EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Also, in the document, it says that there’s 20 empty staff housing units there and a surplus of office space that’s been empty for the last four years and currently we have a surplus of people in Baker Lake looking employment opportunities.
Bill 31 – Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 3 – 2002/2003 – First Reading
Bill 32 – Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 2 – 2002/2003 – First Reading
I move seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit West that Bill 31, Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 3, 2002/2003 and Bill 32, Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 2, 2002/2003, be read for the first time.
The motion is carried, and Bill 31 and 32 has had first reading.
Bill 31 – Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 3 – 2002/2003 – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit West that Bill 31, Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 3, 2002/2003, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this Bill is to seek legislative approval for an additional amount of $7 million 842 thousand dollars for capital requirements of Government of Nunavut departments for fiscal year 2002/2003.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister Ng. The motion is in order to the principal of the bill.
The motion is carried and Bill 31 has had second reading and accordingly the Bill stands referred to a committee.
Bill 32 – Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 2 – 2002/2003 – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Pangnirtung, that Bill 32, Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 2, 2002/2003 be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this bill is to seek legislative approval for an additional amount of $15 million 565 thousand dollars for the Operations and Maintenance requirements of Government of Nunavut departments for fiscal year 2002/2003.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister Ng. The motion is in order to the principle of the Bill.
The motion is carried and Bill 32 has had second reading and accordingly the Bill stands referred to a committee.
Bill 30, Bill 31, Bill 32, Minister’s Statement 126-1 (6) with Mr. Puqiqnak in the chair.
In accordance to the authority provided to me by Motion 002-1 (6), Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out.
Chairperson (Mr. Puqiqnak) (Translation): We can begin with Committee of the Whole.
We started with the opening remarks yesterday.
Bill 30, Ministers’ Statement 126-1(6), Bill 31, and Bill 32.
Ms. Williams (Translation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Committee would like to start with Bill 30, the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, and if we have time, we want to continue with the review of the Department of Health Social Services.
Chairperson (interpretation) Thank you, Ms. Williams.
Minister Okalik, would you like to bring your Officials to the Witness Table?
Do Members agree that the officials join the Minister?
Yesterday I know that I asked the Minister for his names of his officials but can you please introduce them to us again.
Today I have my Deputy Minister Ann Crawford and I have Mr. David Immaroitok.
Chairperson (interpretation): Before we proceed, I would like to remind the Members of the following.
The Minister already did his opening remarks yesterday and just to continue on with where we left off yesterday.
We’ll be in general comments for the Members and we have 10 minutes to speak.
On general comments, in regards to the Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, the Members have 10 minutes to speak and it is in the discretion of the Chairperson, a member may speak more than once to a matter under discussion but not until every member wishing to speak has spoken.
I will allow the other Members that have spoken already to speak.
I’m going to get right into one issue that’s been on my agenda from April 1 till now and that’s the subject of decentralization.
Four years ago, I know I had an opinion of decentralization and my opinion hasn’t changed.
The only part of my opinion that has changed is I have to commend the department and the Minister responsible for decentralization for probably pulling off one of the largest movement of people into have not communities in the history of this territory or the old territory.
I want to commend the Minister and his staff, all of them, from his deputy down, from the start.
I know there are a lot of misgivings about decentralization and the misgivings were probably more among the buracreacy then they were in the people of Nunavut and your department.
I’m glad that your department showed strong, strong, leadership in decentralization and today I’ll be the first one to admit that he’s done a great job and that’s hard for me to say because you know my feelings sometimes.
But you’ve done a great job and I commend you again on it.
I know for one, that I didn’t think it could ever happen but when I walk through the Government office in Baker Lake today, I see all the Inuit people that are working there and the face and commitment that the government has given them and training to actually realize their dreams of working in their home community and not having to leave to gain suitable employment.
There is still a lot of people in my community that move to Rankin Inlet to Iqaluit to Ottawa, to Winnipeg to gain employment because that’s a fact of life.
It’s almost like the rest of Canada now when it comes to looking for a job in Nunavut.
You go to where the jobs are and that’s happened but on the other hand there is 40 or 50 people there that’s been able to acquire employment in their own community and it makes them happier.
We all know the results of people leaving their community and going some place else, it puts a lot of stress on their parents and grand parents and things like that.
