EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
With that, it’s nice to see that as legislators, we do provide the honour and dignity of representing our people, but it’s also up to us as legislators to ensure that we abide by all of these rules as Members of Legislative Assembly.
Member’s Statement 260 – 3(2): Attending NTEP Graduation in Kugaaruk (Aupaluktuq)
I want to inform the House that tomorrow, June 9, I will be absent from the House. I’m flying into Kugaaruk to attend the NTEP program graduation ceremony.
While you guys are working, I will be celebrating and I promise that I will show up for work on June 9.
Today is June 7. Tomorrow is June 8. (interpretation ends) Thank you, Mr. Ningark.
Member’s Statement 261 – 3(2): Inuktitut Programming in the North (Elliott)
I rise today to offer some further reflections on Inuktitut programming in the North.
Mr. Speaker, on March 11 of this year, I rose in this House to talk about the important role that public broadcasting plays in our communities.
Twenty-five years ago, the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation first began bringing Inuit stories, issues, music, traditions, and values into our homes on television screens. They now have three regional offices across Nunavut and employ approximately 40 people.
However, they operate out of a building that is over 40 years old.
Mr. Speaker, IBC has embarked on an excellent project to construct a new home called the Nunavut Media Arts Centre. This building is ready to start construction, but like most projects, they require some infrastructure dollars to move forward.
This centre will provide a full television production studio that will allow more Inuit language programming to be made here in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, using modern communication tools to tell our people’s stories in their own language would be a tremendous asset for preserving the Inuit language and promoting the traditional Inuit values.
Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure this weekend of meeting with representatives from the National Film Board of Canada. It is my understanding that they made history this past week as this was the first time that their board meetings were held in Nunavut.
The National Film Board also undertook the release of Martha of the North, a production which depicts the High Artic relocation of Inuit to my communities of Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay.
Mr. Speaker, this is a beautiful piece of work that tells the story of Martha Flaherty and her struggle to regain her sense of self after being relocated to the High Arctic. We need to be able to continue to tell these stories, capture them for future generations, and distribute them.
It is through collaborative efforts from all stakeholders that will see the Nunavut media centre become reality.
Mr. Speaker, as the GN starts its 2011-12 capital planning process, I would ask the government to consider ways of assisting with funding a venture as important as this.
Member’s Statement 262 – 3(2): Situation Facing the Nunavut Housing Corporation (Schell)
Mr. Schell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m not sure if this week will be as dramatic as the one that we just went through, but I’ll do my best to keep things exciting.
Mr. Speaker, we all know that the situation facing the Nunavut Housing Corporation is far from resolved.
I want to add my voice to those who have called on the government to ensure that the audit that the Nunavut Housing Corporation will be undergoing over the next couple of months is as rigorous as possible.
I also want to again state that I believe that the government must not hesitate to make this a forensic audit, if necessary.
I also want to make it clear that this decision needs to be made by the cabinet and not left in the hands of any one minister.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that we have sent a clear message to the entire government. All ministers need to be aware that they are under scrutiny at all times.
We must also recognize that this government has been in office since 2008. It is now the year 2010. At a certain point, we no longer have the luxury of making excuses for today’s problems by pointing the finger at yesterday’s decisions.
We need to take full responsibility for our actions. We need to assume full accountability for our duties.
Speaker: (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Schell.
Member’s Statement 263 – 3(2): Situation Facing the Nunavut Housing Corporation (Ningeongan)
I will be saying some things today that I do not take lightly because the issues facing the Nunavut Housing Corporation are very serious.
Mr. Speaker, my constituents in Coral Harbour and Chesterfield Inlet do not necessarily expect perfection from me or any other Member of this Legislative Assembly.
They are more realistic than to expect perfection from politicians. However, they do expect us to act honourably.
They do expect us to behave honestly and they do expect us to always take decisions with the best interests of Nunavut in mind.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly have been extremely disappointed with this entire situation. $60 million is not a trivial amount of money.
That money could have been used to build health centres and schools. It could have been used to hire doctors and teachers.
I am sure that we could all identify sixty million ways to spend it.
Mr. Speaker, we know that we have a mess in front of us.
The government has assured us that it will clean up this mess.
It has assured us that the new management at the Housing Corporation is on top of things. It has assured us that a full audit is going to take place.
Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize that the results of this audit must be released to all Members of the Legislative Assembly as soon as it has been completed.
Given the seriousness of this situation, the government has no right to sit on the results until this House reconvenes in October.
I hope that the minister and the Premier has heard me clearly on this.
Mr. Speaker, it is clear to me that this situation did not develop overnight.
