EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
He came home with a whole caribou and I was very proud of him for that.
That is why I rise today.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome to the gallery some very special visitors.
Earlier this week we had the opportunity to make an announcement where we put over 80 new teaching positions in our schools across Nunavut.
Today from the Grade 4 class at Nakasuk School here in Iqaluit, Mr. Rodney Corkum and class are here.
You will note that Mr. Corkum has 27 students with him today.
Mr. Corkum is the only teacher with those 27 students.
It just demonstrates that we have a long way to go still to bring those numbers down across the board for individual classrooms.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Corkum and his Grade 4 class.
I would like to ask if they could stand up.
Mr. Speaker, one of the special people here with us is Mr. Iola Sheutiapik, a grade four student, all around sports person, and he just put his hand up.
He is the son of the Mayor of Iqaluit.
When Iola is bored, he puts on my CD and he tells me that brings him up.
We want to take this opportunity to welcome Iola to the House.
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome one more person to the gallery, and that is a very famous author, a raconteur, a business man, and he is not as well known, but if you read his columns on a regular basis and some of his letters to the editor, he is a bit humorous also.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a constituent of mine, Mr. Ken Harper, to the Assembly also.
I too would like to welcome all the students whom my colleague recognized.
Yesterday, my colleague for Iqaluit Centre had stated that he wanted to welcome all the visitors to Iqaluit, especially the people from the housing associations.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to recognize and welcome these individuals who are here to attend the meeting of the Housing Association Secretary Managers meeting during this week.
I am very pleased they welcomed me yesterday during a meeting when I met with them in the morning at the Navigator Inn.
I would like to welcome the visitors, I am not too sure where they are sitting. We were going to have seating set, but they will have to rise once I call their names.
Daniel Audla, David Alderdise, and from Cambridge Bay, Vicky Itauk.
Also from Chesterfield Inlet, Jeanine Ikpiak; from Clyde River, John Corkett; from Coral Harbour Kerran Nakoolak; from Grise Fiord, Ann Gardner.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Gardner’s daughter is well known, I have not seen her for a long time.
From Hall Beach, Ann Curley; Baker Lake, Sarah Kadjuk; Igloolik, Joanasie Saqpinak, also from Iqaluit Housing Association Susan Spring.
From Kimmirut, Kolola Pitsiulak, also from Kugluktuk where they have recently elected their Mayor, Joanne Taptiuna.
From Gjoa Haven, Helen Tungilik; also from Kugaarjuq, Donat Rosa Nattuq, and from Taloyoak, Scott Edgerton.
I apologize, two communities are missing their representatives, Cape Dorset and Panniqtuuq, we are sorry not too see them here.
From Pond Inlet, Louise Premo, also from Qikiqtarjuaq, Mary Qiliktee, and she is a well known singer, welcome.
From Rankin Inlet, Harry Niaquq, also Repulse Bay, Rassaline Tapaqti.
From Resolute Bay, Janice Kalluk; also from Sanikiluaq, Allan Rumble, also from Whale Cove, Elizabeth Voisey.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome them to the gallery as well as our staff for being here.
I thank them very much for being here this week, and I look forward to working with their chair people again next fall.
I, too, would like to recognize all the kids here today.
Maybe in fifteen to twenty years, many of them will be sitting around this table, so we better make some good decisions as leaders now so that they can look forward to leading future generations of Nunavutmiut.
I, too, would like to recognize a lot of folks.
I see a lot of folks here from around the Kitikmeot, Sue Primeau who used to be in the Kitikmeot whom I recognize.
People from my riding are here today and I’d like to recognize, again, Ms. Vickie Aitok.
Vickie is the manager of the housing association, and she’s very involved in Cambridge Bay with daycare.
She’s also a former Hamlet councilor with me back in the early years of my political life as mayor, thank you for those days.
I’d like to recognize Mr. Dave Crockett, district manager of the Housing Corporation sitting over there.
Mr. Paul Chaulk who’s also with the Housing Corporation and he’s also with that hamlet committee I just mentioned.
He’s worked very hard for the people in Cambridge Bay.
Sitting way over here is Mr. Mike Lowarski, he’s from the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
I also welcome him here today.
I’m not sure what Bill’s title is these days, but Mr. Bill Goftin was the district housing manager in Cambridge Bay until he took one year’s sabbatical.
He looks very well rested.
He must be coming back from a very enjoyable year off to work hard to help us with our housing crisis.
I also would like to thank the students who are here and whom we should acknowledge.
I also welcome the delegates to the Housing conference.
I would like to recognize a neighbour from Kugluktuk who I have worked with before I was elected to the Assembly in January and February, Joanne Taptiuna.
I think the people I wanted to recognize have disappeared... no, just kidding.
Earlier, I joked with Minister Picco and the teacher Ron when we saw the students come, I believe there were 27 of them.