So, that’s what I have to say about decentralization and I want to applaud it a bit more is that somebody said to me in April of 1999, you know the question was, the cost of decentralization. What about the cost of decentralization.
I think it was Whit Fraser, when he was up here covering the Nunavut inaugural meeting.
He said to me, you Glenn, the question that people are not asking is what’s not the cost of decentralization.
If we hadn’t of moved jobs in the communities like Pond Inlet, Kugluktuk, Igloolik, Baker Lake, Arviat, we talk about the statistics and what’s happening in our communities with suicides and drug abuse and alcohol abuse, and every other kind of abuse.
If we hadn’t of moved those jobs in, would they have been higher and worse.
If you look at a statistic today, by your own department, and it really jumped out on me the last time I had your statistics people in a standing committee for a briefing, we still have in the ten decentralized communities, we still have, and I’m talking about the ten of them, the highest unemployment rates.
I have 600 kids going to school in Baker Lake.
Decentralization is 80 percent done and I’ve been saying this for four years, it’s done.
Decentralization is done.
Where are we going to find jobs for 600 people in my community over the next ten years, 700 jobs in Arviat. 800 jobs in Rankin Inlet.
The fact of the matter is decentralization is done.
Now we have to get on with the real serious issue of finding employment in not only the decentralized communities but the non-decentralized communities, like Hall Beach, Clyde River, Chesterfield Inlet, Whale Cove, Arctic Bay, and Resolute Bay.
I can go on here and get them all, but I’m sorry, I don’t know them all.
But I’m just saying great, it’s done, it’s over and I don’t want to second guess anything but now that I look back at it, I’m thinking I’m actually amazed at how much has happened in the last four years, with regards to decentralization and the amount of training that’s happened with it.
We can do better but I think at this point, in anybody’s political career, and I’m talking about my community, I think the government has done a good job in trying to put resources into the community.
I urge you in the future to not be selfish when it comes to looking at opportunities in every community in Nunavut and trying to create a future for our children that we always say our children are our future.
That’s my opening comments and I’d like to thank the Minister again for his decentralization plan.
I have Ms. Williams next.
I would like to also make a brief comment in regards to the Minister’s opening remarks yesterday; the one that he mentioned about the economic strategy conference in Rankin Inlet.
I forgot some of the comments that he made yesterday during his opening remarks Mr. Chairman, but one of the things that stand out that the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs have decreased in their funding in the amount of about $595 thousand.
Even though that is that way, it’s a lot bigger; their operating money is a lot bigger than some departments such as the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
I feel that the amount of money that they will be using as compared to the Department of EIA is a lot bigger than the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth’s budget.
The premier stated to us that the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth budget would be increasing in the near future.
So during question period, I will be asking the premier as to what the government has done in increasing the budget for the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, even though Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
It seems that the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, it seems like they have a bigger budget than the Culture, Language, Elders and Youth Department.
During Question Period, I will be asking the Minister on those issues.
I am happy to see the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Witness Table today.
Like my fellow Member from Baker Lake, I really do not have anything to be thankful for.
Towards the end of the decentralization process, and in regards to the planning of the decentralization by the department, they have stated that they are in the final stages of decentralization, and the question that I have always asked is about the communities that are non-decentralized and the kinds of jobs that they are going to receiving from the Government of Nunavut.
For example, in Hall Beach, we have to try to find something or some economy for those non-decentralized communities, not just for Hall Beach, but for other communities, as well, in Nunavut.
Whenever someone talks about the non-decentralized communities, I think about the things that the Government could do to provide jobs for those communities that are not decentralized.
Whenever there is going to be doing an election some people seem to be campaigning to say that they will be making changes to the Government’s priorities and programs, but once they get elected, then it does not go through.
We have to be able to tell our constituents that this is what our priorities are and follow through with it once we get elected.
In regards to a particular community of Igloolik, if decentralization is going to continue, then it would be good for that community.
Most of the communities, or all of the communities should be benefiting from the communities such as Mining, and other economic development initiatives.
In my communities of Hall Beach and Igloolik, I think that the Government already know that there has been a diamond find near my community, and they have to continue to do some strategic planning to make sure that those communities have adequate runways so that the Mining Companies can have an easier way of going in and out of those communities.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me to make my comments.
There are different ways of saying thank you such as when you receive food or when you are appreciative so I would like to say thank you to you Mr. Chairman.
