EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services has jurisdiction for Nunavut and I do not have jurisdiction for the city of Winnipeg or the province of Winnipeg, the province of Manitoba.
Of course Mr. Speaker, following the Department of Health and Social Services regulations, guidelines, and other jurisdictions the building would have been inspected by the Department of Health in the city of Winnipeg or the government of Manitoba.
I do not know when the last inspection was but we can find out for the member.
Mr. Speaker, on the second point, the second question that the member asked does the Ublivik Home have air conditioning.
I believe I saw air conditioning when I was there in August.
I stand to be corrected but that is something that we can find out for the member.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister tell me who owns the building.
Mr. Speaker, I believe and again stand to be corrected I have not checked the bill of sale as you know, we have a contracted through a publicly tendered contract to operate that boarding home.
The majority of the contract is owned by Nunasi.
The owner of the building is I believe and I stand to be correct again, is a private individual in Winnipeg.
I believe that the contract holders at the present time are looking at buying another building.
A newer building in Winnipeg I believe that is the case.
I have been to almost every boarding home we have Mr. Speaker, as you know, we operate boarding homes in Churchill, Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Ottawa.
I am hoping to get to the one in Edmonton in November.
So I will find out about who the owner of the building, for the member, is in Winnipeg.
Can the minister commit to me that he will do an evaluation on the building and if they are going to get a new building or look at renting a new building will he make sure that it meets all current fire, health, and safety standards.
Hon. Ed Picco: I would like to have the member committed.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
I can commit to finding that out and certify.
Let us be perfectly clear Mr. Speaker, that if the building is open it has to have followed the codes and regulations and licenses and everything that are in place.
I am sure that the jurisdictions and the province of Manitoba and the city of Winnipeg have done due diligence on the file to make sure that facility is open.
This incident that the member is talking about and his original question was on mice and vermin.
It is a problem that happens in cities throughout Canada. When it gets colder mice usually go indoors as the member knows so we will follow up on that.
The question that I will commit to Mr. McLean to follow that up and the next chance I have the opportunity to Winnipeg, Mr. Speaker, maybe I will invite the member to come with me to tour the facility.
Question 080 - 1(4): Nunavut Historical Advisory Board
Last spring, last June and July there were nominations for the Nunavut Historical Advisory Board.
There were some names put forward from my community.
I had written a letter to the minister about the people who put their names forward for the Inuit Heritage Council.
They do not know whether they have been nominated to the council itself or if you have already established the Nunavut Historical advisory board.
In regards to your question. To date I do not have the details with me.
Prior to this session proroguing I will be getting back to you.
Mr. Speaker, I know that it has been 4 months since the people put their names forth.
All the communities usually apply to this department.
It has been almost 6 months and we have not received a response.
Will the minister be able to tell me starting now that he can approach his officials and tell them to respond to the community's request.
If his officials can respond more quickly.
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): Yes.
Thank you for your affirmative reply.
Like tomorrow for example is a Friday if I were to submit to you when would I get a response.
My department will review what you submit tomorrow.
Question 081 - 1(4): Grants & Contribution Application Process
Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for Culture, Language, Elders & Youth.
Mr. Speaker, last spring there was quite a concern and inquiries raised by members as to how to be able to access funding through the minister's department.
I would just like to ask the minister, through his grants and contributions what is the process that an application goes through.
If someone wants to apply for funding, what do they have to do and what processes are followed.
The member posed a similar question in the third session, but again Mr. Speaker, I will provide it in my minister's statement tomorrow, the reply that he is seeking.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I will have an answer for the member then.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to a reply. Maybe in his reply could he also indicate the number of applications of people that responded as well for the different programs that the department has.
If the information is available then I will table it here in the House.
Mr. Speaker, then could I ask also for the minister to provide the type of outreach and promotion that the department did concerning letting people across Nunavut and in the communities know what type of programs they have and what is available.
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): Yes we can do that.
Question 082 – 1(4): Certificates for Elders
He said earlier that policies or procedures would involve elders in their development.
But these days papers and certificates are required to say that a person is qualified.
I want to ask if the elders will be given certificates to acknowledge their experience.
Mr. Speaker, first of all the life experience itself, as one of my previous colleagues had said one time, he had a Masters Degree in life experiences, and life experience itself Mr. Speaker, is sometimes better than any formal academic training or education.
But as I explained earlier Mr. Speaker, that through Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit we have been using elders to review our business plan.
I don't have Mr. Speaker, a formal way, a certificate or so on, to present to elders for their knowledge.
Maybe that is something that the Department of Education could look at in a formal academic sense.
Mr. Speaker, we have used our elders for a long time, but we have never acknowledged their experience or their qualifications.