If you include my grandchildren, there are 29 altogether.
I just wanted to recognize some people, Abraham Tagalik whom I’ve known for a long time.
Also, my sister in law, Elisapee Voisey, welcome.
Over there is Patsy Owlijoot and I once made a terrible mistake two or three months ago.
I’ve been told that anytime, anyplace, you might run across someone who looks exactly like another person.
I myself am sometimes mistaken for Cathy Pilakapsi and I would be asked who is older, me or Kuluak.
At that time, I made a similar mistake and said, “Hi Patsy!” and hugged her.
It turned out it wasn’t Patsy and I was so embarrassed.
I’m glad to see Jennan Ipiak, it’s been a while since I saw you.
And the former students at Kivalliq Hall, Karen Nakulak, Sharon Imirtaut Irniq, Sarah Nakulak Kadjuk, now you’ll be grounded tonight.
But, be prepared to on time tonight for your curfew because we can’t come in, and you don’t want to be on extra duty during the weekend, right?
These people enthusiastically took their education, approximately 400 attended Kivalliq Hall.
I recognize Harry Niaquq and Vickie Vicki who I met before she got married.
There are quite a number of people from Arviat that I would like the house to recognize and welcome to Iqaluit during their stay.
They also probably want to participate in the Scalpin derby that is going to be held in Arviat.
That is going to be a very happy event this coming weekend.
This individual I used to work with in the government is Patsy Alujjuk.
I would like everyone to recognize her because she has contributed much to Arviat.
There are also Sharon Irnik and Jimi Day.
His little brother is the one who works for CBC North.
They grew up in Arviat and I think they know Inuktitut.
Mr. Day is the Comptroller in Arviat.
Abraham Taqalik from Arviat who has been there for a while and the other individuals who have now moved onto other communities, one to Rankin Inlet, Harry Niaquq, welcome, also Elizabeth Voicey.
They are both from Arviat and I think it’s about time that they moved back home.
I too would like to start off by recognizing the young people in the classroom.
Who knows, one of these days, it could be one of you guys sitting in here and having some little kids watching you.
Don’t ever forget that.
I’m really happy that you’re here and that Rodney was able to bring you down to see how this Assembly works.
Mr. Speaker, I do want to recognize a few people.
As I mentioned the other day in my Member’s Statement, I said there were a lot of people here who I had the pleasure of working with.
I don’t know if it was pleasurable both ways but I would like to welcome the housing managers and the people working at the housing corporation to the gallery, especially Susan Spring sitting over there behind Mr. Tapardjuk.
Also, behind Mr. Akesuk, as Mr. Peterson pointed out is Mr. Bill Goftin who is returning from a one year sabbatical.
I understand that during that time he spent many hours on his desk doing some arm curls to work on his physique.
I know that’s why he’s looking in much better shape these days than he was when he left.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome him back.
I understand he plans on coming back early and possibly going to Cape Dorset to do some work over there and I know he’s very much looking forward to that.
I would like to welcome all of you guys here to the gallery and a special little mention goes to Bailey and Kevin as well.
I would like to recognize and welcome two individuals from Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak, Helen Tungilik, and Scotty Egerton who is the SAO in Taloyoak.
From Kugaaruk, Delerosa.
I would like to recognize individuals who are from my riding.
I am very pleased today that there are three individuals from my communities. I would like to recognize Ann Akearok, from Grise Fiord.
Also, Janice Kalluk from Resolute Bay.
From Arctic Bay, we have Daniel Aula.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you Recognition of visitors in the gallery.
I would like to recognize Kolola Pitsuilak from Kimmirut.
This individual was already recognized, but he is my son-in-law.
I would like to recognize this individual.
When we were having a meeting in Cambridge Bay I was using his hunting clothes.
Again in Sanikiluaq, he was a hockey referee, Bill Goftin.
Before I recognize anybody in the House, I have somebody from Igloolik.
Igloolik is not a part of Baffin Island, it is not in the Keewatin.
It is somewhere in between the Baffin and the Keewatin so sometime, eventually, down the road, we are going to have to decide where we are going to fit in, or if we are going to become the fourth region.
Joanasi Sarpinak, I would like to recognize him and Anne Curley from Hall Beach.
She was one of the members of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.
Those are the two individuals that I would like to recognize from my riding, Delores and Helen, who I used to go to school with.
Question 409 – 2(2): Provide Program Suggestions for After School Hours
Earlier I stated that teenagers are bored and they have nothing to do.
Students are calling out for help and they are saying that the boredom leads to alcohol and use of drugs and so on.
Could the Minister of Education say to this House that he will find ways to keep the students busy and so on.
Could the Minister respond to the fact that there may be some programs that the Minister could initiate in order to ensure that the students are occupied and they have something to do during the after school hours.
