EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I assume that this is a way of trying to avert abuse before it happens, to have support in place, and to know where to seek help.
I like this very much and appreciate it there.
However, in a small community, when residents call the RCMP detachment over the phone... I’m not sure exactly how it works, but I hear that their calls are redirected to the detachment in Iqaluit even if they are experiencing an emergency.
The complaint is that response is usually not immediate.
I haven’t experienced that personally, but I tend to trust those who have told me this.
Why is it that in small communities are redirected to Iqaluit instead?
To use myself as an example, I live in Kugaaruk where the population in our community is between 700 and 800 residents.
If I were to see a dangerous situation, I would call the RCMP number.
Now, would there be an RCMP officer to respond immediately to my call or would I be redirected to Iqaluit instead? Who would answer the call?
I thank Mr. Ningark for that good question.
Mr. Chairman, it’s been an issue for many years across Nunavut.
Before I was an MLA, it was an issue and it was an issue in the Second Assembly.
Mr. Chairman, the operational call centre for the RCMP is here in Iqaluit.
There are 25 communities in Nunavut. When they receive a call, they are supposed to dispatch an RCMP officer in a particular community to where the offence or issue is located.
One of the concerns that we have heard over the years about the operational call centre is that when people call, they can’t be understood in their dialect.
I have met with the RCMP in the last year and talked to them about this.
They are working to address that with the apprentices who will be able to answer the phone in the language of the callers’ choice.
Mr. Ningark (interpretation): I thank the minister for his clear response.
I have not heard any complaints about a police officer in Kugaaruk, but a constant complain is the amount of delay between the call first being made and the response from the RCMP, particularly at night.
That is what I have heard. I have not heard this from the majority of residents, but rather by one or two individuals who complained about the response time.
The concern is with the lag time between when the call is made and when the police officer responds to the call. It seems much easier to redirect it immediately to the local RCMP, as the police officers located there are solely responsible for that community.
Personally, I thank the RCMP for their tremendous assistance and commitment as they are very visible in our community and most of them are quite capable in their positions.
I do not have much more to add to this issue, Mr. Chairman.
It’s basically a comment, but if you want to make a statement on it, Minister Peterson.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Ningark for that concern.
Mr. Chairman, I don’t have the exact statistics with me, but I recall that the RCMP operational call centre receives anywhere between 12,000 and 14,000 calls per year.
We can certainly pass on Mr. Ningark’s concern.
There may be valid reasons for the delay in answering the phone or delays in dispatching an officer to a call, but we will certainly pass on the concern to the RCMP.
I basically have two. I just want to follow up with my colleague’s question a little bit on that last bullet on the second page.
That was my big issue before, having to dial Iqaluit and then finally, Iqaluit to wake up whoever the constable might be in bed, etcetera. That takes a long time.
We have a system in our community where if there’s a fire, we call a number and whoever is at that phone answers.
He alerts everybody else and the fire truck is at your house in no time. It’s the same thing with the health centre.
When I had a heart attack, it was no problem. The nurse in charge picked up the phone and alerted everybody else and they were told to come down.
But with the RCMP, we have to go through Iqaluit.
Can a similar system be arranged in a phone system, like a mobile phone where the RCMP can pick up the phone or like volunteer firefighters that you have volunteers arresting people in the community, where you don’t have to bother the RCMP at all?
Just simply get four or five guys there who’ve got the phone to go to your house and then they arrest the people there and the RCMP can do the books if they need to do the books or they can do the books on the next day.
We have not been trying to find an innovative way to community policing and it’s a very expensive operation. I think we should try to make it as effective as much as possible. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I thank Mr. Arvaluk for expressing that concern.
I understand the frustrations of people that they would like to pick up the telephone and have an officer be there right away.
I believe the operation call centre is a system that is designed to ensure that when a call is received, someone is dispatched.
It also provides security.
Just to be working in the call dispatch or operation call centre you have to have some high qualifications; you have to be able to identify the nature of the call, the concern, and the officers to dispatch, and then track the dispatch to its conclusion. It’s important that the people be trained and be qualified to receive a telephone call when it’s an emergency to ensure that the services that are called for are delivered to the community.
Again, we can certainly talk to Commanding Officer Steve McVarnock and express the concern. He is a very innovative man and he’s looking for solutions to help the communities receive better services from the RCMP.
In most cases, we may have two RCMP officers.
In the case of Kimmirut or Grise Fiord, not much more than that. We expect too much from them. We want them to work during the day to do all of the paperwork they need to do and we expect them to guard us all night too.
That’s why I was suggesting, you know, let’s try to find an innovative way to do our community policing so that we have a realistic approach to this.
