EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Can the minister state that... the issues with batteries in wheelchairs and the wheels being too thin to go through Nunavut roads because of the sandy roads and stuff; will the minister be providing an alternative for those problems that they have in the communities?
There has been some progress in trying to do more research around that in Nunavut through work with people with disabilities. In fact they are meeting in Rankin Inlet next week. We’ve also been working with the Rick Hanson Foundation to try and do more research on spinal cord injuries in the north.
In fact, I believe he is arriving tomorrow.
We’ll be doing an announcement with him as well as the Premier on what we’re trying to do in the north to research further some of those challenges.
I’m happy to hear that there will be a meeting in Rankin Inlet.
I wonder if the members can be provided with the minutes of that meeting and the recommendations.
Yes, I would be prepared to share that information. I have staff that will be there, as well as staff from various other departments.
I would be pleased to report that once I have it.
Question 200 – 2(4): Addressing Mental Health (Peterson)
My question, too, is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Earlier I spoke about the importance of addressing mental health issues, as well as physical health issues.
Can the Minister of Health provide some information on what resources or personnel are available to Nunavut residents to help them address their mental health issues?
Currently, we have some programs available in the community through the health centres, social workers, and mental health workers; there are also addictions counsellors in hamlet offices.
At the same time the department had undertaken a training program in Nunavut to train mental health workers for positions in various communities. Presently, we have the director of mental health competition out to start dealing with some of those issues.
At the same time, the Government of Nunavut tabled, in 2003, I believe, a Mental Health Strategy. We continue to try and implement the recommendations coming out of that report.
Just as a person with complicated physical illness needs to see a specialist, so do people with complicated severe mental health problems need to see a specialist such as a psychiatrist.
I remember a few years I met a psychiatrist, not for myself, I met a psychiatrist in the airport in Cambridge Bay who had come up from a university. He had been there two days and he saw 35 people. He only came up every three or four months.
My question for the minister: can the minister update this House on how often psychiatric services are provided to Nunavut communities?
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Peterson. (interpretation) Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister Aglukkaq.
Most communities receive specialist visits from out of territory, such as from the Stanton Yellowknife Hospital. In the instance of Cambridge Bay, they receive a visit from a psychologist who travels to Cambridge Bay every three months and stays for approximately a week.
It depends on the workloads and caseloads by community, so it would vary by needs.
The minister indicated that the director of mental health in Nunavut position is out for competition. I recall earlier this year in March when I asked the minister about that position, it was vacant then.
I think it’s a very important position.
My question for the minister: can the minister provide an update on when she anticipates filling the position of director of mental health and what steps are currently being taken to administer the department’s territorial initiatives of mental health, if that position is all vacant?
Minister for Health and Social Services. Ms. Aglukkaq.
The director of mental health position has been vacant for some time.
We’ve had a difficult time filling it. We’ve just recently relocated that position to Cambridge Bay and the ad is out now. It’s not closed yet.
I hope to have the position filled, and once that position is filled, we will be able to do more coordinating and planning around mental health. But as it is right now we’ve had a difficult time recruiting for that position and hope to have it sometime this summer.
I hope the recruitment process isn’t hampered by the high cost of GN staff housing.
I’m concerned that poor mental health is a much greater issue in Nunavut than we have acknowledged to date; it has been driven deeper and deeper by related issues such as addiction and abuse. We’ve talked about that often in this House and there seems to be no end to it.
My question for the minister: will the minister commit to making mental health issues one of her top priorities from now on?
Mental health is a priority at the government and this year we’d like to focus on developing an Addiction Strategy for the north, in addition for the recommendations that were presented in the 2002 Mental Health Strategy.
At the same time many of the initiatives that we’re undertaking, such as Inuuqatigiitsiarniq Symposium, many of those tie into mental health as well, victims of violence tie into mental health as well.
So there are a number of initiatives that we try and address.
At the same time we’re looking at the Public Health Strategy and developing strategies in the community level in keeping people healthy, and that’s all tied in.
The key for us right now is to get the director in place to put the full attention it requires to develop a stronger strategy for the north.
Question 201 – 2(4): Obtaining Drivers’ Licences (Kattuk)
I worked with the minister and I really respect him, but the people who try to get their drivers’ licences do not get their licence right away. It takes them a long time. Sometimes it’s about eight, six, or ten months.
Those individuals did not get their drivers license until ten months later, and the minister is aware of that.
I worked with him about the delay in drivers’ licences.
