EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I know it’s very difficult. The staff needs to be educated. Of Government of Nunavut staff, 85 percent are in services and staff delivering services should speak Inuktitut.
Are you working on that plan?
The employment opportunity ads state the qualifications required.
Some are over-qualified for the new positions.
I could say that the job qualifications and descriptions are being reviewed, and the systemic barriers are being looked at to make sure they’re being removed.
Also, we are concerned about that because it is stated in the Land Claims Agreement that we have to hire Inuit, and the qualifications specified at times go beyond what the actual qualifications should be for that position.
Once these are done and completed, we can perhaps get more Inuit in the workforce.
Total, operations and maintenance, $4,205,000.
D-10. Human resources.
Total, operations and maintenance, $1,129,000.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. D-12.
Human resources.
Employee relations.
Questions? Mr. Peterson.
I was reading the 2002-03 public service annual report.
They had 96 grievances at the end of last year.
I wonder if the minister could tell us how many grievances there are as of March 2004.
We have no numbers at this time to the end of March 2004.
I also noticed in the report that there is no indication of numbers of employees terminated at the end of 2003.
I wonder if that information should be contained in this kind of report.
We will consider putting it into the report as well.
We hear as legislators that one of the problems we have in the government is high absenteeism rate.
Can the minister tell us what the main reasons are for the absenteeism rate, which departments have the worst absenteeism rate, and which ones have the best, if there is such a thing as the best.
In my member’s statement… . We are compiling them by the computer to find out all the reasons behind absenteeism and why they are late.
We are going to compile those along with the Department of Finance, and after we put them together we will be able to report. Because they are compiling them at this time, we don’t have the numbers yet.
Mr. Peterson: I often asked these questions when I was an appeals chairman in Cambridge Bay. There used to be a lot of interesting appeals, and people had complaints about the government. It was interesting to hear about some of the things people had to say.
A lot of people are getting better employment, but they have problems with the department that they cannot resolve. Then they end up leaving the government. You know, we invest a lot of money in training and retaining employees.
That should be a high priority with the government, to find out why people are missing work, since we invest so much money in our workforce.
Chairman (interpretation): That is not a question but a comment.
I would like to ask the minister and his officials about the collective agreement.
I think there is one for the Nunavut Federation of Teachers, but is there one for the Crown corporations? Are they included in the Nunavut Employees’ Union, or do the Crown corporations have a different union?
I will get Tom Thompson to respond to the question.
Chairman (interpretation): Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Thompson: Mr. Chairman, there are three collective agreements, the Nunavut Employees’ Union, the Federation of Nunavut Teachers, and the Power Corporation Agreement.
Power Corporation employees currently have their own collective agreement.
Arctic College employees fall under the any-new and-or the excluded handbooks, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Thompson. (Interpretation.) Any more, Mr. Curley?
I appreciate the responses of Tom Thompson.
In regard to the benefit package and compensation, are the rates similar? Are the compensation and benefits similar for people qualified for those benefits according to what they do?
Mr. Thompson: That is a very complex question, Mr. Curley.
The agreements are negotiated separately, so there are some similarities, but also some differences.
Because they are negotiated at different times, they end up having some minor differences.
The pay rate for the Nunavut Employees’ Union is the rate for all Crown corporation employees not covered by the Power Corporation Agreement.
I understand from an analysis I did a couple of years ago that there were some additional benefits in the Power Corporation Agreement that were exceptional to the Nunavut Employees’ Union and the Federation of Nunavut Teachers, but most of the benefits contained between the teachers’ agreement and the union agreement are very similar.
Pay rates are different because teachers are evaluated differently with respect to their experience and education.
I do not have any more names for questions.
We are on (interpretation ends) human resources. Branch summary.
Total, operations and maintenance, $1,640,000. (Interpretation.) Agreed?
Chairman: D-12, Information item. (Interpretation.)
D-13 is just an information item, as well, D-14 is an information item.
Go back to page D-4.
Total, operations and maintenance, $18,035,000.
Chairman (interpretation): Agreed that the Department of Human Resources is concluded?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Tapardjuk and your officials for appearing before Committee of the Whole.
If you have any final comments to make, Mr. Minister.
I would just like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank the members.
During the discussion of the Department of Human Resources, thank you for approving my department’s main estimates.
At this time, we will be dealing with a different department. I would now like to ask the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth to make opening comments.
