EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
The strategy is a broad outline of goals and objectives we will gradually implement in the coming months and years.
The strategy was developed using scientific methods and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
We know Nunavummiut understand the need for a concrete plan to address climate change, as they have witnessed the affects of changing weather patterns are having on our traditional activities.
We can be very proud of the fact that we have taken a lead role in Canada to increase public awareness on climate change, develop energy management programs, find alternative and renewable energy sources, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The efforts we make today to protect our land and resources will be remembered and appreciated by future generations of Nunavummiut who can continue to reap the benefits of our traditional lifestyle.
Minister’s Statement 249 – 1(6): Telehealth Improves Professional Development
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning.
Mr. Speaker, through the use of Telehealth technology, the Department of Health and Social Services is removing the geographic barriers to professional development for health and social services professionals working in Nunavut.
With support from Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories, the Department of Health and Social Services has provided professional development programs in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Suicide in Rural Communities, and Adolescent Pregnancy.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to report that four out of five of these provincial and territorial partners offer their services to us free of charge.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, the Department provides weekly rounds to physicians at the Baffin Regional Hospital, Rankin Inlet, Pond Inlet, and Cambridge Bay through the Telehealth program.
These rounds are made available to Nunavut by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa.
These services are offered to Nunavut, again Mr. Speaker, free of charge.
The Department of Health and Social Services is continuing to improve the retention rate of health and social service care worker providers, by working to expand these programs to our health support staff.
Telehealth would also be used as a recruitment tool in recruiting new physicians, nurses and social workers for Nunavut communities.
Mr. Speaker, telehealth technology is helping us bring care closer to home here in Nunavut.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister and I apologize for missing your hand being shown.
Member’s Statement 775 – 1(6): Recognition of Josie Inuaraq
I would like to rise as a Minister; I think I am eligible to be a Minister soon.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize an individual who demonstrated commitment to Nunavut’s education in Nunavut, along with Minister of Education, Manitok Thompson.
Mr. Josie Inuaraq joined the Clyde River Community Education Council in 1973.
Mr. Inuaraq served as Chairperson for most of these 29 years.
Mr. Speaker, he also was a member of the Baffin Divisional Board of Education and Baffin Divisional Education Council from 1985 to 2000.
Mr. Inuaraq has taken his responsibilities seriously and handled them with integrity.
He has a personal commitment to the importance and value of education for young Nunavummiut.
His commitment is reflected in his time spent working in his own community on the regional boards.
Mr. Inuaraq has worked with students, staff and other board members to determine their needs and identify appropriate next steps.
Mr. Speaker, Josie Inuaraq is a champion who helped shaped education in Nunavut.
As a member of the local education authority, I am pleased to recognize leadership in education that ensures communities move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank my constituents in Clyde River and Broughton Island and send them my regards.
Member’s Statement 776 – 1(6): Education System in Nunavut
Mr. Speaker, as my last rising, I wish to conclude by raising an issue that has been a priority of mine over the last four years.
Mr. Speaker, I am referring the system of education which is critical to the future of our children and the future of Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, the success of Nunavut, the wellbeing of our communities and the growth of healthy individual lives in giving our children the tools that they need to succeed.
One of the most important means that we have to provide these tools is our education system.
Mr. Speaker, we must put more emphasis on preparing our young children for schools.
Many studies including a number that we are contracted by the Department of Education have shown that providing early childhood education programs promote successful entry into the school system.
In fact, in countries such as France and Spain, both of them carry preschool programs for children aged 3 three were introduced in response to concerns by their Governments that their students were not completing their school system with a high enough level of education.
These programs have already made a big difference in their graduation rates and how well the students are rating internationally.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard of Inuktitut language initiatives being developed for preschool programming.
We have heard of training for daycare employees.
We know that our children’s first secretariat has been established to address these and other issues.
Mr. Speaker, we must now put the resources into making these initiatives more than just fancy ideas and announcements.
We must put them to work.
Mr. Speaker, I would anticipate that the second Assembly will bring forward a new Education Act that will better address the needs and goals of residents of Nunavut.
I sincerely hope that the new Act will address issues such as class size, program funding and a structure that is better adapted to the needs of Nunavut’s students.
Mr. Speaker, our children are the key to our future.
As I mentioned in the House the other day, it is critical that Nunavut develop a trained local workforce.
Our current employee turnover rate is somewhere between 30 and 35%.
One of the main reasons for this is that employees hired from the south return to the south.
Investing in education and growth of a northern workforce is critical self-reliance of our territory.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my Statement.
There are no nays, please proceed, Mr. Tootoo.
