EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Some clients don’t mature even when they reach the age of majority, where they require constant care. I had asked that this be looked into, as they rarely ever become an adult mentally. I refer to those who require constant care, as this requirement is cut off when they reach the age of 20, where visitation is reduced to once a year.
Has this been dealt with at all to date?
Yes, we have dealt with that matter. Actually there will be a slight amendment which will not cost extra.
The change is the number of visitations, which I believe you asked about in the House earlier.
With respect to client care outside of Nunavut and the visitation rights, they can visit the client twice a year. This includes up to two people visiting twice.
Now the change will go from two visits a year up to four visits a year and that is the proposed change.
There are four main visits that occur usually twice a year.
At this time, based on what we have observed in working on this file to change it from two family members that visit, it is to allow more flexibility so that four visits a year can be scheduled. A family member would be able to visit four times a year.
The current requirements are to have two visitors per visit and they visit twice a year.
That is how it is set up currently.
That is the change listed in the 2017-18 business plan.
Mr. Mapsalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the understandable response I just listened to, so I thank you, Mr. Minister.
In reviewing the main estimates, the figures seem lower than last year’s figures.
With that being the case and the proposed changes you mentioned, I wonder if the numbers of clients sent south are decreasing.
I wanted to know if, based on these lower numbers, the funding request seems lower than last year.
This is just for clarification.
This only looks like a decrease because the public guardian used to be in the Children and Family Services Branch and it was moved somewhere else.
The amounts for operations and maintenance didn’t change. There may have been a slight increase.
We simply took out the public guardianship from this branch summary.
Mr. Mapsalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank her for that clear response.
Once the main estimates are approved, this will start on April 1.
Yes, it will start on April 1.
I would like to ask a question on your business plan, 142, under the Family Violence Services.
There’s a slight decrease in funding of about $720,000, I believe.
That’s for community social services workers to provide family violence intervention services.
Can you just explain about why the budget has seemed to have gone down a bit?
I’ll refer that to the director to provide a clear response with respect to funding.
That decrease of $720,000 is due to... . We created a number of positions in Iqaluit to support Child Protection Services in the Iqaluit office.
That is also coming from contribution agreements.
However, under that program we added funding to provide community-based training to support our shelter programs.
I didn’t understand that.
You said that there is funding for shelters and that, but the funding has gone down.
Is that through a different means? Can you explain that a little bit better, please?
The director will also respond to that question.
Chairman: Ms. Vardy.
That $700,000 decrease is used to create positions for Child Protection Services in our Iqaluit office since we have more than 500 cases that we have to address.
Thank you for the response. I understand now.
On the same page you have the adult support services and it’s $738,000.
It has been like that. From what I can tell, it hasn’t changed.
This is to support services to eligible adults with disabilities.
Can you provide us with a sense of how much this service or these funds have been accessed?
At the end of the fiscal year how much of this budget is left over, if any?
That amount is actually close to budget every year.
That is the cost related to our client travel in all communities.
How does one access that support?
Is it through a contribution? Is there a call-out? Do you go through established organizations like hamlets, or how does this work?
I will refer this question once again to our director.
That money is accessed through an arrangement of client travel for family members and that’s paid through our travel and transportation.
I still don’t have a very good understanding of how this program works.
Are you saying family members who travel with other family members that have disabilities, or do they go on holidays, or what’s the travel for?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Minister Mike.
That is client travel support that we provide to family members who are visiting our clients.
That could be our clients who are staying in residential care outside of the territory or it could be travel for our clients coming from down south visiting their families.
Ms. Angnakak, do you have any more questions?
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you very much. I understand now. Thank you.
Again on the same page under Social Advocacy, there’s the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council and you provide funding through a contribution agreement that hasn’t been increased for several years.
Have you looked at the funding amounts for the status of women?
Have you reviewed it and, if so, why hasn’t it increased?
Part of this funding, $250,000, goes to Qulliit for their funding and to operate their board and their offices.
They have not requested increase in funding.
That’s how come it’s staying the same.
They have an office here. They have an active board.
We have not received any increase requests.
In regard to the Qulliit women council, can you tell me how much involvement the department has with this council, for example, maybe looking at some priorities perhaps or any kind of interaction, if any?
Minister Ell-Kanayuk is the responsible minister for this portfolio. The minister writes an expectation letter from the board.
