EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Whenever they’re suspended they have no place to go and some of them are banned from the school.
Say for instance a student has been suspended, what other avenues are there for students that are suspended for them to go back to school?
Perhaps if I could get a clarification from the member of whether he asked a question about whether they’re protected within the classrooms; perhaps if the member could clarify his question.
What I’m saying is, when a student is suspended from the school because of misconduct perhaps, whether he mistreated his teacher or some other students.
What plans are there with the Department of Education on how to get the student back to school after his suspension is over?
When a student is suspended they would look at the reasons why he was suspended in the first place and whether there was a danger to the students or the teachers.
What we have in place is, Mr. Speaker, just as long as the students and the staff are not threatened by the individual that was suspended, we talk with the student along with the parents and the staff to make sure that the student is not a danger to the school, its staff or the students.
We like to review all of the circumstances, the situation in the school and the reasoning behind the request for the suspension prior to the student being suspended.
It is only after all avenues have been explored that the school will then suspend or expel the student.
That is how we want to resolve this issue, because we wish to ensure that all people get an education here in Nunavut.
Yes, I understand the minister’s response and his line of reasoning, but I would like to ask another question regarding the rights of the parents.
The parents have no power to take their children back to school after they have been suspended.
I have experienced it myself.
And the student has no other avenue to talk to the school or the staff following the suspension and to get back to school and its not a very good situation for the student.
It has happened in the past where Inuit have had to suspend their education if they cannot get along with a teacher and it is very demeaning to have that opportunity taken away.
Here we are, as a government, we keep spouting our wishes of having very well educated children who are comfortable in either language and who will work for our government, but there are students in some communities who keep getting suspended because of some infantile behaviour in the school.
Is the department looking into seeing whether there could be a better system of not suspending students?
Speaker: Minister of Education. Minister Kilabuk.
Yes, we are looking into this matter and we are reviewing the issue of the students being suspended from the schools and it’s also included in the legislation that we’re going to be dealing with in the near future as this concern has been voiced in the past.
I would like to ask the minister another question, maybe the last one.
In some of the communities, I think there are quite a few students that are suspended from the schools in the communities and they are not allowed to return to school, although they try to return to school.
And if they go back into the school, when they finally go back to school, they’re much older than the other students and have fallen behind their age group and this can be discomforting.
For those students that have been suspended, is there any other way whereby they can go back to school in a different class with their own age group? Sometimes these individuals are still at the level where they cannot comprehend the material in these Arctic College courses.
It would be good if they could be given further education in some other way.
I am wondering whether this is also under review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is also in the draft legislation that we’re going to be dealing with regarding this issue. We have looked at a minimum age a student has to be when they first start going to school and when the maximum age is for a student to be in the school system and it’s all in the legislation that we’re going to be dealing with.
There are two different examples that are related to the matter that the member is talking about; a student that has been suspended and a person that has just quit school. There are two different things that are dealt with in the legislation. Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, while the child is of school age, we do all that we can to keep them there.
As long as a student is able to go to school we have an option, but we can’t control the students that quit on their own. These students are not thrown on the wayside when they are trying to quit school.
They also have counsellors in the schools to deal with the ones that want to quit school after they have been suspended.
Question 153 – 1(6): Policy on Child and Youth Physical/Sexual Abuse Protection
Mr. Speaker, today my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I’m not very familiar with this but I’d like to ask the minister.
It’s a fact of life now in Nunavut that we do have children and youth that are physically abused, sexually abused and verbally abused.
What’s the current government policy on protecting these children?
Speaker: Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, there are statutory obligations for child care workers and social workers, or for that matter, for individuals including members of this House, when you are made aware of instances surrounding child sexual abuse, physical abuse, or any kind of abuse to children.
That also extends into the teaching environment as well as the classroom.
So anywhere that anyone is aware of those types of abuses, then it’s a reportable offence, and it then becomes the domain of the legal authorities to launch an investigation in co-operation with, it could be a child worker, or a social worker and so on.
I’m glad the minister made that very clear to me.
We all know we live in small, small isolated communities in Nunavut.
The problem that we have is that when there’s something like this happening and I call it a tragedy, that if it is reported, the next steps are the legal issues or the custody issues or all kinds of hard issues that have to be dealt with.
In a community where this happens, what’s the option for that child?
Is that child just left in the community?
Does he have the option to be removed and placed some place else and healed or taken care of?
Can the minister answer that for me?
