EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I have not talked to anyone in the Kitikmeot.
But I have passed this on to my staff and I will get them to work on this project.
I have often been asked and been told that there needs to be information in Inuinnaqtun and it has been a question that has been asked of me.
This needs to be completed for our people to utilize it within the schools so that our young people can begin to speak in their language.
When will you have more information as to how your staff will operate on this program.
To date I cannot say for sure what the detailed plans are.
The Inuinnaqtun dialects should not be lost and I appreciate the importance of your concern, Mr. Havioyak.
I will be speaking to my staff about the importance of this project that has to be started.
I am sure they would like this project started as soon as possible, but to now we are not quite sure exactly how we are going to approach it, but I will work with my staff.
I am disappointed that the project has not begun.
This was a concern that I raised previously and he was going to respond to me in terms of when the project was going forward and we haven't heard of any movement to date.
I did not hear a question but the communities themselves will have to initiate this project and we can use the example of Pond Inlet, where somebody produced a dictionary and also one in Northern Quebec.
These are good examples that we can use for the people of the Kitikmeot.
We would like to work with the communities in the Kitikmeot to produce this dictionary.
Question 258 – 1(5): Hamlet Recognition by Federal Legislation
You woke me up.
Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Community Government & Transportation.
If I am mistaken, let me know.
The Hamlets were established by the GNWT and they don't have recognition through federal legislation.
I just wondered whether there is going to be different legislation to recognize the operation of hamlets.
The hamlets are the local government and they are under the Nunavut Government and the Nunavut Government is recognized in law by the Federal Government.
So that's the current situation.
Mr. Speaker, ever since the Nunavut Government was established it seems like we have been having problems with the Department of Community Government.
It just seems like there is nothing that has been done although we always get good sounding answers.
I would like to ask the minister again, the Nunavut Government's legislation for hamlets, is that going to be amended.
Yes, I am sorry I am not really sure exactly what the member is talking about, but the Hamlet Councils, if they want to go to Ottawa, we are not going to stop them as the Nunavut Government, and they can talk to the people in the Federal Government.
They are recognized in law and if they don't want to work with Community Government & Transportation, that's up to them, but the Federal Government will always go to the Nunavut Government in regards to Hamlets.
However, I am not really sure what the member's question is so I can't really respond to him.
Mr. Speaker, I am sorry if he didn't understand my question.
The operations of the hamlets have not had any changes to their legislation, even though we now have the Nunavut Government.
I just wondered whether the Nunavut Government is going to make amendments to the Hamlets Act.
Are the hamlets going to be able to take on more authority and changes made through the Nunavut legislature so that they could be recognized by federal legislation.
It seems like the federal legislation does not recognize the operations of the hamlets in law.
I apologize I misunderstood his question.
Last year, beginning last year, when I took over the responsibility of Community Government & Transportation, I initiated a Municipal Legislation Review.
The Nunavut Government initiated the review of the legislation and I worked with the Nunavut Association of Municipalities in regards to the Hamlets Act.
Even after that they are still under the Nunavut Government although they belong to the Nunavut Association of Municipalities because they have to abide by their own by-laws in the communities and they are under the Hamlets Act which is enacted by the Legislative Assembly.
They are directly responsible to the Nunavut Government.
What we have to do is clean up the Act to better reflect the new Nunavut Government rather than the Government of the NWT.
That's what we are planning on doing.
Question 259 – 1(5): Increase in Student Financial Assistance
I was starting to worry that I may not have the chance to ask questions.
Mr. Speaker, under member's statements I spoke about raising some questions with the Minister of Education about tuition costs for Nunavut students attending university in the south.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the minister is, are students only to have access to college for their post-secondary education.
The amounts allotted by the Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students program for tuition are only enough to cover tuition to colleges.
For example, Nunavut Arctic College.
The amount given towards tuition by Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students is not enough if students want to attend university in the south.
This severely limits the types of post-secondary education available to Nunavummiut.
Does the Minister of Education have any plans to upgrade the amount of financial assistance for Nunavut Students to cover tuition costs.
No, Minister Kilabuk.
I think you woke the minister up.
However, Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of students that attend colleges and universities outside of Nunavut.
There are 180 students in Nunavut.
For the students that travel outside of Nunavut, their tuition and travel is paid for and other expenses.
We are presently reviewing the Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students program and if there is currently a student that is not able to keep up with their payments they can request additional funds through the Department of Education.
Just before we continue, just to let the members know that we have about twelve minutes left in question period.
