EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
The clinics for the cancellation the member referred to for the month of March or for the month of May, we have rescheduled the May clinics for the next specialist trip for September.
The reason behind the scheduling those specialists’ clinics and the member had asked me if that was a direct result of the loss of accreditation.
The answer to that question is no.
The reason and rationale behind why we are rescheduling those visits is to address some of the concerns identified in the accreditation report.
The specialists are not coming up here because of it, but rather an opportunity for the staff at the hospital to develop some time to rebuild the specialist referral program system, the referral process, the accountability, integration of services, develop a quality and tracking tool, and insuring that the appropriate patient information flow is adequately in place.
The time will be spent for the month of May to address those.
At the same time, the individuals that are scheduled to see those specialists will be booked for the next visit and if there is urgency to that then they are being referred to that specialist in Ottawa.
I am very pleased and proud that I can stand today to recognize this visitor. (interpretation ends) There was a time that the Prime Minister once said that Aboriginal People do not have any special rights.
That quickly changed when a significant court case was argued before the Supreme Court of Canada called the Calder case. Before that, Inuit in Nunavut did not have any ability to go to the negotiating table and to argue for any rights whatsoever.
I would like to thank the Nisga’a. At the same time, there was a lawyer representing them in that court.
That individual has been working with us and NTI and the Government of Canada trying to mediate a dispute on Article 23 of Inuit Employment. I would like to thank and recognize the Honourable Thomas Berger.
I won’t recognize Mr. Berger because he has already been recognized, but I would like to thank him for his good work and to say living legends, Mr. Berger is a living legend in Canada.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome some of our pages here today. First of all, a constituent of mine, I knew this young lady when she was a baby and she is all grown up and I remember holding her in my arms; I would like to welcome Elisapee Ryan, one of our pages, next to you, Mr. Speaker.
Also, Mr. Eric Guimond is with us today. Eric has been in the House several times. Eric is born, bred and raised in Iqaluit, a very nice guy and a close family friend of our family.
Right behind me is a respected Iqaluit elder, former leader of; I would like to confirm as my second home, Hall Beach, Mr. Simon Nattaq. Simon is also a member of the council here in Iqaluit. I welcome them to the Gallery.
I would like to recognize the person who has been present in our Gallery many times.
Every time he comes to Iqaluit, he comes to watch the proceedings at the Legislative Assembly; Mathewsie Akavak.
I would like to recognize one of the other pages with us today. She is sitting behind me, Shelly O’Gorman. She is originally from Cambridge Bay, but now lives in Iqaluit, for the last I would say, five years.
I would like to recognize today you, personally for my own reason, since we’ll be meeting this spring, so that we will be meeting for a longer time today. We’ll be extended for a longer period, and you’ll be going home by skidoo from Iqaluit to Pond Inlet, and you’ll be returning to meet with us in Baker Lake.
Question 271 – 2(3): Arrangements to Pay for Services (Tootoo)
Yesterday I asked the minister if the department has moved ahead on the court order that was issued on February 10, on an individual. The minister wasn’t aware at that time where things were at.
I’m trusting that she would have been briefed on that file since yesterday.
I would just like to ask the minister if her department has made any arrangements for the applicant named in the court order to make arrangements to reinstate the services that are provided by one; a southern institution that was named in the court order, and also with the occupational therapist that was named in the court order.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Ms. Aglukkaq.
From what I understand of the process, the matter is still before the courts. That’s a given.
When the parents filed their affidavit in the court, and the Government of Nunavut, the judge issued an interim order with certain obligations for Health and Social Services as well as Education, to meet during the time before the matter is heard before the court.
That interim order will be in place until June 2006.
It’s an interim order until such time as the judge has an opportunity to hear the case in full, and then at that time, he will then pass his decision in terms of the longer-term arrangements.
The interim order was received by the government and has been reviewed and a service arrangement is in the works with the family.
Once that service arrangement has been agreed to and signed off, then the services process will initiate.
But the matter is still before the courts.
The judge has issued the interim order, again, until such time as the court is able to review the case and until such time as the judge is able to pass his decision on the issue.
But the order is only in place as an interim measure until June 2006. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am aware, as I indicated yesterday, that that was an interim order and that the full matter is still before the courts. So again, my question was dealing strictly with the interim order; that was ordered by the judge on February 10.
It clearly indicates that the government reinstate funding for the services to this individual and specifically names two specific places where the services are to be reinstated at.