Over the past year, we’ve developed a child abuse response protocol in co-operation with the Department of Justice and in co-operation with Education as well as Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, depending on the nature of the case, at the present time I could say that there’s 68 children in permanent care of the Government of Nunavut for various reasons which may include abuse, violent abuse, sexual abuse and so on.
We do have children’s group homes, we do have safe houses, we do have foster families and so on, where children would be able to take shelter, if so deemed necessary by the child care worker, by the social worker, or indeed, by the justice official.
It is very important to point out Mr. Speaker, the welfare of the child, the safety of the child, the emotional state of the child comes first and those are the first issues that are dealt with when you are dealing with this type of issue.
That is why the protocol that we talked about earlier will be very important to ensure that there is that information available to the employees that are dealing with it.
Mr. Speaker, my next question is, when something like this happens, he told me that there are 68 children under care right now, are there group homes that these children are sent to.
He mentioned group homes, how many group homes do we have in Nunavut?
The other thing that he was mentioning to me is foster parents.
Do we have enough foster parents to look after children that have been abused?
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that at the present time we have about 68 children who are in permanent care and the custody of the Department of Health and Social Services for various reasons.
That may indeed, include physical or other abuse.
Mr. Speaker, we have several group homes and boarding homes which we run for children as well as permanency care in Nunavut as well as outside of Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I wouldn’t be able to give the member the exact number of group homes at the present time, as I don’t have that information.
I can say that there is over 2 million dollars invested in that now for taking care of children in care.
There are also children in care in group homes who have special needs, mental disabilities and so on, handicapped.
Those children are also in group homes.
There are different reasons for children to be in group homes.
But I can say at the end of the day Mr. Speaker, we try to keep the child with the family where possible, there may be in-laws, close relatives and so on, then the other options present themselves such as group homes, or safe houses, and so on.
But at the end of the day that decision is made to the best way possible for the child to be receiving services to make sure that the child is safe.
That is first and utmost, the foremost important issue that occurs when this type of incident is reported.
My final question to the minister is, to his knowledge do we have adequate resources to take care of these children at the present time and have any children been refused any kind of service.
My basic question is, do we have enough resources to take care of these children and are any children being turned down at this point?
Mr. Speaker, first of all yesterday during the debate on the budget of the Department of Health, I did say at that time that we have had a shortage of foster families available in Nunavut to take care of foster children.
The problem with foster families is acute here in Iqaluit in particular.
We need more foster families to step up and to take in some children.
As far as I am aware Mr. Speaker, there has been no child that has been turned down to care.
It is a statutory obligation of the government to provide that care and to my knowledge that has not happened, Mr. Speaker.
Question 154 – 1(6): Certificate – Foster Parents
I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Do foster parents, or other guardians that are allowed to foster children, have to be certified?
Speaker: Minster Picco.
Mr. Speaker, there is an application process that is in place for a family that would like to become a foster family. There are security clearances as well as inspections and on-site visits by our social work staff, to make sure for example that if someone wanted to take in a foster child that they have the bed space available, that it’s a good living environment for the child.
As well as letters of reference are requested at the time of the application from the people who are applying to be foster parents.
I should add Mr. Speaker that everything is done in the utmost confidential nature on behalf of the child and also on behalf of the foster family.
Again it is very important to make sure that when you are putting a child in foster care that the home that is receiving the child is the very best and that has caused maybe some of the delay that we have experienced in foster care.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you. If a child can’t be in their home community, according to your response, they have to send them out of the community.
What context was the minister using when he alluded to this issue of sending the child out of the community?
Mr. Speaker, there are times when dealing with issues of child abuse, child sexual abuse, other problems such as the breakdown of the marriage or the family, that a child may have to be taken from the community.
Again that is done as a last resort; it is done in the utmost care, as well as with a great deal of work with the social work staff, in most cases or other staff on the ground in the communities.
Sometimes it may be an order of the court where a child has to be removed for whatever reasons.
At the end of the day Mr. Speaker, again I have to emphasize that you want to be sure that the child is safe and after going through some of the incidences that can happen to children they are damaged emotionally, they are damaged spiritually, and sometimes they are damaged physically.
And Mr. Speaker, it is very important that those children where and if possible, have the opportunity of being in their home community, but if that is not feasible or logistically acceptable at that time then we have to take the child out of the community.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You were saying there was a shortage of foster parents.
Do they have to take training in order to become a foster parent as you were saying there was a shortage?
Mr. Speaker, there is an orientation that is available to foster families who are taking children under their foster care.
If I was a foster parent or if someone else wanted to be a foster parent, is it hard to get foster parents in the communities?
