EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
When you provide support in this small amount to the communities for elders and youth, I know for sure in Rankin Inlet, when the youth centre receives funding, grants and contributions, the youth are very happy and the positive impact is felt by the community and some communities, too, I’m sure, when they don’t have the existing facilities, I’m sure you provide funding to them outside of these capital estimates.
Is it possible? I’m in support of you Mr. Minister.
Perhaps my question to you is: do you have a long term action plan for these facilities, because, some communities might receive $250,000 and I’m sure they could get third party funding.
Provided that they had been allocated some funding, I’m sure they would be allowed to get additional grants and contributions. I was wondering if you have a long term, five-year plans for youth centres, whether it is swimming pools, whether it is recreational facilities.
Grants and contributions can be very beneficial but we’re always short of funding.
My colleague, the ministers in provincial jurisdictions, we’ve been discussing this.
Back in 1967, Expo 1967, all the Canadian provinces received recreational facilities. Since then, these facilities have not been replaced and they’re very old.
At this time, we’re now discussing this matter with my colleagues, my federal colleagues on how we can start replacing these existing old facilities.
One of my officials today or tomorrow perhaps...it was supposed to be today, they were supposed to have a teleconference call today, to negotiate an agreement so that we can include, since the facilities, whether it be recreation, they’re getting too old, so we’re trying to negotiate with them to make sure we replace these kinds of facilities.
And, we are looking at ways of how we can increase the grants and contributions, especially for recreational facilities.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I would like to ask another question. I don’t understand the situation in Nunavut.
Some communities are lacking I’m sure. They’ve identified the communities, and I’m sure you have an inventory of what the communities have.
But the question I do have is: do you have a five-year capital plan so you can get additional funding from the Government of Nunavut because large chunks of funding of this is used for office facilities.
Have you considered a long term action plan? If you can have a long term capital plan, because it’s going to...if you don’t have a five-year capital plan, we’ll just start considering them year by year.
If you don’t have a long term plan, could you consider having a long term plan?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes, we are now initiating a study in Nunavut to find out the recreational facilities and others, to find out how old they are, and what capacity they can hold, and which community is going to be the priority.
Once we compile all this information, then we can start planning ahead and make estimates.
We’ve considered a long-term action plan, and now we’re doing a study as to where Nunavummiut are in regard to recreational facilities. Once we understand all of that information, we will be able to better plan, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, it would be ideal if it’s settled that way. If it’s not settled that way, the minister can make more choices as to whom these grants or contribution can go to, that way there will be less favouritism.
It would be ideal if you can come up with a plan as soon as possible for youth and elders centres. I’m sure they will be more pleased and it will be easier to help the communities that are lacking in facilities.
I will conclude with that now, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the minister for his responses.
Grants and Contribution.
Total Grants and Contribution.
Total Headquarters Region. $1,623,000.
Chairman: Total Grants and Contribution. $1,623,000.
Chairman: Thank you. Next page. F-6.
F-7. Sorry. F-7.
Questions. Mr. Curley.
Could the minister elaborate further, as the Chairman of the Standing Committee Ajauqtiit, in regard to third party funding committee from the government, NTI, I wonder who the third one is.
What are their responsibilities?
If you can elaborate further on the third party funding. Are they responsible for Nunavut-wide?
You agreed to it under community heritage program centre. So, I was wondering if you can elaborate on the Nunavut Heritage Centre of $1 million 500-something; is this under that line item?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes, the NTI, our department, and Heritage Trust are the three levels.
We have to identify funding. As the Chair of the Ajauqtiit, Steve Mapsalak, stated that we have to identify close to $55 million because the study has been completed already, but we have numbered it.
If the heritage centre goes ahead, how should it be administered? Is it going to be owned privately by the Nunavut Government? Is it going to be a Crown Corporation?
Or, there was the third one, or is it going to be on its own? Which idea would be the most appropriate?
Secondly, when they have to identify how much it will cost.
Where would the location be and the lowest cost or if we received the funding how we can best extend it because also how are we going to pay for Operations and Maintenance of the building.
So these are the issues that we have to deal with.
So it is mainly for the one Article 33 in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that states that there will be a Heritage Centre.
For that reason these are the considerations that we have so that this can go ahead Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it is very clear what you just stated.
Have you given them any time line as to when they have to complete what they are doing? Do you expect a timeline on this and when do you expect to receive a report on this?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): In coming up with a decision I do expect perhaps in the New Year in January then we can start the process of reviewing so that it can be given to the Cabinet.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I am sure the committee is going to be making a recommendation.