It would be good to see these people acknowledged for their experience. So I think we must come up with a certificate to acknowledge our experienced elders.
There should be a policy to recognize or acknowledge the abilities of our elders. Can you plan for this.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have done with our Department of Health and Social Services is that we’ve actually set up a departmental committee who would look at how we can incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and use the resources, the information and background our elders have.
Mr. Speaker, in no way are we belittling that information, that experience of our elders, by using that, by incorporating that into our business plans we moved forward, Mr. Speaker. As the member knows the Department of Elders and Youth, through CLEY have done some excellent work, continue to do excellent work, with our elders and so on.
So Mr. Speaker, the work that the member asks about is happening, is occurring, Mr. Speaker.
The actual formal notification of the incorporating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit or using elders' experiences and so on, is being done by having them sit in on the business plans, at the present time, as I explained earlier Mr. Speaker. So I hope that helps answer the member's question, Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Speaker: Thank you Minister Picco. as indicated by the clock.
Question Period is now over.
Moving on to Item 7.
Petition 005 - 1(4): Pond Inlet Arena / Community Hall Complex
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I will be tabling a petition  regarding an arena / community hall complex for Pond Inlet.
Most of the signatures here are from our young people to request a new community hall and a new hockey arena. There are over 500 signatures.
Moving on to Item 11.
Reports of Committees on the review of Bills.
Committee Report 002 - 1(4): Bill 3 - An Act to Amend the Statute Revision Act
Mr. McLean: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report that Bill 3 - An Act to Amend the Statute Revision Act has been reviewed by the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development and that the Bill is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive rule 68 (5) and have Bill 3 moved into the Committee of the Whole today.
We have a request to waive rule 68 (5) to move Standing Committee Report 002 -1(4) to the Committee of the Whole for today.
The Bill is referred to Committee of the Whole.
Item 12. Reports of Committees on review of Bills.
Committee Report 003 - 1(4): Bill 4 - An Act to Amend the Land Titles Act
Uqaqti, I wish to report that Bill 4 - An Act to Amend the Land Titles Act has been reviewed by the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development and that the Bill is ready for consideration in Committee of the whole.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to wave rule 68 (5) and have Bill 4 be moved into Committee of the Whole today.
We have a request to waive rule 68 (5) to move Standing Committee Report 003 -1(4) to the Committee of the Whole for today.
Bill 1, Bill 3 and Bill 4 and also Ministers' Statements 6-1(4), 8-1(4).
You will have Mr. Iqaqrialu as the Chairperson, and according to the authority vested in me by Motion 9-1 (4), the Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out.
We will now break for 15 minutes for a health break.
>>House recessed at 3.12 p.m. and resumed at 3.45 p.m.
During consideration in committee of the whole we have Ministers' Statements 6 – 1(4), 8 – 1(4), Bills 1, 3 and 4.
Those are for consideration of the committee of the whole.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest that we deal with Bill 3 and Bill 4 today if we have the opportunity.
Chairperson (interpretation): Are we in agreement.
We will deal with those two bills.
We can have our legal counsel come up beside me. Mr. Chandler.
At this time we will have the minister responsible make his opening remarks. Mr. Okalik.
We have two bills in front of us. Bill 3, which is an Act to Amend the Statutes Revision Act.
We would like to consolidate the Nunavut Acts together as every other jurisdiction does.
This is Bill 3.
We will also want to bring the Acts up to date in this consolidation.
For the other Bill.
Bill 4 is an Act to Amend the Land Titles Act.
For example if you wanted to build a house, you will have to use this Act.
The old Act was grandfathered from the GNWT and we would like to make an amendment to this Act as we are going to be opening up an office here in Iqaluit.
These are the two bills that we are going to be considering during this session.
We will be available to answer your questions and if it is okay with you Mr. Chairperson, I would like to go to the witness table with my officials.
We have Mr. McLean who is the Chairperson of the standing committee.
Do you have any opening comments.
Standing Committee Review of Bill 3 – An Act to Amend the Statute Revision Act
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development has reviewed Bill 3, an Act to Amend the Statute Revision Act.
Yesterday, the Committee had the pleasure of meeting with the Premier and officials from the Department of Justice to discuss the Bill.
This Bill, Mr. Chairman, is intended to update the statutes of Nunavut, taking into consideration those statutes that have been passed by the Assembly up to January 1, 2000.
Some amendments also update the Act itself given that division is now complete.
In its meeting yesterday, Mr. Chairman, the Committee raised concerns regarding specific amendments that would increase the authority of the Statute Revision Commissioner.
