EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
So there’s a cross-section of students from across Nunavut attending.
Since we expect more and more mining development in Nunavut, we would like to see more Nunavutmiut getting jobs in the mining sector.
I’m sure some of the students who are taking the apprenticeship programs are going to be there for quite a while.
I wonder if the apprentices are given adequate support because when the ones taking carpentry return home… .
The Department of Education is in a distant location in Arviat and all of their documentation and paperwork have to be accurate and comprehensive.
Some functions seem to need improvement, such as the FANS program, which cause delays in payments to students.
I wonder if the minister is well versed if the support people in education are up to the tasks.
I believe that most Arctic College students are having no problems at all accessing their financial means that they need and through the FANS program.
However, as the Premier has indicated before, there is going to be a review of the FANS program to deal with any issues that may be out there that Arctic College students face.
Some of the students are sent out to distant places.
Students in academic studies study in far away locations and experience difficulty with the transfer of money and they really need help on that.
I really wanted to mention that.
I would like to touch up on another subject. In Nunavut, more and more people would like to get into colleges and higher education after completion of grade 12.
There are those who want to get into more academic courses, such as to become teachers that you mention and those who want to get into environmental technology and nursing programs, which I am very proud of, and they are increasing in numbers.
This summer or fall, we’re going to start the Licensed Practical Nurse Program.
I think all of us here know that there has to be social workers.
There are some communities that don’t have social workers.
I want to ask the minister: why is social worker programs not placed as a priority when we’re lacking social workers? Why is he not trying to offer a degree program?
If the minister will indeed offer a degree program, what would Arctic College have to do so that Nunavutmiut can have the opportunity to learn to become social workers?
We may need clarification on the question, but I’ll take a stab at it here. I think I understood it.
To me, there were two questions in there: one is what we do about the needs of Arctic College students who need some form of counselling and then second to that was involving social work.
So maybe I’ll get clarification on the question.
Mr. Curley: Thank you. (interpretation) I think Mike understood me because he understands Inuktitut.
(interpretation ends) The first set of comments were that I’m grateful, though, there are a lot of young people who are taking advantage of the academic training, including the NTEP and the Nursing Program, degree programs, the Environmental Technology Program, and other very important academic programs they’re going through.
Everyone here agrees that social work is a very important essential service.
Every question that is raised damns and hounds the government as to why there are no social workers in this community.
The usual answer is, “Oh, we’re advertising the position and we’re going to have a social worker in Sanikiluaq when the offer is accepted.” So why isn’t it taken as a priority that a social work degree program is important enough that Arctic College will take the lead in creating a program?
I don’t know why my clock is going.
That was a clarification.
I clearly understand the question now and it’s a very good point that you bring up.
I think it has been discussed in this House that there is a lack of social worker support in all communities.
Presently, you’re right, the only place we offer that program is in Cambridge Bay. I think Arctic College would look forward to working with the Department of Health and Social Services, other departments, and industry to expand that program and meet the needs that Nunavut has.
I think the program that’s going on in Cambridge Bay is not a degree program.
I’m specifically talking about a degree program because we shouldn’t be fooling around and giving half-baked credentials to such an important service needed for social work.
So I really believe that Arctic College and the Department of Education, as far as I’m concerned, should take the lead. There needs to be leadership. Is there a lack of leadership in creating a degree program for social work?
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t think it’s attributed to a lack of leadership.
I think we need to get all stakeholders involved to develop this because I think you bring up a very good point and I think it’s much needed. We all know it’s much needed. We would like to have degree granting and expertise not only in social work but in a lot of things that we offer in Nunavut.
Just with that, I’ll ask Mr. Shouldice to expand.
There is a partnership committee between the college and Health.
One of the items on that committee is the social work program. In my last meeting with them, we talked about the diploma and how it meets the needs of the social workers in terms of the classification of those positions.
There are two avenues right now.
I’m sorry, I meant to keep my answers short here, but there are two avenues to this that the college has had the program reviewed with the exact same question you have. We have a report out that we could provide to you with that analysis. We need to one, tie it to a degree partnership and we’re thinking of working again with the University of Regina on that one, but two, we need to change some of the program so that we specifically train people for the entry level into social work.
When we did the Maternity Care Worker Program, we had an exit at the first year because there is a job in health called maternity care worker, and then you can go on to be a midwife.
I think what needs to happen in discussion with our partner is that they need to create an entry level position within the social work area for new graduates, and then people who can have an exit and then return and go to university and pick up the other two years so they will get an advanced standing for their diploma program.