Just a short comment Mr. Chairman in regards to decentralization and I feel that it has to continue but for some communities that are smaller in Nunavut, they are not getting enough employment support by the departments such as Kugaaruk and Repulse Bay.
Repulse Bay is in the Kivalliq Region and it seems like the government is not concentrating on those smaller communities.
I try very hard to try to get economic development for that community and my community of Kugaaruk but it seems like the government has just left them to have nothing.
I know that the government is doing something about it but it’s been very slow and it seems as though one community has more than the other.
To me, it’s very hard to represent those communities that do not have many employment opportunities and also in regards to Wager Bay, there is going to be an agreement in place for the park in Wager Bay and that would probably bring up the economy a little bit for the community of Repulse Bay.
Those are the types of things that we would like for the communities to take advantage of and for the communities that are not non-decentralized to get employment from those things that I talked about because a lot of people do now have much of a future.
Next on my list is Mr. Havioyak.
I’m glad there is decentralization that the department is doing because a lot of these communities have decentralized positions and I’m glad to see that.
There should be a lot of Inuit getting jobs from decentralization.
I’m glad that the department is doing it for us, although it’s a slow process but some of these communities require decentralization.
(interpretation ends)I have one issue in decentralization that you have been doing for the last several years is to coordinate with the Department of Human Resources to provide training to the decentralized community employees, I just want to say that, you know, to make sure this still happens so we have more beneficiaries or the constituents in that community, resident of that community are having in the first hand opportunity to work for the Government of Nunavut.
(interpretation) A lot of young people in the communities I think that the Department of Health was decentralized to Kugluktuk.
Some of these people should work in that department that was decentralized.
A lot of these positions are taken over from somewhere else, rather than the communities. Why is that?
Some of these people from outside of the community get these jobs rather than the people that live in that community.
I think that if we had some training programs for these people that the department has decentralized, I think that it could create jobs for that community.
I know that the Department of Health was decentralized to my community and a lot of the people from Kugluktuk do not get the benefit, but other people from outside of the community receive jobs.
A lot of these people with University degrees get those positions rather than the people from that community.
Once you have trained these people, they should be able to get into those positions in that Government Departments.
A lot of people ask questions like that person’s job; I could do that job just as well as that person that got it that came from outside of the community.
I would like to see the department to try and look into that because a lot of these young people need jobs in those decentralized communities.
And if they can be given training opportunities to get those jobs, or even over to Senior Management, or higher positions.
I think that if they had those training on the job for these people, I think that a lot of these young people can get these opportunities just as much as the other person that was brought over from outside of the community.
I think because I would like to see some of those people be given opportunities to be trained and get into those positions rather than getting people from elsewhere other than that community.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs is the Department that we are dealing with at this point.
Try to keep your comments within ten minutes.
And we are here to work together.
I also had needs and if there are no funds for it, I still have needs.
I would like to comment that the decentralized communities have adequate resources now, but the non-decentralized communities have fallen way behind now that the decentralized communities have benefited from the program.
During the decentralization process there was some hurdles in the process and although with decentralization some of those positions were lost from the communities that they were moved from.
There were some tough decisions to make for sure in the process.
The decentralization has made a lot of people happy, and have also hurt a lot of people along the way.
It creates a lot of uneasy feelings amongst the communities because we’re all trying to fight for adequate resources and we don’t realize sometimes we hurt feelings during the process but it’s very apparent.
While representing all of Nunavut, we’re working towards the betterment of all of Nunavut.
With that said, the non-decentralized communities, I have some requests for my community of Clyde River, I would like a university set up in my community, a carpentry trades shop in Qikiqtarjuaq and a university set up in one of our other communities.
I would like a heavy equipment operator course offered in Clyde River where there’s always an abundance of snow to train with.
I have a lot of requests for my community with the future in mind although the decentralization process is almost finished and within five years, it will be done.
We need to give more consideration to the non-decentralized communities as to what opportunities we can set up for Nunavummiut.
We need more economic opportunities in the smaller communities.
Some of the economic opportunities in Nunavut that we can set up will allow us to be more self-reliant by working on these economic opportunities.
These are my goals in the future for my community and I will work hard according to the wishes of my constituents.
I’m sure it will be possible by working together.
This department is set up like Culture, Language, Elders and Youth and it can have a lot of authority over other departments.
