EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I would also like to make a statement related to what my colleague just talked about.
(interpretation ends) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to join my colleagues in calling on the government to improve services for Nunavut elders who are placed in care in Ottawa.
Mr. Speaker, I, too, have heard concerns regarding the lack of Inuit language interpretation services for elders who are in care at an Ottawa facility that does not fall under the Ottawa Health Services Network contract.
Mr. Speaker, our elders are already feeling far removed from their homes, families, and culture.
I have heard that one specific facility does not even provide country food to Inuit clients.
In fact, when Inuit who live down in Ottawa try to visit the elders and bring them country food, they are denied visiting access because they are not immediate family members.
Mr. Speaker, our elders deserve appropriate care and comfort. While I recognize that Nunavut does not yet have the capacity to provide long-term care services at home for everyone who needs it and that some individuals are placed outside of the territory, this should not mean that our elders are deprived of hearing a familiar language, seeing familiar faces, and eating a familiar diet.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health has indicated that not all care facilities in Ottawa which provide services to our elders fall under the Ottawa Health Services Network contract.
I encourage the government to work harder to find alternative means to provide culturally appropriate support to our elders and other Nunavut clients who are receiving care a long way from home, in southern locations such as Ottawa.
Mr. Speaker, since today is National Day of Random Kindness, I will not have any questions to the minister today.
Members’ Statements. Member for Gjoa Haven, Mr. Tony Akoak.
Member’s Statement 393 – 4(3): Happy Anniversary to Wife (Akoak)
Mr. Akoak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning, colleagues, ministers, Premier, Nunavummiut, and the community of Gjoa Haven.
Mr. Speaker, as MLAs, we are away from our home to celebrate such as birthdays or special days for the family.
Tomorrow my wife and I will be celebrating our 39th anniversary and I wish her well tomorrow. I hope she enjoys her day tomorrow. Today being Friday I will say that she is a good-hearted woman in love with a good-timing man.
Member for Arviat and Whale Cove, Mr. George Kuksuk.
Member’s Statement 394 – 4(3): Happy Birthday to Son and Daughter (Kuksuk)
I say “good morning” to the residents of Arviat, Whale Cove, and Nunavut, as well as my colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise this morning to speak to two issues as tomorrow is Saturday and we will not be meeting then.
I have two special people of my own that will celebrate their birthdays tomorrow, my daughter who is in Ottawa and may be watching, and my son in Arviat.
They share the same birthdates, although they aren’t twins. Just so people know, they are (interpretation ends) one year apart (interpretation) sharing the same day.
I wish them a special day tomorrow and I wish to see but won’t have the chance.
We are close to the end of our session, so I shall see them eventually.
Mr. Speaker, the other matter that I wish to speak to today is related to my colleague and friend who spoke previously about our trip together.
Unfortunately the Member for Iqaluit-Sinaa isn’t here, so I can’t finish the story and I will wait until he is back to finish it.
We were hunting together in Arviat and his statement referred to one day out of this trip.
However, what I am going to say is that his part of the story comprised a very small section of the whole trip, as he didn’t mention some of the hunting which was quite enjoyable as we did a lot of things.
I will wait until he is back in this House before I continue.
I am guessing he knew beforehand that I would finish the story, so he is conveniently absent.
I will patiently wait until he returns and relate the entire story of the hunting trip.
To the residents of Nunavut, Arviat, and Whale Cove, please have a safe and enjoyable weekend.
Question 539 – 4(3): Continuing Care in Gjoa Haven (Akoak)
Mr. Speaker, the community of Gjoa Haven is home to one of Nunavut’s two continuing care facilities. There are a limited number of beds and it has been filled to capacity for some time.
I understand that there is a long waiting list for beds in the facility.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister clarify whether any consideration has been given to expanding the Gjoa Haven continuing care facility to add beds and increase the number of individuals who can receive care?
I do appreciate the member asking that question.
It gives me an opportunity to talk about some of the work that’s being done at the Department of Health currently right now.
With anticipation of taking responsibility for other elder care homes from Family Services back into Health in the next fiscal year, we have been doing an analysis, not only of the needs but what is the right size facility to bring the best efficiencies fiscally as well as the level of care to residents, to senior residents of Nunavut.
Just to directly answer the question from the member, in our ongoing capital one of the projects we will be looking at a pre-feasibility study of an extension to existing continuing care homes, including Gjoa Haven.
Mr. Speaker, the population in the community of Gjoa Haven itself is steadily aging. Currently there is an individual from Gjoa Haven who needs 24-hour care but cannot be accommodated at the facility.