On the list we still have to finish this final question, and we still have Mr. Nutarak, Ms. Williams, Mr. Alakannuark.
So if we could try to pick up the pace a bit, everybody will get a question in.
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): I am not the minister, Mr. Speaker…
But I can appreciate it, it does get confusing sometimes.
I understand the minister's response.
As Nunavummiut we realize we don't have a university here in Nunavut.
But these are the concerns from the parents that I have heard.
These students attending university or colleges outside of Nunavut, a lot of the parents don't have a large income and when your child is attending university and the parents are making 2,000 dollars a month, the parents are concerned that this might make the child not want to continue with their education if they are not receiving enough funds.
Mr. Speaker, each student receives assistance and if a family has three children going to university, each student would receive assistance for their tuition and other expenses.
There is 1,250 dollars available for each student.
If they are having a hard time keeping up with their payments there are other funds that they could ask for.
It'll encourage individuals to attend university.
But my question is, with Nunavut being established are there any plans to build a university in Nunavut.
The smaller and larger communities have different sizes of adult education centres.
I think his question was if we are planning to build a university in Nunavut and my response is we don't have a plan yet to build a university.
Question 260 - 1(5): Pension Concerns
I was starting to worry about whether I would get a chance.
My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding individuals that receive pensions in Nunavut.
If an individual has concerns about their pension, is there a place in Nunavut where they could bring their concerns to get assistance.
Mr. Speaker, in regards to pensions there are several different places that a person could go.
The income support worker in the community, the social worker in the community.
In some regards the Municipal Liaison Officer has information.
It depends again, Mr. Speaker, on if it is a Territorial Government pension, a Federal Government pension or indeed if it is a land claims beneficiaries' pension.
At certain times Mr. Speaker, these questions come up.
It is my understanding that there have been some problems or delays with certain pension cheques not being received in the last few weeks, but I don't know how widespread that is in particular.
I realize that youth receive financial assistance for attending university and there is other assistance available.
Widowers’ pensions, individuals that have lost a spouse begin to receive a pension and quite often the widow will not receive the pension right away because of all the paperwork that needs to be done.
If an individual has concerns, my question is could the government set up an office where the widowers could go to raise their concerns.
Mr. Speaker, survivor benefits that are paid out to widows or indeed widowers, again comes from different sources.
What I can say Mr. Speaker, is that at the community level and at the local level if someone needs help with those forms, they can go to again, the social services worker at the community level for help with the forms.
In some cases, Mr. Speaker, I know that people have gone to their income support worker.
If there is a particular problem Mr. Speaker, if someone is not being seen or if there is a concern with benefits that is not being addressed, then I would be able to take that on, on an individual basis with the member to hopefully rectify it.
Question 261 – 1(5): Savings Due to Dissolution of Health Boards
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services today.
Mr. Speaker, it has been over a year since the dissolution of the three regional health boards.
During the March budget session the minister stated that administrative cost savings from this move were offset by increases in population and rates of illnesses.
However, in the ensuing deliberations on the department budget, the minister indicated that the standardization of the policies and programs across all regions such as the medical travel policy, one would hope that this would have a positive impact on the department’s budget and its service delivery.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister indicate whether standardizing the medical travel policy across all three regions is resulting in cost savings for the department.
Mr. Speaker, one of the largest expenditures in the Department of Health and Social Services, almost 20% at the present time, is medical travel.
To be able to quantify the standardization of the travel policy and say that in itself is reducing the costs, would be very difficult to do and very hard to quantify.
Because at any given time you can't, it is very difficult to judge the amount of money spent last year on medical travel compared to the money spent this year because there are different incidents of disease, there might be more medivacs, and so on.
What I can say Mr. Speaker, is that in the past, escort travel for example, we don't receive any money from the federal government for escort travel.
So with the new travel policies in place we have been able to scrutinize the escort of our patients to the south.
In different regions in Nunavut when there were health boards there were different policies put in place.
In some regions two people might be able to travel with a patient, in some other region only one person was allowed.
Those types of things are quantitative Mr. Speaker, and we are able to see what the cost savings are because we have cut down those numbers.
But at the same time, has it saved us more money in overall travel that would be a difficult question to ascertain.
Can the minister indicate how program delivery has been affected by the integration of health board programs into the department and whether the department has been able to offer any new programs as a result of this move.
Mr. Speaker, we have been able to put in place several different programs that we weren't able to do before April 1, 1999, and indeed with the integration.
