EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We may have a building, for example, but we have no resources like behavioural therapists, different types of psychologists, or other types of those kinds of resources that we don’t have yet in Nunavut.
In the business plan, we are exploring how many of them could we accommodate to come back for them to have the proper care that they need.
In your opening comments on page 2, the last paragraph, $470,000 for operations and maintenance for a new homeless shelter is just planned for Cambridge Bay.
I have a question on the (interpretation ends) “$470,000 for O&M for a new homeless shelter planned for Cambridge Bay.” (interpretation) Why is this in there when it’s just being planned?
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank my colleague for that question.
When I first alluded to it, I asked my deputy minister to explain how this will be operated.
The homeless people are starting to surface. We need to improve the homelessness situation.
Cambridge Bay is in need. There are interested parties and we need a temporary homeless shelter.
That’s why we have included that in our plan.
Mr. Chairman, if you will allow my deputy minister to explain further on that.
It’s not just being considered; there’s a plan already.
That’s why there is a proposal for $470,000 for the operations and maintenance of the homeless shelter in Cambridge Bay.
In the Baffin region, we use the services of Uquutaq Shelter and many people from the community and other communities use it.
We provide over $377,000 to that shelter.
There is no homeless shelter in the Kitikmeot. The Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre has been requesting a homeless shelter and it has been planned.
Yes, to ensure I understand this clearly, is this a new construction project? Has it already been built or is this planned for this upcoming fall when we will review the approvals for the capital estimates? Will we have to approve it then if we approve of the O&M funds for this facility?
Further, to refer back to the statement the deputy minister made, the department is working closely with an organization in Cambridge Bay called the (interpretation ends) wellness centre (interpretation) in English to determine the facility to be used.
I only see a proposal without identifying a facility.
I would like it clearly explained.
Has an existing facility been identified that is already available and standing?
Chairman: Thank you. (interpretation) The minister has referred that to his deputy minister. Ms. Williams.
We have definite plans to provide funding.
We met on February 15 on this matter with the group that requested it for their community and their region.
They have stated that there are two existing buildings.
It will be up to them which facility they want to use, but that $470,000 we are requesting for operations is a request to you.
I would like to tell the minister that if he is going to turn it over to someone else, it will need to be recorded.
Mr. Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you for the clarification. I don’t totally understand it, but I will have other questions later.
Chairman (interpretation): You can proceed, (interpretation ends) Mr. A. Sammurtok.
Mr. Sammurtok (interpretation): The questions I have will be on (interpretation ends) other branches. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
That’s clear.
We are dealing with Corporate Management. Family Services.
Mr. Shooyook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to the Acting Minister of Family Services. My sister, welcome, to the House.
Welcome to the other staff member as well.
I have been withdrawing my questions whenever a colleague brings up the question I had in mind.
I don’t want to repeat any questions because social service is something I am very committed to changing.
I refer to the $837,000 fund my colleague Mr. Joe Enook asked about that I also had a question on, so I will proceed with it, but my question will be very brief.
Social service provision is very critical in Nunavut and due to its importance, we often hear about the requirement of positions to be able to speak in both Inuktitut and English and that requirement is a necessity.
When a position is advertised, the successful applicant is usually a unilingual English-speaking person who is unable to speak Inuktitut or even write in the language.
This is the exact same situation an Inuk faces, but the non-Inuk is hired here in Nunavut.
Due to the importance of this field, I am very adamant about this matter and I want you all to know this fact.
First of all, let me offer this tidbit. Inuit, especially elders, need to be involved in social service provision and this is one of the areas I am seriously working hard on.
The western social counselling practices, even if it is used by a bilingual person, results in cultural degeneration.
Many Inuit have committed suicide, even though we assert western counselling practices.
I urge the minister further to incorporate this in the 2016-17 business plan to have Inuit elders involved. Albeit not all elders are able to conduct counselling, but we have learned experts throughout Nunavut who are extremely capable of counselling their fellow Inuit and who are already well versed in Inuit cultural practices and lifestyles.
I do understand the requirement for the ability to speak both English and Inuktitut for this position, but I tend to place a caveat on that requirement.
Is there anything within your business plans related to suicide prevention that can incorporate these expert counsellors who may not be able to speak in English? Can you add this as a requirement when the plans are being implemented in the future so that life in Nunavut can become healthy?
Can you elaborate on this issue and whether you agree or not with this need? I really want to understand this issue.