Can the minister clarify what steps can be taken to ensure that individuals who are from the community of Gjoa Haven and are living in the community of Gjoa Haven can be accommodated at the Gjoa Haven continuing care facility?
Like a couple of the members’ statements that I heard earlier this morning, it is obviously a priority for us to try to make sure that we keep our residents at home.
That being said, it all depends on the level of care. There are different ratings associated with the needs of seniors as they enter into an age or recognition of their abilities.
When you exceed the level of care that’s being offered in the facilities that we have here in Nunavut, we have no other alternative but at the moment to send people to other facilities outside the territory to make sure that they’re getting the care of level that they physically and mentally need.
Is that an easy decision? No, but at the same time our priority is to make sure that our residents get the level of care that they deserve and if we can’t provide it here, we’re going to make sure that we find a facility that can provide it.
We work very hard with home care to make sure that people can stay in their homes as long as possible.
We do have continuing care centres in the territory. We do have some elder homes in the territory.
When people exceed the level of care that those facilities can provide, we are left no recourse but to look at placements outside the territory.
Currently the Gjoa Haven continuing care facility has residents from Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, and the Kivalliq region.
Now that the Cambridge Bay Health Centre will be opening long-term care beds, will the department be working to ensure that long-term care clients will be accommodated closer to their homes and families?
When we look at placements, it is definitely one of the criteria that we look at. We want to make sure that people are able to be near their friends and family and the support systems that come with that proximity.
I’m not sure what else to say to the member, but other than that, yes, that is one of the conditions and factors that we take into consideration when we look residential placements.
Question 540 – 4(3): Operational Audit of Government of Nunavut Programs (Angnakak)
Ms. Angnakak: Good morning, everybody. Ullaakkut.
On March 16 of this year the Premier tabled the summary report on phase 1 of the operational audit of Government of Nunavut programs that has been underway for some time.
Can the Premier advise us today as to what actions the government has been taking over the past seven months to implement the recommendations from this audit?
Mr. Speaker, in the early days we decided we’re going to do an operational audit to streamline and make our operations through our government departments more effective, all departments, including the corporations, to find a way to make it more effective to serve the people of Nunavut.
As the member has indicated, phase 1 is done and the report is out there. Now we’re working on phase 2.
There have been some things that were identified in phase 1. There’s some in-depth review that has taken place. One of the things that have been looked at this point is shared services.
That includes human resources, IT functions, procurement, and the other things throughout our departments.
Mr. Speaker, that includes business planning.
We want to ensure that our departments have a positive business plan that’s acceptable and factual to a degree where it becomes more effective or efficient for all departments involved.
He alludes a little bit into what I’m going to be asking next.
The next general election will be held less than a year from now and the last budget of our term as Members of the Fourth Legislative Assembly will be introduced a few months from now.
Can the Premier describe the extent to which the government’s 2017 budget will reflect recommendations from the operational audit?
That’s the intention, to ensure that we try to get this completed before the next general election.
As I have indicated in the past, we want to make sure that we do this right and we want to make sure that we come up with a plan that’s effective for Nunavummiut and the Government of Nunavut to ensure that the service provided for Nunavummiut is effective.
Mr. Speaker, in January phase 2 of the report will be tabled.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier.
We will be looking forward to that tabling.
A few days ago the Premier updated us on the progress that has been made towards signing a devolution agreement with the federal government.
It is commonly understood that this will involve transferring federal programs and employees to the territorial government.
Can the Premier indicate how the operational audit process is taking into account the devolution process?
At this point I don’t have that information.
Mr. Speaker, through other devolution negotiations that are taken into account, we do have it tabled separately for strictly human resources, and we do have people in there negotiating with the federal government strictly on human resources and personnel transfer from the federal government into the Government of Nunavut.
That’s a few steps away yet.
We do want to get an agreement in principle intact before we get into the final details of the phase 2 negotiations, which may include the transfer of human resources from the federal government to the Government of Nunavut.
Question 541 – 4(3): Polar Bear Defence Kills and Quotas (Shooyook)
Mr. Shooyook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning wishes to Nunavummiut, the audience watching, as well as my colleagues here.
My question will be directed to the Minister of Environment this morning.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to keep returning to this question, but I want to be very clear in my understanding of polar bear issues.
I’m referring to polar bear tags.
Once the polar bear hunting season ends, the polar bears tend to roam into our communities, which generally leads to defence kills. That impacts a community’s quota and eats into their seasonal tags at the end of the day. Some communities end up with hardly any tags within the ice-free season.
How will this be resolved? I know that NWMB is working on our future system, but this system has existed since 1970 when the tag quota system was first introduced.