Could the minister give the committee an update? I’m sure you’re going to be having discussions with other departments like Education and Health that are leading in regard to some of the rules that have to be applied.
Could the minister agree to give us an update on the planning for social work programs and other courses and how they’re doing? Would we like to see Nunavut social work programs?
There has to be a program.
Could the minister give us an update on those issues? Of course, we will be asking those questions during your tenure as minister.
Yes, I will keep the committee updated on any progress with our partners in developing all programs within Nunavut Arctic College.
Mr. Curley: Thank you. (interpretation) This is my last question.
I believe that not only government can be turned to for support. There are other entities and organizations that can be asked to establish scholarships. I believe it would be good to form partnerships with them.
We hear that social work is very important, but we don’t provide adequate support.
So I think there should be partnerships.
Through the reviews, we are learning that the federal government gives out huge amounts of money for social development to First Nations.
We’re falling behind in social work. Potential partnerships could be tried because there are large amounts of funding that’s available, some for HR, but it’s not a priority for social work and I don’t know why.
So I encourage you to work with our partners and include the federal government on this issue.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Curley. (interpretation ends) Mr. Minister, comment?
Quickly, I totally agree that we should develop all partners and explore all partnerships that we can have in delivering our programs through Arctic College. We have done that somewhat already in the mining industry and it’s no reason we couldn’t expand that.
Based on the questioning from my colleague earlier, can you please explain in as much detail as possible why Sanikiluaq is the only community in Nunavut that does not have distance learning capabilities?
He sounded so disappointed about all that, but it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Sanikiluaq does have online learning. What we’re talking about is the Ka-band that the president was referring to and Sanikiluaq does not have access to that at this time, but as for online learning, it does have that capability.
Can the minister please explain what the Ka-bandwidth that’s required for the learning?
Mr. Minister, please provide an explanation.
I’ll have the president explain because he knows that issue well.
To the best of my ability, it’s two satellite systems.
One that we use in the territory, the current broadband that we all enjoy locally, is provided in a very broad pattern to the territory.
This actual band that we have been offered to use right now is on a different satellite and it works like a stovepipe that sort of runs from Ottawa to the satellite and then down to the community directly. It’s a very definite footprint.
The explanation that I received is that it works everywhere, with the exception of Sanikiluaq as a community. I honestly don’t know why or technically why, but that’s the exception to the Ka-band.
For us in the college to deliver programming, we would go to the Qiniq system.
We would just use an alternate for you.
There’s enough speed, even on the government network at times, that we can do online courses because we have tested it in various locations.
It would not leave you without that capability, for sure.
In his explanation of the reasons why this won’t work, is he saying that it will never work and we will always be using a separate system than the rest of Nunavut?
We’re not experts in that field for sure and we can’t answer that question, but what I can tell the member is that I think we can explore an avenue of why it doesn’t work and let him know of why that is.
In the business plan, NAC-9, I don’t know whether a question was asked on it, but for 2012-13, it says, “Conceptualize and develop the Piqqusilirivvik Inuit Language and Culture Centre which will consolidate all language and culture programs offered by Nunavut Arctic College” and “Expand the reach and scope of the Inuit Oral History Project...” My question is: what is the Inuit Language and Culture Centre, Mr. Chairman?
I believe that question was asked by another member.
However, I think I’ll get the president to answer that question for Mr. Tapardjuk.
The language and culture centre is just a concept for us right now.
We realize at the college that we have a great opportunity because we have a section where we have published a number of books in Inuktitut and English that you have seen, certainly.
We have a research facility within the college that has, for example, the Igloolik Oral History Project. It’s well known.
We have a teacher education program where we’re actually teaching, as I said earlier, people to teach bilingual and bi-cultural.
So what we’re trying to do is incorporate that, saying to ourselves, “What does our centre of excellence look like if we provide that leadership? What resources do we have so that we can make that the essence of what the college does?”
We’re trying very strongly to put our best foot forward in the area of language and culture and use the existing resources that we have.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Shouldice.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): The Minister of Finance indicated that Piqqusilirivvik in Clyde River is going to be under Nunavut Arctic College.
With this Inuit language and culture centre, you stated that it’s just a concept right now.
How different is the Piqqusilirivvik in Clyde River and the program that is planned to be run by Nunavut Arctic College?
What would be the difference between the two and how would they operate?
