EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Perhaps I will provide all members with information on what kinds of funds we have made available.
Question 065 – 3(2): Dry Cargo Resupply Program (Aupaluktuq)
My questions are for the Minister of Community and Government Services, the Hon. Minister Kusugak.
For the last couple of years, the Minister of CGS has tabled an annual activity report on the dry cargo resupply program, which we commonly refer to as the sealift.
Can the minister tell me if he will be tabling the latest report before the end of this month?
I would like to thank the Member for Baker Lake for asking that question. (interpretation ends) The department has completed the report, Mr. Speaker.
However, it is in the hands of translators and hopefully it will be ready for tabling as early as the fall session.
I also want to thank the minister for the response.
Last week, the GN’s new Nunavut Transportation Strategy was tabled in the Legislative Assembly by the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation.
One of the proposed actions in the strategy is to enhance the current marine resupply system.
Can the minister indicate to me how the departments of CGS and ED&T are working together on this issue?
I thank you again for the question.
You are right, that department is definitely the lead on the marine infrastructure issues.
However, having said that, Mr. Speaker, we are in discussions with them to see how we could better work together once the new infrastructure comes into place.
Mr. Aupaluktuq: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also thank the minister for that response as well.
I guess people are just curious to know what the options are as private and business owners are inquiring about the information that I’m asking.
For supplementary, earlier this week, during the proceedings of the Committee of the Whole, a number of questions were asked concerning the open market feasibility study that the Department of Community and Government Services plans to undertake.
Can the minister indicate to me if his department will be doing this work itself or will it be contracted to a consultant to perform?
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Thank you again, Mr. Speaker.
With respect to the open market feasibility study, an RFP process has been completed, the contract has been awarded, and work will be starting within the next two weeks, Mr. Speaker.
I also thank the minister for responding to that.
I will be following up with a question later on this week with that response the minister provided.
Mr. Speaker, summer is only days away and Nunavummiut are looking forward to replenishing their shelves and restocking their sealift rooms. Can the minister indicate if residents of the Kivalliq can expect any changes to this year’s sealift with respect to such matters as routes and carriers?
I was looking out my window last night and this morning while I was having coffee, it looks like summer is a little later this year than usual.
With respect to the Kivalliq sealift, the GN contract remains as it has been for the past few years. With competition, however, the region is being served by a number of carriers at this time.
Question 066 – 3(2): Status of Sealskins in North Bay (Komoartok)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Environment, Mr. Shewchuk.
Last winter, you made an announcement in regard to sealskins that were shipped south, both tanned and non-tanned skins, that were not purchased at the auction and that they would be sold here in Nunavut.
I would like an update on the status of these skins, whether people have purchased any skins or if they are not ordering them.
I would like to thank the member for a good question. The status of the sealskin market is very poor right now.
Yes, we do have sealskins down in the North Bay Auction House.
We have now implemented again a program that we are allowing all Nunavutmiut to purchase sealskins back at a reduced rate.
I don’t have an updated status on that right at the present, but I’m enquiring and I’m going to find out that information and see from the auction house what interest has been shown by the people of Nunavut.
The reason why I ask is that based on my experience, most people prefer to look at, handle, and check the quality of the material prior to making a purchase.
I would like to tell the minister that there would be a lot more skins sold if people can see the skins and bring them up to the headquarters like Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, and Rankin Inlet.
The people of Nunavut are more interested in purchasing skins when they can see them and they would pay for them right there.
If it takes a long time to order sealskins, then I would suggest that you bring the sealskins to regional headquarters like Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Cambridge Bay since many Inuit from the outlying communities tend to pass through these gateway centres.
If it takes a long time to order sealskins, I would recommend that the GN undertake to have these sealskins shipped to regional centres in Nunavut as more people would be able to purchase them.
Can the minister commit to reviewing this if the process of ordering is too long?
I understand the member’s concern and I agree that there may be some time involved, but I think we have to give this program a chance; it was just initiated again to see how it works.
I also think that there could be problems in that the orders would go in and then the sealskins are tanned to supply back to the people of Nunavut.
There would be a cost involved to have the sealskins tanned, but we don’t know how many people want back.
But I take his comment well and I think we should be prudent and review the process to see how it’s working and then if there are challenges, we could address it at that time.
Question 067 – 3(2): H1N1 Virus Update (Rumbolt)
My question today is for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
The H1N1 virus has been on constant rise for the last week throughout Nunavut and has recently been upgraded to a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Can the minister update the House on the latest statistics on the effects of H1N1 on the people of Nunavut?