Perhaps if the communities can do it the other way around whereby there is a place to get drivers’ licences right in the community.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker…
I’m sorry, it is unfortunate these kinds of things take a long time because the paperwork is going back and forth from the community. If they’re not completed, then they send it back to that community.
That is the reason for the delay to get drivers’ licenses for individuals in Nunavut.
That’s what we’re dealing with all the time. We’re training people in the communities to do those sorts of work. We also have to have more stringent rules in Canada in regard to driver’s license issuing because the licenses have to be compatible with the rest of Canada, and they have a strict rule whereby they have to all be the same.
I know that there are problems that have to be solved in regard to this but we’re working on it right now.
I think there’s a problem with the mailing system. For example, when people are trying to get a license, they send out their application and before they receive their license, they have to use their old license.
Do I understand from the minister that... Perhaps if I ask another question.
People applying for licenses, will they be able to get some assistance in their own community in acquiring licenses?
I have made an application to get my own license.
We have to provide the old license when applying for a new one.
I will try to get the information as to the procedure and I will get back to the member.
What we have done is that the application for a new license has to be shipped to Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit, or Gjoa Haven. They have to make sure that the application is complete and they have to make sure that the rules are followed in trying to acquire a license.
To make it clear to the minister, if I send a picture along with my application for a driver’s license, do they use the same picture from the previous license?
Is that why you have to send the old driver’s license along with the application, and is that why it takes about ten months?
Will the minister undertake to expedite the process so that people can get their licenses sooner?
I have heard from many people in Nunavut that when they’re trying to get their license, it takes about ten months, although some of them don’t take that long.
We have heard that so many times so we have to do something about it.
Because this is the responsibility with the community of Gjoa Haven, we feel that this has to be resolved to make it a little bit faster for people to get their driver’s licence. That’s what we are trying to do.
Once the minister resolves the problem, can he inform the House?
Yes, I will let the members know as soon as we have done something about the problem.
Question 202 – 2(4): Educating Health Professionals (Tootoo)
I was looking over her Minister’s Statement today and I noticed something there. It was talking about the Territorial Health Access Fund. One of the things that it has in there is that these investments are primarily in training existing staff and education of potential staff.
It is my understanding that the department has their own HR Division that does all the recruitment of nurses and stuff like that.
So would it be this division that would get people more educated before they hire them?
There is a coordinator for this program that works out of the Cambridge Bay office under the ADM of Operations.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister. (interpretation) Your first supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
I know every community across the territory is going to see the reliance that we have on international nurses or international agency nurses.
Does the Human Resource Division in the Department of Health provide the minister with regular updates on how many people apply for jobs, how many interviews they have had, how many offers they have had, and that type of information?
I have not asked for that level of detail. What I have asked for was a percentage of vacancy rates for nurses, and so on, but not to the level of the detail that the member has described.
Given the dire need of nurses, I would assume that any qualified that applied for a job in Nunavut would be snapped up like that.
I am just wondering if the minister could get that information from her HR Division and provide it to us. I guess my second supplementary is: will the minister commit to providing that information to the members?
I can commit to providing that information to the member and this House.
The reason I am looking at this area is it was brought to my attention by a friend of mine who is a friend of an emergency room nurse that applied for a position here in Nunavut.
It took the Department of Health quite some time to get back to that individual and when they did finally get back to that individual, they set up an interview with that person, and then when the time came for the interview, they did not call.
So I am just wondering if the minister could ask if there are any cases that they are aware of that they did not call the people they had set up interviews for and provide that information to us as well.
If the member can provide me with the name of that individual that was not called and I will follow up. I will also ask how many competitions that we’ve had so far where individuals were called.
But, in that particular situation and that person, I would need the name of that person that was not called to follow up and report back.
Question 203 – 2(4): Status of the Review of the Fuel Tax Rebate Program (Arvaluk)
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) Hearing my colleague asking questions, we should have hiring agencies and not agency nurses.
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance, who is responsible for the GN’s Fuel Tax Rebate Program.
In the government’s official response to a petition that I presented in the House, the minister indicated, and I will quote to be perfectly clear, “I have directed my officials in the Department of Finance to review the program and make the necessary changes to address the concerns.
For example, we are suggesting an expansion of the program to allow all hunters and harvesters to access the program, regardless of whether or not they are employed or classified as a commercial hunter. As well, we are making the forms simpler and easier to complete.”
When I asked the minister about this issue in March, he told the House that the changes were in progress.
Can the minister tell the House today exactly when he will table the details of the revised Fuel Tax Rebate Program to reflect these changes?