Has the government contacted an organization and the individual that are named in the court order to seek an arrangement to reinstate those services?
So if the minister has indicated that they have, I would like to ask her: when can the family expect to have those services put in place for their son?
I mentioned the interim order was received by the government at which time the department reviewed the order. The department then developed a service arrangement, service agreement that’s in effect until this summer.
That information has been sent to the family. The family has an opportunity to review that interim order and the service arrangement that is in the works. Once that service arrangement is signed, then we can act on those arrangements.
So that’s where that’s at right now as far as I understand. Once the service arrangements are agreed to and understood by both parties, then the process to initiate those will begin.
Speaker (interpretation): When I made my comment, I said that was your final, this is your second one. Mr. Tootoo.
I wish it worked like that all the time.
Mr. Speaker, the minister indicated that they had done up a service agreement to send to the family for their approval. But in the court order it says that the government shall reinstate funding for the provisions of those services with those two bodies.
I guess my question was: has the government contacted those two bodies that are named in the court order to see about reinstating those services for that individual?
Again, from what I understand, the department has issued a service agreement from us to the family. The service arrangement outlines what the interim order is, and then the family has to agree to those interim order conditions and will sign off.
If they sign off on the service arrangement, then we can act on it.
As far as I understand at this point in time, the information has been shared with the family to agree to the court order. Once those are in place, then we can act on that arrangement.
The court order orders the government to make those arrangements and not the family to make those arrangements. So I guess I’m a little confused as to why the family would have to sign off on that and why the government is not directly making those arrangements with those organizations as ordered by the court.
So if my understanding is right, is the minister indicating that the government has reviewed it and said, “Okay,” to the family, “we will give you whatever is in their agreement.” And it’s up to the family to make those arrangements.
Why is that the case and why has not the government or the Department of Health and Social Services contacted those two places to make those appropriate arrangements by themselves.
Again, the government received the interim order. The government reviews those interim orders and have worked out a service arrangement with the family.
The service arrangements are as per the court order.
Once that service arrangement is agreed to and signed off by the family, then we are on the same page as to the agreement and the terms and then we can act on that.
That is where the situation is as far as I understand. Again, we have received it, we have developed the service arrangement as to what the interim court order states and are working with the family. The information has been shared with the family, and we can move forward on that once the family is in agreement with the court order and service arrangement.
Question 272 – 2(3): Obtaining Birth Certificates (Mapsalak)
Mr. Speaker, a number of my constituents have approached me regarding difficulties in obtaining birth certificates. The reasoning is that they were born prior to the creation of Nunavut, and they were born in the Northwest Territories.
That was prior to 1999 and because of that they are having difficulty in obtaining birth certificates. Even at this time, some of them now have children and they cannot get a job because they do not have birth certificates or other forms of identification.
I am sure that they cannot even apply for social services without their identification cards. Is it possible for the minister to make it easier to access birth certificates?
If the person wants to apply for a birth certificate, there is an application in place for a birth certificate, and you can send that to the Rankin Inlet office.
For those individuals that were born prior to 1999, that information is in Inuvik.
Using and working with the division that provides the birth certificates records for Nunavut we can request and process that application through our office and get the information out of the Inuvik office.
Speaker (interpretation): Your first supplementary, Mr. Mapsalak
I think there are some individuals who have tried to access their birth certificates for a number of years now, but they are having a hard time getting those certificates. They now, as I said earlier, have children and they have tried several times to get a copy of their birth certificates.
How can you or your department help those individuals so that they can access those birth certificates from the Northwest Territories? They have tried Inuvik, they have tried Alberta, and they have tried Rankin Inlet, but they can’t access those certificates.
They have paid quite a large amount of money because they have gone to all those points that you identified.
How can they access those birth certificates?
If the person was born after 1999, all that information on birth certificates and so on are within the Nunavut Territory, and we have access to that as a department.
For individuals that were born prior to the division of the territory, all those records are kept in Inuvik.
I can try and assist the individuals, if they give me the names and so on, and try and process the application. I’m more than willing to do that.
Sometimes it gets a bit confusing because of the post-1999 and so on.
If the member can give me the information on the individuals that are having difficulties accessing their birth certificates, I will do what I can to expedite the process.
For individuals born prior to April 1, 1999, I believe the office is in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Are those records available in the Rankin Inlet office?