Although I still have difficulty in understanding how the government could lose track of its spending to such a serious degree, it is clear to me that these problems have been building for years.
Mr. Speaker, I need to be clear that I am not entirely satisfied with the current minister.
He certainly bears his share of responsibility.
I also want to be clear that I am very glad that the Housing Corporation is under new management.
Mr. Speaker, I think that it is fair to say that the minister and the Housing Corporation are now on probation.
Member’s Statement 264 – 3(2): Decentralized Positions in Pangnirtung (Komoartok)
I rise today to address an issue that I raised on March 28, but I never received an adequate response. I was told that I would be receiving a response at a later date.
I am referring here to the 71 jobs that were transferred to Pangnirtung as part of the decentralization scheme.
We did receive the good news that three of the jobs from the Medical Travel Office were transferred to Iqaluit.
That was good news as it was clearly identified.
However, our community is still wondering about the other positions that do not relate to health.
We were informed that another three positions were transferred as well because they were unable to fill the positions, but it was done without informing our community.
I believe this is true as I received that information from them.
I realize that I’m referring to only six of those jobs. However, they are important to our communities as they provide many benefits and these jobs are sought by our residents.
The housing and offices are readily available.
I recently received a call from a Pangnirtung resident who stated that they had found a position here in Iqaluit, but due to the lack of housing, that person will not be moving.
The lack of housing becomes an obstacle to those individuals who wish to move here to Iqaluit and in particular, to our community of Pangnirtung, as it is in the vicinity and many have relatives living here.
Today, as I stand in this House, I can state that with regard to residents of Pangnirtung, many are currently working here in Iqaluit. We have an interpreter, Naimie, working here, including myself.
There are eight individuals from Pangnirtung working in this House and this provides a snapshot of how many residents of Pangnirtung are moving to Iqaluit, where there are more employment opportunities.
I urge the government to deliberate carefully with respect to any job positions currently in the communities and if possible, not to unilaterally transfer those positions without consulting the communities.
They already have existing housing and they can remain where they have support instead of moving to another community where they have no support systems.
I will be asking questions at the appropriate time and get an update on that.
Member’s Statement 265 – 3(2): Seismic Testing in Lancaster Sound (Arvaluk)
My voice is still suffering as a result of a cold and perhaps it may be that people assume that this is now my regular voice.
I rise today to talk about seismic testing in Lancaster Sound and in the beginning, it sounded like it was only in that area.
The scientists will be going to Pond Inlet to consult with the community on the details of the seismic testing.
In looking at the map, it goes all the way from Lancaster Sound down to Davis Strait, close to Pangnirtung waters.
This is a huge area.
Nobody has mentioned the provisions contained in Part 4, Article 12 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
Through that article or section, they’re trying to consult with our communities. The question we have is: why are they only utilizing parts of the sections of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement when there is an entire process laid out?
This provision was put in the land claims agreement and it has to be respected because it was signed by the federal government and NTI.
In addition, section 12.4.4 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement states that if there is going to be any work done adjacent to Nunavut communities, they have to consult with the communities, whether it’s exploring gas and whether the research is undertaken by the Nunavut government or the federal government.
The people of Nunavut must be consulted adequately.
However, to date, it seems like the consultation process is poorly managed and seems to have been added only due to the outcry. We have just heard that these scientists are going to Pond Inlet to consult with the Pond Inlet HTO.
Where are their long-term preparations that they ought to have had in place way prior to this project being undertaken so that they could consult with all of the communities on the impacts? The seismic testing will have an impact on all of those communities this coming summer.
I will be asking questions to the Minister of Environment at the appropriate time.
We have a group of people here visiting Iqaluit and they’re from the National Film Board of Canada.
I would like to recognize the individuals sitting behind me.
For more than 70 years, it has built, enriched, and preserved an internationally renowned collection of aboriginal documentaries, dramas, and animation, including nearly 100 films on Inuit.
The National Film Board, in partnership with the Inuit Relations Secretariat, Indian Affairs and Northern Development (IRS-INAC) and Avataq Cultural Institute, plans to create a DVD box set that celebrates the history and traditions of the Inuit.
They have provided tremendous support to many people.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the following people and I apologize ahead of time if I mispronounce their names: Anne-Marie Applin, Mary-Lynn Charlton, John Hutton, Marc Rousseau, Jerome Zwicker, Carolle Brabant, Tom Perlmutter, Claude Joli-Coeur, Louisa Frate, and Cindy Witten.
They are from the National Film Board of Canada and we would like to welcome them to the Gallery, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a group of visitors who are in the Gallery today.  Joining us today is a group of parliamentary interns from the House of Commons.