Hon. Tagak Curley: Thank you. (interpretation) I fully understand his question and I would like to inform the member that we have been getting daily announcements.
The chief medical health officer sends out press releases every afternoon at two o’clock on what is happening in Nunavut and if the H1N1 cases are increasing.
There will be another press release today.
But I can tell the members today that we have been receiving press releases daily and we have a press release for today.
I can tell the member that the H1N1 cases are increasing in Nunavut and I heard this morning that there are two additional cases.
It would be better if the number of cases were reducing, but to date, there are 145 cases of the H1N1 flu virus in Nunavut.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. (interpretation ends) Your first supplementary, Mr. Rumbolt.
I thank the minister for updating us.
Your department has not made public which communities are affected by the H1N1 virus.
Will your department be releasing which communities are affected any time in the near future?
We haven’t considered making public which communities are affected because there are not too many cases of H1N1. Furthermore, there are privacy issues that we have to consider as well.
For that reason, we’re not going to publicize which communities have been affected.
My next question is just so that we can understand the process.
From the time that somebody is tested in the community to the time where they are tested either positive or negative, what is the timeline for this?
Mr. Speaker, I think the member should really be asking the local medical officials about that because they are pretty well informed exactly what they should be doing, but I will get back to the member on the specific question with respect to the medical procedure.
Question 068 – 3(2): Home Care Workers for High Arctic Communities (Elliott)
I would like to continue with the question I had started yesterday and it’s directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Hon. Tagak Curley.
In Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, we do not have any home care workers and the situation for both of those communities is compounded because there is no community health representative and there are also no social workers.
What are the guidelines for communities to be able to receive home care workers in their community?
In regard to your question, the workers that you mentioned are working really hard in the communities and we try to provide home care workers to take care of elders.
We would like to see an increase in the number of workers because more communities are requiring home care workers and some of them need more than one.
In your community, from what I can understand, I can say that there’s a requirement to have a home care worker to take care of the people who are housebound.
We are currently reviewing the community that you mentioned. We will keep you informed and give you updates as they come up.
I was wondering if the minister would be able to tell me what type of a timeframe I would be looking at before I would hear back from him on that.
Mr. Speaker, I think we are all aware that when you create positions within the government, those positions aren’t opened right away. There are currently vacancies in the government and the members on that side advised us not to create any further PYs while there are still vacant positions not being filled. We will respect that advice.
But I can tell the member that in the community of Grise Fiord, we might possibly get a home care worker on a casual basis at the beginning.
We will have to work on these issues first of all and it will probably take about six months to fill the permanent position.
So in the interim, we will use a casual position in Grise Fiord.
I thank the minister for that statement. I’m sure the people in Grise Fiord will be extremely happy.
So I guess we will work and hopefully have something happen in Resolute Bay as well because I know there are some residents there who require home care.
It puts a lot of strain on the family and if people are working, it actually doesn’t allow them to provide the care and I think it actually builds a little bit of guilt because they feel that they wish they could do more for their family but they are not able to.
In your answer to my question, you stated that there’s an increase for the requests for home care workers across the territory in all communities.
Now that I have dealt with my two communities that have a concern for this, is the government looking at some type of a strategy to work towards home care or long-term care for, as you mentioned, our elders but also people who have disabilities or people who require home care on a long-term basis?
Hon. Tagak Curley (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I agree to that and it’s currently in our plans.
Since we don’t have a long-term strategy for home care workers, our department will have to deal with it directly and work on a strategy.
I can say though that we are getting $5.4 million from the federal government for community and home care, and we also supplement it by $2.7 million. We would like to see this as an ongoing program and we would like to see home care workers in all Nunavut communities.
We will be putting together a long-term strategy for home care.
That’s great that there’s going to be more money for communities all across Nunavut.
I was just wondering if the minister could indicate if he has any idea of what timeframe the strategy will take to have it tabled in the House.
Will it be developed in lightning speed like the Minister of Finance’s strategy that is completed already or will it lag like some of the other reports that haven’t been?
I haven’t talked to the Minister of Finance about these issues.
I can’t say what timeframe we have, but it’s one of the priorities of our department and we are well aware of the elders, or housebound people, or the people with chronic diseases who need proper home care.
We will probably put together a strategy by the fall because of its priority and once it’s completed, I will table it in the House.
Question 069 – 3(2): Official Languages Act (Okalik)
I would like to thank the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth for making an announcement about the concurrence by Parliament and that our Official Languages Act is now ours to implement.