We were pleased to hear that a sound system of checks and balances is in place to avoid possible errors or omissions.
The Committee also took the opportunity to ask the Premier about the translation of the Acts of Nunavut into Inuktitut.
The Premier informed the Committee that a review is currently underway and that the Acts that will have a direct impact on Nunavummiut are being identified as priorities for translation into Inuktitut.
Mr. Chairman, the Committee feels that its concerns were adequately addressed and we recommend that this Bill be supported.
I will then ask the Premier and his officials to go to the witness table please.
I would like to ask the Premier to introduce himself and his officials.
Mr. Premier, you have the floor.
On my right, we have Nora Saunders who is the Deputy Minister of Justice and on my left is Ralph Armstrong who is the Deputy Registrar of Regulations.
We are going to be dealing with Bill 3.
There are very few amendments in here.
If you have any questions we are here to respond to your questions.
Before we go into the bill, I would like to ask the members if they have any comments. Any comments. General comments.
Since there are no comments. Any questions.
Bill 3. Page 1.
Do you have a copy in front of you; we will be going clause by clause.
Chairperson (interpretation): Clause 7.
Chairperson (interpretation): Clause 9.
Chairperson (interpretation): Clause 10.
Chairperson (interpretation): Clause 11.
Chairperson (interpretation): Clause 12.
Chairperson (interpretation): Bill 3 is completed.
We will go back to the first page.
Bill 3 as a whole.
Chairperson (interpretation): Bill 3 is now ready for third reading.
Bill 4 is still to be considered.
Bill 4. I would like to ask the Premier to make his opening comments.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): I gave a briefing on Bill 4 which is an Act to Amend the Land Titles Act.
We have to use documents when we are dealing with land whether you are purchasing or leasing land.
I would like to invite Garry Crow when we are dealing with this amendment to the witness table.
Mr. McLean any opening comments.
Standing Committee Review of Bill 4 – An Act to Amend the Land Titles Act
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development has reviewed Bill 4, an Act to Amend the Land Titles Act.
Bill 4, an Act to Amend the Land Titles Act is intended to make the process of applying for and filing land lease documentation easier for Nunavummiut.
It also removes a lot of the unnecessary duplication of documentation which is costly for the government.
The Committee heard that Members of the Nunavut Bar were asked for their comments on the amendments and some of those comments have been incorporated into the Bill.
During its meeting, Mr. Chairman, the Committee took the opportunity with the Premier and officials present to stress the need for services to be available in Inuktitut as well as in English.
As difficult as I know this process can be, Mr. Chairman, it is made even more so for those people who cannot use their own language.
So, Mr. Chairman, it is essential that as more Nunavummiut are moving toward owning their own homes and are having to apply for land leases that they can do so in their mother tongue.
Mr. Chairman, the Committee was pleased to see that this Bill does begin to work toward making the process easier for Nunavummiut.
However, the Committee has identified areas where the intent of the amendments are still unclear and we will be seeking further clarification today in Committee of the Whole.
Before we go onto bill 4, I would like to open up the floor for comments or questions.
Are we open for questions now. I have a question.
The legislative proposal mentioned a consultation process.
Will the minister tell the committee the results of this process and some of the key recommendations that were made in developing this bill.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): I will ask one of my officials to answer that question. Mr. Crow.
Chairperson (interpretation): Mr. Crow.
Mr. Crow: The consultations consisted of some meetings and correspondence between the bar and other stakeholders like community land administrators and other parties such as representatives of Community Government and Transportation.
Some of the specific comments were about the procedures and suggestions on how accepting facsimile documents would be implemented.
Some of those comments were taken to help us develop procedures for things such as requiring a cover letter identifying the number of pages, identifying the documents being sent.
One of the amendments was to identify or clarify that the registrar stamp for the time of receipt would be conclusive, as opposed to something that might be indicated on a fax cover sheet as time of registration. This is often important in our office.
One of the feedback was in regard to the office no longer automatically producing duplicate certificates of title and there was some ambivalence there. Many communities are going to be supportive of that because they do not have the desire to administer that paper.
Other communities will continue to receive duplicate certificates for their land and use those as part of their land administration procedures.
So we had correspondence on that issue and responded to the interested communities to discuss the process of their continuing or not to receive those documents.
Otherwise generally not a great deal of specific requests to change the proposals were received.
Mr. McLean: When you say stakeholders. Were any just general people from the public that have to deal with this mound of paperwork consulted. Your average homeowner or business operator or individual like that for some of their comments in regards to this.
The problem that I have sometimes is when we let administrators take over, they make things happen to their way of thinking.
I am wondering was there much input from like the Joe Public out there in regards to consultations.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): I think the Deputy Minister will have a better response to that. Ms. Nora Saunders.
