EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We need sufficient staff to create the processes, tools, resources, and staff development to build, put into action, and maintain a comprehensive, Nunavut-wide system of inclusive education.
The support that these new positions will provide addresses the recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and the needs of students.
(interpretation ends) In addition, there will be a regional student support manager in the regional school operations offices in Kugluktuk, Baker Lake, and Pond Inlet, with a student support consultant to be in Pond Inlet.
These positions will provide the leadership needed in the regions to ensure schools are supported to provide inclusive education that encourages student achievement and instructional success by coordinating, supporting, and monitoring specialist services that include occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, behavioural therapy, and hearing and vision impairment therapy. (interpretation) These positions are very beneficial for our schools.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Chairman, $521,000 in the budget has been allocated for operations and maintenance and the funds will be used for travel and transportation, materials and supplies, contract services, and IT hardware and software to support the new positions.
(interpretation) The remaining $250,000 of the inclusive education budget is allocated to Nunavut Arctic College to assist and enhance their capacity to incorporate quality inclusive education practices in their education programming.
This will include a review of the courses in the Nunavut Teacher Education Program that develop the knowledge and skills required by teachers in an inclusive education model.
(interpretation ends) This will also assist with the design and delivery of a Student Support Assistant Certificate Program to provide a much-needed professional development opportunity to existing and future student support assistants so that they will have the knowledge and skills needed to support effective teaching and learning based on best practices in inclusive education.
The monies we have requested for inclusive education will help us move towards establishing a functional inclusive education model that is effective, accountable, equitable, and standardized across Nunavut’s three regions.
(interpretation) Mr. Chairman, in order to deliver consistent, quality education to Nunavummiut, we have put forward a total budget of roughly $205.5 million for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
The great majority of our proposed budget is allocated towards compensation and benefits, just as it has been in years past.
As a result of the annual increases in compensation and benefits costs, there have been small fluctuations in operations and maintenance costs across all divisions in order to fund these increases.
(interpretation ends) Responsibility for improving education outcomes is shared by everyone.
My department has a leadership role and we will continue to work towards a higher quality education system in Nunavut.
I look forward to working with the committee and my colleagues to provide Nunavummiut with the best possible opportunities for the future.
As the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Wellness, I am pleased to make opening comments as we begin deliberations on the proposed 2016-17 budget of the Department of Education.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Education’s 2016-17 operations and maintenance budget is over $205 million, including an increase of approximately $2.7 million from its 2015-16 budget.
The standing committee notes that the department is proposing to focus considerable effort and resources on inclusive education initiatives in the upcoming fiscal year.
The standing committee looks forward to receiving updated copies of the department’s action plans which were developed in response to the Auditor General’s 2013 reports on Education in Nunavut and the Safety of Schools and Childcare Facilities in Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Education’s focus on inclusive education is a welcome response to concerns that have been raised by parents and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut as well as being an issue addressed by the Special Committee to Review the Education Act and the Auditor General.
Committee members recognize that significant efforts will be required to ensure that a consistent approach to inclusive education is provided across all schools in Nunavut and that additional resources and specialized services must also be considered as well as additional training in the Teacher Education Program of Nunavut Arctic College.
Mr. Chairman, the standing committee looks forward to reviewing future updates as the inclusive education initiative is rolled out across the territory.
During the minister’s appearance before the standing committee to review his draft main estimates for 2016-17, members were pleased to receive details on the department’s work towards developing a complement of Inuit language material, such as levelled books and texts with health and northern themes for use in schools and at home.
Initiatives such as these will go a long way towards supporting Inuit language learning.
Members recognize the importance of Inuit language standardization for use in Nunavut’s schools and have noted recent commitments from other groups to work towards standardization in such areas as the use of Roman orthography for Inuktut.
The standing committee encourages the minister and his staff to work with other entities such as interpreter/translator organizations and Nunavut Arctic College to establish consistency in approach as well as ensuring consistencies in spelling and terminology.
Members note that the department faces a number of challenges in the area of bilingual language instruction and look forward to updates on the department’s work in this area, as well as possible amendments to Nunavut’s Education Act, which will address this issue.
Mr. Chairman, the department proposes to add a number of new positions to provide additional support and resources for teachers and principals across Nunavut’s schools.
In addition, recent announcements have indicated that there will be an overall increase in the number of teaching positions across Nunavut in 2016-17 based on student-educator ratios.
Members note that some communities may experience a loss of teaching positions while others may see an increase.
Mr. Chairman, the standing committee recognizes that district education authorities have a wide range of roles and responsibilities with respect to the delivery of education in their communities.
It has been recognized that more work needs to be done in this area and the committee encourages the minister and his officials to continue working closely with the coalition of DEAs as well as individual DEAs to ensure that the appropriate training and resources are provided to members and staff alike.