Ever since that time there hasn’t been any changes for about 50 years.
Will we be stuck forever with this management system?
Can you please elaborate on this issue and what our future holds in this area, as you are the current minister responsible?
I also thank the member for that question on polar bears.
Back in the 1970s the problem bears or raiding bears were killed but not taken off the quota.
In this current system all bears killed by humans are removed from the total allowable harvest. As per your commentary, it can lead to communities with no leftover tags when defence kills occur.
Yes, you spoke the truth when you said that when a community loses all their tags and a polar bear has to be killed for safety of life or property, it would have to be taken from the next year’s quota.
However, when there is a number of tags available, then the tags are taken from the community’s quota that are usually provided for hunting bears in season.
However, with respect to future plans in our polar bear management system, we will continue to use this management practice of using tags for harvesting polar bears.
This is very disconcerting to some communities and I share this concern of managing our problem bears.
One of the biggest problems in my view is when the polar bear season is over and a defence kill happens, not only is the tag removed but the person will no longer be eligible for a tag.
The conservation officers confiscate the polar bear skin, which is what at least occurs in my community.
When our local HTO holds an AGM, they pull names out of a hat and the person then gets the defence kill polar bear skin.
Mr. Speaker, the way it is currently managed is very problematic here in Nunavut.
Is there any way to make improvements in this system?
As an example, can’t the person who killed a bear in self-defence be given the tag and the skin retroactively when the new season opens?
Will the confiscation always occur?
It is quite a problem when you have to confiscate another person’s harvest, as in the old days that would impact their survival.
I do understand that the bear is confiscated when it is killed outside the hunting season when a person is forced to kill it.
I wonder if there is any way to improve these current confiscation methods and whether you can provide more information on this issue.
If I understood my colleague’s statement, his concern is when a defence kill occurs where the person has the polar bear confiscated and transferred to the HTO, who then draws names to present the skins to the winner. If I understood that, I will try to clarify the issue.
During the off-season when a person has to kill a bear, the skin is confiscated by the conservation officer, but first an investigation is conducted to determine if the kill was indeed a defence kill and not intentional.
Once the investigation confirms that it was a defence kill, the skin is transferred to the HTO.
The HTO board determines the impact on their quota, removes the tag, and when it reaches that stage, they have full discretion on how to deal with the skin.
As the Department of Environment, we can’t force them to act a certain way as we are not their overseers, but we do tend to provide advice that it would be better not to return the skin to the person who killed the bear.
The reason for that advice is because if some people know that a defence kill can somehow net them a skin, some but not all hunters may shoot bears in the off-season.
However, at this time the HTOs are given leeway on the polar bear skin and what they wish to do with it.
Yes, I totally understand that aspect of the system, but I wanted to share my concern as I feel improvements need to be made to our tag quota system for polar bears.
Polar bear numbers have exploded throughout Nunavut, with some communities experiencing many polar bears coming through in both the summer and fall seasons.
This endangers many people who are on the land with the increasing numbers, which is why I feel improvements are required in our short-term future. I wonder how we can address this to meet our concerns.
I will now ask this question to you.
In situations where polar bears are killed during the off-season, is this simply abiding by the legislation where the tags are removed? Will there ever be a provision to separate defence kills from the polar bear tags we hunt in the proper season?
If I am making myself understood here, can the tags be in addition to these off-season defence kills so that the tags aren’t affected during hunting season? Will this system ever be improved to a point where it is no longer problematic?
I am hoping I am understandable here, as I am asking again about improvements.
Yes, I understand you and I am aware that some communities have many polar bears. I’m from Arviat and we get many polar bears in the fall coming into the community.
To count polar bears that are taken out of season a separate way other than through the quota, right now our quotas are set through agreements with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and the federal government.
I believe that system is going to stay that way for the future for now because if we don’t take good care of our polar bears, the federal government may take away that responsibility from us and tell us “You’re not managing it properly.”
These days the polar bears that are killed are taken out of quotas no matter how they are killed or what the circumstances.
This is not the first time that this concern has been expressed and we will consider it.
I believe that this system will stay like that for now and there have just been too many defence kills of polar bears.
Question 542 – 4(3): Nunavut Teacher Education Program – Independent Review (Joanasie)
Good morning, colleagues, Nunavummiut, and everyone who is listening.
During yesterday’s Minister’s Statement about the Nunavut Teacher Education Program and the curriculum, there was going to be an independent review.
He stated that over 500 students have taken part in the Nunavut Teacher Education Program.
I would like to know how many to date are still teaching in schools.
Yesterday during my statement as Minister of Nunavut Arctic College, I gave you an update as to what we have been doing in working with the educators with the Department of Education.