These young Canadians from across the country are participants in the national Parliamentary Internship Program. They are in Iqaluit this week for their annual tour to Nunavut.
I ask all members to join me in extending a warm welcome to our guests. Welcome to the Gallery.
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery. Item 6.
Question 391 – 3(2): Summer Employment Opportunities for Nunavut Students (Ningark)
As I promised on Friday, I have questions today for the Minister of Human Resources.
On Friday, I noted that although the Government of Nunavut has a summer student employment program, most of these jobs are located in Iqaluit and the larger communities.
The Government of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, has programs to provide wage subsidies to companies and other employers to hire and train summer students in remote communities.
My question, Mr. Speaker, is: will the minister consider introducing a similar initiative for students in Nunavut?
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Ningark. Minister of Human Resources, Hon. Daniel Shewchuk.
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the member for that important question.
As you know, the Government of Nunavut has a summer student employment program, and we are very happy and proud of the program that we have in place.
Just for the member’s information, at present, in the Kitikmeot region, we have 16 summer students hired of which 14 of them are beneficiaries.
In the member’s constituency that he is responsible for, we have no students who have applied into the program yet, so we will wait for those.
However, as far as providing employment to those communities, we encourage all government departments to take advantage of the program and show their interest and register with HR to provide summer student employment for the young kids that we have in school.
So we encourage this.
As far as applying assistance to other entities to hire summer students, I believe through hamlets that they have funding through CG&S that they can apply, if they wish to, to hire summer students in the summer.
Given that every community in Nunavut has at least a small number of companies that may be interested in working with the Government of Nunavut to provide summer jobs for students, would the minister be willing to consider providing wage subsidies to companies in order to increase the level of work opportunities for students during the summer months? This is for the small companies in the communities across Nunavut.
I would like to thank the member for that suggestion.
Yes, it’s something that I think we could move forward on and explore into partner-sharing to provide young people with employment.
However, with the facts that I have outlined about his communities, I would encourage him and encourage all of our government departments to put forward proposals to hire summer students in those communities.
My second supplementary is I think it is important to note that there are many young people, along with their parents, along with the community leaders, who do not know the accessibility of such programs.
Will the minister endeavour to make sure that people know that there is, in fact, a program of sorts?
Again, a good point raised by the member.
We are trying, through the HR department, to inform all departments across the government about the summer student program and the importance about relaying that to the communities.
I also would ask that all of us, as MLAs, let our constituents know about the summer student program, both the people who hire the summer students and the students themselves.
Question 392 – 3(2): Nunavut Housing Trust Shortfall (Rumbolt)
Last week, the government announced that the Nunavut Housing Corporation is being required to “provide $18.9 million from its own fiscal resources” to address the $60.0 million shortfall in the Nunavut Housing Trust.
Can the minister clarify for the public record whether the Financial Management Board identified the specific areas where the Nunavut Housing Corporation will be required to cut or is the Nunavut Housing Corporation being allowed to identify its own cuts?
Mr. Speaker, I want to just point out the whole process. The Housing Corporation went through its current financial situation and identified areas where it could come up with some funding toward this total of $18.9 million.
Can the minister outline for the House today exactly where the $18.9 million in cuts will be coming from?
Before he answers the question, Mr. Speaker, we all are aware how the minister enjoys long-drawn-out answers to his questions, so this is the one time that I would enjoy hearing a long-drawn-out answer.
I anticipated that was going to be his next question. I could have answered it in my first one, but I figured I would wait until he asked it.
Mr. Speaker, as I had indicated, there are five different areas within the Housing Corporation where they are coming up with the $18.9 million and I’ll outline each one of them.
The first one is that the Housing Corporation is going to use $11 million out of its working capital. Mr. Speaker, as I had indicated in the past, our working capital consists of funds that were transferred over at the time to a division and it also includes mortgage payments collected that had previously been deemed uncollectible, as well as investment and interest income as well.
According to the Nunavut Housing Corporation Act, those funds have to be spent on housing.
Mr. Speaker, the second area in which the Housing Corporation is coming up with is $3 million of the unspent 2009-2010 M&I budget. These are projects that were planned for 2009-2010 but were not initiated as a result of lack of capacity or contractors in the various communities.
The third area, Mr. Speaker, is the use of $2 million out of our 2010-11 M&I budget.
Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear right now that $2 million coming out of the 2010-11 budget, it means also that none of those projects are being cancelled as a result of this reallocation, and I’ll explain that, Mr. Speaker.
The corporation has been able to prioritize its M&I projects to be able to capitalize on and access some of the CMHC funding that has been identified under Canada’s Economic Action Plan renovation and retrofit funding.