When you talk about human resources, it’s not the responsibility of the Department of Family Services.
When we are talking about social workers, we are just talking about positions. It’s human resources that can consider my colleague’s question.
As the Minister of Family Services, I can’t control human resources.
That is why I’m stating that Family Services is following human resources practices within the government.
We can make recommendations to human resources to consider these questions.
Candidates have to be capable in both languages for those positions and we already talked about the reasons.
What I can’t answer as the Minister of Family Services is the qualifications of these positions. They can’t be unilingual Inuktitut-speaking people.
This is not the responsibility of Family Services, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Shooyook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me that opportunity and I will use it to ask my last question.
It is on the opening remarks.
Indeed, the witnesses stated that the requirement is there for the ability to read and write in Inuktitut and English, and that is the written statement.
What I am asking you is about the people who can speak fluently in Inuktitut, but who may not be able to write in English. Will this be your excuse not to incorporate the elders in this field?
Once again, if the corporate bias prevents unilingual Inuit from being involved in counselling, I will take that as a slight and be regretful. I would like to understand if real Inuit will always be prevented from counselling their own people.
This is a very regrettable position because of our needs to have an Inuk well versed in traditional counselling, even if they can’t speak English, to be involved with social service workers.
Will the Department of Family Services and the social workers ever be able to accept traditional Inuit counselling as a real skill?
I really want an answer to that question.
Actually, these positions we are opening are not trying to close any doors and I want that clearly understood.
There will continue to be positions created, which is obvious, but the positions we are creating now which I don’t want misunderstood are not meant to place a barrier to our unilingual Inuktitut speakers or English for that matter.
That is not what we are trying to state here and this is not the future we want to see from this department.
I want that known by the members.
We are not trying to close off any opportunities by creating these positions and I don’t want any misunderstanding on this front.
As I stated, the regulations we have to follow are imposed by the HR division and we can speak to them as the Department of Family Services.
Human resources are responsible for enforcing them.
We are not trying to create that and we want members to understand that these seven positions that were previously requested by the communities aren’t meant to close any doors to unilingual Inuit or even English only speakers. We will not close the doors for them.
I would like to be clear on that.
My deputy minister would like to elaborate on that.
The applicable regulation of the government is that it be open to any citizen without discriminating against anyone.
The applicants who express interest will submit their qualifications and selections will be made from that list.
When we finally complete this process, it will be easier to divulge that, as we cannot also stop certain segments to not apply for positions in our department.
All citizens have to have the opportunity to apply.
I also have questions on the opening comments, but I would first like some clarification. Where was it?
On page 4, it states that you have earmarked $6.8 million for use in supporting the federal National Child Benefit Supplement to ensure there is no deduction of funds following past practices.
The minister also stated in the opening comments on page 4, I believe, that “The current practice is to deduct the income that families receive from the federal National Child Benefit Supplement from our social assistance calculations.
The plan is to exclude this income from our calculations, which will increase the financial assistance for families who need it the most.”
As an example, if they have two or three children, is there any information that can show us by how much their assistance would increase?
What that is saying is, in my opening comments as minister, the people who receive income assistance and low-income families get the National Child Benefit Supplement.
Their child benefits were clawed back and their income assistance decreased by that amount.
That won’t be the case anymore.
For that reason, the $6.8 million will provide assistance to low-income families.
The National Child Benefit Supplement was deducted from their income assistance.
The amount is about $6.8 million and this is an estimate.
In today’s government, Ottawa still hasn’t directly identified, but I will know by July about how the National Child Benefit Supplement will be identified at that time.
Even though that’s the case, we have set that as a government or the Department of Family Services today.
With the National Child Benefit Supplement that will be introduced by the federal government, we have already decided that we won’t be clawing that back.
The new child benefits will be increasing and your social assistance will be increasing because the child benefits won’t be clawed back anymore.
Also, to ensure everyone understands exactly what we are discussing, is this referring to the federal government program?
In English, it is called (interpretation ends) the Universal Child Tax. (interpretation) Is that what you’re referring to here in this paragraph?
My deputy minister can supplement my response, as there are different programs we are referring to here related to child assistance programs. Both the old child benefits as well as the new benefits will be explained in greater detail.
Mr. Joanasie. (interpretation) My mistake. Ms. Williams.
The newly elected government made a campaign promise to amalgamate the different programs into a single child benefit program, as I believe there are three different programs that provide benefits to parents. They promised to unify this into one single program. The Canadian government has now decided that they are going to be making a bunch of changes to money that is given out to families with children.