Chairperson (interpretation): Ms. Saunders.
Ms. Saunders: Thank you.
The consultation material was not specifically sent out to people beyond the people that we know to use the office.
The lawyers, the banks, and the community land administrators.
As a result of this technical nature we felt that those people are quite well aware of the frustrations of their client groups working with this office and they would be able to articulate those concerns and also they would be able to judge how what we are proposing would meet those needs.
It is one of those bills that thankfully, even for many lawyers looking at it, the detail of it would be very technical unless there is someone that is directly involved in that area.
For the people that practice in that area or the people in the bank that handle those kinds of documents, they would understand how this little change will change the way the thing proceeds.
But for the average homeowner what you know is that it takes too long to get your transaction through.
We had that message loud and clear when we asked our experts and Gary Crow was one of them.
We asked the Bar and also had advice from someone who has been involved in reforming the land administration system in Ontario in an innovative way.
We asked them how do we try and improve some of those problems. We felt that we were aware of the concerns that people had.
So what we did is look to the technical experts to try smooth some of that out.
For your information if you are going to be making a response please use the chair.
On that I know personally dealing with lawyers and the bureaucracy in trying to proceed with a transaction in the past for months and months and months.
I am sure when you looked at the review of this, when you found this, have you made it quicker and easier and by how much.
That is the intent of the legislation but it take a little while longer to educate our administrators on the changes.
Once these changes are adopted than we will start that process.
So I can not answer exactly how soon we will be implementing this.
But it should improve by way of getting rid of a lot of formalities. Only requiring facsimiles for example will cut down a lot of delays relating to snail mail.
There is the issue of getting rid of other formalities for signatures being witnessed for corporations and there is the issue of getting rid of ECTs which have been lost in a lot of cases and have delayed a lot of transactions in Nunavut. So I think generally it should improve.
I cannot answer exactly how long that will take.
Mr. McLean: Thank you, Mr. Chairman on that, this will be my last question.
When you talk about facsimile transmissions, when you go to a JP or a commissioner of oaths to get these documents witnessed and signed the originals have to be sent.
By the time they go back and forth it is weeks again and I know we are going to have an office in Iqaluit and we are going to have a bilingual person there but on the facsimile transmissions if for some reason the original gets lost in the mail and we send the facsimile that has been witnessed by the commissioner of oaths and will this be accepted not delay things.
We know when these land transactions are delayed it costs the homeowner thousands of dollars waiting to move into the unit or the business person and I do not want to sound like I am picking on lawyers, but they work by the hour so that is extra work for them to go find this stuff and re-send it.
Has this been looked at and is it going to be simplified.
Hon. Paul Okalik: Okay, I would ask that the Registrar answer that question but I take exception to lawyers billing in those instances.
I have never billed in those instances. In a lot of cases not just the client loses out but the lawyers lose out so I just want to respond to that claim.
I will ask Mr. Crow to elaborate.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Premier. Mr. Crow.
Mr. Crow: Thank you Mr. Chairman.
There is a provision in the section in dealing with faxed documents that provide that the document itself is faxed will be valid as the original.
Some of the comments received on that were that some lawyers may prefer to send the original document where a land transaction is not rushed and then our office would have the originals.
It will be a matter of choice whether they use that faxed option and that transaction is running against a deadline then that document registered in our office will be valid as the original according to the amendments.
Mr. McLean: That is good news. Last but not least the people that pay the bill, the banks, how do they look at facsimile copies and do they require an original lease also.
Thank you, that is all I have today.
At times they may require the original mortgage for their purposes but if it is legally valid it should be acceptable.
So we did not receive a lot of feedback from the bank themselves but if we legalize it, it should be okay.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Premier Okalik.
Any further general comments. Mr. Tootoo.
Mr. Tootoo: Mr. Chairman, I just want to add on to Mr. McLean’s comments in regards to banks but also another stakeholder there is CMHC that will insure those mortgages I am wondering if that would be an acceptable practice to them.
For purposes in our jurisdiction if we legalize it then it is valid so we are declaring it valid by these provisions so it does not matter whether they be facsimile or the original.
For the purposes of registering titles once you register an interest, it sticks with the land, so it doesn’t matter if it’s CMHC or from the banks, once you register it, then it’s there. You can’t remove it unless you paid it off, so that’s the purpose of this Act is to make that legally possible.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Premier.
Mr. Tootoo: Thank you Mr. Chairman. I thank the Premier for his comments and answer. Going back to something that was mentioned earlier, and I’m sorry I missed the introductions, the gentleman on the Premier's left, was talking about faxes.