So we have been able to take $2 million worth of work and get those funds under the CEAP funding, so that freed up that $2 million.
So again, all of those projects that were still budgeted for 2011 are going to go ahead.
Mr. Speaker, the other area that funding is coming from is the $2.2 million that will be used out of the CMHC Affordable Housing Initiative.
This is funding that is provided under the extension of the Affordable Housing Program and CMHC has confirmed that it can be applied towards the trust.
It was something that we were waiting to hear for confirmation from them on.
Mr. Speaker, the last area of funding that the corporation has been able to come up with is utilizing $700,000 out of our 2010-11 Secured Storage budget.
The corporation has prioritized the fact that the Nunavut Housing Trust completion is much more important than putting additional cold storage buildings in the communities.
Earlier this year, all of the MLAs were informed that the Nunavut Housing Corporation would use $4.75 million of its working capital to acquire a warehouse for the Iqaluit Housing Authority. In addition to providing the needed warehouse space, this property will also provide the necessary office space to the Iqaluit Housing Authority and the Nunavut Housing Corporation staff.
Can the minister clarify whether or not the government’s decision to require $18.9 million in Nunavut Housing Corporation cuts has or will impact this purchase?
I would like to again thank the member for that question.
I can indicate that the result of using $11 million of our working capital will not impact the purchase that had already taken place prior to this situation coming to light.
Question 393 – 3(2): Seismic Testing in Lancaster Sound (Arvaluk)
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) My question is to the Minister of Environment, the Hon. Daniel Shewchuk.
Mr. Speaker, community consultations for the Geological Survey of Canada’s proposed project entitled the “Eastern Canadian Arctic Seismic Experiment” to conduct seismic testing in Lancaster Sound, Jones Sound, and Baffin Bay are currently underway.
Representatives from the Geological Survey of Canada are scheduled to meet with the Pond Inlet HTO tomorrow.
The communities which will be affected by this project clearly do not support it.
We have not heard yet from other communities that will be affected after.
Can the minister indicate how he is taking these concerns into account in his decision-making?
Mr. Speaker, as we all know, this seismic application is before us now as a government.
There is consultation taking place right now, as the member informed us, and I believe that is happening in Pond Inlet tomorrow and other communities because of weather delays.
We will wait until that consultation is complete and we will wait for the proponents and all entities that are involved in that consultation to provide us with information and what the status is and the concerns of the community, and we will move forward from there.
Under Part 4 of Article 12 of the land claims agreement, it states that consultation is to take place for all potential exploration, or seismic operation, or anything that will happen in Nunavut.
Has the other communities, like Clyde River, Broughton Island, or Pangnirtung, been included in these consultation plans?
According to the information provided by this consultation team outlines the seismic proposed areas all of the way down to Salliq Basin, I don’t know how to pronounce that one because that is outside of my area, it goes all of the way down past Frobisher Bay.
The communities that are being involved and consulted with are Clyde River, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, Resolute Bay, and Grise Fiord, the five communities that are affected under the Nunavut Settlement Area that this permit applies to.
Your final… no, no, no. I’m sorry.
Mr. Arvaluk: Don’t scare me like that, Mr. Speaker.
I will ask some other time about why the other two communities are not affected by this seismic proposal.
Mr. Speaker, communities are entitled to know where their government stands on issues such as this, especially this government.
It appears to me that the support for projects such as this is because of the economic development potential of mineral, oil, and gas exploration. Can the minister clearly state for the record whether the government as a whole supports seismic testing, yes or no?
The Government of Nunavut supports the federal government actions to study all aspects of Lancaster Sound, environment, including geological resource potential, and the Government of Nunavut rejects any notion that the proposed geosciences/geographic group research in Lancaster Sound implies a decision to develop offshore resources there and any such inference is unfounded.
As the Government of Nunavut, we have the position that we need to move on in economic opportunity in Nunavut. However, in this case, we need to hear from people. We want to go listen to the communities.
At that point in time, us as a government and cabinet, we will make a decision on how we move forward in this specific case.
Finally, your final supplementary, Mr. Arvaluk.
After Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an announcement in regard to this, I was a witness at the signing ceremony of the MOU between the minister himself and Minister Prentice.
I didn’t see anywhere in the MOU, unless I was not wearing my glasses, that there was an indication that there will be a seismic blasting proposal in that area.
We were happy that it was in preparation for what we can use Lancaster Sound for, especially as it is a very rich area, as it was recognized as a rich area for marine mammals and ecosystems that are sensitive.
That’s the kind of belief that we were lead into.
Can the minister then table the MOU between the federal government and the NTI and the Government of Nunavut in this House?
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the member for that question and suggestion.