The records for anyone that was born prior to 1999 in the Northwest Territories, all that information is stored in Inuvik. That is where the vital stats office is.
When we divided, that information was not duplicated to Nunavut.
So anyone born from 1999 on, we have all those records in the vital stats division in Rankin Inlet.
So, if a person is applying, and is born before then, we can certainly assist in getting that information from the Inuvik vital statistics office.
I have processed a few applications in preparation for the Arctic Winter Games of individuals that needed their birth certificates. The service from the Inuvik office is very quick in getting that information.
So if the member has specific constituents that require assistance, I am more than willing to look into that.
Is it possible to get those records from the Inuvik office to be sent over to the Rankin Inlet office? Or is that something we can’t do?
The reason the information is in Inuvik is because the person at the time was born in the Northwest Territories.
So, that record has to be with the province that individual was born in, or the territory.
If you’re born in Nunavut, the information will be in Nunavut. If you’re born in Ontario, that information would be in Ontario and so on.
So, if you’re looking for a birth certificate for one of your constituents, I guess the first question would be: where were you born? And seek the information that way.
So, again, if the member has specific constituents that require assistance, I am more than willing to do that. These are some of the things that we’d have to work out in terms of processing that information to the correct place.
Question 273 – 2(3): Integrating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in the Work Force (Barnabas)
(interpretation ends) The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement clearly states that objectives of this article is to increase Inuit participation in the government employment in the Nunavut settlement area to a representative level of 60 to 80 percent of Inuit employment within the territorial and federal governments.
Does the territorial government have a place and time for the future internship or training for these positions?
I apologize, Mr. Okalik.
Hon Paul Okalik: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I can answer that a little better perhaps.
We just had Mr. Berger here with us; he’s been working with us in trying to mediate Article 23 so that one day 85 percent of our workforce in government will be Inuit.
So that is what we are working on with NTI and Mr. Berger is just in the process of finalizing his report to all three parties.
Hopefully, the federal government will honour that report and assist us in meeting our objectives under Article 23.
The Nunavut Government keeps saying that they’re going to be integrating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in the government system, but as you can see, we don’t see any money set aside that will be used specifically for IQ. How is that going to work?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): At this time, we are reviewing Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. For example, if there was a grievance or a discipline taken, we are looking at how we can integrate the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and prior to that, giving it to the cabinet we have given it to the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit council.
This council advises on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit issues. We have been working on this consistently over the years.
For example, if we are going to be looking at a Harassment Policy, we would make it more towards the Inuit traditional societal values because of course we are going to have a representative workforce.
With that, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, it fits more into the majority or percentage of the workforce.
At this time, we are reviewing job processes or job application processes, skills and qualifications that an individual is required to have.
If you look at the job descriptions today, they have to be over-qualified and it’s almost intimidating to apply for a job.
So there are quite a lot of things we are doing in our department to get a representative government.
Most of us here know that we started being moved to the settlements from the outpost camps when they started establishing communities back in 1967.
Because these individuals are not qualified because they were not even educated in formal schools, they became construction workers and they stopped their job.
We are now trying to utilize Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit within our current government.
(interpretation ends) My question: what is the status now or what is the percentage of Inuit employment within the territorial government?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After September, it was 47 percent Inuit. We also have a target or goal, by 2007-08 that we will have 50 percent Inuit employees.
For that reason at this time as the Premier stated earlier on, we are now negotiating with the federal government so that we can have Inuit individuals on the job, training courses and the instructors, whether it be non-Inuit instructors, they have a target.
If I teach this individual that this Inuk will take on my position so we are now working on that basis on the internship program. We expect that this will continue for the individuals that are in management level are now trying to train the Inuit and according to the wishes of the department, that is how we try to help them.
You were trying to reach 50 percent by that year, but in Article 23 it states 60 to 80 percent for the upcoming years. How will you try and reach up to 80 percent?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we will continue to work on increasing the number and going to the target date. By the year 2020 we expect to be close to that target.
Question 274 – 2(3): Child Advocate (Peterson)
My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, I have raised the creation of the Child Advocate for Nunavut in the House many times since 2004. It was raised in the House in the First Assembly as well.
We still do not know what the Government of Nunavut’s position is on the child advocate. A Child Advocate is a concept that has been supported by NAM and NTI to name only a few of the supporters. We are one of the few remaining jurisdictions in Canada without a Child Advocate.
