EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Further, (interpretation ends) district education authorities are addressing the issue of bullying within policy development regarding student code of conduct. (interpretation) DEA members are also working on this same issue to develop policies related to resolving bullying.
These are the types of initiatives currently under development in our schools. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Ningark: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation) Yes, I am happy that my children will be protected by her departmental policies and the strategic planning. Also, this includes the local DEA that has the mandate for this work.
Another matter revolves around this body for which I forgot the proper title.
Mr. Chairman, I would appreciate any assistance from the minister’s officials. In English, I believe they are called the (interpretation ends) education coalition. (interpretation) Here I refer to the DEA coalition created not too long ago. I am happy this entity was created as they meet to discuss educational issues affecting them.
I have heard there will be a meeting here in Iqaluit. I wonder if the DEA will bring up this issue as it wasn’t created just for the sake of having a coalition.
Their goals are to plan for the future, to develop a healthy life, and with the representatives coming from the grassroots level and from all three regions. They can provide real assistance to the department. It is my opinion that the minister should discuss this issue with the members of this coalition or if the minister is unable, she should at least task her officials to attend and develop further plans to resolve the issue of bullying in the schools.
In our communities, not just in the schools, those of us who are physically smaller tend to be bullied by larger people. That is obvious, as I experienced it.
Therefore, I ask the minister whether this issue is being dealt with by the coalition. Will she task them to initiate plans to combat bullying and will she consult with them as to possible recommendations on this issue? At the very least, I would want her to report on the issue.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Ningark. Minister Aariak.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, this coalition you referred to is the Nunavut Coalition of DEAs.
They are collaborating with the Department of Education with an emphasis on parental involvement in classes and in the schools, as well as how to improve student attendance rates.
These are the main points where they have collaborated upon to date.
(interpretation ends) The DEA coalition is working with the Department of Education right now specifically with attendance and parental engagement. The department and the coalition have actually assigned a training working group on a cooperative agreement. So they are formally producing the agreement between the Department of Education and the coalition.
The partnership is developing very well, I would say.
(interpretation) Additionally, collaboration between the department, the coalition, and local DEAs is resulting in the development of a manual, if I were to say it in English. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Aariak. Mr. Ningark.
Mr. Ningark (interpretation): Thank you. I thank the minister for her clarification leading to my understanding.
Another issue I want to bring up now relates to the elder certification program designed for people working in the schools. In the smaller communities, these people are a strong foundation base and in many cases, they are also the grandfathers and grandmothers of the students.
They are held in high esteem. (interpretation ends) They could also have a very positive, strong impact in the classroom, influence, and those groups should be given the task of making sure that the school environment is free from bullying.
Mr. Chairman, it’s going to take more than one group of people to curtail, reduce, or stop bullying.
I think it is very important that we make sure that the group of elders in the community that goes there to teach students at the local learning centre are given the task of making sure that there is no bullying in the classroom or within the premises of the school. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Ningark (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for reminding me.
The adults who go to the schools to teach are very important.
Perhaps you can give them the information on what you talked about through the principal of the school, DEAs, or the coalition groups because they have to be used.
This is my last comment.
I heard a question.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the member for his question and comments about adults who go to the schools to teach the students. This is very effective for the students.
They give education on different things and how to make things. When they have negotiations in the school, they can go to those adults to learn what should be taught. The member stated that those adults are very important in the schools when they teach the students.
In regard to bullying, when they talk about it, they can also use those adult educators.
I was going to start off in the Directorate in terms of the overall running of the department and decisions made around the strategic planning and different policies developed, as well as the development of legislation.
I want to start with the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy Action Plan. We had the Minister of Health before us, and as he made everyone aware again of the different partners that are involved in the action plan, it includes the Embrace Life Council, the RCMP, NTI, Government of Nunavut, and all departments working together.
One of the objectives was better interdepartmental communication with a DM or an ADM sitting on a steering committee.
Could you clarify and confirm that there is someone within the Department of Education sitting on that ADM committee?
The ADM is relatively new, having just started their position within the Department of Education, but he will be included in the process as well.
(interpretation ends) The ADM is new to his position, although not new at all within the Department of Education, but new to his position, and he will be brought up to speed in regard to what the member is asking.
My next couple of questions are sort of geared towards the ADM and what the department has been doing.