They also have meetings and they’re also provided what might be a priority for Nunavut; an example, to look into violence in the communities and different things that Minister Ell-Kanayuk feels that they should look at. This year they got the expectation letter from the minister.
They are an arm’s-length group, but we have a staff person in Family Services that works with them, not to advise them but with the administration or when they’re planning for meetings. We have a connection with them, but they’re at arm’s length.
They do what they need to do.
We just fund them and also the minister provides them with a letter of expectation.
I would like to ask a bit more about the Nunavut Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society.
It’s $100,000.
I think it has been at that level as well for quite some time. Have you received any requests for an increase in that budget?
Hon. Johnny Mike: No. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What kind of interaction does the department have with this society, if any?
The Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society is supported by the Department of Family Services. We represent them at times outside of Nunavut, especially with the federal government.
We provide the funds to the disabilities society. Nunavut Tunngavik is involved with the society for the benefit of beneficiaries with disabilities.
They seek to have them provide with better services and to also lobby to have the concerns for the disabled heard and understood.
Chairman (Mr. Akoak): Ms. Angnakak.
I want to go to residential care and it’s in your business plan. Again, it’s something that my colleague, Mr. Mapsalak, made reference to.
What I would like to know, you have gone down by $4 million, but out of the $30 million, how much of that is spent inside the territory and how much is spent outside of the territory?
It’s approximately $35 million for residential care facilities.
There are 58 facilities operated within Nunavut and cost approximately $8,286,000 and it’s approximately $27,178,000 for outside of Nunavut and there are 181 facilities under contract.
Out of the $27 million that is spent on Nunavummiut that have to be out of territory, do you have the details where you can tell us how much of that is spent on children under the age of 19 and how much of that is for adult residential care?
I don’t have the details in front of me, but I would like to refer this question to either my deputy minister or the director.
For 19 years of age, we don’t have the details in front of us, but we would like to get those clients back here in Nunavut.
We had given a contract to use the youth centre and we would like to get more of our clients up here as long as there are mental health workers and doctors.
I don’t have the details for how much was spent and for what ages they are.
Perhaps if the department can provide that through our Chair, then we can all get that information.
You made reference to the youth or children’s home. I forget what we call it. Inuusilirivik?
The children’s residential place that we had in Iqaluit that was shut down, can you give us the status update on that and what’s going on with that facility?
As my deputy minister indicated, we had signed a contract.
We had stated at one point that we would like to repatriate the clients that are in residential care outside of Nunavut.
I looked at the unit and there are eight beds available.
Three are already here from Nunavut and we would like to repatriate some of the clients who are in residential care outside of Nunavut.
I am happy about these developments and that there is going to be a slight increase in the people at the residential care unit.
If there is a requirement to go to school, they would be going to the schools and we would also like to see them participate in community activities.
There are more than 10 that we have identified so far, especially outdoor activities for young girls.
We will make sure that they are active mentally and physically.
We see a huge improvement since we changed the contract, especially for young girls.
I thank you for asking that question.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister for his response.
That is very good to hear. I look forward to hearing more about that.
I haven’t got much time, so I would like to ask a question about adoption services.
It’s a small budget basically.
I guess what I am more interested in is to find out how much or what role the department plays when it comes to custom adoption.
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): I guess you’re asking about the Inuit way of adoption. It has been recognized in law.
Here we use commissioners to perform custom adoptions.
If an Inuk is going to be adopted, the regional Inuit associations are involved.
We want to make the system stronger for the good of Inuit children.
It’s a unique law and it’s a commendable law. It recognizes the traditional Inuit way of adoptions.
My last question on this topic, when we saw the privacy commissioner, one of the things that she raised was concern over information being shared back and forth between the regional Inuit associations, the government, families, and that.
In regard to the privacy issues over this kind of service, what has been your working relationship with the privacy commissioner?
Custom adoptions are recognized under aboriginal law and the Inuit ways under that.
Basically custom adoption is run under an Act.
I would like my deputy minister to respond to your question about the privacy commissioner.
Our department is working really well with RIAs because we must advise them when adoption takes place.
The concern was how they are protecting the privacy of the personal information.
We have been meeting with them, RIAs, and working with them to make sure that the personal information that we provide to them is protected. They have worked really well together.
We do report back to the standing committee on our progress on this issue.
When there’s an adoption taking place, for example, if somebody here in Nunavut, a Nunavummiuq, she comes to Iqaluit to have her baby and somebody from outside of the territory wants to adopt the baby, what role does your department have in that kind of situation?