I’m just suggesting that, Mr. Chairman.
My other question I have is on page 1, first bullet.
I just need a really small clarification. You have an increase of $1 million in the Law Enforcement Branch budget to fund the RCMP… sorry about that; just before the first bullet, second paragraph on the first page.
The department made a slight increase of 2.7 percent, which is $2,050,000.
I believe that in the first bullet, your increase of $2,050,000 also includes $1 million in the enforcement branch budget to “fund the RCMP Stand-By Policy.”
Is that part of it or is it separate?
That’s correct, Mr. Chairman.
The $1 million for the standby is part of the $2,050,000.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson. Mr. Arvaluk.
The second bullet indicates, “The 2010-11 impact of the NEU collective bargaining contract.” I believe that has already been negotiated, that it is just the outstanding that we have to pay out in 2010-11, which is, I guess, the remainder of the $2,050,000.
If so, that doesn’t really represent the actual increase in the NEU collective bargaining contract.
If I’m wrong, can you correct me on that one and explain the correction?
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Arvaluk. Minister Peterson.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I understand Mr. Arvaluk correctly, yes, on April 1, there are increases to the negotiated contract with the Nunavut Employees Union.
Mr. Arvaluk: Mr. Chairman, he just explained to me that the 2.7 percent increase from $78,052,000 is $2,050,000. So he’s got $1 million for the Law Enforcement Branch and for the RCMP Standby Policy.
The remainder of that 2 percent, approximately one million and fifty thousand dollars, is going to the collective bargaining contract.
That doesn’t seem to represent the collective bargaining agreement that is more than 1 percent.
Why does the increase seem to be smaller than what is in the collective bargaining?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Arvaluk for that question.
I believe, Mr. Chairman, that that is the negotiated amount. The increase on April 1 will be covered by the amount that is requested. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Arvaluk: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Are we saying that it’s approximately 1.5 or 1.6 percent that the collective agreement indicates in this $1,050,000 increase required?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I’m saying is that on April 1, the amount that is required by the Department of Justice will be covered by the amount that we are seeking in this appropriation.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson. Mr. Okalik.
Mr. Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I want to turn to page 4 of our committee’s opening comments, second paragraph.
We make reference to the lack of work on the Akitsiraq Law Program II. We also note that Nunavut Arctic College, through their business cycle, is planning for Akitsiraq Law Program II next year.
There has been a lot of work on this model and there is not mention of it from the Department of Justice.
I would like to know if there is any commitment that the minister can make towards meeting the Arctic College deadline of seeing the Akitsiraq Law Program II next year. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I had a very good, productive meeting with representatives of Akitsiraq II approximately two weeks ago.
There were four individuals. We met for a couple of hours to discuss their business plan and we agreed to continue talks.
They have clarified a lot of information and they have my direct line to my office. We will probably meet again after this session to discuss their plan.
Mr. Okalik (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) I can only encourage the minister further at this point. We have our laws that will have to be translated into Inuktitut, so we need a lot more Inuktitut-speaking lawyers in the very near future.
I can only encourage the minister to hopefully report progress by the spring so that a lot of good potential students who are waiting in the wings can plan for next year. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think that was just a comment there.
I don’t have anybody else on the list here, so we will go to the page-by-page.
E-4. Justice. Branch Summary.
Directorate. Mr. Aupaluktuq.
I would like to extend a welcome to the Hon. Minister Keith Peterson from the Department of Justice, as well as his officials, Mr. Garson and Ms. Williams.
My lines of questions, Mr. Chairman, for the hon. minister are in the lines of employment.
Under the Directorate here, it’s indicated in the plans that it was noted before that as of September 30, 2009, the department had 69 vacant positions. I want to know what the status of filling these vacant positions is at presently.
I thank Mr. Aupaluktuq for that question. Again it’s a good question.
As I indicated the other day, we have a lot of vacancies throughout the government, but we are making good progress in the Department of Justice in staffing positions. We’re recruiting and staffing for Corrections a senior policy analyst and we’re making progress on that.
We encourage people who are interested in working for the Department of Justice to get their applications in to us.
It may take a while, but we certainly encourage people, if they have an interest, to apply for those jobs.
Mr. Aupaluktuq: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank the minister for that response as well.
In all of Nunavut, all across the board I believe, we struggle with different departments as well as providing services.
Essentially, the quality of service that we provide to Nunavummiut is affected with all of the cutbacks and the concerns of employment staffing. It’s always in the best interest of the legislature to ensure that we identify what they are.
Basically to touch on Mr. Okalik’s earlier comments on the opening comments in regard to services in Inuktitut, Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask the hon. minister.