Committee members were very pleased to learn of the department’s intention to continue working with communities to deliver summer literacy camps in the upcoming fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Education also offers programs aimed at supporting adults who wish to improve their educational qualifications, such as attaining a High School Diploma under the new PASS initiative.
I just wanted to remind all members that we are here to review the proposed operations and maintenance budget for 2016-17.
I encourage members to focus their questions on the proposed budgets.
Seeing none, we’re on page G-4. Education.
Branch Summary. Directorate. Mr. Shooyook.
Mr. Shooyook (interpretation): Are we on page G-4?
I would like to ask a question on this page, Mr. Chairman.
Also, let me start by welcoming Minister Quassa as well as one of my old fellow community residents, Kathy Okpik, and their official next to them. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly.
This question relates to a concern I hold about traditional Inuit social counselling.
In your business plan, one of your priorities for 2016-17 is to hire Inuit workers, at least I understand that to be your direction.
It states, “48 new Inuit employees.”
I would like to ask if these positions are Nunavut-wide or if they are specific to a single community.
Can you explain to me what the direction is for these employees?
Hon. Paul Quassa (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank my colleague for requesting that information. Perhaps I misspoke in trying to clarify that.
There are 16.5 new positions. When I was referring to new positions, I was talking about these numbers. If I break it down a bit further, there will be 9.5 positions for new teachers and these are actual teachers.
Further, there are eight positions specified for (interpretation ends) inclusive education. (interpretation) These are two separate items.
Some positions are actual teaching positions while some positions are for providing support for, if I can state this here, (interpretation ends) inclusive education, (interpretation) which involves students with hearing problems or who are partially blind.
We have to include these students in our schools, so these positions are set aside for them.
I have no formal experience as a teacher, which is why I am asking that question and obviously, I will ask questions if I don’t understand.
You just remarked that some positions are for teaching positions, if I understood you correctly.
I believe that within each school, a real Inuk has to be involved, even if they are unilingual. I’m talking about a real Inuk.
Do you have any goals specific to this as part of your business plan?
As an example, I refer to the elders who are brought in to speak to traditional Inuit knowledge, especially traditional social skills.
These positions close, but I wonder if a position that could be there daily has even been contemplated. I believe they are necessary. Will this be yet another barrier in the future to hiring real Inuit to teach the students about Inuit social skills and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit?
Does your business plan include any stipulation for this scenario?
Can you elaborate, please.
Hon. Paul Quassa (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank the member for this question because this is very important.
Yes, we consider elders and traditional Inuit culture extremely important in our schools.
In fact, pretty well annually - although I don’t have the numbers in front of me - these elders are recognized as “Inuksiutilirijiit” and there are elders in those positions in every school.
Further, the local DEAs submit elders’ names to query about their eligibility to assume that role in their school.
That is what I request from them.
Recently, I just signed off another list of elders for that role. They serve as school-wide assistants.
What I can state here is that for the 2015-16 fiscal year, we have 134 elders recognized as cultural teachers within our schools.
I can further state that we expend about $1.6 million a year specific to these elder cultural experts.
I am very interested to hear that the department is working on the issue.
Although I understand clearly when you are talking about traditional teaching, do you agree that we need a permanent position for elders? Will we be able to get a permanent position for teaching Inuit culture, a teaching position for a senior or elder? I would like to see an Inuk hired on a full-time basis.
The elders who teach traditional culture have their salaries paid by the DEAs, which receive funding for that.
They are not a permanent employee within our department, but they work for the DEA. They aren’t members with a full-time teaching position within our department.
As I stated before, the DEAs pay for the elders’ salaries and we allocate the funding to the DEAs.
With respect to your question, we don’t have a permanent position within our department for elders who teach traditional culture in the communities.
I can only respond that way.
Mr. Shooyook: (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I wanted to get that clarified. I know there are elder teachers, but they aren’t permanent positions like teachers.
Would you consider some time in the future to have a permanent position? Have you ever considered having a permanent position? Would it be part of your goal to hire traditional cultural teachers into permanent positions?
Many Inuit work in the schools. There are classroom teachers and counsellors who are usually Inuit.
In addition, classroom assistants and language specialists are usually Inuit.
There are various positions that are filled by Inuit. We have many employees working within our schools and elders are included as well.
It has been one of our objectives to have Inuktitut teachers.
Although we have teachers, we lack the number of NTEP students. Arctic College is responsible for NTEP students. We would like to see hiring of Inuktitut-speaking teachers because it’s very useful, as we are aware.
I’m sure that the members are aware that the students are taught and they are taken out on cultural outings such as hunting trips.
We provide these various programs.
The DEA can set up programs to be taught in Inuktitut.
They can come up with those programs for the next calendar year.
I just wanted to say that Inuit culture and language is very important within our schools no matter where it is in Nunavut.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Mr. Minister.