It’s not like a department like education or health because there are always going to be sick people and we’re always going to need education.
The Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth and Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, if they don’t work hard, they won’t achieve their goals.
That’s the similarities with those two departments.
As a new government, I welcome the idea of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs to be the department to push those communities for instance, the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth or Sustainable Development, or Nunavut to work together and have open dialogue to work for the wishes of Nunavummiut.
We haven’t seen Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs as a department that would restrict other departments in their goals. We see it as a department that would encourage to work hard for the betterment of all Nunavummiut.
For instance, yes we’re grateful for the department.
They have contacts with Ottawa, the Federal Government, but I think they have more room for improvement in terms of getting more funding but I commend the premier for acquiring more funding for health in the amount of $60 million dollars.
That’s where the progress is.
In the trades area, whether they go down south for caribou or polar bear trades, there are a lot of economic opportunities in our natural resources and there haven’t been any improvements to date.
The Government of the Northwest Territories programs are still continuing for your caribou commercial harvesting, polar bear sport hunting and those are still the same programs that the Government of the Northwest Territories set up and there hasn’t yet been some new programs set up within Nunavut, but we’ve heard that there is a 5 to 6 thousand quota for caribou that can be used for commercial type, but we haven’t seen any new initiatives for economic development.
I expected the Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs would be the head lobbyist for the government and strategise, say with the Federal Government or the Yukon Government as to where we can have discussions regarding tourism or other things.
But it was apparent that his department was restricting that opportunity.
It became very apparent because we are very sparsely populated in Nunavut and we read and hear different things in Nunavut about what is going on.
And I always thought, looking at this business plan, we’ve seen one for Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Yes they’re saying that they’re committed to moving forward not after three years but immediately.
It’s expensive and we don’t have the adequate funds.
We know $10 million 495 for this year’s budget is for this year; is that adequate?
If we want to spend this money properly, this $10 million dollars can be used, although it’s not for education or health and social services or the Department of Sustainable Development, we do know that many of these things are beyond our control.
For instance, the commissioner, yes we need those types of things.
There are other things in there such as the responsibilities for communication, policy development, there’s a lot of room in there for improvement.
I wanted to see it more effective in 2003/2004.
I’d like to see a better vision for Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
For instance, ensuring that the departments are meeting their mandates and I’d like to see how Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs has the authority to ensure the mandates are being met and ensuring the relationship between the Federal Government and provinces or Greenland, are being looked into properly as to how the communities can benefit from the programs from government.
Chairperson (interpretation): At this point I have no one else on my list.
Would you like to go line by line now for the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs?
Page 2-5.
Is that the wish of the committee?
Page 2-5 in Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $1 million, 536 thousand dollars.
Carried. 2-6.
Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Communications Policy and Planning.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $1 million, 681 thousand dollars.
That’s part of my general comments regarding the Communications Division and Policy and Planning.
There is $1.6 million dollars in the budget.
Can I get clarification as to what it is?
Is it for communications, or is this for the cabinet?
There are two things in there.
There is cabinet for executive and intergovernmental affairs. Which one is it pointed more towards?
Yes, there are two, one for policy and planning and the other one, is the communication.
There are two categories in there.
Is that for both executive and intergovernmental affairs?
For both two divisions?
Communications, Policy and Planning.
Carried. 2-7.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $885 thousand dollars.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, from what I know, I may be wrong, but the Evaluation and Statistical Services, is that according to legal responsibilities or is it because they are needed by the Federal Government?
Yes, the evaluation statistical services are responsible for the development and provision of accurate and independent data.
As you may remember this past week, they compiled information from Greenland and Alaska, they had a meeting as to how they can try and prevent suicide.
They also looked different ways on how to deal with different situations.
We found this to be a very important branch.
We looked at different ways of doing things in different ways and these will always be beneficial for Nunavut.
As Government employees we want to do things right so we look at different avenues, for instance revenue reports.
We as a Committee, we travel to different places to find out other situations in other regions of Canada.
There are a lot of different things that we still need to find out.
There is almost close to $1 million dollars in there.
I do not want them to undermine studies to programs, because education or research, I do not think that we should take money away from the most important programs in Nunavut.
A lot of people already know that data, but as the Government we want to do study upon study, and $885 thousand dollars is a lot of money.
Other departments also have evaluation services, for instance, analysts in different departments.