EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
They are staffed by a central agency that we have for all the government, Human Resources.
So in the case of nurses, we have a dedicated staff person who is continually trying to staff and if operational requirements in Igloolik dictate that we need 5 nurses, because I know that there are 4 there and I gave the member the names of the 4 nurses out there.
Then that would a decision made by the supervisor of health centres for this region and that position then would be filled.
Question 148 - 1(5): Determinants of Required Policing Levels
Mr. McLean: Nice to be missed.
My question today is to the Minister of Justice.
The recent developments from the tragedy in Cape Dorset, and I want to go back to what happened in my community two years ago where there was an armed stand off by a distressed individual in our community.
Most RCMP, if not all of them, are federal government employees.
How are each community’s policing levels determined by the Government of Nunavut if they are federal government employees.
Currently we have a contract with the RCMP to provide policing services for Nunavut and the staffing requirements are usually identified by the RCMP themselves. We then assess it and check if we have the resources, financial resources to meet them.
To date there has been no identification of additional requirements but after the recent events, I believe the RCMP are reviewing their requirements.
That is what I wanted to hear because it is no secret that crime is rising in our communities in Nunavut and most often it is crime that is determined by alcohol or drugs or family violence or whatever domestic disputes which are probably the most dangerous disputes in most communities all over Canada.
The RCMP are federal government employees, so can the minister responsible guarantee that the level of policing and the public safety interests are taken into account.
If the RCMP are going to renegotiate or they are going to ask for addition manpower for Nunavut Mr. Speaker I think, this is the question I am asking, but put at the end of that question, I think we owe it to the RCMP and citizens of Nunavut to give them adequate policing.
Currently the RCMP has been a lot like our government.
At the headquarters level they have been understaffed so they had the flexibility financially to determine how best to utilize the financial resources, so it has not been a real issue to this point but I believe the RCMP are reviewing what their requirements are.
Further, we also provide community constables at the community level that provide additional support to the RCMP.
We’ll wait for the RCMP to do the review and see what we can do.
Mr. Speaker I am glad that the Minister of Justice brought up the community constables.
In my community we have two community constables that have been working on the job for the last 4 or 5 years and they provide a very essential service to the community along with the three RCMP members.
The community constables in the past were called by-law officers so their main focus was shooting the odd stray dog and squealing on the odd speeder, but now we know like I said earlier that their roles are changing and that they have been taking upon themselves and the RCMP to provide additional responsibilities to themselves.
My question on that one is, has the government developed some kind of policy or is there a plan to train these community constables to take on additional roles and provide more public safety.
To date we have been taking on some of those community constables to be trained as full RCMP officers.
So we'd like to see more included in the RCMP and we're also looking for additional Inuit to become RCMP recruits.
So we look forward to working with them further and training them and developing them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that's a good program to be moving towards because a lot of our local by-law enforcement agencies and community constables have a lot of information to provide to the RCMP because they're at the grass-roots level.
They can help police our communities and make them safer places.
Does this government have a policy in place now that community constables are working with the RCMP for training.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. McLean. Mr. Premier.
There is some basic training provided, but not the full-fledged course that's provided to the RCMP.
Question 149 - 1(5): Canada Post, RCMP and Drug Traffickers
Earlier on I talked about the postal system, it is often used by the narcotics traffickers for smuggling into our communities.
Although I know these two, let's say Canada Post and RCMP, are federal agencies, I feel that this government should bring some of these issues to Ottawa, to our federal counterparts.
I want to ask the Minister of Justice what types of things that he can do to bring these issues to the federal agencies.
How can he deal with them.
I just wanted some information.
Right now, he is correct, Canada Post is regulated by a federal Act and there are specific provisions that prohibit the interception of mail.
So it's difficult to try and do something about it at the territorial level but I can convey our concerns to the appropriate ministers on behalf of the member and other members.
Its good to hear that we're trying to make sure our concerns are raised at the federal level.
I know we can't do too much with the federal Acts but then again, we can bring our concerns to their attention, it's good to hear.
How soon can you do that so we know and report back to us on how this issue is progressing.
Hon. Paul Okalik: We have to look at the federal Acts themselves and evaluate what type of alternatives that we want to propose to the federal government.
So I can't say when that will take place.
Hopefully within the next little while, while we're in session.
To bring the issue up again on where the, for example, the trafficker is bringing in stuff through the mail.
It's coming through the mail system.
But there is no way that the RCMP can get to the package where they suspect the narcotic is going through.
I'd like to suggest that Canada Post should be reporting to the office if they are suspecting this package as a drug or something.
Today there's no way they can, the RCMP can inspect these packages but I just want to bring that as an example so we know what we’re talking about on the issue.