My question is: when are we going to be implementing the Official Languages Act?
It’s very important and July 9 is also a very important day for Nunavut.
Is it possible to have the Nunavut Official Languages Act implemented on that date?
Minister of Languages, (interpretation ends) Hon. Louis Tapardjuk.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the member for that question.
Just yesterday, the Senate Committee approved the Official Languages Act and it will become official once it is signed by the Governor General.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to clarify that we have to plan on how we are going to implement the Official Languages Act because it’s quite clear in there that the Minister of Languages has to complete a plan by March 2010 on how the Act is going to be implemented and then we will know at that time.
We will also hold a major conference in the fall about the implementation of the Official Languages Act. The government and private businesses will be included in this major conference.
The Official Languages Act will have an effect on three sectors - the Legislative Assembly, the Government of Nunavut, and court services.
These three are the foundation where we will start from with respect to the legislation concurred to yesterday and we are going to start planning.
From my perspective, if members would like to make a special announcement about this legislation on July 9, then we can do that. Even though it’s not going to be ready by then, we will be working on the plans to have the Act implemented.
Question 070 – 3(2): Regulations for Official Languages Act (Elliott)
My question is directed to the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth as well, the Hon. Louis Tapardjuk.
Has the Government of Nunavut created all of the regulations required to enforce the Act?
First of all, I would like to thank the member. We had a meeting in Arctic Bay on language issues, which the member attended, and the Nunavut Quest dog race was just getting underway when we had that meeting to start planning on how to implement the legislation.
In regard to regulations, we will be having regional meetings so that the Official Languages Act is fully understood by the people out there. It’s going to be some time in 2009, but we still haven’t picked a date for the final conference.
But with regulations, the Minister of Languages will have to put together a plan. Once we start implementing the Act, we will also have to work on the regulations.
It will clearly identify policies or regulations that will have to be amended and those are going to be identified in the plan, Mr. Speaker.
I thank you for the answer.
I realize that I’m still learning all of the aspects of the different… there are two, the Official Languages Act and there is also the Inuit Language Protection Act. I think sometimes I get them confused, so you might have to excuse my ignorance on this part of it.
But when it talks about Inuit languages, we’re talking about Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes, that’s correct.
When we are talking about Inuit languages in Nunavut, we are referring to the language spoken by Nunavummiut, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun. The recognized Inuit languages are Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun and whenever we refer to the Inuit language, that is what we are alluding to, Mr. Speaker.
It’s an interesting learning experience to go through this and it’s amazing to see the Government of Canada, with the concurrence, is allowing us to take this sort of bold step and there are a lot of opportunities that are coming up.
But the last question that I actually would like to ask is just so that I have total clarification. In terms of printing material in the Inuit language, will that be in syllabics, or will that be in Roman orthography, or will that be in both?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Inuinnaqtun will be in Roman orthography or Qaliujaqpait, which is the Inuktitut term for Roman orthography. We have the Roman orthography and the syllabics writing system.
The correct term for syllabics is Qaniujaqpait.
Even though I’m the Minister of Languages, I’m not quite sure which term is which.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to establish a language authority called Taiguusiliuqtiit and this authority is going to have a lot of work to do in standardizing the writing system.
We will also have to realize and decide which writing system the government is going to be using.
Regulations, policies, government operations, and even schools will have to decide which writing system they will use.
Those are going to be the responsibility of Taiguusiliuqtiit, the Inuit Language Authority.
They will have to work on these matters that the member asked about and that’s a major responsibility that they will have to take on to clarify them and there are still many details that they will have to work on in the near future, Mr. Speaker.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Your final supplementary, Mr. Elliott.
Mr. Elliott: Sorry, I said I wasn’t going to ask any more questions.
Is this all within the timeframe? You had mentioned, I believe, March of 2010 is when everything and all of the consultation will be taken care of.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Starting from now up to the time of the conference, we’re going to be performing all of the logistical work and I think there’s some consulting going on to identify the impacts.
Before March 2010, we will have to have a plan in place and completed by the Minister of Languages, which has to include all of the areas that need changes.
It will identify who is going to be affected or who may have concerns about the legislation and its implementation.
We will use conferences or other means of working on this plan for implementing the legislation and it will outline what our expectations are. Prior to that, we have to have a plan in place which will include the kind of details that the member was asking about.
Only when that plan has been completed will we be able to provide an answer on the details, Mr. Speaker.