Mr. Tootoo: Thank you, Colleagues and Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, these are some of the challenges that are facing our education system today, but, Mr. Speaker, they will still be there tomorrow.
When Members of the second Assembly take up the role as leaders of Nunavut, these issues must be addressed as the priority.
Mr. Speaker, children are the key to our future and they are the key to their own future.
Our responsibility is to give them the tools that they need to make our future and theirs a success.
Member’s Statement 777 – 1(6): Congratulate Armand and Susie Angutialuk – 50th Anniversary
This morning I would like to congratulate two people from Coral Harbour.
They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
Armand and Susie Angutialuk have been married for 50 years.
I would like to send my regards.
Angutialuk is 70 years old and his wife is 65 years old.
They were married December 5, 1953.
Armand and Susie have 13 children, 52 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak in the honour of Armand and Susie Angutialuk who are celebrating 50th wedding anniversary.
Armand is now 70 years old and Susie is 65.
They were married in Coral Harbour on December 5, 1953.
Armand and Susie have 13 grandchildren, I am sorry, 13 children, 52 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren today.
Member’s Statement 778 – 1(6): Inuit Employment Strategy in Nunavut
Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to make what is perhaps my last statement on this, the last day of this Assembly.
Uqaqti, I want to speak to you about the challenge ahead in the area of Inuit employment in this Government.
Mr. Speaker, Nunavut was created and our constituents expected that there would be a new opportunity for them to seek meaningful work serving their communities.
As a Member of this Legislative Assembly, I have spoken out many, many occasions on the need for a strong Inuit strategy.
Uqaqti, our result has not been as good as we wanted to see.
The number of Inuit in positions, especially senior positions, has not improved significantly.
This time I feel like we are stuck in the middle of the trail.
Mr. Speaker, in order to move ahead we need to increase the number of people with the education and skills to successfully compete and hold down jobs.
Mr. Speaker, I know our Government is working with NTI to obtain the necessary resources from the Federal Government to implement truly comprehensive training programs.
I support them in this effort.
Mr. Speaker, our people want to work.
They want to have an opportunity to earn a decent living for their families.
They want to make a positive contribution to their communities.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that one of the top priorities of the next Assembly and Government must be delivered on this issue.
Member’s Statement 779 – 1(6): Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Last Five Years
I appreciate your position as we end our membership here, that you have been the Speaker for about approximately a five year term that we just held recently.
In 1999, since the election of the Members of the Legislative Assembly, it is very good that we have been able to finish our mandate, and especially that I was able to represent Taloyoak and Gjoa Haven.
I believe in the Members of the Legislative Assembly, and that we all believe in the work that we are supposed to do because I believe in myself as well by representing my constituents.
I would like to also thank the female Members of the Legislature, Manitok Thompson, and Rebekah Williams, because they have been able to fulfill their mandates.
They have been able to work with us, with us, the male Members of the Legislative Assembly, without regard to gender.
Sometimes they smile, and sometimes they do not.
I would especially like to thank our Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, John Quirke, for being able to assist us in every way, as well as Nancy Tupik.
And I would also like to thank their support staff, the operation of the Legislature cannot always happen without them.
I would also to thank the person who provides us with the airline tickets, Erie Leighfield.
Even though we make her work so much, she never complains.
She also provides us our hotel accommodation.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to get unanimous consent to conclude my Statement.
Speaker: Why not, it is the last day.
The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement.
Do I hear a nay?
Do I hear nay?
There are no nays. Mr. Puqiqnak, please go ahead.
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): Thank you, colleagues.
I would also like to give my appreciation to those individuals as well.
I would like to give my appreciation to the people of my constituency as well.
When I first got elected in 1999, we had to deal with bad gasoline and we worked very hard to resolve that through the Department of Public Works.
We tried to explain to the Minister, but it was just like trying to penetrate through the rocks.
I also remember sometimes during the Sessions, we were not always home on time, but when we finally come home, we would be happy and celebrate with our constituents.
And when, one time I came home and one of my constituents brought me a glass of water with a blood worm.
I tried to keep it alive, but it died.
It was from our reservoir or from our water tank.
I had to overnight in Yellowknife, but I guess it died enroute to Iqaluit and I wanted to bring it over here.
It did not survive the trip.
It was when Mr. Jack Anawak was the Minister of Community Government and Transportation and I wanted to give it to the Health and Social Services Minister.
As I put it on the podium, the Speaker told me to take it down.
The five years have been a lot of fun and with lots of challenges.
Although it is like that, within those five years, I have left my wife and my children for long lengths of time.
I have had no choice but to come to the meetings to here, to Iqaluit and to other places as a Member of the Legislature.