Is the Premier saying that she’s going to call in the witness, the new ADM, to answer the questions?
I would like to have the answers. So if she’s going to answer them, go right ahead and answer.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Elliott. (interpretation ends) Go right ahead and answer, Minister Aariak, if you want.
Hon. Eva Aariak: I understood that the member was asking if our ADM is involved in the ASIST part of it and my response was that we have a new ADM and he has a lot of areas under the Department of Education that he’s gaining information on, and ASIST is one of them. So he will be brought up to speed with that.
If you have a specific question in regard to the ASIST program, I and my officials here would be happy to try and answer.
One of the objectives was to “Improve interdepartmental cooperation to identify and support children demonstrating indicators of behaviours that put them at risk, especially poor school attendance,” which I know a lot of members have raised in terms of DEAs creating attendance policies and whatnot.
The actual task that was supposed to be accomplished was to “Develop and implement a Memorandum of Understanding and related protocols to mandate collaboration between Education and HSS that will support a proactive case conferencing approach at the community level for children demonstrating indicators of behaviours that put them at risk.”
My question to the minister is: is that memorandum of understanding written, completed, and put into place?
I will have my deputy respond to that question, Kathy Okpik.
There are many departments we are currently working with, such as Health and Social Services, and their departmental officials to deal with young children.
The matter the member is referring to, I am unsure if the memorandum of understanding has been signed off and I don’t have the information available at this time.
However, during question period yesterday, the Minister of Health and Social Services stated that he would include that in his written reply. We will ensure that the educational issues are included related to the member’s question about the memorandum of understanding.
One of the other objectives was to “Improve communications with HSS front line workers to address the needs of children demonstrating indicators of behaviours that put them at risk.” Again, the partnership was between the departments of Education and Health and Social Services.
There was supposed to be an agreement on a referral process that would maintain the confidentiality and address the issues and the needs of children. I was wondering: has that referral process been established?
I will have my deputy respond to that question as well.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That issue was also mentioned yesterday. In English, the title is the Making it Happen Committee.
Another matter referred to yesterday involves the deputy ministers who form the Health Committee, including myself representing Education, the DM of Culture and Heritage, and the DM of Justice, including our staff members. We meet every month, and this includes the topic the member spoke about. However, it is coordinated by the Department of Health and Social Services.
Outside of that, we also work with the communities to review servicing the children, for instance, if they’re hard of hearing or they need help with other things. That is what we are doing right now.
Thanks for the information. Maybe I’ll ask the question again in a different way.
The question is specifically based around the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy, which was the action plan that was agreed upon by the partners.
When you think through the process of why they wanted this objective to happen, I can understand that the idea was to be able to have Health and Social Services workers, probably like a mental health worker or a social worker or a nurse, to be able to have early detection to be able to refer students who may be struggling to the proper people who can provide the assistance and help. By January 2012, which was over a year ago, the process was supposed to be in place, as to one of the timelines or objectives in the actual action plan.
My question was: is that referral process… ? It’s very specific in the sense that I don’t think I want to know the details of how. It says right in the action plan that the task and the action is to remain confidential in terms of addressing the situation.
I’m sure they don’t want to stigmatize a child or have a child labelled. They also want to be able to watch and monitor a child to make sure that if someone is struggling, they can get the help that they need.
I was just wondering if that goal had been accomplished in terms of a discreet type of referral process where students can be monitored and maybe seek the help that they need before it grows into something bigger. That was the question that I was asking.
The information sharing agreement has just recently been signed.
It will be included with the written response that will be provided to the member.
All members want to ensure that there is the highest amount of safety and a safe environment within the school system.
With some of the statistics that have come out recently in terms of violent crimes that have occurred or that do occur within Nunavut, it actually shows we are at a higher level than the national average.
With some of the incidents that have occurred in other jurisdictions and in the United States with individuals gaining access into schools and doing some real damage that would last a lifetime in the views of young people, I’m just wondering: what types of safety protocols are in place in the schools to help provide a safe environment for our youth and children going into the schools every day?
I thank the member for asking an important question.
We go through unexpected situations and we need to have a plan in place to deal with them.  To date, I will explain a little bit of what we have done and the developments that have been happening in the schools, especially to do with when to have a school lockdown procedure.