We have been dealing with it on an ongoing basis. Our department has been working closely with the communities in regard to the Fuel Tax Rebate Program.
We are working closely with the communities to make sure that we get the people who are eligible for this program with the hamlet councils.
The forms are almost complete at this point and we will have one more meeting prior to the completion of making those changes.
We’re not in a rush to change them; we just want to make sure that everyone who is eligible to get a rebate through this program has full access and will get one.
The minister originally indicated that the government’s first annual report on the Fuel Tax Rebate Program would be tabled some time in March.
We are still waiting for it. When will the report be tabled?
Hon. David Simailak (intepretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We work closely with EIA and Nunavummiut. We had sent a copy to all of the Members of the Legislative Assembly, the hunters and trappers organizations, and the hamlet councils to make sure that those reports are easily accessed.
At this time we are still working on the changes required and also working on completing the forms.
Can the minister indicate to us today how many hunters have actually been able to take advantage of the program to date and how much the government has spent to date on Fuel Tax Rebates for mining companies?
If you understood the question, Minister of Finance, Mr. Simailak.
With regard to how many hunters took advantage of the program to date and how much the government has spent to date on Fuel Tax Rebates for mining companies, I am willing to commit to the member that I will get all the numbers figured out and given to the member.
We will wait anxiously for those details.
My final question is: in the minister’s view, has this program been a success, and if so, how is it going to be evaluated?
I will leave it up to the minister to respond to this question.
Ever since our meeting in March, the department and I have been working very closely in making the changes; I think it was about two or three weeks ago that we had our last meeting.
At that last meeting I gave direction to fine-tune the report and the forms, and I’m sure it will be beneficial to all of Nunavut.
Question 204 – 2(4): Government of Nunavut Hiring Policies and Procedures (Evyagotailak)
My question today is for the Minister of Human Resources.
I believe that it is important for our government to have fair and open hiring policies. It is important that we have rules in place to ensure that the people who are making the hiring decisions are not in conflict of interest in situations where an immediate relative is applying for a job.
Can the minister tell this House today how the Department of Human Resources makes sure that all Government of Nunavut jobs competitions are fair and open?
If I understood your question correctly, the Department of Human Resources, of course, has a policy that they have to adhere to as all other departments do.
If a department wants to set up a position, it is up to the Department of Human Resources to help that department that is going to be opening up a job competition. They also have policies that they have to adhere to where we apply the priority hiring.
With the various government departments: we just follow through with what they want and we give them advice and support on the applications, who should be interviewed, and so on.
We follow all the rules, procedures, policies, and so on.
The rules should be followed in a lot of communities.
In the smaller communities, everyone is family.
However, it is more important to make sure that nepotism is not allowed in our government’s hiring practices.
When job competitions are being held, how does the department make sure that the employees are not interviewing their own relatives and making hiring decisions?
Each department identifies who will be interviewing while they’re interviewing an applicant, and also each department gets an interview person.
Also, there is one interviewer from our department.
When they are interviewing an applicant, they look at the merit of the individual’s experience.
We look more at the individual’s merit rather than individuals’ relative. That’s how we operate.
According to the Government of Nunavut’s most recent Public Service Annual Report and other information from the minister, the Cabinet approved 66 direct appointments in 2005-06 and 107 direct appointments in 2006-07.
Why has the number of direct appointments increased so much in the last year?
Directly appointed employees starting from April 1, 2006 to 2007; there were 107 direct appointments and out of all of these 107, only one individual was a non-beneficiary.
There were 106 beneficiaries.
That’s how it’s easier to staff a position when there are Nunavut beneficiaries applying, like direct appointments requested by the departments.
After the department requests for direct appointments, if a department wants to hire under direct appointment, the Department of Human Resources reviews the department’s request to make sure it follows all the guidelines prior to it being given to the Cabinet level.
My last question: how does the Department of Human Resources make sure that the direct appointment is fair and open?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Human Resources staff always review the departments’ request, especially for direct appointments.
That’s why the Department of Human Resources has to review it to make sure that they abide by the rules that you just asked a question on, to make sure that they’re fair and open, and to make sure that the process is open.
That’s why the Department of Human Resources reviews the requests for direct appointments.
Question 205 – 2(4): Investigation of Recent Death in Rankin Inlet (Curley)
As the minister is aware, a recent death in the Rankin Inlet Health Centre has caused questions to be asked with respect to the timelines and quality of care that the deceased received.