Mr. Speaker, in the past the Department of Health and Social Services, when it was under Yellowknife for example, or previously in Iqaluit, looked after policies and procedures and the actual delivery and selection criteria and priorities was done by the region.
So the Baffin Health Board might say that our priority is smoking in public places.
The Kitikmeot Board might say that our priority is teenage pregnancies.
So there was a different mixture of priorities going underway through the three health boards.
What the department has done Mr. Speaker, is picked the priorities in consultation with the different regions, smoking for example, we are doing our anti-suicide, you can see the posters up on the wall, that's a continuation from the past year.
Mental health, there are several different programs that we have run across Nunavut.
The other thing Mr. Speaker, we can say with the integration of the health boards and I think the member alluded to it earlier, was the standardization of practices and procedures.
That's being developed more so now with the opening of the office in Kugluktuk with the Assistant Deputy Minister, Mr. Best, who is in charge of best practices and standardization.
Another result of the dissolution of the health boards has been the establishment of the committees of council to help address needs at the community level.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister provide an update on the establishment and operations of committees of council across Nunavut's communities.
Mr. Speaker, we have committees of council now in every community in Nunavut except I believe for Nanisivik.
Mr. Speaker, we have delivered the package of orientation training, focused goals, to all communities and to all committees.
Mr. Speaker, the concern from the mayors last month when I met with them in Rankin Inlet, with the committees of council was that the funding level was not appropriate.
Indeed there was a motion moved by the full executive to increase the amounts.
Some of the points made by the mayors I thought were quite good.
They pointed out for example, should a small community let's say, Resolute Bay, get 5,000 dollars and a larger community like Rankin Inlet still only gets 5,000 dollars and was there a way for me to correlate that.
So that's something that we are actually following up on.
The committees are working very well.
For example, here in this community Mr. Speaker, in Cambridge Bay, we have one of the largest health committees at the community level set up.
They are very active, they have elders and youth and they are doing quite a good job.
They are proactive in promotion of health related issues.
There are several examples of that throughout Nunavut.
Some of the committees are just getting on their feet and Mr. Speaker, after only being set up a year, I think we are quite pleased with the progress that the committees and the communities themselves at the local level have made.
I think the communities should be congratulated for the proactive work in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Services, in setting up these committees.
They have worked very well to date in most cases.
Is there a group of people visiting these communities for workshops for the committees of council in the communities.
Do the committees know what they are supposed to be doing.
Mr. Speaker, I would hope that they would know what they are supposed to be doing.
Each community has had this orientation package and training that has been delivered in the Kitikmeot, the Baffin as well as the Keewatin region over the past twelve months.
If there is a concern that the committees of council aren't sure what they are supposed to be doing, I never heard that when I met with all the mayors of Nunavut in Rankin Inlet during the mayors' meeting.
But if there is a concern out there from some of the hamlets, from committees, that they are not sure what the direction they should be going and they need some more follow up, logistic or administrative help Mr. Speaker, then the department is willing and able to offer that assistance to the committee.
Again Mr. Speaker, I think overall Mr. Speaker, that the committees of council have been a resounding success.
We need to be able to provide some more support, like the member has said.
One of those types of support is the funding arrangement, which we are still looking at Mr. Speaker.
Question 262 – 1(5): Repulse Bay Community Freezer
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Sustainable Development in regards to the freezer that burnt in Repulse Bay and they lost all the frozen foods that were stored in that freezer.
The people of Repulse Bay would like to know how they can get a new freezer in their community.
There are funds available that can be used for such facilities in the communities.
I already had a discussion with the Mayor of Repulse Bay on this issue and I was going to get back to him to do a follow up work but I never had a chance yet.
However, there is money that you can access to build such facilities or for their operation.
We worked together to build the freezer recently in Chesterfield Inlet.
There has been similar types of work initiated already and I will look into it further and see where exactly they stand at the community level.
There was a close working relationship between my staff and the Hamlet staff.
Do you have an idea of how much a freezer of that size would cost.
Mr. Speaker, (interpretation) I don't know how much this type of freezer would cost.
But I could inform the member once I get the numbers.
When do you expect to get the answer.
Is it in the year 2001, 2002 or 2003.
I could speak to my staff and see where they stand with the numbers and so on.
I'll find out from my staff and I'll get back to the member.
It will probably take between 2-4 weeks to get all the answers that are required by the people of Repulse Bay.
Question Period in now over.
Report 07 - 1(5): Review of Bill 8 - An Act to Amend Certain Acts Concerning Health Professions
The Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health has reviewed Bill 8 and I would like to inform the House that the bill is ready for committee of the whole as amended.
