EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Havioyak. Item 15.
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Cambridge Bay… I’m sorry, I should be asking for unanimous consent to deal with my motion today.
Motion 002 - 1(5): Extended Sitting Hours
I move, seconded by the Member for Cambridge Bay that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker deems fit to assist with the business before the House.
Speaker: Thank you. The motion is in order.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters - Bill 1.
In accordance with the authority vested in me by Motion 002-1(5), the Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out, with Mr. Puqiqnak in the chair.
Before we proceed with Committee of the Whole, I think members will agree that we should take a short break for 15 minutes and then return to Committee of the Whole with Mr. Puqiqnak.
>>Assembly recessed at 3.28 p.m. and resumed at 3.57 p.m.
We have a quorum and possibly for opening, when the bell rings the members have to go into the House at that time so we’ll get a quorum as soon as possible.
I would urge members to come into the House as soon as the bell starts ringing.
I’ll be starting committee of the whole and during the committee of the whole, we will be dealing with Bill 1, Appropriation Act for 2001-2002.
Today we would like to deal with Bill 1 – Appropriation Act 2001-2002 for the Department of Education, Capital and Main Estimates and that we start with the capital first.
All agreed to deal with Bill 1, Appropriation Act 2001-2002, Department of Education and Capital Estimates.
At this time I would like to ask the Minister of Education to start with his opening comments.
If you would like to walk to the witness table Mr. Minister, you could.
Bill 1 – Appropriation Act, 2001/2002 – Consideration in Committee
First of all, I'm very pleased to be here today to be available to discuss the 2001-2002 budget of the Department of Education, my first budget as Minister of Education.
As it stated in the Bathurst Mandate, we have agreed that education is one of two overriding priorities of our government.
The other priority being housing.
Mr. Chairman, students in Nunavut and their continual progression on the journey of lifelong learning are one of our keys to success in Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for next year is a strong budget with total expenditures of 174.7 million dollars made up of approximately 145.7 million dollars for operations and maintenance and over 29 million dollars in capital projects.
On the operations and maintenance side of our budget, I'm pleased to say that 1.6 million dollars has been added to maintain the current pupil/teacher ratio.
As our young population continues to expand this will translate into approximately 20 new teaching positions across Nunavut beginning this fall.
A further 1.8 million dollars has been set aside to meet the rising fuel costs in our school and college facilities.
Mr. Chairman, in our effort to place increasing emphasis on post-secondary education and the fact that trades training is an important component of this level of education; our department will spend an additional 300 thousand dollars on trades in the upcoming fiscal year.
We hope that continued priority will be focused on further expanding our trades education programs in the future.
Our 2001-2002 main estimates also contain 50 thousand dollars to allow for a 5% rate increase in our contributions to daycares.
Early childhood development remains a priority of our department.
The capital budget of the Department of Education has expanded significantly to over 29 million dollars up from 16.4 million dollars in our current year's revised estimates.
Construction will begin or continue on schools in the communities of Clyde River, Grise Fiord, Iqaluit, Pond Inlet, Cambridge Bay, Kugaaruk, Kugluktuk and Baker Lake.
In Baker Lake members are asked to approve the first phase of construction to replace what is currently the oldest school in Nunavut.
In addition, new headquarters facilities for the Nunavut Arctic College are being renovated from an existing structure in Arviat and are scheduled for completion this fall in the year 2001.
Further, we are vigorously continuing with the planning and design work for future projects in several other communities, including Hall Beach.
Mr. Chairman in addition to the funding noted above, the accumulated surplus of the former Divisional Education Councils would be invested in education.
These funds will provide one time funding for a number of priority projects including Inuktitut curriculum development and trades education.
Mr. Chairman, as strong as our budget proposal is, the demands and challenges that face education in Nunavut are also immense.
For that reason Mr. Chairman, I will lead my department to seek out a number of partnerships this year in an effort to increase funding in the following priority areas.
Namely post secondary education, in a partnership proposal we call Ajunngittutit, for Inuit teacher education training, leadership and development and also for elders in the schools and for Inuktitut curriculum development.
Mr. Chairman I am pleased to be available to discuss the Department of Education’s budget proposal for the year 2001-2002, and, in summary, I commit to making every dollar go as far as it can and to secure every opportunity for partnership, so that we may add more resources to invest in education and to invest in all Nunavut.