The family is asking why the deceased was waiting for more than two hours in the waiting room before he collapsed, although he had seen some nurses.
My first question to the minister is this: has she ordered an internal investigation into this incident?
If so, when will she receive its findings, and if not, why not?
The way the individual presented the facts, they’re not entirely accurate, but I cannot speak to that particular file.
At the same time, pursuant to Rule 23(g) (ii), I cannot respond to that question in the House.
Speaker: Members, I wish to advise you that I will stop the clock at this time until we check the Rulebook on that particular situation.
Just wait a second, please.
(interpretation) [I apologize, Members. During this Question Period the minister has chosen to go with the options given to her under the Rulebook, which is not go on to the question, and time for Question Period has passed.]
Mr. Curley: My Point of Order is that I had a number of follow up questions to my earlier follow up question, and I’m not sure how the translation came out, but I certainly have a Written Question and I’m sure they were accurate.
[Yes, according to the Rules, she used 23(g) (ii) and they’re in there. If you wanted another opportunity to ask your questions, you may do so through another avenue, but the Question Period is over now.]
On the English Channel I just heard you speaking in Inuktitut, so I didn’t hear anything that you said.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Tootoo. (interpretation ends) If you did not get my comments on my last comments, the minister has chosen to go with the options given to her under the Rulebook, which is not gone to the question, and the time log has passed for Question Period.
Mr. Curley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a number of follow up questions and my time certainly did not expire when I did, but they did expire only when you were conferring with your officials.
So my question is: why I am prevented from my follow-up question?
As I indicated earlier, the minister has chosen not to respond to your questions as this time, which does not allow you to proceed with these supplementary questions on that particular matter.
The Question Period time has lapsed.
As a result, we will proceed to agenda Item 7.
Written Questions. (interpretation) Member for Cambridge Bay, Mr. Peterson.
Item 7: Written Questions*
Written Question 007 – 2(4): Victims of Violence in Nunavut (Peterson)
I have a Written Question for the Minister of Health and Social Services on the issue of victims of violence in Nunavut. The question is quite detailed and I ask that it would be entered into the record as read.
Please bring the Written Question forward.
Minister responsible for Human Resources and Culture, Language, Elders, and Youth, Mr. Tapardjuk.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like unanimous consent from members to go back to Item 4.
The member is seeking unanimous consent to go back to Item 4. Returns to Oral Questions.
Please proceed, Minister Tapardjuk.
Revert to Item 4: Returns to Oral Questions
Return to Oral Question 175 – 2(4): Informing Union on Transfer of Positions (Tapardjuk)
*See appendix for full text of Written Question 007 – 2(4): Victims of Violence in Nunavut.
On May 30, Member Hunter Tootoo had asked a question to the Department of Human Resources.
The question was when the department wanted to make the changes.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond on February 28, the Human Resources heard about this issue.
We returned to Item 4.
Bill 13 – Nunavut Energy Efficiency Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Baffin South, that Bill 13, Nunavut Energy Efficiency Act, be read for the second time.
I wish to at least make a principle statement on the bill.
I believe that we are rushing into this, what I call, aside from light bulb legislation, is a publicity legislation to try and kick start something that we really don’t have any resources to do, in view of the fact that we also have an expected $14 million deficit this year.
We are actually not sure exactly who is going to be the implementing agency to make sure who will police the light bulb legislation. Why and how we are going to see the new technologies, or the efficiency, when you cannot have the actual supplier carry this particular light bulb, which has served Nunavummiut quite well.
For that reason, the minister has not tabled any acknowledgment, or report as to how, aside from the good temperature like this, that the fluorescent light bulb will do, or how well it works as the replacement for the incandescent light bulbs, or how it will actually perform in the cold weather.
It may be very funny for the minister because he does not really depend on hunting and probably has a very good garage, and so on.
There are hunters out there that depend on it but, surely, they’re going to have to have a much longer period than four years to ban completely the light bulb that is operating. The suppliers will be limited, no doubt. The suppliers will not be willing to bring in this incandescent light bulb once the legislation is passed and so on.
For that reason, Mr. Speaker, I think it’s untimely. The federal government has a direct plan to introduce legislation to that effect.
It would be well that we do not proceed with this legislation and vote against it.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Curley. (interpretation ends) To the principle of the bill. (interpretation) Member for Tununiq, Mr. Arvaluk.
We don’t object to the intent of the bill, but we just don’t know if we’re going to be able to proceed because in our communities they don’t light up in the porches because it’s too cold.
We have to change the light bulbs in the porches.