I just need clarification on your opening comments.
I have a difficult time understanding English.
On page 4 under the priorities, third bullet says, “equity and standardization across the territory.”
I need clarification on what this means.
Hon. Paul Quassa (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank my colleague for the request.
I have been stating that for quite some time. Everything inside the schools, such as learning materials, has to be standardized and more consistent no matter where you are in Nunavut.
We are talking about consistency of curricula for our students.
As an example, it revolves around (interpretation ends) standardization (interpretation) so that throughout Nunavut, our schools offer the same type of courses.
We have heard in the past that after a student took high school in one community and moved to a different community, although they remain in the same grade, the curriculum wasn’t always similar.
We wanted to see the curriculum standardized. That’s what it means.
Do I understand that the minister himself and his staff have agreed and believe that there are different levels of education in all of Nunavut, so they have decided to standardize the education system in Nunavut?
Yes, we would like to see the curriculum standardized.
For example, I’m not talking about standardizing Inuktitut, but we would like to see the language of instruction being standardized from Kugluktuk to Qikiqtarjuaq.
There are also things being used in schools like tools that are being used by the teachers that need to be standardized.
What I’m basically talking about is to see standardization in the Nunavut schools.
If a student moves from one community to another community in Nunavut, they should have the same curriculum. That’s what it means.
Maybe I am just repeating myself.
The deputy minister has been a deputy minister for 12 years, so I’m sure that she can respond to my question.
If we standardize the education system, how did it come about that there’s so much difference from one community to another?
There are some cases where a student goes from community A to community B and the education system is lower or higher.
Probably some years back.
If the member can recall, we had a different education system. We had the divisional boards. There were three of them, one in the Kitikmeot, one in the Kivalliq, and one in the Baffin.
They had there own operating system at that time.
Some of our schools had different subjects, so some subjects were taught in one school and not in another.
That was the option the schools had.
At this time, we would like to standardize school operations Nunavut-wide.
Of course, teachers specialize in different subjects.
We had specialists at that time. Today, we are looking at how we can standardize the system Nunavut-wide and that’s one of our goals right now.
I don’t quite understand the minister’s statement and I don’t really agree with him.
I used to be part of the Baffin divisional board and even at that time, they had to use the same Education Act, whether they were from the Baffin, Kitikmeot, or Kivalliq. That was at the time that I was involved with the divisional board.
The foundation is, be it at the Kitikmeot divisional board or the Baffin divisional board, they all followed the Education Act from the Northwest Territories.
That’s where I don’t quite understand where it’s coming from.
My next question is on one of the goals… .
Chairman: Mr. Enook, the interpreter didn’t get the question.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): My apologies, Mr. Chairman.
On page 4, there are four bullets and the last bullet states, “accountability for student achievement and program outcomes.”
I’m trying to find out what that means.
What it means is that standardization would apply to guided reading, which would be utilized in all schools. Additionally, the same assessments would be used Nunavut-wide.
That is what it means.
As we indicated earlier, we keep saying, “inclusive education,” and that applies to all students.
Students who need special support will be taught the same subjects as the rest of the students and the same assessment will be used for those special students.
I hope I provided an adequate response to my colleague.
I don’t think you responded to my question or maybe we are not understanding one another.
On page 4, there are four bullets and the last one in English is, (interpretation ends) “accountability for student achievement and program outcomes.” (interpretation) What does that mean?
I seem to understand or maybe I don’t understand “accountability for student achievement and program outcomes” at all.
That’s why I’m trying to ask my question.
I have read it in both languages and I think we should come to an understanding at this point.
I’m not sure how much more I can explain it, but I’ll try.
The parents have to be fully informed about exactly where their child is.
The student, even though they may have special needs, such as they are hard of hearing, we have to make sure that the parents know exactly where their child is. Even though they have special needs, for example, they would be taught the same subjects like guided reading or guided writing.
Every student within that age range has to be in our schools. That is our policy.
I am not even a teacher, but all our teachers have to communicate to the parents along the lines of (interpretation ends) accountability to the parents, (interpretation) and this is what it is trying to express. It is specific to parents that they have to be kept informed.
This includes the progression of all our students and where they stand. This is what it is trying to say, (interpretation ends) accountability for student achievement and program outcomes. (interpretation) That’s what we’re trying to do. We have to be accountable to the parents.
I have no more questions on that for now. I move to report progress.
Iqsuqtii, please escort the witnesses. I will now rise to report progress to the Speaker.
Your committee has been considering Bill 13 and the main estimates, and would like to report progress. Also, Mr. Speaker, I move that the Report of the Committee of the Whole be agreed to.