They want to centralize it so that it will be easier and better to track.
It will be good news. On March 22, the federal government will be announcing the budget and it will be part of the announcement.
What we are planning is for the $6.8 million to go to low-income families who need additional support.
I was asked how much money per child would be given. We don’t have that information at this time.
Thank you to the Department of Family Services for recognizing that need and the fact that low-income families need additional support, that money won’t be taken away from them anymore.
Let me move on to a different question about homelessness. You were saying you planned to develop a shelter for homeless people in Cambridge Bay.
If that facility is being opened in Cambridge Bay, have you made any plans to do the same things in other communities that have the same need?
The Nunavut government works with communities that initiate things like this to deal with homelessness.
Because we have been working with Cambridge Bay along those lines, they initiated the project. They did the planning and we approved of their plans. Whenever communities initiate projects like that and they have a good, firm plan… .
This has to be started in the communities. Each community has to get its own people because they know their own people. It has to start from the communities.
As the minister, I am aware of that.
If another community wants to start something like that, then we will be able to help them as well.
Do I understand correctly that there are no plans to spread this to other communities?
Has anyone come to the Department of Family Services requesting help for homelessness initiatives? Have other communities approached your department about that?
We have a staff member who works on homelessness in Nunavut. That person has spoken to all the communities asking them what they want and have spoken to the absolute homeless people.
We have looked into this in all communities of Nunavut and up to now, Gjoa Haven has said that they are interested and we are working with them.
Whenever a community wants to initiate this on their own or if they have a society or a building available, then we’re quite able to work with them.
Along the same lines, there was a survey done about the absolute homeless people. You stated that you went to the communities. I forget what the actual number was, but it was around 96.
Has the number of absolute homeless people increased after you visited the communities?
Mr. Williams (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What the MLA has understood is true. There are still around 90 plus absolutely homeless people.
Some of them were surveyed by phone and were not actually visited in person, but all the communities have been spoken to about this issue.
It’s one of the mandates of the Department of Family Services to make it so that there are no more homeless people, but we do know that there are still 90 plus absolute homeless people in Nunavut.
There was going to be a review of income support. As the minister said on page 5 of his comments, “Our Nunavut-wide community engagement with the Department of Economic Development and Transportation allowed Nunavummiut to provide feedback on how we can help improve our approaches to social assistance in order to promote self-reliance and provide help to those who need it the most.”
They anticipate that the report will be tabled in the House by the spring sitting.
Can the minister explain to me what the Department of Family Services has been considering in terms of improvements to income support after the review?
What have you decided needs to be improved?
Yes, I appreciate that question.
The community visitations were quite useful for disseminating the information that communities needed to hear and understand.
Due to that reason, with the various assistance programs under the family services department that they need to aware of, perhaps if I first explained which programs we are referring to and they are: the Income Support Program, the Senior Fuel Subsidy Program, the elders’ supplementary benefits, the day subsidies, and other programs of that nature.
Yes, the review of the programs went quite well and our staff have started to incorporate the feedback they received from the communities.
The report is still being developed and if any changes result, then we will introduce them in the future.
At this time, we cannot provide a report on the consultation tour that transpired this winter, but it is obvious, once the report is available and no longer a draft, this government will have to consider various options on those required changes.
Perhaps the minister can indicate whether significant changes are anticipated or if nothing major will result. Can the minister explain both to the members and the listening audience in Nunavut who hold certain expectations what to expect?
Based on your assessment, the report will be ready for the spring session.
Perhaps you can provide a short summary of the report after this review has been completed as to what preliminary results the Department of Family Services has found from this process.
Perhaps just a brief summary as to whether we need to anticipate major changes or not, can he respond to that request?
Yes, I can respond to his request. As per my earlier statement, a consultation tour was undertaken over the review of the Income Support Program offered through the Department of Family Services.
What I can state now, which I already referred to, is the feedback is being reviewed by both our staff and our partner agencies and it seems obvious that once this review is completed, I expect the report to be completed.
It will be at that point that we can divulge the types of changes, if any, that this review will result in.
It’s also indicated in the document in the opening remarks that it will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly by the spring sitting.
Yes, that is why I brought it up since I expect to see it tabled in the spring session in the House. I wanted to see if he could briefly summarize the possible changes, which is why I asked about that matter.
Let me move to another subject.