Yes, I understand the frustration faced by the member.
It's the same situation throughout Canada and we're governed by federal law, in terms of mail.
We're also regulated by the Charter of Rights which requires certain freedoms to be respected by institutions of the state.
So it's not easy trying to deal with these issues when they're taken advantage of by the criminal elements of our society.
So we have to weigh those and weigh them very carefully.
Question 150 - 1(5): Population and Eligibility for RCMP
It's in regards to policing in the communities.
How many residents does a community need before they can get an RCMP permanently stationed in their community.
Speaker: Minister for Justice.
We have a contract with the federal government.
For the most part the RCMP identifies the needs of the communities, as we do not really get involved with the operations of the RCMP.
I would note that some of the smaller communities have very low crime rates and that's why some of them don't have RCMP members.
It's something that we should be proud of.
If there is a real need that is not being met this would be reviewed.
But my question was how many people should there be in a community before a member is stationed permanently.
The minister had probably heard that the community of Repulse Bay would like to get a permanent RCMP member.
Has the minister reviewed this request and what's going to be happening.
Speaker: Thank you. Minister Okalik.
Yes, we have heard this request and I have talked to the mayor of that community.
I will be talking again with the federal government and the RCMP on this issue.
There's going to be a park that will be situated right outside of Repulse Bay and there will be more activities going on in that community.
Do you have an idea of when the people of Repulse Bay are going to be getting an RCMP member.
Is it going to be this year or next year or when.
We are currently working on it and I will be setting up a meeting with my federal counterpart, the Minister of Justice for that and I will bring it up again the next time I have a meeting with him.
I cannot say when but it is currently in the works.
Speaker: Oral Questions. Mr. Arvaluk.
Question 151 - 1(5): St. Theresa’s Hospital Contract
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Picco.
The minister stated a while ago that St. Therese’s hospital was going to be closed down in Chesterfield Inlet and the minister has stated that they were going to be talking with the Roman Catholic Bishop to extend the contract for six months to a year.
Can the minister tell me what is happening with this issue.
Mr. Speaker, after the member raised this in the House and after some communication with Bishop Rouleau, we have been successful in discussion with Bishop Rouleau to have the Catholic Diocese maintain the service contract that they have right now with St. Therese’s hospital in Chesterfield Inlet till March 31, 2002.
Mr. Speaker, that gives us an opportunity to be able to do a better evaluation of the facility itself and the operational requirements for the patients currently in St. Therese’s.
Obviously this is very good news then.
When he is doing an evaluation of the fate of the hospital, will the minister be visiting Chesterfield Inlet and meet with the hamlet council and the residents during his evaluation.
Mr. Speaker, the member had asked me earlier in the House was I prepared to go and meet with the residents of Chesterfield Inlet and I committed to do that in the House and I continue to do that.
I am scheduled to be in Rankin Inlet in the middle of April for the Nunavut Association of Municipalities meeting and I am also scheduled then to go to Arviat, I believe I will be doing the official opening of the health centre.
Mr. Speaker, while I am in the area Mr. Speaker, I will try to schedule a trip into Chesterfield Inlet and maybe with the Finance Minister or who else may be with us and try to bring them to see the St. Therese’s hospital and have an opportunity to be with the mayor and the people of Chesterfield Inlet.
Question 152 - 1(5): Soapstone Retrieval Policy
Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Sustainable Development.
Mr. Speaker, it is with great delight that over the last few years that his department came out with all kinds of new policies, revisions, policy statements, and to make life easier for us Nunavummiut.
Especially the ones involved in the traditional economy and I know the minister's community is involved in the tradition economy, carvings, print making, things like that much like my community and much like a lot of member's communities around this circle here.
But it is two weeks away from our second year as a Nunavut Government. Can the minister commit to bring forward some kind of policy that I have been asking for two years in regards to soapstone retrieval in Nunavut.
Yes, soapstone quarrying is a major concern in most of the communities and there are safety issues involved in the quarrying side, some of them are in an unsafe state.
We are going to be reviewing this and I'll be working on this urgently to see how the soapstone can be obtained safely and how we can acquire it at a faster rate.
As the new minister, this is going to be my priority and I'm going to deal with this as soon as I can.
The communities that we represent, their major livelihood is carving and soapstone quarrying.
We're going to look at how we can help the soapstone miners.
But possibly, I don't know in the Qamanittuaq area, I believe they don't go by boat, but by all terrain vehicles but in the Baffin, we go by boat to access the soapstone, so there are different ways and options that we can look into when we're reviewing this.
Mr. McLean: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker.
It's nice to see he's working closely with his officials in his department to get those lengthy answers because that's the type of answers I've been getting on soapstone for the last two years.