After you receive the recommendations could we see the report after it has been tabled or do you have your Cabinet members to get it to give it to the Members here?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes. I am thinking after the report is given to me then I would provide it, first of all, provide that report to the Cabinet members because we have to make a decision on how much it would cost and how it will be administered and who is going to own that building and where the location is going to be.
So, all these have to be discussed and I know it is going to be quite challenging to make decisions on those and I expect that this will go through.
I would ask the minister if possible once you get that can the communities be asked what they think about it and if they have any comments.
We knew it would cost quite a bit.
Can the communities be informed at least?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes we can keep them informed because under Article 23, Nunavut Heritage Trust, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, and government will have to work together to come up with something.
It is clear we will be able to try and do the best we can. And we will be depending on them when they are working on this.
Chairman: Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
Total Headquarters Region, $1,560,000.
Total Tangible Assets. $1,560,000.
Chairman: Thank you. Go to page F-4.
Total Capital Expenditures. $3,183,000.
Are you agreed that the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth is completed?
Chairman: Thank you. I would like to thank the minister and his staff.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to thank my colleagues, but I feel that the funds will benefit all Nunavummiut. And, thanks again, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister and your staff.
I would now like to ask Minister Akesuk, of the Department of Environment to make his opening remarks.
Bill 01 – Appropriations (Capital) Act, 2006-07 – Environment – Consideration in Committee
I am pleased to be here today in front of the Committee of the Whole to present the Department of Environment’s capital plan for the 2006-07 fiscal year.
Over the last few years we have heard from the regular members that Nunavummiut respect wildlife and value the benefits of the parks. With this in mind, we have proposed 23 capital projects focusing on parks and wildlife management.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Environment’s proposed capital budget for 2006-07 is $2,230,000.
Nunavut parks have an important role to play in the promotion of some of Nunavut’s outstanding natural and cultural heritage, and in supporting recreation and tourism opportunities.
In November of 2000, the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development reviewed a report which summarized the status of facilities in our territorial parks and identified several deficiencies that needed to be addressed in the interests of public safety; visitor satisfaction, and ensuring these special places are appropriately maintained.
With this in mind, our capital plan includes planning, upgrading and building new facilities in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet, and Iqaluit, and in several decentralized and non-decentralized communities including Kugaaruk and Clyde River.
The largest projects within our 2006-07 capital plan will maintain present wildlife offices and build new wildlife area offices. Regular members have indicated that the wildlife area office in each Nunavut community is required. This is reflected in our five year capital plan.
Mr. Chairman, with the funds available to us, the Department of Environment’s capital plan is well balanced and focused in areas that clearly support the needs and priorities of Nunavummiut, the communities, and the government.
I am confident that my department will continue to ensure the protection, promotion and sustainable use of our natural resources in Nunavut with the highest standard of performance and accountability.
Sergeant-at-Arms, could you please escort the witnesses there.
For the record, Minister Akesuk, please introduce your witnesses.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): To my right is my Deputy Minister, Simon Awa; and to my left is the Director for Parks.
Chairman (interpretation): Pardon me, who’s that?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): His name is David Monteith.
Does the Chair of the standing committee have any comments?
The Standing Committee Ajauqtiit has reviewed the proposed capital estimates of the Department of Environment for the 2006-07 fiscal year, and I am pleased to provide you with the committee’s comments.
The committee notes that the department’s proposed 2006-07 capital budget of $2,230,000 is approximately 20 percent higher than its 2005-06 budget. The major area of increase relates to the department’s plan to construct new wildlife offices in a number of Nunavut communities over the coming years.
The committee looks forward to reviewing a detailed timetable for this initiative.
The standing committee supports the improvement of the territory’s park facilities and the visitors’ centres. However, members remain concerned that our territory’s tourism potential remains underdeveloped, and note that while the Department of Environment has responsibility for parks, the Department of Economic Development and Transportation has responsibility for tourism and visitors’ centres. It’s unclear how well these two departments work together in coordinating these responsibilities.
For example, the recently-published 2005 Nunavut Economic Outlook indicated that “an integrated tourism strategy remains a work-in-progress.” It is important that Environment, EDT, and Nunavut Tourism work together to measure the success of investments in the area of parks and tourism, including their impact on employment opportunities in our communities.
The standing committee encourages the government to support efforts on the part of communities to demonstrate initiative and develop their tourism potential.
One example of this is the idea of a marine park or conservation area being developed near Sanikiluaq.
The standing committee notes the progress made, to date, in relation to park development and Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements.