We will wait a few minutes.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee of the Whole, the department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth deals with issues that are very important to the preservation and future development of Nunavut’s cultural and linguistic character.
We promote the development of sport, recreation, and leisure opportunities across the territory of Nunavut.
Culture, Language, Elders and Youth’s business plan reflects the work the department has done this year to restructure and build capacity, which will allow us to move forward with developing and implementing the long-term strategies required to achieve our mandate.
It also reflects the priority we placed on Inuit societal values and how we incorporate the Inuktitut language and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit as a government.
As a result of the Government of Nunavut’s recent restructuring, Culture, Language, Elders and Youth now has six major branches, including Official Languages, Community Programs, Culture and Heritage, Sport Nunavut, Recreation and Leisure, and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
The Official Languages Division leads the department’s effort to promote and protect Nunavut languages.
The division is coordinating development and made-in-Nunavut language legislation that will protect our Inuktitut language while guaranteeing the rights of Nunavut French and English speakers.
The future of Inuktitut will depend on Nunavummiut using it as a central part of their daily lives.
This division provides an essential service in the promotion and protection of our languages.
Mr. Chairman, the Community program division is the department’s direct link to Nunavut’s communities and provides single-window access for communities to place $4.6 million in grants and contributions.
This funding is made available to projects that contribute to community capacity building in the areas of culture, heritage, language, communications, such as radio and other communication, the arts, sports, recreation, and leisure.
The Community Programs Division is also responsible for supporting elders and youth.
An increase of $150,000 in youth programs will allow the department to develop concrete programs for youth that support suicide prevention by instilling pride and building leadership skills through a connection with our elders.
This year we will also develop an elder strategy that will help CLEY focus on the creation of linguistics culture programs for those two very important elements of our society.
As you are aware, Mr. Chairman, one of the priorities for this government is to establish a territorial heritage facility.
Such a facility is needed to house Nunavut’s heritage collection and make our rich cultural legacy accessible to all Nunavummiut.
The department is exploring funding opportunities with key shareholders.
In our communities, participation in community life has always been important to the well-being of Nunavummiut.
For that reason, Sport Nunavut and our Recreation and Leisure Division support wellness through the promotion of active, healthy lifestyles.
Mr. Chairman, Culture, Language, Elders and Youth works to incorporate Inuit social values and knowledge across all areas of our mandate.
If the Government of Nunavut is ever to truly belong to the people of Nunavut, it must reflect the people it serves.
To show our commitment to our lead role in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, the department has increased funding in its Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Branch by $122,000 in 2004-05 fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, members of Committee of the Whole, this is just an overview of the initiatives that the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth is working on.
We believe that with the department’s reorganization and increased capacity we are better prepared to develop initiatives that will contribute to the promotion of Nunavut’s culture and language and towards active healthy lifestyles in communities.
I would be pleased to answer any questions the members may have.
Would you please go the witness table with your officials?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk: Yes, please.
Mr. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses.
On my left is Deputy Minister David Akeeagok, and to my right is another David, David Kolot, Policy Analyst.
(Interpretation ends.) Please proceed, Mr. Mapsalak.
I am pleased to be able to give the committee’s opening remarks as we begin debate on the 2004-05 main estimates for the Ddepartment of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
Members consider this department to be extremely important, as it deals with things deeply valued by Inuit: our culture, our language, our elders, and our youth.
Members are concerned that funding for this department only represents one percent of the government’s entire budget.
Members feel that this is not enough and are hopeful that the department’s budget will be increased in the future.
Members have concerns regarding the lack of facilities for our elders and youth in Nunavut.
Where possible, these facilities should be combined, so that our elders can pass down to our youth Inuit values and Inuit culture.
Members look forward to hearing more about the department’s plans on developing the elders and youth capital programs.
Members are pleased that the department is now responsible for sports and leisure as a result of the March 2004 Government of Nunavut re-organization.
It is fitting to incorporate them in this department, as we need to involve our youth in sports as much as possible and encourage them to live healthy lifestyles.
Members are concerned that the main estimates for youth and elder initiatives have increased very little since 2001-02.
Members were pleased that the department has now increased its funding for youth programs by $115,000.
Members wish to see the same increase for elder initiatives.
Nunavut has an extremely young population vulnerable to such serious issues as suicide.
The government should do all it can to support our youth.
They must be given the opportunity to live actively and follow good role models.
Oral history has also been and continues to be very important to Inuit.
Members are therefore happy to learn that the department has started collecting oral history from our elders.