Mr. Speaker, the situation here in Iqaluit has been that we have been short of foster families.
Indeed, some of the members of this House are foster parents themselves.
We have been advertising; we have made a request to call on the community for more foster families here in Iqaluit.
Outside of Iqaluit in some of the communities again there is a concern with not enough foster families.
But in the majority of communities we have had more success in having foster families available for children that need that care.
I think the member has raised a good point and the opportunity to bring this issue up today again emphasizes the need for foster families and if there are families or members who are interested in taking on the roles and responsibilities of a foster parent, then they have that opportunity by contacting the local social worker through the Department of Health in their community.
Question 155 – 1(6): Coroner’s Act Re: Drowning
I had my hand up when Mr. Nutarak was talking but I didn’t have my hand up now.
But I would like to ask the Minister of Justice a question about the Coroner’s Act.
Many of us have lost relatives to drowning and if you don’t retrieve the bodies, I think the act says if you don’t have the body we can’t say that person is dead.
So therefore when they don’t retrieve the body the family members are left with nothing because they cannot access whatever the pension is, or whatever was left for the family.
If that is so, is anything being done to review the Act?
From my understanding you can apply to the courts after presenting evidence and showing evidence to the court that the body wasn’t retrieved but there is evidence that they are deceased.
You can get a court order to show that they are deceased.
I think we need to review this act, as I said many of us have relatives in drowning cases and we have family members that cannot get anything, even if the person was working for you for a long time and saved up money for their family, they can’t get that money.
I think if the minister is not clear on that, can the minister look into it and make sure the act is reviewed?
Yes I will look into it.
If there have to be improvements made we are always looking into ways to improve.
But we also have to provide for safeguards to be in place as we don’t want to see any false claims being put forward.
There have been cases in southern Canada where people pretend to be dead so that their families can get the insurance proceeds.
So we have to be cautious on whatever steps that we take.
There are only 27 thousand people in Nunavut.
That kind of thing is probably pretty hard to do in Nunavut.
So let’s look at the act to make sure that the family is compensated and it’s a matter that is being talked about many times in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 5.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize an individual from Cambridge Bay that was involved in the negotiation of the Land Claim back when he was with TFN.
He has also been a past President and Director of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and is now I believe with the Nunavut Construction Corporation.
That is Mr. Jack Kupuena sitting there behind Ms. Williams.
Mr. Speaker, also at this point I would like to recognize, take this opportunity to recognize four individuals from Cambridge Bay that have been doing the Inuinnaqtun interpreting and translation, there are two of them in the booth right now, Ms. Gwen Ohokak and James Paniuyaq.
Also we have seen off and on, Joe Ottokiak and Henry Ohokannoak.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize an individual that I went to school with and a good friend of mine and I think he is an EA for one of the members, John Illupalik and I would also like to recognize Jack Kupuena who Kelvin already recognized.
He worked really hard negotiating the land claims agreement and he worked very hard to represent Kugluktuk.
So I would like to recognize him.
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to recognize these two individuals.
When I first got involved in politics this individual encouraged me, John Illupalik who helped me a lot when I first came into politics in 1985.
Also I would like to thank and welcome Jack Kupuena who is a very good at negotiating and I would like to welcome him.
To the far right Betty Anne Eaton, is one of my constituents.
I would like to recognize from the Kitikmeot, he is my relative and originally from Holman, Jack Kupuena.
I would like to recognize an individual that people often ask me where she is, so I would like to recognize Eva Onalik who is very hospitable during her travels.
Are there any further recognition of visitors in the gallery?
Tabled Document 021 – 1(6): Income Support – Key Issues and Programs
Mr. Speaker, as part of my commitment to the Income Support Review, to increase the standing of Ikajuutiit Programs and Services, I would like to table the following series of one page information sheets that provide information on key issues and part of the program.
Tabled Document 022 – 1(6): Turnover Rates of GN Staff in 2001-2002
In response to question 408-1(5) brought up by Mr. Tootoo in our February session, I would like to table a letter in regards to the turnover of GN employees for 2001 – 2002.
Is there any further tabling of documents?
