to fly the equipment from Ottawa to Nunavut.
On top of this, Rick Lefebvre, who I had the pleasure of recognizing the House earlier this week, is also holding a golf clinic in Pangnirtung for the kids in the new year. Plus and individual from the Gallis Law firm is holding a clinic for the kids again in the summer.
To top this all off Mr. Speaker, four youth from Pangnirtung will go to the Annual Cisco Golf Tournament in Ottawa in the 16 years and under category.
Mr. Speaker, this promises to be a very good Christmas when I give the clubs to the kids and the youth of Pangnirtung, especially for those whose parents may have no wage income or for those who cannot afford the expensive equipment through no fault of their own.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve also made sure the other youth and kids from other communities will benefit from this drive. I have packed a couple to a few complete sets for each of my colleagues to take back home to give to the youth and kids for Christmas who, again, may not have otherwise been able to afford the equipment.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, this was all made possible with the assistance and effort of Janice Brady of Ottawa who I stand today to thank along with all those who donated to this worthy cause, which youth and kids from all Nunavut will appreciate.
With that Mr. Speaker I want to end by saying Tiger Woods here we come.
Member's Statement 037 – 2(3): GN Office Closure Standards During Blizzards (Curley)
I rise today to inform my colleagues that this morning in Rankin and maybe in other Keewatin communities that there a strong winds up to 40 kilometres and expected to go up to 60 to 80 kilometres, but they are still in school.
The public servants are working and people are working.
Mr. Speaker, I want to make a point that the policies they use are inconsistent with the other regions, like in Iqaluit they close the buildings when it doesn’t seem to be so windy or even the schools like yesterday.
So for that reason I wonder if the government can make policies that are consistent throughout Nunavut and not just in one particular area.
We should be concerned about the safety of those public servants and the students so for that reason I will be asking the government if they can make rules or policies when there is bad weather because they have to try and go to school even in bad weather.
So for that reason our children and our public servants shouldn’t be in any kind of danger.
I wonder if this can be considered by all the members.
Member's Statement 038 – 2(3): Aboriginal Veterans Ceremony in Belgium (Aglukkaq)
Before I do my Member’s Statement, I, too, want to send my condolences to Ovide Alakannuark and as well to Luke Nuliayok’s family in Gjoa Haven. He also passed away yesterday.
Mr. Speaker, I want to highlight an event that took place in France and Belgium in honour of aboriginal veterans that fought in both World Wars. A number of Nunavummiut elders and youth accompanied aboriginal veterans representing the various nations throughout Canada.
I’d like to recognize my mother who was part of the events and she is also a member the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Katimajiit, and was one of the participants from Nunavut. She led the ceremonies at the Canadian War cemetery in Normandy.
Mr. Speaker, aboriginal people played an important role in helping all Canadians maintain a freedom we currently enjoy.
I would like to thank Anaanaga Miriam Aglukkaq, Peter Irniq, Sylvia Sharp, Kuttaq Irniq, Lois Suluk, Pauline Pemik, and Delilah Niqsurlaaq for paying tribute to the veterans and for representing all Nunavummiut at this important ceremony.
Member’s Statement 039 – 2(3): Art of Politics (Netser)
Mr. Netser (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) In light of the fact what my colleague from Rankin Inlet North just said about setting up policies with respect to stormy days, I would just like to say something humorous and it’s dedicated to the Cabinet side of the House.
I hope they don’t take it personally and it’s the ‘Art of Politics.’
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.
Member’s Statement 040 – 2(3): Accomplishment of Inuit on Designations (Tootoo)
I would like to make a statement today acknowledging another first for Inuit.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance indicated that a gentleman by the name of Victor Tootoo, I don’t know who he is, who was the first Inuk to get his accounting designation.
And Mr. Speaker, sitting directly across from me in this House is the first Inuk to be a lawyer.
Also, Mr. Speaker, today I heard on the radio, this morning, and I know that the father is sitting back there in the interpretation booth, that Atiima’s son Thomas became, last week, the first Inuk to get a doctorate in Geology.
So I would like to congratulate him and acknowledge his hard work and the dedication that he received from his family over the long time it took for him to achieve that.
Mr. Speaker, it had also been pointed out on the radio this morning that NTI provided Thomas with a congratulatory plaque and $1,000.