The Department of Education believes that the students in the school should be in a safe environment at all times, including the staff, teachers, and visitors to the schools. Also, inside the school, they have to have a plan in place on what they need to do just in case something happens.
All the schools in Nunavut have been given information about what to do just in case there is an emergency.
If I say it in English, (interpretation ends) all schools in Nunavut have been given a school crisis response guide to assist them in the development of their specific crisis response plan.
The plan requires implementation of school crisis response teams, who play a critical role in emergencies.
The department worked with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the development of a school lockdown procedure if a school is placed in a dangerous situation. One of the main components of this procedure stressed that staff and the community exercise critical judgment to maximize safety. (interpretation) They will work with the RCMP if there is going to be a lockdown in the school if there is a critical situation that happens.
As well, we’re reviewing what kinds of guidelines the schools have, whether there is an alarm that is set in the school, what they should do, and all visitors who enter the school will have to report to the office right away. (interpretation ends) The Department of Education is doing an assessment of what practices schools currently use.
For example, do they lock all doors after the bell goes off or do they use buzzers to let people in? To date, all visitors must report to the office first before they go beyond the school office.
(interpretation) Did I respond to the member adequately? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to the critical response plan, I wasn’t sure whether the minister had stated that these are completed or if there’s a process of a rollout of it happening. If she could clarify whether it’s something that the schools are actually working on right now.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, they have been completed because they have to be utilized. (interpretation ends) The Nunavut School Crises Response Guidelines were issued last fall in 2011 and scheduled for revision for the fall of 2013.
So it’s an ongoing document with regular updates as they are needed.
Next I wanted to move on to the attendance policies. In terms of the directorate, I’m sure that one of the key things that seems to be coming out of a lot of the discussions and I think it’s good to see… . Any time criticism comes, I think people tend to run sometimes.
I almost like the fact that when people become engaged in the process, as Mr. Ningark was saying, we need to have the students in the school.
That’s step 1. Whether it is parents or grandparents waking them up and taking them to school, that’s step 1, but then step 2 is... . I remember when I was working in the school, a parent actually had said, “Well, my son or daughter comes every day.
Why is there no progress? I tell them to go to school every day.” Getting in the door is part of it, but then there is also the part of actually actively participating and challenging yourself.
Sometimes I find it frustrating because it always seems like when we try and solve these problems, people want to lay blame on someone, and I think that was what was reflected in the committee’s opening comments.
If somebody wants to blame somebody, let’s blame everybody because then we can move on and deal with the issue, which is getting our children educated.
If we sit around and blame the DEAs and say, “It’s their fault,” then we’re not getting any further ahead. If we sit around blaming teachers, we’re not getting any further ahead.
If we say, “Well, it’s the students,” then I don’t know any student that I ever taught, when you really light a fire under them and get them motivated, they far exceed any of the expectations that you ever thought they could reach.
To me, I think there are enough angry people or motivated enough and we have talked about it enough, it has been in the media, now it’s time to move on and make the education system work the way we want.
There are things that don’t work, so I think some fine-tuning [is needed]. One of them is the attendance policy and getting the students in the school and getting them in the door.
I think we have asked this before, but at one point, not all the DEAs had attendance policies in place. At this point, do we have attendance policies in place for all of our Nunavut schools across the territory?
To answer his question in short, it is not mandatory at this point by DEAs.
DEAs will be responsible for registration and attendance policies; however, they are not currently required to have one.
Section 11(1) of the Transition Regulations 2012-14 delays the requirement for DEAs to have a registration and attendance policy for the time being.
DEAs are authorized to establish a registration and attendance policy if they wish but are not required to until such time when the regulations on this subject are complete and in force.
Once the regulations are in force, section 11(1) of the Transition Regulations 2012-14 will be repealed.
At this point, the DEAs do not have to have an attendance policy.
We don’t have an attendance policy and it’s not being regulated.
I thought that before you can actually graduate, in one of the high school courses, you actually have to have 88 percent attendance.
How come there is no mandatory regulation that there is an attendance policy in place?
Attendance is recorded in the school when the students come to school.
This has always been the practice, if that’s what the member is referring to.
I guess I’ve got time for one more question.
In terms of the regulation and it coming into force, what type of a timeline are we looking at for that?
Is this going to be happening relatively soon?
Phase 2 consultation is underway currently from January 11 to March 11, 2013.