Do you know about that adoption? How do you track it? How do you know what’s going on with babies being adopted outside of the territory?
According to the law there are three different types of adoptions.
There’s one called the departmental adoption where the director of children and family services can go through the courts and do that.
There are private adoptions.
Even though they are called private adoptions, they make their own agreements between families, but they have to follow the law.
If a child is going to be adopted outside of Nunavut, then they have to follow applicable laws as well.
For any adoption of an Inuk that is going to be adopted outside of Nunavut, the regional Inuit organizations would be involved and the adoption commissioner has to be involved.
If I didn’t answer the question fully enough, my deputy minister can expand on my response.
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) She asked in English, so I’ll reply in English.
We do know that the adoption will be taking place. When we know, wherever the person who is adopting has to have a home visit done in that province.
We had a situation that took place that we had to deal with about somebody who was looking for adoptive parents through social media.
We worked with that individual and we were able to work it out at the community level.
When we know that adoption is taking place and it’s a private arrangement between an aboriginal person and a non-aboriginal family, we do communicate with that province to make sure that the adoption documents are done and a home study is done so that the adoption could be finalized.
We had quite a lot of people adopted. In 2013 there were 41, but in 2016 we had 20 that we know of.
As soon social workers know, they work with other provinces.
Sometimes we hear of things that happen where, for example, an out-of-territory family has come to Nunavut because they’re going to adopt a baby. There’s some kind of an arrangement made.
I understand that the family adopting or going to adopt has to stay in the territory before papers are signed off for 10 days, before the final adoption papers are signed.
Sometimes the mother changes her mind after a while before the 10 days are over.
I guess what I’m trying to get a better understanding of is the involvement of your department, if any. I don’t know.
Who provides counselling maybe to the mother who wants to change her mind or to the people that have come all this way to get their baby and then have to go home empty-handed because minds have been changed?
If you can just give me a better understanding, does your department get involved with anything like that and, if not, who provides some oversight to help guide situations like this when they become very complex, difficult and hurtful?
That’s a good question and like my DM said, there have been really good consultations with Inuit associations to facilitate communications.
To deal with the oversight of the process, when an Inuk child is being adopted, that’s the area that we want to improve.
The adoption Act, whether it would be custom or not, then the Inuit associations have a major role to play in that because it’s an Inuk being involved in that process.
(interpretation) Because of that we want to improve the way we handle it and adoption is handled through the Department of Family Services. Within the communities of Nunavut, Department of Family Services staff are really involved during adoptions.
As the minister, I share your concern.
With the Inuit way of adopting, I did that. I adopted using custom adoption. There were no concerns because it was a complete family matter.
Your question may have to do with children that are adopted by different races.
We’re on Children and Family Services. Family Services.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $55,897,000.
>>Committee recessed at 19:12 and resumed at 19:21
Chairman: Hello, Inuit. I will call the committee meeting back to order. We’re on page D-6.
I would first like to ask about income support clients. The income support worker usually looks at the income information of the client if the client had earned some money.
The client might earn some money not through work but by many other means like winning something and that’s what some unemployed people usually do.
When they go apply for income support, does the money that they earned not through employment get clawed back?
I’m not sure who to refer his question to, as I don’t know in detail about this, but I can use an example.
The winnings of an income support client, I hear, can be clawed back.
Mr. Chairman, I think my officials can respond to that question better than I can. Please wait a moment.
The earnings of income support clients, however they earned it, will be clawed back from their income support.
We consulted with all the communities as to how we can improve this program.
It includes the earnings.
They wanted to partially claw back some of the earnings and that’s in our plans.
Today, if they earn some money by winning or anyhow they earn money, it will be clawed back from their income support.
Is there a limit on the earnings? If they receive money not through working, is there a maximum or minimum when you can claw back some funds from the income support client?
My officials have to look into that. I do want to understand exactly what the limits are.
Mr. Chairman, I would like the opportunity to get back to the member’s question once we get that information.
Chairman: Mr. Keyootak
I will expect the information so that we know when they start clawing back the funds.
I am moving on to a different topic. More than once there have been proposed amendments for income support programs for elders, senior citizen supplementary benefits, and the senior fuel subsidy in 2016-17.
Will you be making amendments to this program some time in the near future?
The program will remain the same for the senior fuel subsidy. I believe he is asking questions in regard to the senior fuel subsidy.
In 2015 the senior homeowners’ fuel subsidy was increased.