Motion 005 – 1(6): Strengthening Support for our Students - Notice
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, May 13, 2002, I will move the following motion:
I MOVE, seconded by the Honourable Member for Quttiktuq, that the Government of Nunavut provide increased and adequate financial support to Nunavummiut who are enrolled in programs to become nursing and teaching professionals, and that this support be linked to future years of service in Nunavut communities;
(interpretation ends) AND FURTHER, I MOVE that each and every student be provided with sufficient resources with which to meet the cost of living; that each and every student be adequately housed; and that the special needs of single parents be met;
AND FURTHER, I MOVE that this House encourages the Government to bring forward supplementary appropriations during the fall 2002 Pangnirtung Sitting of the Legislative Assembly to achieve the goals of this motion.
Speaker: Notices of motions.
Motion 006 – 1(6): Gjoa Haven Gasoline Study - Notice
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, May 13, 2002, I shall move that:
Whereas the Gjoa Haven Gasoline Study 1999, was previously tabled on Thursday, May 9, 2002; and
Whereas this study relates to the issue of gasoline in the territory;
I move seconded by the Honourable Member for Nanulik that Tabled Document 16-1(6) be moved in the Committee of the Whole for consideration in conjunction with the Minister’s Statement 20-1(6).
Bill 7 – Loan Authorization Act 2002-2003 – First Reading
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove, that Bill 7, Loan Authorization Act 2002 – 2003, be read for the first time.
Bill 8 – An Act to Amend the Revolving Fund Act – First Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit East that Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Revolving Fund Act, be read for the first time.
The motion is carried, and the bill has had first reading.
Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to allow for the second reading of Bill 7, the Loan Authorization Act 2002/2003.
The minister is seeking consent to waive rule 62 (1) so that Bill 7 and 8 can have second reading today.
Sorry Bill 7.
Bill 7 – Loan Authorization Act 2002-2003 – Second Reading
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you, Mr. Speaker and members. Mr. Speaker I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove that Bill 7, the Loan Authorization Act 2002/2003, be read for the second time.
The purpose of the Loan Authorization Act 2002/2003 is to facilitate lending from the Government of Nunavut to municipalities.
This year legislative approval is sought for a ceiling of 5 million dollars.
This legislation will benefit municipalities which may not have the ability to borrow from commercial lenders.
The passage of this bill will ensure that we are able to meet the needs that may arise in municipalities in across Nunavut.
The motion is carried and Bill 7 is referred to the appropriate standing committee.
I would like consent to waive rule 62(1) so that Bill 8 can have second reading.
Speaker: The minister is seeking consent to waive rule 62 (1) so that Bill 8 can have second reading.
Please proceed Minister.
Bill 8 – An Act to Amend the Revolving Fund Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit East that Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Revolving Fund Act, be read for the second time.
The amendment to the act is required to allow the Petroleum Products Division adequate financial resources to purchase and to distribute the fuel consumed annually for Nunavut communities.
The last major revision to the act was completed in 1985.
Under the existing act, petroleum products cannot meet the financial applications to purchase and distribute petroleum products due to the increased costs of refined products in world markets and increased consumption in Nunavut.
The motion is carried and will be referred to the appropriate standing committee.
Bill 8 is referred.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters; Bill 2, Bill 3, Bill 4, Bill 5 and Bill 6, and Bill 11, Minister’s Statement 020-1 (6).
And, according to the authority vested in me, by Motion 002 - 1(6), the Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out with Mr. Iqaqrialu in the chair.
Before we proceed, we can take a short break before Committee of the Whole and I’d ask Mr. Picco, to remove his binders and employees and so on from the walkway, so that the Sergeant-At-Arms can proceed in safely.
Thank you. Sergeant-At-Arms.
>>House Recessed at 12 p.m. and resumed at 12.58 p.m.
We can begin the committee.
Just before we begin, welcome.
Yesterday, we stopped at Community Government and Transportation.
I would now like to ask the Minister responsible for Community Government and Transportation to seat herself at the witness table.
Sergeant-At-Arms please escort in the witnesses.
Ms. Williams (interpretation): We would like to start with Bill 6, Appropriation Act 2002 – 2003 and continue on with the Department of Community Government and Transportation.
After that is done, we would like to deal with Justice.
Does Ms. Thompson have anything to say and could you introduce your staff.
On my left is Shawn Maley. (interpretation ends) If people don’t recognize him in that suit, it is Shawn Maley.
He’s got a very nice suit on now.
And, to my right is Mike Rafter, from Finance. Thank you.
Welcome. I think you’re the new Minister of Community Government and Transportation.
If that is the case, please identify your new portfolio.
I’m the new minister at Community Government and Transportation.
My Deputy Minister, John Walsh cannot be here, so Shawn Maley is taking over right now.
We will have comments by the members, you can speak for 10 minutes and you will have the chance to ask questions.