Members were initially excited to learn that the department would be working on a new Official Languages Act.
However, members have now learned that yet another working group has been formed in order to develop this new act.
Members feel that the groundwork already exists to begin this important work and want to see real progress made.
All too often, we say we are losing our language.
We need to start addressing this very serious issue, and the new act will help us do that.
Members believe that once the new act is in place, it will increase opportunities to obtain funding from the federal government for language initiatives.
In order to achieve our goal to have Inuktitut the working language of this government by 2020, we must move beyond studies and reviews and achieve action and results.
Members were pleased to see the minister is willing to listen to the Cambridge Bay elders and use their recommended name change for Grenier Lake, to Ekaloktotiak, using the old way of spelling as requested.
I am sure that the elders will be pleased as they have been trying to change the name of this lake for a long time now.
Members look forward to the new minister continuing the practice of tabling annual reports on the department’s grants and contributions, as this is transparency.
Members noted that the department is not short of strategies and various groups such as Youth Identity Development Strategy, the Elders Strategy, Active Living Communications Campaign, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Katimajiit, Tuttarviit, the Elders and Youth Capital Program and now, the Official Language Working Group.
Members would like to be kept informed on the results of these strategies and groups.
I anticipate that the individual members will raise their own comments and concerns on the department’s 2004-05 main estimates.
I am sure that everybody knows Rule 77(2) applies. The floor is now open for general comments.
The members have ten minutes.
If there are no general comments, we will then move onto questions.
We are on page F-5. Culture, language, elders and youth. Branch summary.
Directorate. Total, operations and maintenance, $2,822,000.
I had a question regarding the government departments and this implementation of the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
We see more and more Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit coordinators in the government departments.
Who pays for the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit coordinators?
Is it your department?
Chairman (interpretation): Minister Tapardjuk.
The departments have Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit coordinators, and they pay out of their own budget.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I only wanted to ask that question because I believe it is a need when you are in front of the committee, when you are going to be teaching the departments about the Inuit culture, language, and values.
I don’t understand what Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is.
We can go back a long ways.
You’d have to go through university-type of school to learn what Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is.
I think that we have to make a change in the wording because this was a concept that was brought up by people who didn’t know Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
If we are using Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, I don’t think there’s anybody around anymore who knows Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, so maybe we should update it a bit.
One individual alone does not know Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. It has to be a group that has specialties in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
It seems like it’s an excellent idea when we talk about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit but don’t know much about Inuit values, traditions, or cultures. Can you give us a better idea of what Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is?
At this time with this present government they’re focusing more on the Inuktitut language and societal values.
Those are going to be the foundation when we are talking about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
If you talk about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, you have to go thousands of years back, but what we have said is that this department is going to focus on societal values.
I would like that understood out there.
This is the foundation we are focusing on.
There are a lot of things that fall under Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, so it becomes a big word when you are trying to figure the whole thing out, but we can do our own interpretation of it.
We will be focusing on the Inuit societal values, and if we were to interpret, I would envision, for example, that my boss or a subordinate would help me to have a focus and I believe that this person will help me to gain a purpose.
If we had employees, we would have to say it is QQ, Qallunaat Qaujimajatuqangit.
These two are totally, totally different, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and QQ, and that is the concept that I am trying to get at.
The Department of Human Resources and the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth are working together to see how they can get the true meaning of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, focus on the societal values; we are looking at the Inuit employees.
If they had problems in the workforce, we would use Inuit societal values to overcome those problems.
That is just an example of what we are trying to do and how we are trying to implement it within the government.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you. Yes, it has helped me to get a better grasp of it.
It is one of the things that I have been concerned about, and I often think about how it is going to be resolved.
I have not considered it, and it is not within my mandate.
When you are talking about Inuit lives, we must keep our values alive, our language, our writing system, or if they read the history books a hundred years from now, my comments could not be read by Inuit until the English is translated into Inuktitut.
Although we say we value the Inuit traditions, we are not actually using them.
What I am saying today is that the government is going to be sensitive through the union bargaining, and we do not want Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in there just like that. It cannot be shown in black and white.
Inuit traditionally have always had a consensus style lifestyle, and we do want to retain that. Inuit people say is it in the best interest of the public. Although we are not using the American system, it is pretty close to it, but Inuit people ask why don’t they do it this way, the Inuit way, when you talk about values, so that we can consider it further.
Please focus on that for negotiations and for consensus. I hope, Mr. Minister, you can understand me.
Yes, I understand you clearly.