And the five years that I have spent here as a Member of this House, I tried my very best to represent my constituents and to represent the people of Nunavut.
We have to represent the people of Nunavut as a whole and, as Canadians in the north, it has been very hard because of the high cost of everything.
It is not just Nunavut that we have to think about.
We have to think about being Canadians as well and we want to be able to return home and to have no health problems for our people.
This is a very good, this place is a very good place, the north, Nunavut and I am very proud to represent my people because they are intelligent and they are survivors.
I would like to thank my mother who has passed on, who has given me the ability to represent my people.
And I would like to state that as Members of the Legislature and as Government of Nunavut, we have welcomed various kinds of races to our community in Nunavut and we should not be prejudiced to anyone.
Mr. Speaker, the five years that we have spent here in the House or as Members of the Legislature, I have been looking at my chair and I have thought of it as a chair that is for the people of Taloyoak and Gjoa Haven.
Mr. Speaker, in the five years that I have spent here, I would like to thank my wife and my children, Wayne, Kenneth, Tunik, Jonathan and my daughter, who is my favourite, Aittauktungiak and our youngest daughter Valerie, especially my grandchild Etuk.
The five years that I have spent here I dedicate to my wife and my children.
Member’s Statement 780 – 1(6): Thank Constituents in the Last Five Years as Member of the Legislative Assembly
I wasn’t expecting that.
Mr. Speaker, since this is our last day of the first assembly, I would like to thank my wife Rosie.
She was here with me on the first day and she is here with me on the last day.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to say thank you to my relatives in Pangnirtung, as well as my wife’s relatives, and her little sister Phoebe who is here with us as well.
My wife’s sister Phoebe has been very close to us and we are very good friends.
My son Kevin, who is in Broughton Island, I would like to say thank you, and Susie, who are not able to be here with us today.
It’s been about five years since our first sitting and I can remember my mother, my son Wayne, my sister Geela, and her daughter Laura who made a huge contribution when Nunavut was created.
To my constituents in Pangnirtung, I extend my gratitude to each and every single one of them.
I will not be naming anyone in case I leave someone out.
Also our staff here at the Legislative Assembly building, I would like to extend my gratitude to them because we were inexperienced when we started.
Mr. Speaker. I would like unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
There are no nays. Please proceed. Mr. Kilabuk.
I don’t think you heard anyone say no on the other side.
Since this is the last time that I will rise, I just wanted to extend my gratitude to the people of Pangnirtung whom I represent, who worked extremely hard and overcame their challenges.
They also included me in their deliberations, so I would like to thank them for that.
Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues, I would like to thank them for standing beside me in the good times and the bad times.
To conclude my statement, Wilson who is Ovide’s grandchild, I believe he is in Repulse Bay today, I say hello to him.
Member’s Statement 781– 1(6): Progress of the Legislative Assembly
I would like to say, first of all that I might need to extend my time.
First of all, I would like to make a preamble and I can say that we have had some challenging times.
Today, I am extremely proud of our achievements and Peter Irniq, who was appointed to be the Commissioner of Nunavut.
He promoted Nunavut nationally and at the international level.
I would like to thank the Government for appointing Mr. Peter Irniq, who settled into his role as the Commissioner of Nunavut and in promoting Nunavut most admirably.
I would also like to say thank you to the people who I work with, from the time I was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and prior to that, as the Interim Commissioner.
I would like to thank the Clerk, Mr. John Quirke, and Erie Leighfield, who worked extremely hard prior to the First Sitting of the Legislative Assembly and during the tenure of this Government.
I am deeply thankful to the staff of the Legislative Assembly and also to the present Members of the Legislative Assembly who faced challenging times, but worked together as Nunavut representatives.
Even though we faced some challenging times, we always have to remind ourselves why we are sitting here as Members of the Legislative Assembly.
I think that is the main goal as elected Members.
We might not become friends, but we have to achieve that goal that we face as representatives.
Mr. Speaker, those are some of the comments that I would like to make and I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my Statement.
Please proceed, Mr. Anawak.
The statements that I wanted to make on these issues, Mr. Speaker, I rise today to officially let this Assembly know that I will not be running in the upcoming Territorial Election.
This was a very big decision to make and one that I did not make lightly.
In my many years in politics, serving the people of Nunavut in many positions has taught me that this kind of service is the highest calling.
I cannot think of any time at which I felt I had to make the wrong choice or wished I was not doing the work I did.
In thinking back at the earliest times with the introduction, the Settlement Council in Repulse Bay, I can recall the curiosity and the pleasure of becoming the elected Chairperson of the Repulse Bay Settlement Council, and in the ensuing years, the Settlement Council Manager, and working to bring the community of Repulse Bay to Hamlet status.