I would like unanimous consent from the members to waive Rule 68 (5) so we can move this bill to committee of the whole.
There is a request to waive Rule 68(5) so that the Standing Committee report can be referred to the Committee of the Whole.
The Standing Committee report is referred to Committee of the Whole.
Report 08 - 1(5): Review of Bill 10 – An Act to Amend the Labour Standards Act, Parental Leave
The Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development has reviewed Bill 10, An Act to Amend the Labour Standards Act, Parental Leave, and wishes to report that the bill is ready for consideration in committee of the whole.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 68(5) and have the bill moved into committee of the whole today.
There is a request to waive Rule 68(5) so the Standing Committee report can be referred to committee of the whole.
The standing committee report is referred to committee of the whole.
Therefore Bill 8 and Bill 10 are referred to committee of the whole.
Tabled Document 029 – 1(5): 2000 Public Utilities Board Annual Report
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document on behalf of Premier Okalik.
It is the 2000 Annual Report of the Public Utilities Board of Nunavut.
Tabled Document 030 – 1(5): Towards a Representative Public Service
Tabled Document 031 – 1(5): E-mail to NEU Members (Ruled Out of Order)
I have two documents to table.
First is "Towards A Representative Public Service".
The Government of Nunavut staffing statistics as of March 31, 2001.
I also have the copy of the e-mail with the names blacked out that was sent to the NEU members.
Tabled Document 032 – 1(5): CLEY - Grants and Contributions Expenditures 2000/01
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document.
Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth Grants & Contributions Expenditures for 2000 – 2001, Community Summary.
Tabled Document 033 – 1(5): Media Release - Paper Boy / Thor Simonson
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to table before the House a media release, "Paper Boy: Thirteen Year Old Thor Simonson of Nunavut Releases Cartoon Booklet".
Motion 007 – 1(5): Extended Adjournment
Mr. McLean: Notice of motion, extended adjournment.
I give notice that on May 30, 2001 I will move the following motion.
I move, seconded by the honourable member for Cambridge Bay, that notwithstanding Rule 4 that when the House concludes it sitting in Cambridge Bay this week, it shall be adjourned until November 14, 2001;
And, further, that at any time prior to November 14, 2001 if the Speaker is satisfied after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and therefore the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice, and shall transact such business as it has been duly adjourned to that time.
Motion 008 – 1(5): Income Support Consultations
Notice of motion, income support consultation.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on May 30, 2001 I will move the following motion:
Whereas, the Minister of Education has tabled a report on the Nunavut Income Support Policy Review in the Assembly on May 24, 2001;
And, whereas, members wish to consult with Nunavummiut on the recommendations contained in the report;
Therefore I move, seconded by the honourable member for Quttiktuq, that the report be referred to the Standing Committee on Health and Education for consideration;
And, further, that the Standing Committee report back to the Assembly during the fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly.
Motion 009 – 1(5): Nunavut Tourism Consultations
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on May 30th, 2001 I will move the following motion:
Whereas there is public interest and concern for the future regarding Nunavut Tourism;
And whereas it is desirable to hear the concerns and ideas of Nunavummiut involved in the industry;
Therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Uqqummiut, that the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development undertake community consultations during the spring and summer of 2001on the future of Nunavut Tourism.
Sorry, tourism in Nunavut;
And further the Standing Committee report its findings to the House during its fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly.
I seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion.
Motion 007 - 1(5): Extended Adjournment
I would like to seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion.
Mr. Arvaluk please proceed.
Motion 008 - 1(5): Income Support Consultations
Therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Quttiktuq, that the report be referred to the Standing Committee on Health and Education for consideration;
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion today.
You have unanimous consent to proceed with your motion.
Motion 009 - 1(5): Nunavut Tourism Consultations
Whereas there is public interest and concern regarding the future of tourism in Nunavut;
And, whereas it is desirable to hear the concerns and ideas of Nunavummiut involved with the industry;
Therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Uqqummiut that the Standing Committee of Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development undertake community consultation during the spring and summer of 2001 on the future of tourism in Nunavut;
And further that the Standing Committee report its findings to the House during the fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly.
Ms. Williams: Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask unanimous consent to go back to Item 14.
The member is seeking unanimous consent to return to Item 14.
Notice of Motions.
Revert to Item 14: Notices of Motions
Motion 010 - 1(5): Review of Bill 9 be Extended