Mr. Speaker, I know that over the last four years, this individual received nothing from the Department of Education to support him in achieving this great goal in furthering his education and becoming another first in Nunavut.
I remember last month I questioned the minister about looking into loopholes and things like this in the FANS Program and he had indicated, at that time, and I’ll quote his words, “yes” that he would.
I look forward to questioning him to see if this first student achieving a doctorate without any support over the last four years from the Department of Education will be the last time that happens.
This morning, I would like to recognize an individual from Coral Harbour who is here in Iqaluit to review the Wildlife Act.
He has been the Chair of the HTO for the last nine years, Willy Nakoolak. I would like to welcome him to the Gallery, Mr. Speaker.
Question 032 – 2(3): Provide Details of I.T. Contract (Curley)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Education. I believe it was on Wednesday that I asked him some questions about the I.T. technicians in the schools and whether his department is going to be supporting the schools.
I am very pleased that the minister is going to be looking into the issue.
At this point, the minister stated that the Community and Government Services and other government departments are there to give support to the communities in regard to computers.
I will say his response in English. (interpretation ends) The minister responded to one of my questions, it stated, “We also contract for public works Community and Government Services.”
I would like the minister to provide the details of that contract to this House.
As I was saying in answer to member’s question, different departments of the government, the government is one as a whole.
The quick answer is there is usually an as and when contract in place.
For example, if the government departments are having issues with its equipment, whether that’s computer equipment, or other equipment within the school, or in a government department, then usually the department is responsible, in this case it would be probably Community and Government Services that deal with public works, under that and then we would provide staff to help facilitate that.
If that is not available, then the department, in this case the Department of Education or a school, has the opportunity within, for example, it could be through the DEA budget, or other school services, or the regional office, to be able to contract the private sector, if it was needed, to be able to help out in that type of incidence.
Mr. Curley: I appreciate that explanation, but it is, in fact, that if there is an existing contract between Public Works and Government Services, that this policy is fully applied and should be understood by the community because, I am responding and I wanted to explain to the minister, you received a letter from the DEA in July stating that the Chairman of the DEA at Rankin Inlet stated to you in one paragraph, “I have been informed by the Informatics Division of Community and Government Services in Rankin Inlet that they will not involve themselves as technical support of any type at Rankin Inlet’s three schools.”
Why is there such a discrepancy between the services you say the contract exists to provide services? And maybe it’s not the same as the headquarters in Iqaluit.
I was talking about inter-service cooperation between government departments.
When we look at inter-service cooperation between government departments it follows the whole range, and the member is correct, that should be in place.
For example, if there was an emergency and one department had equipment that the other department needed, then you would be able to help facilitate that between the two government departments.
In this case, there was a concern raised in Rankin Inlet where capacity, it might have stated that once there is a capacity issue with the I.T. services, that they weren’t able to supply those services all the time, as it were, probably to the schools in Rankin Inlet.
The letter, as the member raised, was I think it was in July and the school wasn’t in.
Within the budget, and I recognized the issue with I.T. support, that’s something that we are working on within the Department of Education, is to try to fund those positions.
As we said in the House that you actually need dedicated I.T. professionals or staff within the department to be able to provide the logistic, administrative, and computer support to the schools.
I don’t want confuse the questions here but I do appreciate the minister for attempting to clarify the existing policies and current practice of provide computer technician services to the three schools in Rankin Inlet.
The District Education Authority stated to you that Community and Government Services has stated that all set requirements were to be handled by the Department of Education.
Now, my question is: which one of the versions is correct?
The contract that stated existed but the Community and Government Services has stated that they will not provide any services any longer and such a requirement would be handled by your department.
Could you clarify that information to the schools of Rankin Inlet and to this House please?
We have responded to that letter in July to the member and tried to clarify exactly what had occurred.
In this case, in Rankin Inlet the schools had requested I.T. help within the school itself.
My understanding is that Community and Government Services were there to try and to help facilitate that. But after that they acknowledged that with their workload in the community they weren’t able to respond to all calls at all the schools because of other issues that they had within other government departments.
In this case, when you have I.T. support for example in one of the departments they usually try and help the other departments - no different in what we call the Helpdesk where technicians will service the Legislative Assembly or the other areas of government.