My question for the Premier, will the Premier tell the House if his government supports the creation of an independent Child Advocate reporting to the Legislative Assembly?
I believe my Minister of Health dealt with this matter and that it is up to the Legislative Assembly to determine whether there should be a Child Advocate.
I do not think the Minister of Health has dealt with this matter. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that no government is eager to expose itself to an independent outside scrutiny, so I understand why the government is reluctant to embrace this initiative.
The question for the Premier: does the Premier agree that a strong and independent voice for children is necessary, yes or no?
Any issue relating to children is always a very easy subject for anybody to support, but on this situation all Child Advocates mostly report to the Legislative Assembly and my Health Minister advised the House of this matter, not too long ago that the Assembly is the place to create such an advocate.
I thank the Premier for that information.
Mr. Premier, I have talked to three or four government departments and I am not clear in my mind, the people I work with on this initiative are not clear.
Can the Premier tell us which Government of Nunavut department was given a lead to research the Child Advocate for Nunavut on behalf of the government?
My Minister of Health responded to the inquiry, but it’s a joint effort between Education, Justice, and Health.
The research done was that the Assembly is the place to appoint Advocates just like we appoint the Languages Commissioner; that this is the proper way to do it as the House through a motion directs that such an office be created, then that is what will be.
So what I’m hearing is if we bring a motion into the House, the Premier will support the motion?
Is that correct, Mr. Speaker?
It is up to the Members of this House to create such an office. I’m not going to prejudge the outcome of this House.
Question 275 – 2(3): Improving Nunavut Airline Services (Evyagotailak)
Just before I ask my question, I would like to say a few things on the airlines here.
CBC had written some notes here.
Our leader from the Kitikmeot Inuit Association had mentioned about the airline has pulled out.
And also in February, according to Kenn Borek, the company was not making much so they pulled out.
My question for the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation; in my member’s statement, I talked about the status of airline services to Kugluktuk.
I know that the minister’s department is working on updating the Nunavut Transportation Strategy.
Can the minister tell us what options he is looking at improving airline service to Nunavut communities?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister of Economic Development and Transportation, Mr. Akesuk.
I think it’s really up to the airline companies of whether they could fly from here and there, it’s up to them.
Again, our goal is to make sure that we have a couple of airlines, at least, in each community to do service for the communities, as we need the competition.
Again, it’s really up to those airline companies whether they would want to travel to that community and back to the community where they left.
I think it’s important that we, as a government, write letters to the airline companies, along with the MLAs that are being affected by the stopping of the airlines going to certain communities.
So I do believe it’s really up to the airline companies that travel within the communities of Nunavut.
The government recently announced the fuel tax rebate to mining companies to encourage mining activities.
Are there any incentives the Government of Nunavut could offer airline companies to come and provide service to communities when only one carrier is present?
That is a very good question and I could certainly look into that.
How we could commit airlines to go into different communities. Again, it is so limited here in our territory that there is not enough competition for our airlines to have good deals that we could fly out of each community. Like my colleague said, it costs about $1,000 to Cambridge Bay, which is the closest community to Kugluktuk.
I think it is important that we figure out a way the airlines could fly cheaper for our people in the territory.
Again, I do believe that we would have to talk with the airline companies that have airplanes flying in Nunavut.
Thanks again minister.
It seems like we are almost like tourists going up to some communities even though we live in Nunavut. We are paying so much for the services.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the minister: when will the minister be able to table the update of the Nunavut Transportation Strategy?
Once the strategy is done, I will be happy to table the strategy.
We are probably pretty close to where we want to be to table it. Again, as soon as I get a chance to table the strategy, even if it has to go through back door, I will certainly do that so that my colleagues get a chance to review the strategy before the next sitting.
Question 276 – 2(3): Inuktitut as a Working Language in Nunavut (Kattuk)
I will look into my community on transportation because I have to go around trying to get home and get to here. So I will look into that when I have a chance, but I am not going to ask him about that.
(interpretation) I do not think he has been asked questions even though this is our fourth week, but I would like to ask the Minister of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth as he stated in his Ministers’ Statements that the Government of Nunavut is aiming at the year 2020 to use Inuktitut as a working language.
In those goals, what are the policies or regulations to obtain that status in the year 2020?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope I understood his question correctly. When the government was formed, the year 2020 in the Pinasuaqtavut document that they want Inuktitut to be a working language in the year 2020 and we are aiming for that.