I want to ask about the poverty reduction plan, as that plan exists and you have partnered with Nunavut Tunngavik as well as other groups, such as the regional Inuit associations. What is the status of the Makimaniq Plan? I would like to know the future direction of the Department of Family Services.
I totally forgot to respond to the earlier question. As per my deputy minister’s earlier statement, in this month on March 22, the Government of Canada will be presenting their first budget.
This is kind of appended to that event, as the review obviously has to wait for the announcements. Due to that reason, we cannot divulge any information, as we have to wait for that.
With respect to his other question, my deputy minister will respond to it.
We call that (interpretation ends) poverty reduction (interpretation) that deals with issues related to poverty.
This has a requirement for an annual report based on the recommendations passed in previous meetings held in the communities, with the most recent one held in Cambridge Bay this fall regarding the Income Support Program review.
The report called “Makimaniq II” is currently under development and it would be tabled in this House once it has been completed.
I know the report will have interesting issues, but I can’t elaborate on the details due to its incompletion.
You should be expecting that Makimaniq II report.
You have 36 seconds, Mr. Joanasie.
In your business plan, one of your priorities for 2016-17 below what we just discussed, Makimaniq, it states, “Explore options and develop mechanisms to strengthen the governance of local non-governmental organizations and community groups.”
How are you going to provide support? What is that about?
This is our utmost priority within our business plan.
Even when we identify priorities that are listed here, sometimes we can’t deal with them directly due to various reasons.
What I want understood is that poverty reduction is not implemented in our communities nor has any funding or (interpretation ends) programs or (interpretation) services been identified for this.
What the purpose of this plan is, through the different departments, in collaboration with private businesses, airlines, and stores, it is the only way we can handle poverty reduction planning.
Perhaps if the member rephrased his question, I can provide further details because I don’t think I quite understood his question.
Chairman: If you can rephrase your question.
At the same time, I would like to remind members to wait for your light to go on so that whatever you are saying is recorded and at the same time, the interpreters can pick up what you’re saying.
Rephrase your question, Mr. Joanasie.
I’m sorry. I asked in regard to your business plan on page 127 under Priorities (2016-17), fourth bullet, in English, (interpretation ends) “Explore options and develop mechanisms to strengthen the governance of local non-governmental organizations and community groups.” (interpretation) How are you going to provide support services to the local non-governmental organizations?
According to your priorities, how are you going to be dealing with this when you’re exploring options?
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): The light has turned on. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Thank you. (interpretation) I’m glad that you waited for the light to turn on.
While the member was asking his question, I was on the wrong page, but I now understand his question.
It is in regard to the positions I alluded to earlier about various organizations in the communities, such as the hamlet councils or different local bodies.
Some funding is also provided through contribution agreements on how improvements can be made, especially in offering clear direction both for this government and the Department of Family Services so that the direction is clear to the local bodies working on poverty reduction issues and to provide more support mechanisms to them.
Further, how can we support the local frontline workers and the local organizations so that these local initiatives are strengthened and supported locally through specific support programs and here are some areas we think we can provide that, to use this example we used earlier, to develop policies that combat absolute homelessness through our contribution agreement services offered.
To allow for deliberation with the local organizations so that we arrive at a common understanding was the original intent of this language.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. I would like to remind my colleagues that if you would like to receive proper responses to your questions, please indicate what page you are referring to.
Before I go to the next name on the list, we will take a five-minute break.
>>Committee recessed at 18:08 and resumed at 18:14
We are on Family Services. Corporate Management.
The next name on my list, Mr. Qirngnuq.
I have a very brief question at this time on page 2 of your opening comments.
It’s with regard to the budget of $837,000 for family resource worker positions. The positions here are as social workers and I believe I understand it that way.
The positions of client liaison officers are listed for Edmonton and Ottawa.
I need clarification from the minister. Are these positions available or are these positions filled already?
At this time, we’re here to propose and get an agreement from the members to ensure that we can establish these positions for $837,000.
We spoke about seven new positions. The positions for Ottawa and Edmonton are on a different budget line item.
I hope that I am coming across clearly.
Yes, it’s clear that these are on different budget line items in looking at the positions, but I hope it will be understandable.
Mr. Chairman, I have a question on the opening comments. If I get out of line, please stop and inform me.
The question I want to raise is related to our Legislative Assembly’s esteemed elder’s previous comments, which I understood clearly. When a real Inuk elder is an expert under life counselling, they can handle any situation.