For 2016-17 the fuel subsidy will remain the same for homeowners, if that’s what he’s asking about.
There will be no changes for 2016-17. As of January 31, 2017 there were 108 Nunavut seniors that received fuel subsidies for 2016-17.
There was an increase for up to 3,500 litres.
The income support delivery system has been in development for some time. Your business plan indicates that a number of training sessions were held for income support workers in 2016-17 with a focus on using the new system.
Have those training sessions proven effective in improving the delivery of income assistance across the territory of Nunavut?
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): Yes, we continually work to improve them as well through the installation of computer systems. Training for staff is ongoing. An electronic file system is a great improvement.
It is faster and increases the productivity of the staff.
The amount of funding to be allocated to social assistance contributions is projected to decrease in 2017-18.
Can the minister clarify what factors are contributing to the projected decrease in the need for social assistance support across Nunavut?
Regarding the decrease, if the member can state exactly where it is situated in social assistance.
There’s income support funding and then there’s funding agreements that are in place as well.
I’m asking the member exactly which projected decrease he is referring to.
I cannot even tell you which page, but it states here that the amount of funding to be allocated to the social assistance contribution is projected to decrease in 2017-18.
I was asking about the projected decrease in the need for social assistance support across Nunavut. What are the factors?
With respect to the allocated social assistance contribution that is made available, it is projected to decrease. I can provide the reasons for this decrease if we’re talking about the same thing.
There’s corporate management, which is around $225,000, and for the new position of a human resources specialist, $128,000, as well as another $316,000.
All these items are for salaries and staff development here in Iqaluit.
There will also be additional staff positions created in Iqaluit.
That is the primary change in this item.
We’re at Family Services. Income Assistance.
My first question is maybe more of a clarification. In your opening comments on page 5 you state in the second paragraph there or the first full paragraph, “In order to serve the growing needs of our communities, funding will be allocated to provide six part-time income assistance worker positions in the communities of Clyde River, Igloolik, Sanikiluaq, Arviat, Gjoa Haven, and Kugaaruk.”
Are these new positions?
Yes, these are new positions, the six part-time income assistance worker positions in those communities that he just mentioned.
It’s always welcoming to see a new position come into our smaller communities in Nunavut.
Currently we have an income support worker and I think there is another income support worker.
There are two of them in the office and one of them has a regular office, but the other one is working out of a storage room.
Where are you going to find the office space for this third worker?
In looking for office space, we will be working with Community and Government Services for that purpose of hiring new positions.
We have to work with CGS on this issue.
Has your department contacted Community and Government Services yet to start consulting on office space for this new position?
As I stated, when we start planning this, we work with the departments that are involved.
With the positions we just identified, as Family Services alone, we cannot work on office space.
These things are considered, especially by CGS.
I understand it’s the responsibility of Community and Government Services to provide the office space, but it’s the responsibility of the Department of Family Services to inform the department that they need extra office space.
My question is: have they talked to the department about acquiring office space?
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): As I stated earlier, when we start planning for these positions, CGS gets involved.
Yes, that is the case right now.
In the next few days I will follow up with Community and Government Services and see where they are with acquiring office space for this position.
When do you anticipate having these positions filled, those six positions that we are discussing right now?
It’s in our business plan for 2017-18.
That’s what this is for.
I’ll just leave it at that for now.
My next question is regarding a process in order before an income support client can qualify for income support.
In our communities they have to first go to the income support office and they are given some sort of forms where they have to go to businesses and have managers sign whether there is any work available for the clients or not.
In our smaller communities there are only a few places that hire people and the turnover rate is very low.
I have asked the minister this question in committee before. I’m just wondering if your department is looking at an alternate way of doing this process to speed it up.
Right now a person goes in income support, they have to take this paper and if they have no transportation, they have to walk around town to these businesses, probably carrying children on their backs, and have to go and get these papers signed, then return to the income support office to see if they qualify for any funding.
Has the government looked at any ways of simplifying that process?
As we have already stated, after the review of things that need to be changed, this is one of the items slated to be changed.
Presently it’s still the same, but it will start changing.
We’re working on what needs to be changed right now.
This is part of that review on the job search forms.
That’s presently being worked on so that it can be changed to make it a simpler process for the benefit of people looking for jobs within a community.
It’s obvious that jobs are more limited in smaller communities.
It’s our aim to make this process easier and accessible, which is what I would like my colleague to know.