Those are my opening comments.
You could go up to the witness table if you wish to do so with your officials.
Thank you Sergeant-At-Arms.
Please introduce your officials.
I know the person on your left we were living in one community one point, so you do not necessarily have to introduce him.
For the information of all the other people and so the people of Nunavut will know, thank you very much.
On my right is Robert Moody who has made an appearance in the House on several occasions and on my left your friend and a friend of everybody else Lorne Levy.
He is our Capital Projects person for the Department of Education.
They are going to be with me during these proceedings.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Kilabuk. Mr. Nutarak as the chairperson of Culture, Education, and Health will be making his opening comments.
As the Chairperson of the standing committee on Culture, Education, and Health I am very pleased to have this opportunity to make some introductory remarks as we begin deliberations on the budget of the Department of Education.
The standing committee has met with the various Ministers of Education a number of times over the past year.
As a result of these meetings members appreciated receiving detailed correspondence in answer to most of their questions.
The committee is pleased with the newly organized budget process and appreciated the opportunity to have an in-depth review of the department’s draft capital and main estimates.
The standing committee notes that the department’s operations and maintenance budget is the only budget that has increased from the draft figures that members reviewed.
The standing committee is pleased that this increase, along with the re-profiling of nearly 800 thousand dollars within the department, demonstrates the department’s response to the standing committee recommendations to promote Inuit leadership in the education system by significantly increasing funding under Teacher’s Professional Development.
While the committee fully supports the development of skills and knowledge in a formal sense, the important role of language and culture in our schools must also be recognized.
In addition, the committee continues to encourage the department to move forward with the incorporation of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit at all levels of education.
The Committee is pleased with the increased support to Nunavut daycares and feels that this is another area where Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit can be promoted through pre-school language and cultural programming.
Members were pleased to see that funding for special needs initiatives has appeared in the department’s business plan, although we would hope to see these kinds of initiatives included in the base funding in the future and also in collaboration with the Department of Health & Social Services.
Members are pleased that funding has been allocated for Trades programs and would like some confirmation that this be focused as much as possible on programs based in communities and not just in regional centres.
The Committee has strongly recommended in the past that the department provide support for the establishment of a Nunavut District Education Authority Association and this does appear to have been addressed in the 2001-2002 business plan, even though funding has been allocated for training and support for District Education Authorities.
The Committee looks forward to seeing a number of reports from the Department in the near future including the Income Support review, the Language of Instruction report, and the evaluation of education facilities across Nunavut and the results of other studies.
The Department of Education has been allocated over 40% of total government of Nunavut Capital spending in 2001-2002.
Members support this strategic investment in our schools.
Some projects such as the school in Hall Beach are in the planning or design stage, and members hope that these projects will continue to be reflected in the capital plan as it evolves in the future.
The members have noted that an additional 250 thousand dollars has been allocated for the purchase of two school buses.
As the Department does not appear to have a formal policy on the purchasing or contracting of bussing services, Committee Members anticipate asking questions on how the decision to make this allocation was made in the absence of any formal guidelines.
Members look forward to hearing additional details on the capital plan.
That concludes my opening remarks.
Committee members look forward to a spirited discussion over the next few days.
And I am sure individual members will also have questions and comments as we proceed.
If there are no further comments, I would like to remind the members that you will have ten minutes to ask your questions and to make comments.
Please keep in mind that if you go over ten minutes I will be exercising my chairmanship and stopping your comments.
I'm going to comment on the minister’s opening statement.
It's good to hear those kinds of comments.
One point six million dollars is mentioned and there are going to be more teachers in the vicinity of 20.
I just wanted to know, in the communities when there are not enough teachers, then it becomes a problem.
They want as many assistants as can be given, especially teachers that are having problems.
Sometimes the student might have problems, have a hard time, and the teacher at times is not able to give the right instruction especially when they don't have assistants.
You mentioned 20 additional teachers.
The teachers need assistants.
If there are a lot of students there's always a need for assistants.
I just wanted to mention this.
The other comment I want to make as mentioned in the statement, the communities, there is more training for youth so they can begin to take on more responsibilities within government, other employment opportunities, they can take on those opportunities within the mining industry and other industries.
It's good to hear some of the comments the minister made.
We will work very hard, this is our future, so that these funds are always available.
This is the proper way to go.
Our youth when they are well educated in their community, a lot of them tend to complete their education.