It’s ongoing, and we hope to see the end product of this exercise and plans submitted to cabinet by spring of 2013.
We’re on page G-4.
I have a question that relates to G-4, Directorate.
Mr. Ningark: Thank you. This branch covers the legislation, standards for all programming, and policy making.
My question has to do with the early childhood programming and also with the Child Day Care Act within the system.
Through you, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Madam Minister.
A number of Nunavut communities have expressed the need for support in establishing and operating child daycare facilities. That’s across Nunavut.
My question is this: does your department’s review of the Child Day Care Act address this aspect of community-based early childhood programming and, if so, Madam Premier, what consideration has been given to providing more support in this area?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My Deputy Minister, Ms. Okpik, will respond to that question.
Those are separate.
The Child Day Care Act only looks after daycare operations and safety issues.
Funding is provided separately for early childhood education programs and for DEAs.
They also can be included in the early childhood program.
They’re not under the Education Act. They’re more under the Child Day Care Act.
They have a close working relationship between our departments and also support the DEAs in the communities in trying to establish some program.
Chairman (Mr. Ningeongan) (interpretation): Thank you, Ms. Okpik.
Thank you for the response. I’m glad that they’re supporting this and that they’re working together.
My colleagues may have questions, so I don’t have any more questions for now.
I don’t have any more names on my list. (interpretation ends) Education. (interpretation) Actually, I have some names on my list here.
I wanted to ask a few more questions about the Child Day Care Act.
In the business plan, it talks about reviewing it, and then there is also the next bullet that talks about if there are revisions needed.
What types of consultations are going to be done to determine whether the Child Day Care Act actually requires any types of revision?
I also thank the member for his question. (interpretation ends) The department has not yet determined the scope of the Child Day Care Act review.
It is more than likely that these two matters will be discussed and/or reviewed at some point.
The Department of Education is currently in the planning stages of the review of the Act. The new government will need to determine the course of action. It will take time to work on the planning stages.
To move that along, the department will establish an internal working group to start pre-consultation.
The department is hosting an early childhood conference this week in Iqaluit.
We plan to start the surveys to work towards a holistic approach on early childhood education, such as outreach activities for parents, and so on.
Chairman (Mr. Enook)(interpretation): Thank you, Minister Aariak.
In terms of strategic planning for the future in terms of early childhood education, as well, part of the directorate looks at overall capital planning, which would strategically… .
If you’re looking at enhancing and improving early childhood education, as was mentioned in the opening comments, a lot of early childhood education facilities that are already existing have very little room to expand, yet every year, the population continues to grow, so there is a demand for space. At the same time, some communities do not have infrastructure in place for early childhood education programs.
Is this going to be considered in terms of handling the situation for providing a really good or beefed-up early childhood education program across the territory?
This process is under deliberation and I will ask my Deputy Minister, Ms. Okpik, to respond to this question as it is a very important aspect of our planning process to ensure that it is done properly.
I will ask Ms. Okpik to supplement my response.
The issue of daycare facility funding falls outside of our mandate, especially if they are trying to set up a daycare centre. We provide start-up and maintenance funds that they can apply towards, including funding for toys and other materials.
We do know that some communities require more space. To illustrate, Pangnirtung, Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Igloolik are in dire need of more daycare spaces, which we are aware of.
Currently, whenever we design a new school for construction or when planning extensions to existing schools, a daycare facility is now always included.
This is now common practice.
However, we are also finding out other factors, such as not every child goes to daycare centres, including infants. We are currently dealing with this in our offices to try to provide more daycare training programs.
As the minister mentioned, a conference has been scheduled for the weekend where we will bring together early childhood workers and teachers from all over Nunavut
The new curriculum we have developed, such as Umiat, Ulluriat, I am just using these as examples of courses that have been developed within the new curriculum. We will be introducing them to the early childhood education workers. Additionally, to cite this other example, Inuit traditional child-rearing methods will be included in the training sessions and we will have elders leading this discussion.
We plan to bring elders in for this purpose.
We also know that not all parents attend the early childhood education program in the communities. We are exploring ways to involve the parents so that they can be involved in the process, such as providing books or reading material and they can be lent out to parents. Items such as certain childhood games, songs, and endearment songs are items which the parents can take home, to borrow and work with their children at home.