In the 2010-13 business plan, it refers to ongoing efforts to increase the recruitment and retention of lawyers and court workers.
What are the main difficulties with recruitment and retention of lawyers and court workers? Maybe if I could conclude my line of questioning here for this particular one.
How is your department addressing these difficulties?
I believe Mr. Peterson had answered in terms of recruiting.
I appreciate the fact that we have to entice the people to join the professional areas in services. Legal and justice is very strenuous as well as a very sensitive issue that affect the people of Baker Lake.
Again, Mr. Chairman, I want to ask: what are the main difficulties with the recruitment and retention of lawyers and court workers?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I again thank the member for that question. It’s a good question.
There is a high turnover rate of lawyers coming to work in Justice.
Probably one of the main concerns is that lawyers coming up from down south are not familiar with the north and a lot of them leave after one or two years. We have encouraged them to take cross-cultural awareness training courses in our department.
I think, through our advertising, we promote that Nunavut is a territory where there’s a lot of adventure, you can do a lot of good work, particularly if you’re just getting out of law school.
It’s a great place to gain a lot of experience real fast working on various issues.
I’m very happy to tell the members that I think in the legal and constitutional law department, we’re almost fully staffed.
On the legislative side, I think we have a competition out for a director of constitutional law.
In the staff complement of lawyers, I think we have two Akitsiraq Law grads working for our department.
Mr. Aupaluktuq: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the hon. minister for that response.
I was glad to hear that you mentioned constitutional law and also the introduction of those with the Human Rights [Tribunal] in Nunavut.
I think that as Canadians and as northerners, that’s one thing that we all have to focus on as well. It’s not just the quality of service and the quality of life, but the fact that each and every individual in Canada is protected under the constitution as well as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
That’s why we try to provide those services as legislatures as well as public officials. It’s our job to bridge these services and to listen and hear what our constituents have to say.
I’m glad to see that the constitutional law will be in place in a sense that from an administrative, it would be nice to provide a solid foundation in which people can feel comfortable to be able to express themselves and feel comfortable that they’re represented.
A final question along these lines of employment, Mr. Chairman, to the hon. minister is concerns of being consistently raised by MLAs and the Government of Nunavut with the respect to the issue of federal funding for legal aid in Nunavut.
What is the status of your efforts to obtain additional sources?
Chairman: Thank you, Aupaluktuq.
I thank Mr. Aupaluktuq for asking the question.
It’s probably no secret that legal aid, to me, is very important. It’s in the communities.
We have three regional law centres and they’re typically the face of justice in Nunavut, where the people in the communities seeking family lawyers or defence lawyers can go when they get into difficult times.
Of course, over the years, we have known that legal aid has been underfunded not just in Nunavut but across Canada.
Lobby efforts have been underway in most jurisdictions across Canada to get additional funding from the federal government.
We put together a business case last year that was submitted to officials at the Department of Justice in Ottawa.
The feedback hasn’t been all that positive yet.
We have to be careful that when we’re lobbying for funding, we don’t call it legal aid. Because there unique circumstances in Nunavut, the great geographical differences and the distances we have to travel at a high cost, we have to recognize our unique circumstances. So we call it access to justice.
I’m very pleased that the Department of Justice Canada recently gave us an additional $100,000 that we earmarked for legal aid.
There is recognition, but getting additional funding out of Ottawa for legal aid is very difficult.
My questions are on page E-4 of the department’s business plan under the priorities for 2010-11, it talks about completing “community consultations on the Wills Kit and distribute the kit across Nunavut.”
In terms of the consultation, is that consultation on how to fill out the will or is that consultation on how to present the will to the communities?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Elliott for that question. I have talked to the Public Trustee, Esmeralda Batista, a couple of times on this because it has come up in my own riding.
In fact, one of my constituents wants us to open a public trustee sub-office over there to help people.
Esmeralda has told me that she is working to update the wills kit.
At some point, she would like to do community consultations, going into regions and talk to people and explain how to complete the wills kit, the importance of having a will, and how it benefits the survivors in an unfortunate circumstance where a loved one passes.
That’s where it leads to my next question. I can see that must be. We’ve had situations in my community where someone passes away and the survivor runs into problems because there’s no will and it’s held up in courts and whatnot, so it continues to go on for years and years.
But in terms of distributing them from our end in the community, is there going to be a central place where they’re distributed through? Will they be able to pick them up at the RCMP detachment or will they be mailed out to every home?
Again, I have talked to Ms. Batista about distribution of materials to share with communities and I have suggested that one way would be through our MLA offices.
I recall when I was an MLA, I did have a wills kit and I assisted some individuals, but we also have community justice outreach workers who may well be able to provide information to people in the communities when they require it.