The committee looks forward to the successful designation in 2006 of the Coppermine River near Kugluktuk as a Canadian Heritage River. The committee also notes the commitment made in the department’s 2005-06 business plan to work towards the establishment of a territorial parks and heritage river co-management system, and looks forward to regular updates from the Minister.
The standing committee also recognizes the importance of monitoring the progress of such federal initiatives as the Igaliqtuuq National Wildlife Area near Clyde River, and encourages the department to continue working with impacted communities.
Members have also taken note of information provided by the department during the Minister’s appearance before the committee with respect to concerns expressed by the Kivalliq Inuit Association in relation to the proposed Alivijik Park Development Project near Coral Harbour.
Members recognize that the government faces challenges in balancing environmental protection goals with the need to support the expansion of the natural resources development sector of our economy.
The division of the former Department of Sustainable Development into two new departments with distinct mandates reflects this.
It is important that the government as a whole clearly reports to the Legislative Assembly on the way in which it makes choices and balances concerns in this area.
Mr. Chairman, the GN’s June 2005 Inuit Employment Plan statistics reveal that the department continues to face serious challenges in filling its wildlife management positions in Igloolik.
Approximately 50 percent of the department’s positions in the community remain unfilled.
This situation has also been noted with respect to the Department of CLEY’s positions in the community.
Do the members have general comments?
I have no more members in my list for general comments.
We will now proceed page-by-page on the review of the departmental estimates starting with page I-6.
I-6.
Program Development. Detail.
Capital. Tangible Assets.
Total Headquarters Region. $140,000.
Chairman: Thank you. Page I-7.
On the $100,000 for the Sylvia Grinnell Park, maybe I would just ask the minister: are we going to ever see that bridge; is that what this money is for?
No, this is not for the bridge. We are still working on the bridge issue, so I don’t know how long it’s going to take us. It’s a project that we as a government, as a Department of Environment can’t handle ourselves because of finding other resources to fund this with other people, organizations, or governments involved in making the bridge.
Mr. Tootoo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know the walking bridge was something that was approved, I believe, some years ago. I would just like to ask for confirmation of when that was approved.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: One of the partners, in trying to build the pedestrian bridge on Sylvia Grinnell, the military pulled out of the project and we are still trying to figure out how we are going to proceed with the bridge later on.
In light of the military pull out?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Due to the lack of engineers in the military due to the war going on in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, where alas, the military had all of their commitments. They would have helped us if that didn’t happen.
There are no other engineers out there that know how to build bridges?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: The cost is very high for our department to be able to hire some engineers, so we have to look to other sources and we are still trying to figure out how we are going to do it.
I mean it’s just a pedestrian bridge, it’s not like it’s a heavy-traffic bridge. What’s so difficult, in this case, that they need military expertise to be able to come up with a bridge and why can’t the department do it on its own?
If you look at some of the other projects that the government’s doing around the territory like the big major air facilities and things like that, you don’t depend on military engineers to develop plans for those. I want a bit of an explanation from the minister on that.
In order to dedicate our capital budget for 2006-07, we will be left with about $600,000 for the rest of the communities that also want capital projects.
It would cost us about $1.8 million and we don’t have that kind of money to start up any capital projects again, but we are still working in talking to INAC on how we could access any money to build a bridge. So, we are still working on it. We haven’t given up yet and I don’t think we will ever give up until it’s done, as a department.
That’s where we are at with the Sylvia Grinnell Pedestrian Bridge.
Was the initial concept of doing that was the initial agreement between the Department of Defence and the Department of Environment or whatever other name it was under prior to that in the past? What was the initial agreement DND pulled out of?
They were going to assist with the bridge so that was going to save us money. We also had an agreement with Canada Trail Council but there is no more military here that could do the job. So we are left to figure out how we are going to do it as a department.
When that project was approved how much was approved to go along with it.
There was no money involved.
It wasn’t going to cost the Government of Nunavut to build the bridge. It was going to be done all by DND military and no money was given to the Government of Nunavut for the project.
The minister indicated they are still in meetings with INAC, what about DND, do we have to wait for world peace before we get any help from them and if that is the case I have a feeling we are going to be waiting for an awful long time. Is there anything sooner on the horizon coming from that other than waiting for global peace?
We have written a letter again to INAC and are hoping for a response if they are interested. So we are just waiting for them. Other than that I can’t really talk about the DND here next week or next year to do the job.
Again we will never give up trying to figure out how to build that bridge. That is it for now.