I don't want to beleaguer the poor minister but Mr. Speaker, he talks about dangers of soapstone quarries and mining and all types of stuff and going by boat and going by snow machine and Honda and in most communities, I know that.
It's a fact of life up here, if you're going to get soapstone, you have to go out there and you have to blow it up, you have to drill it, you have to mine it, you have to do everything.
But the fact of the matter is Mr. Speaker, soapstone and carving is an important element of the economy of Nunavut.
Can the minister be more detailed on when he's going to look at the policy of helping communities find locations and an accessible supply of soapstone so they can carve more so they can make more money.
How we can get soapstone to the community is going to be reviewed and I know that it is urgent and this is very important to our communities of Nunavut.
For example, in Kimmirut and Cape Dorset, what I have seen and I have been told by the carvers is that it's very hard to get soapstone in the wintertime especially because the soapstone mine is full of snow and you can't go mine it the winter.
So we're going to review what our options are and we're now in the process of doing a review on this.
Our terrain in Nunavut has not been explored very much to see what kind of soapstone resources we may have.
Yes, we have the funding available. If the mines were closer and if we could find a mine where it will be easier for the miners to quarry the soapstone I would be very happy to support that.
However, I will be dealing with this as urgent and look at the policy to see how we can amend it so that we can support the communities when they’re trying to retrieve soapstone to see if this can be done all year round.
Speaker: Just a caution to the members, get to the question.
For ministers, get to the answer.
I'll try to get to the question and I'm very, very pleased that he's concerned about Kimmirut and Cape Dorset.
But I'm concerned about Baker Lake.
Can the minister commit to me that he'll come to Baker Lake or send his people to help the people there who rely on carving and soapstone. We have none right now, to come in and work with the community to try to get us a supply of soapstone for the next five or ten years.
Yes, I would like to work with the member's constituents.
They know the land better than my officials and know where the soapstone is since they live in the community.
We'll look at how it can be shipped and the soapstone quarried all year round.
We'll look at our options, my officials will work with your community.
I would like to see my officials working with your community as soon as possible, perhaps we can do it as early as this summer.
Thank you Mr. Minister, I got a commitment that you'll be working with the community this summer.
I'll be there all summer so I'm looking forward to seeing your officials.
My final supplementary would be on that.
The people who used the land for the last couple of thousand years, can he include them in the study and on retrieving the soapstone because they know where it is and I'm sure if they're bringing his officials in, or if his officials are coming in, with all kinds of geologists and advisors, and special help, that they use the local expertise there and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit on developing a long term plan for soapstone retrieval.
Yes, I'm very interested in what you're talking about because the community, the local people know the land more than other people and they know their geology.
Yes, I would like to get full co-operation and support from the community, that's the only way we can actually work together in the future, not just in Baker Lake but in all other communities in Nunavut.
For example, Mr. Puqiqnak's constituency also requires some assistance similar to this and also in the Baffin region.
Yes, I'm sure they'll be asking for support to quarry the soapstone.
In order to work together, with the various communities, we will be looking at all these options.
Yes, I agree whole-heartedly on your question, Mr. McLean.
He stated in his question that we have to utilize local people at the community level more.
Yes, the government would like to use the local people, especially in the affected communities or the communities adjacent to other communities.
Yes, as a government we have stated that we'll look at this and review it very carefully and I will utilize the communities.
I will want to utilize the communities especially the affected communities with soapstone quarrying because they are being affected.
I would like to work with you, work with the affected communities such as Baker Lake or Pangnirtung and other communities.
Mr. Tootoo: Point of Order.
Speaker: Just before I recognize Mr. Tootoo's Point of Order.
Just a reminder to the ministers, we still had members that did not get a question.
There's no need to repeat your answer four or five times.
Hopefully it's not intentional to kill the clock.
I ask the ministers to be conscious of that and think of the members that didn't get a question.
Mr. Speaker, according to our rules, the minister is supposed to answer the question and not get off on some tangent and kill time. So it's a point of order that they're deliberately going on and saying nothing and not answering the question.
So, Mr. Speaker, I'd like you to direct the ministers, when they're answering questions, to make sure they answer the questions.
Speaker: Mr. Tootoo, I don't think you have a Point of Order but I recognize your concern and I believe I recognized it before you brought it up.
I would just remind the ministers to try shorten up your answers as we did leave members without having an opportunity to have a question.
We talked about this before and the same situation arises with the members giving preambles after the first question, the second question, the third supplementary, so shorten those up.
That will allow more time for the other members to put questions in.
Unfortunately question period is over.
Mr. Iqaqrialu, you raised your hand.