It’s in preliminary discussion stages, but we’re looking at ways to get information out into the communities.
We haven’t received a job description yet, but is this another role of the new GLO position that’s mentioned in Tamapta?
It could potentially become one of their duties.
I don’t think there will be a GLO in every community initially.
I stand to be corrected, but initially, there will be 14 GLOs in communities, so there will be communities that don’t have those positions.
You would have to ask the appropriate minister responsible for GLOs for more detail, but potentially, that’s one of the roles the GLO does, to disseminate that kind of information and other Government of Nunavut information on departmental programs and services.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under the Directorate on E-4 of the main estimates, in the description above, it talks about “The division also oversees the financial aspects of the Territorial Policing Agreement.”
How often is that policing agreement reviewed?
Mr. Chairman, that’s the territorial policing agreement that is a 20-year agreement and expires on March 31, 2012.
Officials from my department and other officials from other jurisdictions have been in negotiations for a little while now on a new territorial policing agreement.
Is the minister able to explain to us some of the new amendments that are going to be in this agreement in terms of some of the things that have been brought up in terms of call centres and language of service, and things like that?
As Mr. Elliott can appreciate, I’m not part of the negotiating team.
Sometimes I wish I was, then I could hammer away with some of the concerns that the members have raised and I’ve had over the years.
The negotiations are going along quite well. It’s a 20-year agreement.
There is a lot of information considered and there are different jurisdictions involved. My Assistant Deputy Minister, Rebekah Williams, has been one of the people at the negotiating table and she may be able to provide some of the detailed information that Mr. Elliott is seeking.
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Thank you. I will answer in Inuktitut.
We’re very pleased in Nunavut that we will have an actual agreement in 2012.
When we separated from the Northwest Territories, we inherited what came from there. Now we will have our own Nunavut agreement.
I am quite pleased about that.
There are many issues included in the negotiations, such as the provision of housing units, offices, and other related infrastructure required by the RCMP.
We also have provisions related to sick leave and other types of issues related to the transfer of jurisdiction to our government. We have to be fully aware that we are dealing with many of these issues during these rounds of negotiations.
It has to be understood here that we are just one of many jurisdictions. In Canada, there are 8 provinces and 3 northern territories, a total of 11 governments that have similar agreements pertaining to policing.
However, here in Nunavut, we have slightly different requirements that will be reflected in the agreement.
As an example, language service provisions. With respect to languages, Nunavut now has legislation on the Inuit language and most of the applicable provisions will be inserted into this agreement. We also have clauses specific to Nunavut, such as cases that often have to be handled by the RCMP.
If that is understandable, I will stop there.
Chairman: Thank you, Ms. Williams.
I’m going back to the business plan on page E-4, the fourth bullet there, where it talks about devoting “greater resources and training to Community Justice Committees.”
Could the minister expand on what types of resources and training the community justice committees will be receiving?
Are they going to be receiving suicide prevention training or other types of training?
We have to wait for a light to come on before we can start.
I would have started talking seconds ago, but, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for bearing with me. I thank Mr. Elliott for that question.
Mr. Chairman, the community justice outreach workers are relatively new. They have been in place less than two years, so we appreciate the work that they’re doing out in the communities.
It’s a very difficult job to do and also the community justice committees have very difficult jobs.
So we’re providing more resources to them in terms of helping the youth out; diversionary programs on the land, honoraria to the community justice committees, and more support from our department headquarters here in Iqaluit.
Thank you for that explanation. On the last bullet of the priorities for 2010-11, it talks about “Investigate and remove barriers to recruiting bilingual RCMP Special Constables into communities.”
Could the minister explain some of the barriers that they’re having in terms of recruiting bilingual RCMP special constables?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s a very good question.
There were 15 applications to the Special Constable Program since last fall and 11 of them have been screened out, so we’re down to 4.
We’re seeking one to two additional recruits for our September intake of people.
One of the interesting things I learned is that when you go for profiling, in Nunavut, young men grow up hunting. They might shoot their first caribou at age six or eight.
Down south, when you tell someone that you had a rifle in your hand at that young age shooting animals, it doesn’t go over well with the recruiters.
My assistant deputy minister explained that to me and it’s a good point.
I didn’t even know that.
As a young boy growing up in the north, I had opportunities with rifles to go out and hunt a little bit.
Other barriers might be the level of understanding of the English language on a written test. So we’re working with the RCMP to explain to them that these barriers should not be used against recruits from Nunavut.
I think we have a very good opportunity in the coming years to work very closely with the new commanding officer on that and he will help us get that information across to the people who recruit for Nunavut.