I worked as a senior administrative officer and after that, it was very rewarding as we built a strong administrative structure for the community and tackled many issues over the years.
In 1981, I relocated to Rankin Inlet; I served as the Speaker of the KRC and as Mayor of Rankin Inlet.
In my capacity as the executive director of the Keewatin Inuit Association and it is even true, as president, I can recall the many urgent issues facing us in regards to the Land Claims Agreement packages and striving to come up with a negotiation stance that reflected our priorities.
I also had the pleasure of serving as the Member of the Parliament for Nunatsiaq for two terms and I had the pleasure of assisting in the introduction of the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
So, a passage on June 4, through the House of Commons, that was on June 4, 1993 and it was an honour to be there at that historic day.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, in the start of becoming the Interim Commissioner charged with the task of identifying the infrastructure needs for the new Government and the human resource frame work which we supported, I realized that we were creating history in a way that southern Canada has not had the opportunity to do for 200 years.
As a participant in the formation of the Nunavut Vision statement, along with my Colleague from the High Arctic, I took great pride in the consultations we held and receiving the advice and direction of the people of Nunavut in their strong desire to guide their new Government along the right path that would lift them and meet their needs.
Mr. Speaker, as the Member of the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly, I had the privilege of sharing in the many debates on where we were going and why it was important to pay attention to that Vision statement, and why it matters to people out there.
(interpretation) Through that result, my family grew in numbers and in need.
I thank my wife Caroline and my many children, who supported me throughout these many busy years, and throughout the hard times from the challenges, they have supported me and I would like to thank them and show them my gratitude.
The people of Nunavut never stopped caring and cheered me on with their insights and their concerns and it was very touching to hear from them.
As my term of service comes to an end, I find myself ever so grateful to the people of Nunavut.
They have consistently kept me going with their patience, their support and their deep commitment to the communities.
I could not have done it without them as their representative.
They are as valuable and respected by me today as the hours were and I thank them for all the time that we spent and the thoughts they have shared with me.
They are prizes worth cherishing.
To my constituents in Rankin Inlet, I also thank you for the trust you have placed in me to serve you and to advocate on your behalf.
No one can know how meaningful that support from Rankin Inlet has been over those challenging times.
It is priceless and I cannot put it into words the pride I have in having served in this capacity.
The people of Rankin Inlet will need a representative who knows the events, the current events of Nunavut and who is proud to represent the Nunavut Government.
And in regards to the second Legislative Assembly Members, I would like to tell them to fight for their constituents, and to display the spirit and inventiveness to assist the new Assembly, and to truly represent their values and their beliefs in their tenor.
I would like remind this Assembly that I will not be very far away and also to the people of Nunavut, in my new duties, which I will assume on January 19th, will include consultation with the Inuit Organizations and the Government, the Nunavut Government and the non-Government bodies.
So, I will continue to be involved on behalf of thee Canadian circumpolar communities to address critical issues at the world level.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the people of Nunavut who supported me during my various elected positions and for having supported me and for giving me the support.
I am truly grateful, also to my family, my daughter in Tikigaarjuaq, my son in Rankin Inlet and my daughter who is named after my mother, Aluqsaraq, who is in Rankin Inlet and my relatives and I would like to hit myself for having forgotten Gene Kusugak and I am still hitting myself today.
(interpretation ends) I feel, Mr. Speaker, I feel very honoured to have worked with our group of people on the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly.
We may not have always agreed, but in the end, I think we never lost sight of the fact that we are here to serve the people of Nunavut and that is the people who are important, not the people around this table, around this Assembly.
(interpretation) And, thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to make my last Statement.
I am sure that I will be seeing you and the rest of the Members in my new position.
Member’s Statement 782 – 1(6): Gratitude to the Members of the Legislative Assembly
I would like to rise today to show my gratitude to my fellow Members of the Legislative Assembly and to my constituents for having been here for over four years, and thank you to the staff for their hard work.
I would also like to thank Peter Kilabuk and his wife; they were very supportive with my daughter taking courses in Pangnirtung and when I visited her, my daughter and his wife were like sisters.
So, thank you for your hospitality.
I would like to speak today, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking for more time, I will talk about the positive issues in my life and I will also speak on different issues when I was growing up.
I would like to rise today to talk about my life, the life that I have had growing up.
We travelled to different lands in search of wildlife and it is well known by Inuit that we depended on our dog teams and I experienced that.
I was a hunter when I was growing up, then I started work in the Cooperatives in 1970’s.
Over the years, because we did not have very many foxes in our area, I was thinking that my wife and my kids perhaps, I will not be able to provide for them.