Question 071 – 3(2): Inuktitut Language Instruction in Schools (Ningark)
I would like to direct my question to Mr. Tapardjuk. I think it’s his day today.
I would like to ask a question to the Hon. Tapardjuk as he is the Minister of Languages as well as Education.
As was stated earlier, a reference was made about the Senate approving the Official Languages Act and concurrence of Parliament.
I don’t want to dwell on the actual terms.
My question is: does this mean that the usage of Inuktitut will be strengthened in the schools?
That’s my question, Mr. Speaker.
There are two pieces of language legislation that we are very proud of and as I stated earlier, the Official Languages Act received concurrence yesterday.
Further, this winter, the Education Act was passed and it identifies the requirement for Inuktitut and curricula to be taught in the schools.
When the Department of Education goes in front of the Committee of the Whole to have its appropriation approved, we will identify the number of additional teachers we may require in order to fully implement this legislation.
This means that we will require more funding in order to have the Inuktitut curricula worked on and the other matters that require planning.
At that time, we will give you definite numbers.
As I stated earlier, it says specifically in the Education Act that Inuktitut is a requirement in the schools, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for his response and it was quite clear. I’m not only talking about Inuit practices but the Inuit language within the schools as well.
The minister made reference to Inuit and we can teach Inuit practices, such as hunting, land, and survival skills.
What I wanted to know was the actual language and if we will be strengthening the usage of the Inuit language within the schools.
Will the federal government be providing more funding to the Nunavut government for the implementation of the two pieces of language legislation?
In the Education Act, there’s a clause that we can have Inuktitut language instructors who are unilingual and may even be preferable in some cases.
We will have to also deal with the details of how we will hire Inuktitut instructors, especially elders who cannot speak English but can teach Inuktitut.
In these plans, the goal is to have students fully bilingual in English and Inuktitut.
If we are to have this goal and plan for this result, we also have to look at the number of instructors down the road.
There are quite a number of details we have to work on in order to implement it fully. In the Act, it states specifically what should be implemented at certain times.
There are timelines set for the implementation of the Act.
Yes, it’s true that we don’t see a lot of money specifically for Inuktitut services from the federal government, but we do get larger chunks of money for French services.
We hope to negotiate an agreement with the federal government after it’s approved by Parliament and take additional action at that time.
I thank the minister very much for his response.
I believe he was talking about planning.
Are you now preparing plans already or will that happen at a later date, or are you going to wait for the concurrence of the Official Languages Act from Ottawa?
Are you already making plans so that unilingual Inuit elders will be instructors in the schools?
Have these plans been initiated or is it just starting?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes, we are already doing the planning and I believe it is set for July 9.
It will be in July anyway because we will have to implement the Act.
Cabinet has approved the policies as it is a requirement.
We are moving on it and we are also looking at the month of July to have it implemented for the Education Act, Mr. Speaker.
Question 072 – 3(2): GN Response to PETA’s Cartoon (Aupaluktuq)
My question is directed towards the Hon. Minister Daniel Shewchuk, Minister of Environment. It also may be a side note for Madam Premier.
In relation to seals on this morning’s CBC report, a story states that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, has launched a website and has a cartoon depicting Inuit as barbarians with clubs.
Mr. Aupaluktuq: I just thought that the minister should know as well that this is being advertised on the Internet and it is a website called, “Olympic Shame 2010,” and I’ll quote briefly a couple of sentences in the animation.
There’s a cartoon there in the animation of an Inuksuk swinging a club at a seal and a pool of blood.
And the other quote here as well, an animation on the site also shows Inuit with seal blood dripping from their hands and mouths, wielding Stone Age clubs.
I want to ask the hon. minister: will the minister or his department make an official response to this PETA anti-sealing campaign and website on behalf of Nunavummiut?
I do have the information in front of me that the member has provided and I say yes, we will make a response to this.
What the anti-seal lobbyists are doing has a major impact on Nunavummiut and on Inuit culture. It clearly shows gross misunderstanding of the cultural practices and how seals are utilized by Inuit.
In the Olympics coming up in 2010, the Inuksuk is going to be the official symbol.
We will have to give our support and educate the outside world about Inuit and our culture, and that we do not play with animals that are our food.
I wanted to make this statement publicly due to their antics.
What has been put on the Internet by PETA is extremely negative.
So I would like to urge the minister or his department to make a response to this anti-sealing campaign.
I assure the member that we will respond to this.
I find it very disgraceful, this PETA website they have formed and the information the member supplied to me.