Mr. Speaker, that contract we talked about is not a written contract. It’s an as-and-when. There is a convention in government for inter-service help within the department that the Member is aware of.
I think the bigger issue and I think the member is correct is that Department of Education needs to have dedicated I.T. specialists on the ground and in place so that we can actually help and provide those services to our schools.
At the same time if that support is not available from the government directly under the budget allocations within the schools and the District Education Authorities, they can actually use some monies to be able to provide that support at the present time.
There is a void there and we do need to have those staff members.
Question 033 – 2(3): Gaps in Student Funding – Hadlari (Tootoo)
I note that today the Minister of Education is doing much better with pronunciation so I will ask him a question today.
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Member’s Statement I had asked the Minister of Education on March 11, 2005 questions about gaps and funding for students continuing to pursue their education and Ph.D.s, and in the case of Thomas Hadlari, his Doctorate.
I’d asked him if he would look at ways in the interim to try and deal with situations like that so that students would get the assistance.
At that time Mr. Speaker, he indicated that he only knew of one instance right now that has been brought to his attention. He’d also indicated that yes, we will be doing that when I asked him about looking into to it immediately to try and find an interim solution to support these students.
I’d like to ask the minister if he could update us on what they did in regard to that situation.
As I indicated at that time, a process of the internal review of the finance program is underway and initiated by the Department of Education to look at the gaps in the Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students programming at the same time look at the amounts our students receive in support of their furthering their educational studies.
He has the same answer that we are doing that right now.
Mr. Speaker, at the time, I asked him if he would commit to reviewing a specific situation that he had indicated that it had been brought to his attention right away and try to come up with an interim solution to fix that.
My question is that, I know that he had indicated at that time that there is a review going on but he had indicated that he would commit to doing that.
So I would like to ask him if he could specifically identify what steps he took in that particular case that he committed to do.
In conversation with Mr. Tootoo and the specific case that he was talking about, we did do an internal review of the situation to ascertain what the facts are and so on.
Under the rules and regulations of the FANS Program, the appropriate steps were taken on that case.
Mr. Speaker, I know that the minister indicated at the time, and again today, that there were cracks, gaps, holes, and loopholes in the system and that’s what they were looking at.
He had indicated, then, that he would look into it and try and come up with an interim solution. It sounds to me like they just looked at it and said, “Oh yeah, we can’t help him.”
Is that basically what the minister is saying; that they looked at it, they realized that there was a problem there, but they said they didn’t do anything about it. Is that correct?
Hon. Ed. Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, that is not correct.
It’s nice, for a change, to get a short, concise answer from the minister.
If it’s not correct, I wonder if he could outline, to us, what they did to help this individual or end up not helping this individual to achieve another first, a milestone for Nunavut. So I’d like to ask him, in that review, if he said they did something, what did they do?
Because of the issue raised by the member, other members, and the public at large, we did a review as I said. We initiated a review as the Department of Education.
There are rules and regulations in place and I would hope to be in a position to be able to bring those changes forward as quickly as possible, as expediently as possible.
So the issue that was raised by the member, within the context of the FANS Program and services, was dealt with.
Question 034 – 2(3): Providing Information to Communities on HTLV-1 (Arreak)
Yesterday, I had asked some questions and I will try and ask that question again, today, to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
As we have heard, although I didn’t say that HTLV-1 started from Clyde River, I just wanted to point that out first.
I didn’t say that it started from my community first; I think we need to fix the Blues.
Will the minister follow up on this and inform the Clyde River residents that this can have an impact on anybody outside of the internal office, perhaps provide information through the ads such as the media?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Aglukkaq.
From what I understand, the department had prepared information flyers for every community and those are available through the health centre.
I believe there was an ad in the paper or in the process of being an ad in the paper related to HTLV-1 to educate the general public as to what HTLV-1 is.
If the member is suggesting we put an ad in the local television, I can direct my staff to do that.
I’m glad that the Cabinet can respond to our questions.
I have asked for investigation as to who leaked the information, as to who that high-ranking official was. If you are unable to pinpoint who the high ranking person was, perhaps the minister, the minister is lucky because we have a consensus government because I didn’t ask her to resign.
