EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
The department’s business plan states that this program “promotes the protection, conservation and appropriate investigation and interpretation of archaeological sites in Nunavut.
It achieves these goals by administering archaeological and palaeontological research in Nunavut, and by assisting various regulatory agencies controlling land use activities that threaten archaeological sites.”
During the minister’s appearance before the standing committee, members raised the issue of a potential conflict between palaeontologists and Weststar, a mining company that is looking at initiating an exploration project to test coal deposits on Ellesmere Island.
On March 10 of this year, the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation indicated in the House that the Nunavut Impact Review Board rejected the project proposal by demanding that it be modified or abandoned.
During his appearance before the standing committee, the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth indicated that his officials are aware of the conflict between the mining company and palaeontologists.
The minister stated that his departmental staff will be keeping abreast of the situation.
Mr. Chairman, during the minister’s 2009 appearance before the standing committee for the review of the draft 2009-2010 main estimates and business plan, members were pleased to note that the department was working on a report that will provide information about sport and recreation programs for Nunavummiut. Members continue to look forward to the tabling of this report.
During the minister’s most recent appearance before the standing committee, members were very pleased to be advised that the minister is looking at the need for more swimming pools in Nunavut.
The minister informed the standing committee that his department is commencing discussions regarding this matter with the Department of Community and Government Services.
The standing committee also notes that on March 8, 2010, during question period, Premier Aariak committed to reviewing “whether all responsibility for sport and recreation should be transferred back to Community and Government Services.”
Members look forward to receiving updates on this matter.
Other members may have their own comments and concerns as we proceed.
On my left is my Acting Deputy Minister, Naullaq Arnaquq, and on my right is Mike Rudolph, who works on the budget for the Department of CLEY.
Before we proceed, I would like to remind members of the following: according to Rule 77(1), you have 10 minutes to speak, and I think everybody is familiar with Rule 77(2), so I’ll just go to next one here… I suggest to members that wherever possible you ask your detailed questions during the page-by-page review of the departmental estimates.
I would like to thank the minister and his officials for appearing before the Committee of the Whole.
In your opening comments yesterday, you stated that we have to preserve, develop, and enhance our culture, heritage, languages, and healthy living opportunities.
Of course, our young people will be most impacted by our actions in these areas.
It is common knowledge that Baker Lake is uniquely an inland community.
The community of Baker Lake has at least five distinct cultures: Havvaqtuurmiut, Ahiarmiut, Aallirmiut, Ukkuhikhalimmiut, and Hanningajurmiut. These are truly distinct groups and cultures although they exist in the one and the same community.
Also, a demographic survey was done where it was found that Baker Lake is home to the highest number of the elderly in all of Nunavut. I heard this on the radio.
We usually get a few eco-tourists coming through our community in the summer months.
We have an Inuit Heritage Centre in the community with financial support from CLEY. The people who visit our community can learn about the people of Baker Lake at the centre and about the uniqueness of its population make-up comprising of distinct groups of Inuit in Nunavut.
We want to promote our culture to develop and enhance it.
I just wanted to say that the people of Baker Lake are very proud of their Inuit heritage and culture.
Minister Tapardjuk, would you like to comment on that?
I would like to thank my colleague from Baker Lake.
Our department is working very hard on the culture and heritage centres.
We want to be available to assist in any way we can.
I’m very glad that Baker Lake is going to be home to one of the satellite campuses for the cultural school to make sure that the cultures out there remain visible to the whole of Nunavut.
I would like to thank the member for stating that the Inuit Heritage Centre in Baker Lake is benefiting from our monies.
Any other comments there, Moses? No.
We all know that your department has the leadership role in preserving and developing our language and culture, as well as in the concerns of youth and elders. In this mandated role, CLEY helps promote not only aboriginal people in general but especially Inuit societal values and cultural pride in our Inuit traditions and language. We are well aware of this role.
I am a strong believer that people should know of history, how contemporary events unfold from the past and end up with what we have today.
All things happen this way.
We are all aware now that the federal government did not have our aspirations in mind when they invoked a policy to assimilate Inuit by sending Inuit children to the residential school in Chesterfield Inlet. This was also the case in federal day schools and mission schools.
We all know that Inuit children were not allowed to speak their mother tongue in these schools. Some of us here went through that experience even in our communities where we went to school.
We also know from Inuit sources that some people were sent off to school when they were six years old and not come home for years, leaving school only when they were old enough or had attained grade 9 level.