Mr. Keyootak. (interpretation ends) The motion is in order. All those in favour. (interpretation) Opposed.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) This House stands adjourned until Friday, March 4, at 9:00 a.m.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Pages 1128 – 1209
Opening Prayer 1128
Ministers’ Statements 1128
Oral Questions 1135
Tabling of Documents 1151
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters 1151
Report of the Committee of the Whole 1208
Monday, March 7, 2016 1128
079 – 4(3): Minister Absent from the House (Quassa) 1128
080 – 4(3): Construction of a New Wildlife Office in Pangnirtung (Mike) 1128
081 – 4(3): Pathway for Adult Secondary School Graduation Expansion (Quassa) 1129
082 – 4(3): Income Support Delivery System (Mike) 1129
172 – 4(3): Constituents participating at the Arctic Winter Games (Shooyook) 1130
173 – 4(3): Kinngait Recreation Coordinators (Joanasie) 1131
174 – 4(3): Snowy Owls Win 2016 Kitikmeot Cup (Akoak) 1132
175 – 4(3): Sanikiluaq’s Badminton Success (Rumbolt) 1132
176 – 4(3): Constituents participating at the Arctic Winter Games (Mapsalak) 1133
177 – 4(3): Ensuring Adequate Services at Community Health Centres (Mikkungwak) 1133
178 – 4(3): Pangnirtung Participants at the Arctic Winter Games (Mike) 1133
179 – 4(3): Successful Search and Rescue in Igloolik (Quassa) 1134
180 – 4(3): Role as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut (Okalik) 1134
227 – 4(3): Protection Measures for Caribou Herds and Habitat (Mikkungwak) 1135
228 – 4(3): Technical Meetings on Caribou and the Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan (Sammurtok, T) 1137
229 – 4(3): Outcome of First Ministers’ Meeting (Angnakak) 1139
230 – 4(3): Amending Eligibility Criteria for Senior Fuel Subsidy (Joanasie) 1140
231 – 4(3): Infrastructure Funding Announcement (Qirngnuq) 1142
232 – 4(3): LED Lighting for Nunavummiut (Okalik) 1143
233 – 4(3): Fuel Tax Rebate Program (Enook) 1145
234 – 4(3): Transboundary Management of the Southern Hudson Bay Polar Bear Population (Rumbolt) 1147
235 – 4(3): Development Partnership Agreement Policy (Mikkungwak) 1149
089 – 4(3): Study on Comparison of Approaches for Supporting, Protecting and Encouraging Remote Air Service (Mikkungwak) 1151
001 – 4(3): Deletion of $14,000 from the 2016-17 Main Estimates of the Department of Education (Enook) 1178
Bill 13 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2016-2017 – Education – Consideration in Committee 1152
Bill 13 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2016-2017 – Nunavut Housing Corporation – Consideration in Committee 1180
Mr. Tony Akoak, Ms. Pat Angnakak, Hon. Monica Ell-Kanayuk, Mr. Joe Enook, Hon. George Hickes, Mr. David Joanasie, Mr. Pauloosie Keyootak, Mr. Steve Mapsalak, Hon. Johnny Mike, Mr. Simeon Mikkungwak, Mr. Paul Okalik, Hon. Keith Peterson, Mr. Emiliano Qirngnuq, Hon. Paul Quassa, Hon. George Qulaut, Mr. Allan Rumbolt, Mr. Alexander Sammurtok, Mr. Tom Sammurtok, Mr. Isaac Shooyook, Hon. Peter Taptuna.
Speaker (interpretation): Good afternoon, my fellow Nunavummiut, members, ministers, (interpretation ends) Premier, (interpretation) as well as our pages and visitors. Welcome to the House.
Minister’s Statement 079 – 4(3): Minister Absent from the House (Quassa)
I wish to advise members that the (interpretation ends) Hon. Joe Savikataaq (interpretation) will be absent from the House today.
Minister Savikataaq is attending the Arctic Winter Games Political Leaders’ Meeting today in Nuuk, Greenland.
Minister’s Statement 080 – 4(3): Construction of a New Wildlife Office in Pangnirtung (Mike)
Mr. Speaker, I am always pleased to make announcements about offices.
The construction of a new wildlife office in Pangnirtung has been completed.
This new office replaces the previous wildlife office in Pangnirtung, which had reached the end of its 25-year lifecycle.
Planning for the new building began in 2014 and we hope to have the new office fully operational by the end of March this year.
Mr. Speaker, this new office will help the Department of Environment conservation officer in Pangnirtung to continue providing a high-quality, professional service to the people of that community, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been involved in its design and construction.
Minister’s Statement 081 – 4(3): Pathway for Adult Secondary School Graduation Expansion (Quassa)
I would like to update my fellow members on the continued expansion of the PASS program: Pathway to Adult Secondary School graduation.
The Department of Education continues to work closely with Nunavut Arctic College to ensure excellence in development and delivery of this program.
Courses use curriculum content from the Alberta Distance Learning Centre, recognized by the governments of Nunavut and Alberta.