I am not going to wait for the military here next week but when they pulled out did they give any indication, did the department get an indication of they may be able to re-entertain the idea and provide some bridgemenship.
I’ll get Mr. Monteith to respond to that question.
Mr. Monteith.
Mr. Monteith: We’ve had meetings with the military and they did a lot of good work for us. They did the design of the bridge.
They came over here to look at the site. They did the geo-technical work. We were somewhat surprised when the Minister of Defence came over and when we asked him about the next phase of the bridge which was to purchase the materials and actually to undertake the construction.
His response was he had priorities and he wasn’t able to commit to it because of events in Afghanistan. We sent him another letter requesting that if you can’t build the bridge, is it possible to provide us with some assistance, for example there are many military planes that fly up to Iqaluit, could we possibly get some of the materials in one of the Hercules? And that could be your contribution.
So we are waiting for a response on that.
At the same time the minister is quite right he stated he put in an application to INAC for funding. As of yesterday, they seem quite receptive and happy with that. As of yet a decision hasn’t been made.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Monteith.
I guess it is another reason that it might be a good thing that there is a federal election going on cause it can bump the different candidates that if they want to get in they can push the bridge coming from one of the larger centres. You can use that.
The northern way of doing some vote buying by these federal parties that we see go on and considerable more magnitude in the south and it’s an easy way out for them.
You can put it to them that way.
So, it might be something to pursue, because Mr. Chairman, I just want to assure the minister and staff, that I know I often get questions about the bridge by constituents.
There are many times, the caribou are standing just on the other side of the river and you can’t go get them, you don’t have a boat.
Also, the potential for tourism, it’s an endless potential there.
So I’d really urge the minister to point some of these things out very explicitly to his federal counterpart, while he’s still around, to lobby for this to happen and to let the minister know so that I can do what ever I can to help, if there is anything I can do to help, just have him or his officials feel free to let me know.
Like I said earlier, we’re not going to give up.
We’re going to do our very best to come up with ideas as to how we can proceed with this bridge. Again, like the offer from Mr. Tootoo, maybe hopefully Ed. Picco and Mr. Okalik are also going to help out as the Members of the Legislative Assembly for Iqaluit.
So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I-7. Questions to I-7.
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): I have a question under Hall Beach.
Unaliqarviviniit DEW Line Heritage Development.
Last year they used $80,000, and this year they want to use $35,000.
It seems like this funding should not go to that area.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a small community within the Nunavut region and we want to be able to do development on that DEW line heritage site.
You need a DEW line heritage site. If there were to be some tourists to Hall Beach, we want to do development on that heritage site. As a government, we have stated that the smaller communities should be assisted more and this would be used for the tourism development over in that place.
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I didn’t really understand.
He said that this was an outpost camp. Is he just talking about this certain area, or is he talking about the people of Hall Beach? It has to be those DEW Line buildings over there that belong to the DEW line site.
Those buildings are given to the Government of Nunavut now.
Do we have to spend any money on that area?
What I meant by nunaligalak, is non-decentralized community, it’s a non-decentralized community.
We look for ways to improve the economy up in the community of Hall Beach. We’re still in discussions with the federal people who own the DEW Line on how we can get the two buildings from over there, two items and do signage together with them and promote it as a tourism opportunity for people who visit Hall Beach.
The DEW Line site is not that close to the community of Hall Beach. Are there any outpost camps situated around that area, Mr. Chairman?
No, there is nobody there.
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): I’ll just leave it at that Mr. Chairman.
Total Qikiqtaaluk Region. $875,000.
I-8.
Total Kivalliq Region. $265,000.
Chairman: Question, Mr. Curley.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I would like to welcome the minister and his officials, the deputy minister, and Mr. Monteith; I believe he is the longest serving member of the government.
It’s been a long time since he first moved here and started working in the tourism sector.
My question, Mr. Minister, is in regard to Rankin Inlet, which has been allotted $70,000 to improve the Ijiralik Park and Meladine. Usually a lot of people go to Rankin Inlet.
My question is in regard to the park, and I’m not exactly sure how far it is from the coast line, but, there is a possibility of building a road from Meladine, and we’re thinking about building an all weather road.
There are some contributions being made by private businesses and we’re looking at the possibility of building a bridge down by the coast.
How long will it take to build a bridge in a territorial park? What criteria would be used?
Remember we were having a meeting last year. We saw some of the plans but would like to see a bridge built there and I believe they also made a proposal to the federal government.
The parks were there and I would assume that there would have to be an agreement between the government and the affected parties.