There are many Inuit in the Kitikmeot region and the western Arctic who lost their mother tongue as a result.
They left being fluent in their language, but returned home having lost their language.
The goal of the federal government at the time was to assimilate aboriginal people by way of these hurtful policies that cut off the connections that children had to their culture, language, and traditions. They tried to assimilate aboriginal people into the White society and to destroy all vestiges of the original culture and language in the children.
The theory was that once the aboriginal children were assimilated, the fiduciary responsibilities of the government would cease since they would no longer have a distinct culture and language.
This fact goes back to when Canada was first being settled by Europeans where treaties with the First Nations peoples were negotiated: land for social services.
The federal government promised that they would be responsible for all of the educational needs, health care, and the provision of food rations. Additionally, they were given $5 per annum.
Today, looking back to the way things were, Inuit perceptions at the time was that Qallunaat were intellectually superior and deserving of respect, especially the federal representatives and teachers.
In retrospect, the people whom we thought were so wise were actually quite ignorant and prejudicial towards Inuit.
They had no inkling of what the future held in store for Inuit or that Canada would eventually usurp Inuit cultural images as part of its distinctive makeup as a country.
Today, Canada states that it is proud of the Inuit culture, that it is the steward of the Inuit language, that it recognizes the aboriginal right to hunt, fish, and trap, and that these rights are protected by the Constitution.
These eventual developments were not obvious to anyone at the time.
Inuit have a lot to be proud of today. This applies to all Inuit groups in Canada, from Labrador, Northern Québec, Nunavut, the western Arctic, and elsewhere. We have had to fight tooth and nail to protect our language, culture, and traditional values.
No one, especially not the federal government, but us have worked to protect our distinct identities.
The end of the long, dark tunnel is in sight. Nunavut got its own government on April 1, 1999, granting Inuit of Nunavut the powers to initiate their own legislation reforms more specifically geared towards protecting our language and culture by ensuring that government services are available in Inuktitut for Inuit.
Although Inuktitut was recognized as one of the official languages back in the old NWT days allowing interpreters to assist Inuit MLAs in their work, there was never any legislation for preserving and protecting the Inuit language. Inuktitut was but one of 11 recognized languages, but not as an official language per se.
I believe my allotted time is running out, Mr. Chairman, and I am trying to conclude my statement as fast as possible.
We must not forget that if we do not invest in this department properly, we are depriving the Inuit language, culture, our youth and elders their rightful legal status and protection.
Not doing the right thing would mean that we are abandoning these issues as our predecessors in prior governments did when they followed their assimilation policies in trying to destroy the culture and language of aboriginal peoples.
Due to these reasons, we have to very carefully draft up the implementation and be very practical in ensuring that the Department of CLEY has enough resources to be the proper stewards of the Inuit language.
I imagine it will be partly covered in the schools, the Department of EIA, and others, such as HTOs and the Department of Environment.
Nonetheless, if the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth was to implement everything to its ideal level and was able to conduct all of its operations in the Inuit way, it still leaves many issues to deal with.
As an example, even if we were to institute a common written language from one end of the Inuit world to the other, from Greenland to Alaska to Labrador, we would still require the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth to remain in existence.
Perhaps we may have to revise parts of their mandate since we adapt the departments to meet our current needs and certain departments tend to become redundant, unnecessary, and are usually dissolved.
However, we always have to keep in mind that this particular department will always have a role, particularly down the road, since we will be in a precarious position that other regions are currently in.
Back in our day, television was the main opponent in the battle to retain our language and to keep it strong.
In those days, the schools were our main battleground because that was part of the fight to try and retain our language.
These days, we are inundated with technological gadgets, such as computers and the Internet, video games, and other digital tools that require a different language.
We will have to very carefully protect the CLEY department in its implementation of the Inuit Language Protection Act if we are to maintain our language and culture in the face of this entire onslaught against the Inuit.
Due to these reasons, we expect that the establishment of the facility that is being constructed in Clyde River, the Piqqusilirivvik School and its associated satellite offices in Igloolik and Baker Lake, will take advantage of the local resources we already have, such as adult education in the communities.
What I am trying to state here, Mr. Chairman, is that we have success stories we can emulate, such as the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program in Ottawa that is geared towards teaching the entire history of Inuit, from their roots in West to the present day status, which includes the Inuit political battle to attain Nunavut.
We were informed that part of this curriculum is being adapted to be taught in our high schools and I believe it was specifically geared towards grade 10.