For that reason, we have Inuit Traditional Knowledge Katimajiit, which we recognized yesterday and which will be very supportive and beneficial to us, the government staff.
Managers in the department at the senior level, we have an interdepartmental committee called Tuttarvik, and they look at how we can utilize Inuit values and traditions in the workforce.
The Inuit Traditional Knowledge Council are the ones, the Tunngaviksaluaqtut Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit task force… . When they were reviewing what we are looking at now… . If we try to mix European culture and Inuit culture, it’s pretty hard.
In the future Nunavut government, we need a foundation using Inuit traditional or societal values.
We need to bridge the gap between our current way of life and our objective slowly.
We set up the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit council to help with this.
I know this is a very difficult, challenging job, and it takes a considerable amount of consideration, so we have selected the people whom we believe in to be the members of the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit committee.
Last, I would like to state that you seem to recognize that, and I do like the fact that you understand this. As a government, we thank the elders. We are starting to utilize our elders’ knowledge.
There are many issues out there or many things that we still don’t know, and they have to be recorded.
I know that the elders cannot write on their own.
Please record all their legends and oral histories. We are now starting to utilize the schools. I feel it’s very important for our schools.
I am encouraging you during this computer age. We will write our history, but back then we only had oral history, some of which has not been documented yet.
I’m encouraging you, Mr. Minister. The summer job students can do this, also.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, and you, Mr. Chairman.
I do not have any more names on my list for questions.
We are on page F-5.
Total, operations and maintenance, $2,822,000.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Wait a minute.
Thank you. I have a question in regard to this page, in regard to language.
The Inuktitut language should become an official language.
As I have stated earlier, a hundred years from now, if it’s read at all, they will be reading our history in English, and if they wanted to read Inuktitut, they would have to read the Inuktitut translated version.
For that reason, the Inuktitut language should become official, so it can be used within the schools.
As Inuit people, if we are not going to become Qallunaat people, there’s no other way around.
I believe that it’s easier for Inuit to become Qallunaat people, and it’s harder to get into Inuit societal values.
With your statement during the standing committee stage and during the oral question
period your responses as to how the language is going to be utilized within the government workforce… .
I’m sure you’ll have more opportunity to make a report this coming fall.
We have not gone to F-6 yet.
We did not approve F-5 yet.
Chairman (interpretation): We will go to F-6.
Culture, language, elders, and youth. Branch summary.
Official languages.
Grants and contributions go all the way up to F-7.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps you can respond to the questions I posed earlier.
Our officials are going to be reviewing to March 2005 in our business plan.
The reviewing working group will have to make a report at that time.
We will keep the members abreast of the progress of that, and also we have asked to consult with the public and the stakeholders of Nunavut in regard to the Official Languages Act.
We have to consider the language and writing system.
We will be approaching the municipalities and others and the stakeholders.
We will consult with all those people.
I am sure I will be able to make a consultation report once that is completed.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Last, in regard to your statement to the reviewing working group, I am pleased that you will be receiving some assistance in the review process, although I have not been able to ask the question yet.
You stated that you would work with NTI.
I would also ask you to consider if you can ask Josie Kusugak, although I have not approached it.
You know that he has been dealing with the issue of language and the writing system, and he understands the Greenland culture and writing system.
I am sure that he will be able to provide you with some assistance if you can involve him during the process.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We will be requesting two representatives to be part of the working group. The working group has not been filled yet, but we are doing it as an urgent case.
I want you to know that we are working on it.
I don’t have anymore names on my list.
(Interpretation ends.) Culture, language, elders, and youth. Branch summary.
Total, operations and maintenance, $1,850,000.
F-8.
Grants and contributions information is on F-9 and F-10.
During the standing committee stage when we were reviewing the estimates in April, you showed us a report on the the development of the museum, although you were not a minister at the previous Assembly.
I would like to know what the status of the recommendations is now, if any of them are being implemented, and what you are going to do with the report once it is finished?
I will get my deputy minister to speak on that.
Chairman (interpretation): Mr. Akeeagok.
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The report at this time is being supported by our department, and there has been some funding in the range of $55 million that has to be given to our department, but what we are doing now we have the report is trying to get some funding from the federal government. We have talked with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, as well, to try to get funding, as well as the Inuit Heritage Fund.
That is in the works right now because we were in the discussion stage with those organizations.
At this time, that is where we are with the report, seeing where we can get that $55 million funding from besides the Nunavut government.