But if they have to leave for educational purposes they don’t complete their education.
I just want the minister to be aware of this for our future.
The funds that are used yearly, yes, those funds should be allocated so that the people in those communities can complete their formal educations within their communities.
For instance, the minister is very well aware that in Kugluktuk there were 15 to 18 students that graduated.
Now they are beginning to look forward to opportunities within the mining industry because he mentioned the funding that goes towards those kinds of encouragement of education.
I may have other questions later on that’s my question and comments.
Are there any other general comments from members.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Looking at the opening remarks that the minister made, he stated that approximately 20 new positions, teaching positions across Nunavut will be recruited.
In which of the communities will the new teachers be placed.
Chairperson (interpretation): We are now asking members to make general comments at this moment.
We’re not asking any questions right now.
We’ll just go through general comments and then after that we’ll deal with questions if it’s okay with the committee.
General comments, Mr. Irqittuq.
I am pleased with the opening remarks and pleased they are working towards providing more Inuktitut instruction in the schools.
I’d like to thank him for that and just briefly, Mr. Chairman.
Within the Department of Education, I think all the members, when we were first running for our positions, spoke strongly about encouraging education, supporting education and I know in my community, I don’t want to put down the education system because my children are also being educated in the school in my community, but I’ll use my daughter as an example.
She’s in grade 9 this year and during the year, the parents are invited to the school for parent/teacher interviews.
I know my daughter, I know how well she can read in Inuktitut and English.
I listen to her at home and when I went to the school for the teacher/parent interview, the teacher asked me if I had any questions.
I looked through her work and I asked her how strong the English programs are in Hall Beach.
When I started asking her questions about the English classes, I remembered in the 1960’s, we went to school and we were taught reading skills and we used to read different stories, Jack and Jill stories.
When I asked to look at the material, I noticed they were missing some material.
I was able to ask her questions about the courses that might be available for grade 9 and I started asking the teacher questions about exams that might be taken during the year.
What she told me was that students were not given exams and I know when you are in grade 9 there is a level of education that you need to complete and at the grade 9 level you should be able to read very well.
I am not putting the education system down but I think we need to look at the curriculum to make sure that our students are being taught at the level that they are at.
The courses that are being provided in the communities should be reviewed.
I think the English courses should be reviewed.
Also, when I ran for my position as a member the Inuit, our culture is quite strong and we practice traditional skills or hunting skills and there are some students that might drop out before they are complete grade 12.
There are students in our communities that have not completed grade 12 that might be age 16, 17 that are walking around in the communities and receiving welfare but they are not taught traditional skills or they do not have enough knowledge about traditional skills.
That concerns me because when we were 12, 13, we would know all that, we were taught at a really early age about hunting and surviving out on the land and I think it is important that our young people are taught those skills.
Our elders, I think we should use or take advantage of their knowledge and have the elders while they are still here, teach those courses.
Because there are elders in our communities that are able to teach traditional life skills.
As members, I think we need to look for ways to make our education system the best that we can.
Quite often Inuit don’t write things down.
Or don’t have everything written on paper.
But I think the elders should be given an opportunity to make materials.
We should be collecting information from the elders to develop curriculum so that traditional skills are available for future generations.
I think it is very important that we do this right away.
We often talk about the importance of taking care of our children and how much we value our lifestyle; our traditional skills and I think it is important that we collect information from the elders, so that our young people and their children will be able to learn the traditional skills.
I know that elders have a lot of knowledge that we could collect.
I think my time is up.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman for giving me a chance to speak.
Thank you for your comments.
We are just going through general comments right now and we will get into questions afterwards.
I know the members will have questions later for the Department of Education.
But when you make your general comments please keep in mind the 10-minute time limit.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will try to make my comments brief.
Earlier today during question period, I talked about what kind of courses could be available.
We are encouraging Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit to be used in the Departments and I remember DEA Chairpersons met here in Iqaluit just recently and on the CBC news we heard education is still lacking funds.
We always talk about how we should make Education a priority.
In Nunavut we are still lacking funds for that department.
This frustrates me.
Listening to the radio, I know in the past when we were still under GNWT those concerns were around and they are still here today.
I think we need to look for money to deal with education.
When you went through your opening remarks Mr. Minister, I was very pleased to see the areas where improvements are being made.
As a member I know Inuit have a lot of knowledge and different skills although they don't have a certificate to show that they have those skills.