Just like that example, once the cultural school and its satellite campuses in Igloolik and Baker Lake have been established, it will develop into a larger system.
That is why I mentioned the adult education schools that exist in all communities. I believe that we have to make preparations to ensure that the Inuit specific curriculum developed can be taught in our adult education schools.
The courses could be held in a central database and as the need arises, these could be dispersed to other communities.
Inuit themselves, especially those who have never completed their education, are not going to showcase their culture because they do not see the importance or the nobility of the Inuit culture.
All they are aware of is that living that lifestyle is amongst the hardest livelihoods since it entails constant work.
For those of us who went through the school system and are aware of the literature based system of the western societies can see the prospect of Inuit losing their language and culture.
That is why we seemingly are the final defence against this onslaught against our culture. We have to be the ones who pave the path and prepare the route for those to follow. We have to ensure that we properly fund these initiatives.
My allotted time has run out, Mr. Chairman, so I will stop at this point and direct my questions to the minister as we review the rest of the departmental estimates.
If not, we will go page-by-page. Sorry. Mr. Okalik.
I have a question about lottery booths. You never know what the office hours are and you have to kind of guess whether it’s open or not and go there and take a chance. What kinds of procedures are there for operating lottery booths?
We sent out a letter to the management that people have been complaining about the lack of clarity of the business hours of the lottery booth.
We will look into the matter further to see what the status is now and whether they have made any improvements.
However, our officials from the Department of CLEY have already looked into this matter and they have been informed that their staffing issues had largely been resolved.
Mr. Chairman, we will ensure that the lottery booth issue is revisited here in Iqaluit, where it is housed in the NorthMart store, to see if we can resolve these concerns, Mr. Chairman.
This is not a question per se but rather, I have some comments while we are discussing this subject.
I wish to talk about Coral Harbour and the caribou harvest. I have always been optimistic about and a believer in the commercial caribou harvest even when it was first proposed. I was always optimistic believing there is a future and market for the product.
When I was the Mayor of Coral Harbour, several Inuit, who are traditional hunters, took advantage of their traditional knowledge to earn some extra income from the commercial harvest. They were very pleased that they were able to utilize their knowledge and earn some income doing work in the great outdoors. This commercial harvest suited them, especially because it required hunting and outdoor skills that they already possess and practice.
This allowed them to conduct the commercial caribou harvest more effectively. They were able to fulfill their sense of cultural pride while earning a living and additionally, it was something they already loved to do.
This was very inspiring since those individuals were able to support themselves. If those people had to apply for welfare, then they would have been deprived of their sense of pride as they would not be able to showcase their skills and abilities.
I have also noticed these factors and that is why I believe that this should be taken into consideration, that within the Inuit culture, specifically with regard to traditional activities, you don’t require a university degree or even a high school diploma to be knowledgeable in certain categories.
In the past decades, we’ve had to withstand the push towards the focus on the western scientific standards and research styles. In some circumstances, it was the only way to ensure that the initiative was successful.
With the preservation and promotion of Inuktitut, the abilities of our own experts in the Inuit world, irrespective of whether they are a traditional hunter or if they can teach traditional skills, such as igloo building or other cultural practices based on the Inuit lifestyle, are slowly being recognized.
It would be preferable to have these skill sets recognized since they would no longer be on the sidelines but participating in teaching their skills to the next generations. I would love to see this type of teaching position become a full-time position, not just a part-time position.
It would ensure that these people have a sense of cultural pride, especially when we talk about protection of language and culture as seemingly separate.
The details should include some of these action items I have mentioned.
Taking pride in one’s culture and good self-esteem are very important to Inuit, but when it is partnered with the lack of funding, it stops these activities. The pride that would have been felt is lost simply by having to go the social assistance route.
This is what I have noticed in the past: what could have been a basis for cultural pride is lost simply due to these activities not being funded.
I would really like to see this detailed out, funded fully in our future as well, especially since it would allow our hunters, elders, and the like to teach our younger generations because we should be able to retain that knowledge for a few more generations.
Mr. Chairman, for example, I was one of the managers in teaching survival skills with the help of elders.
Inuit have a lot of traditional knowledge, especially elders, about all of those things.
It is only because they weren’t asked that they didn’t bring out all of their knowledge.
I was very proud that I had learned a lot more of the Inuit culture, child rearing practices, and getting prepared for the future. There are a lot of things in there in both men’s and women’s perspectives.
I hope that there is more promotion of such subjects and not only focus on language as it is already protected. There is also the Inuit culture that we have to be proud of and integrate that into some of those programs.