If you don’t find out whom the high-ranking official was, perhaps if you can move to this side from that side.
I mentioned yesterday that the department had researched with the newspaper of who that high ranking official is. I have no control over what the Nunatsiaq News reports. Perhaps the individual, Mr. Bell, who sits in the Gallery today, can identify who the source was in terms of the high ranking official identified in the newspaper.
Once we have that, we can investigate internally with the assistance of the Department of Human Resources process; if there was a breach of confidentiality, that’s a serious issue internally and we have procedures in place to follow in dealing with employees that breach confidentiality.
I want to reassure the member again, the department did investigate it, we reviewed the file, we reviewed the letter, there was contact made with the paper, and there’s nothing at this point in time that we can work with or to go on.
I mentioned yesterday I can’t control what the media reports. Internally, I can control what we’ve done to address HTLV-1 through the Public Health Division.
At this point in time, we don’t know who the source is and we are not able to proceed.
As I have stated yesterday that the media, I’m not blaming the media and I don’t think that the minister can control them and I wouldn’t what her to control them, but she can control her department and staff, and she can control her department internally. So I’m urging you to initiate on that.
I’m not worried about the media that you cannot control, I’m just concerned about the department.
Mr. Chairman, will the minister follow up on this and I would like her commitment on this.
The Department of Health has been working in cooperation with the Public Health Division as well as Public Health Agency of Canada to deal with the issue around HTLV-1.
The step, to date, the department has taken to deal with HTLV-1 has been in partnership with the community health centre, the Health Canada officials, and there has been public education that has occurred through the media interviews.
The CHRs in each community, hamlet council meetings, health committee meetings, and the fact sheets were also distributed through, again, every health centre, and there have also been radio shows conducted by the community health representative on HTLV-1.
Health and Social Services will also conduct further education promotional information items related to HTLV-1.
Personally, I’m very pleased with the response the department has done to deal with HTLV-1.
In terms of the members comments about us investigating further, if the member knows of the individual that News North or Nunatsiaq News reported in the paper, I can then follow that up but, as it is right now, we investigated and we have nothing to go on other than the fact that there is a line in the newspaper identifying a high ranking official.
That high-ranking official can also be a high-ranking official of another department.
We don’t know who that is so we can’t address it if we don’t know who it is.
I share the member’s concern. We did try to investigate it and to date we have nothing to go on.
Yes, the ministers are responsible for high ranking officials within the government.
And this was leaked by the high ranking official of the government.
Even if the high ranking official doesn’t come from you department, I don’t mind. But we need some answers. I want this to be replied to.
If you can’t find out, if you’re not going to investigate this, it seems like there is some reluctance to do some investigation.
The government officials that are in high ranking positions, if you find out who that is, perhaps remove that individual from his or her position.
If the minister is unable to find out who the high ranking official was, then the minister should be sitting on this side.
Yesterday and today I have said in this House that we have conducted an investigation.
We cannot determine who that person is that is the high ranking official.
We can’t proceed with an investigation when we don’t know who the person is or who the individual referenced by Nunatsiaq News is.
So we have asked for that name. We were not given that name.
I want to reassure the member that it was investigated.
If we don’t have a name to go on, there is no other stuff that we can proceed with.
The disciplinary procedures are in place related to individuals that breach confidentiality through the Department of Human Resources.
Every employee signs an oath of office and secrecy when they are employed by the government and if that was breached, we would follow that process investigating it.
As it is right now, we don’t know who that person is, whether it’s even with the Department of Health. We don’t know that.
I want to again reassure the member the investigation was conducted, and I said that yesterday in the House, and I’m saying it again today. I don’t know what more we can do without a name to go on.
Question 035 – 2(3): Update on Kugluktuk Health Centre (Evyagotailak)
My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Last year on November 9, 2004, I asked the Minister of Health about the Kugluktuk Health Centre.
The centre needs some kind of fencing and wire mesh to help prevent risk to the people, especially kids, from going under the building and starting fires there.
There was a fire incident in early 2004.
A year ago the minister told me that she would look into this issue.
My question today is: what has been done to address this concern?
It’s the first I’ve heard about this incident, so I would have to look into it and speak to my staff before I can respond.
Whether it was looked into or not, I would have to follow up with the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.