The cultural school in Clyde River is an actual program delivery facility where there are going to be programs delivered.
Nothing is going to change about that. Everything is going to stay identical to the way it is.
When it is moved over to Arctic College, the college will give it more support and administration support and in operating.
As far the centre is concerned, that’s more of a conceptual idea of drawing in all Inuit knowledge and culture, including the program in Igloolik.
So there are two different things here and it will be a lead and part of the cultural school, but it is two different entities.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): How does Piqqusilirivvik operate?
It is stated that there would be no change. What programs are at that facility, Mr. Chairman?
We’re not there yet. It hasn’t been transferred over to Arctic College yet.
As far as the programs that are offered, we’re not completely familiar with those programs. Once the transition takes place, we will definitely know more about that.
Now I don’t believe in it anymore.
You said that there would be no changes to Piqqusilirivvik’s programs and that it would be separate.
What is he trying to say when the minister doesn’t know what types of programs are offered at Piqqusilirivvik?
I’m confused by the minister’s response. Could the minister clarify exactly what he said, Mr. Chairman?
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk: Mr. Chairman, I’m confused now too.
I think, for clarity, I’ll pass it on to the president to try and answer that question for Mr. Tapardjuk.
Piqqusilirivvik is just coming over to the college. What we have seen is just the administrative portions of it so far. How would that look?
How would those positions operate within the college? Quite comfortably because, if you look at the college’s structure, there is a Nunavut Research Institute in it that has come over to the college. So things like that have happened in the past.
We have a number of programs that would absolutely complement something like the cultural school in terms of the Inuit language, the teacher education program, and all of those types of things.
So what we’re doing and as you see in the business plan, those plans for a centre of excellence have been there for a while and the moving of Piqqusilirivvik is relatively in the last few months.
We are incorporating that into the planning stages at this point in time, but the word is that everyone is excited about it. We want to be respectful of it and we would really like to see the ability for that place of intellectual property of Inuit to really be something special and to be respected.
I also would like to thank the minister for replying well to the questions that we pose.
I do have a question and comment that I want to start with.
We mentioned the social worker program. We used to have a social work program in Cambridge Bay and it was quite lengthy.
In my riding, there were a couple of people who went to Cambridge Bay to take that program and it seems like the training program wasn’t career oriented because there was no job for them after they graduated.
I found that to be problematic.
If I was in their shoes, I wouldn’t have been happy.
As stated earlier, we want to have career oriented training programs.
Are we going to make sure the training programs, no matter what they are, are career oriented?
I know that we lack social workers in the majority of communities. In spite of that, there were two individuals who went to take the training program for more than one year and they were never hired.
I just want to speak to that issue.
You can reply to my comment.
In regard to the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School that would be transferred to Nunavut Arctic College, Piqqusilirivvik is not set up for students with children at the present time.
There were two students in my riding who were accepted to attend courses at Piqqusilirivvik, but since they couldn’t take their family with them, they turned down the opportunity.
There are many people who are interested in taking those programs.
Will you be reviewing that to make sure that it is better organized if you take it over?
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the member very much for the two questions.
He has identified something that we understand and need to fix.
Mr. Curley has pointed out in the social work aspect of things that we would expect that when people graduate from a program that Arctic College puts on, they would have positions out in the workforce in Nunavut.
There is a gap there with the graduation qualification certificate they receive when they graduate for specific types of social work needs, and then there’s a diploma program, I believe, that addresses more education and more qualifications to get specific social workers that we’re looking for in some cases.
As far as the cultural school is concerned, I think you will have the opportunity to get maybe more background information on what’s there and the infrastructure from the Minister of CLEY as CLEY still has jurisdiction over that program.
However, my understanding, in discussion with the president, is that there are vacant units up there right now for staff that are not being used that could be looked at being used for students.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you for providing that answer to my comment and question. I don’t know if I received an answer because I didn’t quite understand it.
In your business plan, under priorities for 2012-13 on page NAC-11, it states here, (interpretation ends) “Deliver the research curriculum to support and promote community based research in Community Learning Centres.” (interpretation) With that, how many communities are going to be delivering that curriculum? That’s my question.
I’ll pass that question on to the president.
One of the efforts that we’re looking at is involving our students of doing more of their own research as part of their curriculum in different programs. We’ve had discussions about how we would support that or finance that or do that with their curriculum. Part of what we want to look at is in the adult centres of allowing students to do research in their programs themselves, contributing towards the program that they’re taking.