Inuit learn from experience, they learn from on the job training and I know the Inuit are able to teach their traditional skills.
An Inuk doesn't need a certificate to show that he is knowledgeable in that field and we are the ones that need to collect that information before the elders pass on, we need to collect that information.
I understand Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit as in the 1960's, when we were first introduced to the white people, we were able to work together, to learn from each other.
As Inuit we need to stand together but also work together with non-aboriginal people and I know there are a lot of problems in the north that we need to deal with, there's alcohol problems and I know that an Inuk is able to survive out on the land without a lot of equipment that is readily available now.
This lifestyle should be shown so that we can have a better lifestyle.
We've been looking for that evidence and we’ll find it because we worked really hard to acquire our own government. We'll learn from the world around us and from the universe we live in.
We only know our environment and all other countries have their own environment and have their own culture and lifestyle.
We are unique in this way in Nunavut.
I'm very proud of my young people, looking through the Languages Commissioner's report, I noticed that in our communities the elders and the youth are working together through their committees.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to make these comments.
Chairperson: (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Mr. Chairman, I’d like to thank the minister for his opening remarks.
There are a lot of interesting things in there and I have a lot of questions.
I look forward being able to ask those questions and have them answered here in Committee of the Whole.
Just in general, one thing I’d like to acknowledge is the fact that the minister in his opening comments states the journey of life long learning is one of the keys to success in Nunavut.
And, also in the Minister of Finance’s budget address yesterday where he talks about how education is the key to a better future for the people of Nunavut, and equipping our citizens with the skills and knowledge at all stages in their lives is crucial to our territory’s success.
Mr. Chairman, I couldn’t agree with this more.
I think it is important to realize, I don’t see any spending in education as an expense.
I view it as an investment in our future and it has a potential of coming back and reaping the rewards of that investment in the future.
That is how we have to look at it.
In saying that I think it is important to recognize the value and the need for a good quality early childhood development program.
I know there has been some movement forward in working with the daycares and providing them with the assistance that they need.
I think you know one of the things that we need to look at is trying to find a way to integrate the school type system into a daycare system.
In working together to try and develop enhanced early childhood development programs that would better prepare our young children when they do enter the school system.
So that they hit the ground with their feet running and they don’t have to play catch up once they get there.
Another thing Mr. Chairman that is going to be vital for the success of our students in Nunavut is taking a look at the pupil-teacher ratios.
I think it is crucial that it be lowered.
Right now I know, maybe one of the things that you may want look at is incorporating a ratio into the Act as the GNWT did.
I believe they put a PTR of 17 right into their legislation.
So that it’s law that it has to be.
That would force the government to recognize that is the area or number that is most suitable to provide the best quality or possible learning environment for our young people to learn in the classrooms.
Another key area that I am very happy to see addressed in this years’ budget is the infrastructure.
I know that is something that has been neglected all over Nunavut and when I say all over Nunavut not just the small communities.
I think if we were happy with the way things were going before as far as programs and services and the infrastructure we would still be part of the Northwest Territories.
I think in a lot of cases the East, now Nunavut was neglected and I think maybe even leading up to division, some things were left off with the intention that we’ll let the Government of Nunavut worry about that after division and it won’t effect us.
So those infrastructure needs are out there.
We have some very aging facilities.
We have facilities that are old, that are makeshift.
I have seen classrooms like old condemned community halls fixed up and classrooms put in them.
You see some communities where they have had to erect of couple of walls in a hallway to put a classroom in there and even here in the brand new school here in Iqaluit we have a classroom being used as a stage.
So that gives you an idea of the importance of infrastructure and you know it is a requirement in every single community in Nunavut.
I think it is important that be looked at and I think that especially not only the existing stuff but I think we have to plan and look forward to our needs as we go into the future. That we do not build something that is already too small.
I will use an example again here of the Iqaluit school that was built to house three grades and because of the size it only has two right now and one of those is where they even have a class on the stage.
So there is an example of you know the lacking infrastructure that we have and that we need to look at and I think the forced growth issues need to be looked at for all communities as well as it relates to infrastructure.
I think another area that needs to be taken into consideration and it has been an issue that I have raised over the last year is the fact of looking at how our schools are funded.
I know that prior to division, the GNWT went into deficit reduction mode and they changed the formula on how our schools were funded to save money.