Would it be possible to use the facilities that are there, in some places there are actually three or four schools, so that the students can actually find time to do something.
The Minister should offer some suggestions because they are crying out for help.
I think all the Members appreciated Mr. Curley’s statement on youth.
I agree with him that we have a lot of issues with students across Nunavut.
That is why within the Culture, Language, Elders and Youth budget, there are now opportunities within that budget for example, for infrastructure for youth centres and so on.
In cooperation with local DEAs at the community level, if the DEA feels that there is an opportunity for supervision to be used for a gymnasium at a school, where access would be available to the gym if there is no community hall, and so on, we try to make those types of spaces available.
There are programs run in communities through hamlets, through local youth councils and so on.
Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Curley has made a good point and that is that we need a coordinated effort not only through the Government of Nunavut but the different regional organizations as well as community based support.
For example, in his community there is a youth center that has programs run for youth.
I know, for example in Kugluktuk, there is a fantastic program put in place called the Grizzly Program where it’s done by the children and by the youth themselves.
They run the organization, they have a canteen, they raise money and so on.
These are types of initiatives that the Government of Nunavut supports and will be in a position to help.
Mr. Curley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I think this is quite important.
You’ve touched on the fact that there has to be better coordination.
What I’m suggesting to the Minister is that the Minister should make sure that the school can actually be used as part of a centre for youth after hours.
We have these multimillion dollar facilities sitting there and after hours, when the students are not busy, they are not being used enough for youth who have nothing to do and are looking for things to do.
Would the Minister initiate and ensure that these facilities would be available to students in cooperation with school officials as well as hamlets and so on because in some aspects they share facilities during working hours.
Could the Minister be open to these kinds of suggestions from the communities?
We are opening to those suggestions and indeed Mr. Speaker, across Nunavut our schools are in continuous use on the weekends and afternoons and so on for teachers taking their own free time to run programs like we’ve just heard today in the house with indoor soccer programs and so on.
Mr. Speaker, at the local community level, the schools are Government of Nunavut assets but the elected District Education Authority for every community has the opportunity to be able to provide that infrastructure, that asset to the community however there have been instances in the past where the District Education Authority has permitted usage of school gyms for example, and there were issues around supervision.
If there were people who were supervising students who are using the gym and making sure that there is no damage done to other parts of the school.
There are some schools where the gym is not readily accessible from other parts of the school and that makes it a good vehicle to be used because you can’t leave the gym and get into the other parts of the school if the supervision was an issue.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Nunavut in short, agrees with the Member.
School assets are controlled by the district education authority themselves and they have the opportunity to be able to use that asset after school hours, whether that’s the 9 months from August to June or May or September or indeed in the summer as long as supervision is there.
Question 410 - 2(2): District Education Authority Representation
My question is also for the Minister of Education.
I am sure you also saw today the news release from the Minister of Education announcing the Departments plan for public phase of consultations on revision to the Nunavut Education Act.
The news release names the membership of the steering committee and I did not see any representation from any District Education Authority on that committee so I would like to ask the Minister, in light of that being one of the biggest concerns with the last attempt at an Education Act with the District Education Authority’s involvement and representation and control and authority in power, which was supposed to be passed down to them, if you could tell the house who will be speaking for the District Education Authorities on the steering committee.
I appreciate the Member’s question.
The Steering Committee is really a clearing house for the information that comes forward from DEAs and other interested stakeholders.
The Member is correct, the Steering Committee is made up of representatives of the Federation of Nunavut Teachers, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Government of Nunavut, the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Katimajiit is also represented for Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, the Department of Education, and so on.
So it has a great grouping there, including the Francophone School Board’s commission is also represented.
I met with the Steering Committee this morning.
They see their role very prominently of taking the information that will come from hearings and public information sessions and then bringing those forward.
Each individual DEA in Nunavut will have an opportunity to have input into that process.
It is interesting that the Minister just indicated that there was only one DEA represented on this committee.
I was also under the impression the Department of Education was going to do a more complete job of developing a made in Nunavut Education Act.
I was concerned in the press release that it says that it’s going to be doing revisions to the Education Act.
Just for clarification, can the Minister explain why this process focuses on revisions to the current Act?
Shall we expect just mere amendments instead of a whole new Act?
There is old saying: “You don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.”
The old Education Act had some good points in it.
There was considerable work, as the Member knows, done in the last Assembly with consultations, and so on.
What the Steering Committee group, and the consultation work that we did, and I in the last twelve months, have met with every DEA across Nunavut, in three different regional settings, as well as individual DEAs across Nunavut.
In all those meetings the same resounding choice of words came back and that was not to re-invent the wheel, but to take what was good within the existing Act and bring that forward into the new Act.
What we will see is the Act and the proposals in the new Act.
From those two we would have our new Act.