I wanted to add some general comments as well in terms of this department’s roles and responsibilities.
It kind of adds onto what Mr. Arvaluk was talking about in terms of some of the responsibilities and the roles that I see and hope that the department will be able to follow through on, one of them being, obviously, the language in the Official Languages Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act.
I have been asking questions in the House, which I don’t know if, sometimes, people wonder why I’m asking such questions. To me, as a government, if we’re going to make this work, we need to be the driving force behind making sure that employees are able to offer services in the official languages that we’re saying we’re going to provide by legislation.
Otherwise, we’re just paying lip service to do something.
I think that’s happened too long, where we said this is what we’re going to do and this is what we want to see happen. Now the legislation is actually there, so we need to make sure that we’re onside and showing the people out in the communities that this is what we believe in.
That’s why I keep asking the questions.
I find sometimes I’m kind of embarrassed that I don’t speak Inuktitut.
I have tried for many years and I am hoping that with the new committees that are set up, it might provide employees who are either unilingual in Inuktitut or unilingual in English to receive the training they need to be able to speak.
I remember year after year, when I worked for the college, asking to be sent down for an intensive Inuktitut course and because of operational requirements, I was not allowed to go.
I tried and try as much as I could to learn as much as I could.
Unfortunately, I can understand more of the spoken Inuktitut. Actually listening to it, I can understand it, but speaking it, it comes out the wrong way.
I need some more coaching on that.
To me, I would hope that the government, as they continue to move along, especially with this department, is helping people in the communities to be able to learn the Inuit language.
At the same time, I am very proud of the youth in my community. They continually work towards supporting the Inuit language.
They are always trying to produce resources and materials.
I tabled the artist booklet that was produced by them in the House the other day.
The minister did a Member’s Statement about applying for funding through his department.
That’s where they get their funding just about on a yearly basis to help.
One year, it was puzzles. The next year, it was memo boards and fridge magnets.
What our youth are saying is, I think, they will rely on the government to a point to be able to help with the preservation of the Inuit language, but it really begins at home. It begins around the kitchen table.
It begins when they’re young.
That’s sort the resources that they create, family resources to be used year after year within the family. So I’m really hoping that his department will continue to support programs like that.
At the same time, in terms of what Mr. Arvaluk was talking about and also what Mr. Ningeongan was talking about in terms of preserving Inuit culture, there is the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School. Definitely, I have questions and concerns about that.
To me, sometimes working in education, I know a lot of our young people who have tremendous and amazing land skills.
Having spent a long time in the K to 12 school system, there is no way of quantifying, or addressing, or showing the value of the knowledge that they have.
To me, that’s what I’m hoping the cultural school will be able to bring out. Some of the people who end up attending it will be able to feel proud of what they have done and what they have accomplished, and then they will have some type of a way of recognizing that.
I know a lot of times, people refer to possibly similar things as what happens with Nunavut Sivuniksavut, but again, I think, with what we will be doing in Clyde River, there is a lot more opportunities to bring that home and have the communities take pride in who they are and what they do.
At the same time, I know some of the support that seems to be happening. If you talk about what the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation is doing in trying to develop a new media centre, hopefully the government will continue to support activities like that.
I know ED&T has already mentioned and talked about providing support for the Nunavut film industry, but what we do need is to make sure that there is Inuit language programming that’s on the air.
I believe Mr. Arvaluk was talking about Internet and he was also mentioning about TV.
It seems that all of our young people are continually bombarded day after day by English and the mass media out there.
So it’s nice that departments such as yours are able to support that.
One of the other issues that I find kind of interesting and will be ongoing is that idea of the writing system and what type of writing system we should have.
In terms of respecting our elders, at least in the High Arctic, syllabics are something that people want to keep. It’s the writing system that the elders know.
I’m not sure how that’s going to be addressed.
In the conversations that you’re having with some of the meetings that have happened and the language summit that happened in February, it’s a start.
But in fairness to everyone and in the way we work, the government, with consensus and the way Inuit decide on things, maybe the possibility of a plebiscite to decide what type of writing system we’re going to go with, that may be the way to go or may be something that the government could think about.
I guess the final part of your department that I would like to comment on and I have asked questions before in the House about this, I’ll be really interested to find out in terms of sports and the ability for our youth to continue to travel and participate.
Any time any of our youth get out of the community to get a better sense of who they are, because they are immersed in different cultures and they meet other people, they actually get a sense of thinking about who they are in reflection on who they are meeting.