I have no more names on my list. (interpretation ends) M-3.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $25,614,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Are we agreed that Nunavut Arctic College is concluded?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Minister Shewchuk, if you have any closing remarks, I welcome you to do so.
Very quickly, I would just like to thank again the committee for their interest in Arctic College and we will strive to deliver adult education to all of our residents of Nunavut.
Again I would like to thank President Shouldice for being here with me. It’s a good day for him to be here with me on his first official day as president.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Shewchuk and Mr. Shouldice. (interpretation) Welcome again, Mr. Shouldice.
My colleagues, we will now proceed with the review of the Department of Finance. Does the Minister of Finance, Minister Peterson, have any opening comments?
Bill 24 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2012-2013 – Finance – Consideration in Committee
Hon. Keith Peterson: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do have comments.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Minister Peterson, proceed.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Sorry, Mr. Chairman.
I’m eager to get going here.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to discuss the 2012-13 main estimates and business plan of the Department of Finance.
Mr. Chairman, one of the Department of Finance’s top priorities for 2012-13 is the fiscal transfer renewal negotiations with the federal government. We receive the majority of our revenues from the Government of Canada through fiscal transfers. The most essential of these transfers is the territorial formula financing arrangement (TFF).
Other transfers include the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) and the Canada Social Transfer (CST). These three transfers are set to expire in March 2014.
We expect technical discussions to “ramp up” over the coming year. We continue to advocate for a transfer agreement that recognizes Nunavut’s high expenditure needs. We would like a set of transfer agreements that allow the GN to offer the same quality and scope of services as other Canadian governments.
For 2012-13, the Department of Finance will continue to support the Government of Nunavut’s return to balance promise.
Finance will develop a meaningful fiscal management strategy for the GN that will include principles for long-term planning and budgeting to restore and maintain our fiscal resources.
We will work with all GN departments to ensure that they have the financial tools and support required to balance their budgets and to enable the Financial Management Board to balance the budget of the government as a whole.
The Department of Finance is continuing to support the Nunavut Liquor Act Review Task Force as it completes its final community consultations and deliberations.
I expect to receive a final report from them in April and will consider its recommendations carefully before moving forward with any changes to Nunavut’s liquor regime.
Finance has five core lines of business: Corporate Management, Human Resource Management, Expenditure Management, Comptrollership, and Centrally Administered Funds.
For 2012-13, the Department of Finance has been allocated $63.2 million in operations and maintenance expenditures, which is slightly over $2 million more than was budgeted in 2011-12, primarily due to staffing increases of $1.2 million and an increase to the Nunavut Electricity Subsidy Program of $1.1 million.
$22.1 million for compensation and benefits;
$41.1 million for centrally administered programs and costs, including:
$14.2 million for government-wide employee benefits, such as workers’ compensation premiums and employee medical travel;
$10.2 million for the lease costs of the Legislative Assembly building and other office buildings constructed by the Nunavut Construction Corporation prior to April 1, 1999;
$8.6 million for energy subsidies and contributions;
$5.0 million for the Government of Nunavut’s insurance premiums; and
$3.1 million for other operations and maintenance costs in the department.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s focus for 2012-13 will continue to be the provision of central agency services in areas that include support for the Financial Management Board, managing the government’s overall fiscal position, and overseeing the financial framework and accounting processes.
I would welcome questions and comments from committee members.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson. (interpretation) Welcome, Mr. D’Arcy. (interpretation ends) Does the chair of the standing committee on oversight have comments?
Mr. Elliott: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
Chairman: You may proceed.
I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts on its review of the proposed 2012-13 main estimates and 2012-15 business plan of the Department of Finance.
The standing committee notes that the department’s proposed 2012-13 operations and maintenance budget of $63.2 million has increased by approximately 3.3 percent since the introduction of the department’s 2011-12 main estimates.
Mr. Chairman, the number of positions in the department has decreased slightly to 207.0 PYs.
This is the fourth consecutive year in which the department has not increased in size.
The standing committee again applauds the minister for demonstrating restraint in this area given the tendency of other GN departments to increase the number of positions in their organization charts each year, despite their not being able to fill a significant percentage of them.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Finance supports the activities of the government’s Public Agencies Council, which has a number of important oversight responsibilities in relation to the governance of the GN’s Crown corporations and agencies.
The 2009-2010 annual activities report of the Public Agencies Council was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on June 10, 2010.
However, its 2010-11 annual activities report has not yet been tabled.