The Nunavut Teacher Education Program has been regularly reviewed ever since it was introduced.
Following the Education Act, we have to teach bilingually. Our teachers have to teach using two languages. It’s called bilingual education.
We had a comprehensive review on this to see how we can better follow the Education Act.
Nunavut Arctic College and the DEAs reviewed this to see how it can be improved.
Once students graduate, we want to make sure they are able to teach in Inuktitut, English, or French completely.
We know that this will occur and we’ve had 500 graduates.
I expect that there will be new students that will be able to teach using the Inuktitut, English, and French languages, the three languages that we generally use. We want them to become complete teachers in Inuktitut and English and to be able to teach either language with the same strength.
The local DEAs and Nunavut Arctic College have been reviewing that.
Mr. Speaker, I hope I completely answered the question.
I am trying to understand how many teachers out of those 500 graduates that took the teacher education program are still teaching in schools. Maybe he can provide me with that information.
My other question is about people leaving their careers for whatever reason.
Can the minister tell me, for the teachers that took the NTEP program and have quit, what has been the biggest reason for them resigning?
Hon. Paul Quassa (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also thank my colleague for asking about details specific to this issue.
I don’t have the actual figures on hand related to graduates of the NTEP program who quit their teaching positions or moved to other positions.
What we have noted is that the first batch of students who graduated moved on to other positions and some of them have turned to curriculum development.
This is one area where we noticed changes, as an example of the curriculum (interpretation ends) resources (interpretation) field where many past teachers are working in.
They provide much needed support, even if they no longer teach.
We noticed that some of the other graduates are working within this government in non-educational fields, as an example, in the upper echelons of this government’s management.
Many past teachers have entered the public service and this is something we take pride in as well.
We prefer that they continue in their teaching careers, but each person has choices they make in their lives and are free to choose new careers.
Nonetheless, we still take pride in these people who graduated from NTEP, became teachers, and moved on to other positions as they are still working for this government.
It is obvious that they utilize their level of education in this field when they wish to pursue other careers and we noted many such examples.
Yes, this person is no longer a teacher, but they are part of the public servants, so they contribute in other ways.
As well, related to this program we continue to train new teachers and hope to produce many more, especially with our continued emphasis on the fact that all communities have the opportunity to take on this NTEP program within their hamlets.
We will continue to push this initiative forward.
It is obvious since it is impossible to forecast our future, even some of the graduates of this program may end up in different careers and we can’t control their choices.
However, we encourage them to pursue teaching positions in our schools as teachers.
Thank you for that response, minister.
It’s like we lose the former teachers who have resigned from their positions, especially these bilingual teachers.
That is a part of our mandate. I’m sure the teachers need more support.
As the minister stated, they usually end up developing curriculum material instead in the hopes that this would be positive. The result, however, has been that they have to be replaced by former teachers.
That is what I am emphasizing
This NTEP program will be independently reviewed and we know that Makigiaqta also involves a great deal of training. Maybe through this independent review we can make sure they are included in finding solutions.
I’m asking to make sure that they will be included.
During this independent review on improvements to the operations of the Nunavut Teacher Education Program, it will include ways to retain current students within the positions and this is part of our comprehensive review to improve the program.
Yes, your comments were truthful as my colleague suggested and we are very pleased with the Makigiaqta program.
Further, we will continue to push for this initiative as we have heard good things about it from Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, who announced that we need more bilingual teachers and yes, we agree with that assessment.
With Makigiaqta having been established, it will lead to further improvements.
At this time the Premier and I are members of the board.
That will be our vision as we search for ways to leverage the funding to make improvements.
That is what we will push for during this Makigiaqta mandate, as that is the purpose of the corporation on how to increase the numbers of Inuit employed within our public service and in particular our teachers.
That will be our focus, which I want my colleagues to be fully aware of.
We will push for and use this Makigiaqta mandate, which was quite comprehensive, to improve this situation, especially with our future teachers.
Question 543 – 4(3): Food Allowances for Medical Travel Clients (Mikkungwak)
Before I ask my first question, good morning to Nunavummiut and residents of Baker Lake. I have a grandchild who is now three years old today, Ursula Tatty-Niego.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, as the minister is well aware, medical clients often have to travel outside of the jurisdiction to receive health care.
In some cases medical clients can stay at such facilities as the Winnipeg Inuit Centre or the Larga facility where meals are provided.
However, from time to time medical clients stay elsewhere and they are given a meal allowance.
A number of my constituents have noted that the meal allowance is not sufficient to buy a proper meal, especially if they are trying to eat healthy, nutritious food.