The idea is to have a new Education Act for Nunavummiut, made in Nunavut.
I think the process that we are beginning on right now will give us the opportunity to bring that forward and be expedient about it.
The target is to have it in place for reading in March of 2006.
I think that we are going to be well on the way.
I certainly hope, as the Minister indicated, especially the consultations that occurred during the First Assembly, especially the reports and the consultations of the Standing Committee, they did a very thorough round of consultations in different communities and got some very good and positive input into what they felt exactly, hopefully is going to be the same thing that adheres again. Hopefully they look at and use that information.
Can the Minister update the House on the projected timelines for the different phases of the revisions of the Education Act, including the public consultations that will take place, and which communities that those will take place in.
First of all, the Member is correct.
What we have done and that is why we are going a little slow on it, what we have done is we have taken all the consultative reports and all documentation, all the administrative and logistic issues that came out of the very good work that was done by the standing committee, as well as some of the other consultations that were heard on the first Act, we’ve taken those points, the ones that kept rebounding and echoing back to us and we’ve formulated those into some of the points that we want to bring forward in the new Education Act.
Mr. Speaker, a lot of that work has already been done.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel and go back and rehash some of this stuff, on the points that were agreed to from the standing committee and from the public at large.
That’s why we’re going to move forward on the other issues that were outstanding from the Act as the Member knows.
There were a few of them, for example, the power and authority of a local District Education Authority.
The second point in the Member’s question was, when will this begin.
Mr. Speaker, it’s already begun and indeed, Ms. Thompson who is the legislative coordinator for the Education Act and myself have visited a few communities where we’ve begun the preliminary process.
Over the next coming weeks, Members will see newspaper adds, they will see householders and they’re going to see brochures in everyone’s communities outlining time frames and opportunities. There will be a web page up and Mr. Speaker, for the consultative community tours, all District Education Authorities are being contacted right now asking each individual district education authority when they would like to see the consultative tours begin
There is no sense in sending a group of people into Coral Harbour for example, when most people are going to be out on the land or it’s not an appropriate time for them.
That’s the kind of work we’re doing right now.
Some communities are ready to go.
Between now and I would say the 15th of June, we will be able to visit some communities.
The lion’s share of the work will begin this fall after August, September and October when we will be trying to do as many communities as possible.
The Minister raised a number of interesting points.
One of them was this brochure that is going to be mailed out.
Reading from the news release, it was put out to inform the public about the purpose of the community visits.
I think it’s for your consultation on the Education Act I would hope.
Mr. Speaker, he indicated that they’re going to be looking at doing these consultations in the fall but do they have a listing or a schedule of which communities that they will be visiting yet or is that something that is going to be developed before the fall.
As I said just earlier in answer to the other question, that is part of the process right now that the steering committee and Ms. Thompson is contacting all the communities through the District Education Authorities to ask when the best opportunity would be to go visit each community.
So, I don’t have a list right now because the District Education Authorities are responding back and saying please come in August, please come in September, please come in October or come right now, or in the next two weeks.
While that process is occurring Mr. Speaker, I will be contacting each of the Members when we have a date and a specific time.
For example, if the group is going into Panniqtuuq then I would be in contact with the Member from Panniqtuuq to say the District Education Authority consultative group on the Education Act will be in your community at a given date.
That will be part of the information process.
Question 411 - 2(2): Government of Nunavut Response to Nunavut Association of Municipalities Resolutions
My question is for the Minister Responsible for Community and Government Services.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I tabled the resolutions from the Nunavut Association of Municipalities annual general meeting that were held at the school in Arviat.
I know that the Government of Nunavut had a presence there.
My question for the Minister Mr. Speaker is, when can we expect the Government of Nunavut to formally respond and act on Nunavut Association of Municipalities’ resolutions.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister Responsible for Community and Government Services, Minister Kilabuk.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk: Mr. Speaker, regarding the copies that my colleague tabled, I’ve just been so busy today and this morning with my early appointment.
I haven’t had a chance to go over the copies that my colleague tabled yesterday. However, having said that, with the resolutions that are directed towards our department will get its due response at the appropriate time, preferably sooner than later.
Recognizing that some resolutions may have some impacts on the departments which could delay our response.
I will ensure that my staff gives the resolutions their due consideration in the fairly near future.
The resolutions from NAM are very important, they help us as leaders of Nunavut to help hamlets.
The mayors put a lot of time into those resolutions, they represent the concerns of their constituents.
Last year, I tabled the 2004 resolutions.
I wonder if the Minister could tell me if he will be tabling the responses to the 2004 NAM resolutions in the House.
I was not quite prepared for that question coming from NAM.
It is something I will look into, when I can table the 2004 resolutions.
In my Member’s Statement, I mentioned the Cambridge Bay summaries for Municipal Capital Priorities.