This is the third time now that I have requested this without success but I would like to move that we extend the question period by one half hour.
Speaker: I believe the member is asking for unanimous consent to extend the question period.
Speaker: I heard a nay.
We do not have unanimous consent therefore question period cannot be extended.
Moving on to Orders of the Day.
Written Question 010 - 1(5): Recreational Facilities Projects
Mr. Speaker, looks like this is the only way we get to ask questions these days.
Mr. Speaker, my written question is for the Minister responsible for Community Government and Transportation.
Mr. Speaker on March 19, 2001 the Committee of the Whole approved 300 thousand dollars for recreation facilities projects in the 2001 - 2002 capital estimates of the Department of Community Government and Transportation (Community Government branch, headquarters region, various Nunavut).
The following questions refer to this appropriation:
Will all local governments in Nunavut be formally advised in writing of the availability of this funding.
Will the minister announce in the Legislative Assembly the projects that received funding from this appropriation during the 2001 - 2002 fiscal year.
Does the department have specific written criteria or guidelines that can be referred to by parties interested in making funding proposals.
What specific factors and criteria will the department use to evaluate funding proposals.
How does a pilot project differ from a regular project with respect to this appropriation.
Have any pilot projects received preliminary or final approval with respect to this appropriation.
What is the minimum amount of third party funding that is required for a project to receive approval.
Have any proposals been received by the department as of March 20, 2001.
If proposals have been received have any received preliminary or final approvals.
If written criteria or guidelines exist where can the public obtain access to them.
Will the department accept and consider funding proposals for projects other than installation of artificial ice in existing arenas.
Which department officials will evaluate proposals and make recommendations to the minister.
What is the deadline for proposals to be received by the department.
What format does the department require for proposals.
Will the minister announce in the Legislative Assembly the total number of proposals received.
Will the minister announce in the Legislative Assembly the titles of each proposal received by the department and the community from where each proposal is received.
Will proposals that request funding for projects other than installation of artificial ice be evaluated differently than proposals that involve artificial ice.
Will the Department of Community Government and Transportation approach Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for additional funding on behalf of communities that have made funding proposals or will communities be expected to approach the department directly.
Have any formal meetings between Community Government and Transportation and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada taken place to date.
Will the return to this written question be provided to the house prior to March 31, 2001.
We'll need a copy of that detailed written question.
Tabled Document 016 - 1(5): Aajiiqatigiingniq - Sustaining Wildlife Harvesting
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Thank you, I wish to table a document titled "Aajiiqatigiingniq - Sustaining Wildlife Harvesting; Choices for Nunavummiut”.
This document which examines the issues of our Harvesters Support Program is the information supplement for our harvesters.
Bill 3 - Utility Rate Review Council Act - First Reading
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the Honourable Member for Hudson Bay, that Bill 3 - Utility Rate Review Council Act be read for the first time.
Bill 5 - Loan Authorization Act 2001 - 2002 - Second Reading
Hon. Kelvin Ng: I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Baffin South that Bill 5 - Loan Authorization Act 2001 - 2002 be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the Loan Authorization Act is to facilitate lending from the Government of Nunavut to municipalities, and it will benefit the municipalities which may not have the ability to borrow from commercial lenders.
The government is requesting a loan limit of 2 million 500 thousand dollars, under the Loan Authorization Act 2001 - 2002 to ensure that we are able to meet needs that may arise in the municipalities across Nunavut.
Bill 5 is referred to a committee.
Bill 1 and Bill 2, and 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. Irqittuq in the chair.
Before we proceed, we will take a 15 to 20 minute break then we will return to Committee of the Whole.
>>House recessed at 2.59 p.m. and resumed at 3.34 p.m.
Chairperson (Mr. Irqittuq) (interpretation): We can begin the Committee of the Whole.
We will be dealing with the Department of Community Government & Transportation.
Ms. Williams, what is the wish of the committee.
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, I would suggest that we deal with Bill 1, Community Government & Transportation.
Once that is completed, we would like to continue on with Bill 2, Supplementary Appropriation Act.
Once that is complete, if we can get to Bill 1, Appropriation Act, and continue with Public Works.
Does the committee agree that we deal with the main estimates or Bill 1 Appropriation Act 2001/2002.
Turning to page 7-5.
We will deal with Bill 2 after the completion of Community Government & Transportation. After Bill 2 we will deal with Public Works.
If Mr. Anawak could be seated at the witness table.
Perhaps you can get your officials to come to the witness table Mr. Anawak.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Yes I would like to, while we're going to be talking about the main estimates, I would like to get Mr. Ferris and Mike Rafter.
Doug Sitland and Mr. Saez will able to assist us if we need them.