EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Sadly a young man was killed at the quarry last year.
I want the minister to see this important site and then work with us to help make it safe.
Our constituents are also anxious to see the Hon. Manitok Thompson and show her our housing needs so I would like to invite her too.
(interpretation) Housing was one of the top priorities in my campaign and I am looking forward to receiving the report of the Task Force on Housing and I am optimistic that the work of this group will provide some relief to the severe housing crisis we are now experiencing in Nunavut.
When I look at housing pressures in my home community of Cape Dorset, it is obvious that housing relief is needed right away.
(interpretation ends) It is plain to see from the one bedroom list and one person required a three bedroom unit, there are at present no houses available in Cape Dorset.
No one who has a house is moving out.
This list will only grow.
The Director of Housing and Public Works, Mr. Bob Workman, tells me that there are still quite a few applications to be processed.
There are also a lot of people who aren’t even bothering to apply for housing since they know that no housing is available.
These are often young people who want to be on their own but are forced to remain with their relatives.
Community Learning Centre.
Education is also a top priority in my constituency.
I attended the Annual General Meeting of the District Education Authority of Cape Dorset recently.
One of the community’s biggest concerns is that we have an urgent need for a community learning centre.
Right now the community learning centre has been taking up space in the school and space for the high school is too small.
We need to train Cape Dorset residents for decentralized jobs which have been promised to Cape Dorset, but I am told that Arctic College has not been able to offer management training courses because they don’t have the space, Mr. Speaker.
This course is needed if we are to have local people ready to take up those new jobs. The new community learning centre has been planned with full community involvement.
(interpretation) The new building design includes a full arts and crafts studio.
Cape Dorset artists are famous around the world, our young people must learn the skills of the older artists who have put Cape Dorset on the map in the art world.
The West Baffin Co-op has been very involved in the planning of the new community learning centre and the co-op will help train local artists in this new arts and crafts studio.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, our planned community learning centre is a story of frustration and delay.
Our community was expecting this important building to have been completed in 1999.
The community learning centre was in the GNWT capital plan and was approved to go ahead.
I have seen the project brief. Project briefs are prepared for projects which are about to commence.
The project was even given a number and a code.
A project team was put together and here is the planning which was approved. 1997 - Geo-technical survey, design and tender. 1998 - site preparation, 1999 - construction.
Thorough community consultations took place on what should go on in the new centre, a good site was selected, an architect was hired and the design was begun.
It was recommended that money could be saved by using a basic design for the community learning centre already built in Cambridge Bay, since the requirements in Cape Dorset were similar to those of Cambridge Bay.
The design for a fine arts room an adult basic education room, two other class rooms and a computer class room, general office and counselling office. Unfortunately the project did not start on time. From what I understand DPW issued a contract for a gravel pad work to be done in 1998.
It seems that no one was available to do that work in Cape Dorset that summer, although some work was done on the site.
A project officer was assigned to the building, funds were carried over for 1999 and then nothing happened.
Mr. Speaker, no one seems to know why this very important project for our community suddenly stalled in 1999.
I am not blaming anyone, maybe it got lost somehow in the division process.
Arctic College officials tell me that the learning centre in Cape Dorset is still a top priority for the Baffin capital plan.
I am not so concerned about what went wrong, that is water under the bridge, I just want to work hard to get the project back on track.
This delay is holding up a lot of important development in Cape Dorset, for example, I have learned that Arctic College is holding back on installing new computers and new internet capacity in the present learning centre in the school because it makes sense to install the system in the new community learning centre which the College is still expecting will be built.
So while we wait for this project to be brought back to life the adult students are without the advantage of internet access and upgraded computers.
The other reason to build the new centre is that the present CLC is taking up space which is very much needed for the high school students in Peter Pitseolak School.
Both our community schools are full, the junior high school, Sam Pudlat School, had 215 students last year and this year we have 251.
Thirty six more students.
The high school, Peter Pitseolak, is also full.
It has 240 students, 25 more than last year.
The anticipation for the year 2000/2001 is that this will get even higher if the decentralized positions are filled from other people from outside of Cape Dorset.
Mr. Speaker, when the new community learning centre is built it will free up class space which is very much needed in the high school to offer learning programs.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that I have convinced you all and especially the Minister of Education, that this community learning centre is really needed in Cape Dorset.
It is needed so our people can get training for the new jobs which are coming to our community, it’s needed to continue the tradition of world class artistic excellence in Cape Dorset.
It’s needed to train adults and it’s needed to free up much needed space in Peter Pitseolak school.
Mr. Speaker, Cape Dorset water pipe line.
Cape Dorset also has another urgent need and that has to do with the water supply.
Mr. Puqiqnak knows that a safe and reliable water supply is very important in every community.
We are not the only community who has a serious problem with our water supply.
Our water comes from “T” lake which is about a mile away, and several hundred feet above our community.
Water is delivered by pipeline and the problem is this line is over 20 years old with galvanised iron.
Mr. Speaker, this problem has been known for some years.
The Hamlet tells me the pipeline was due for replacement in 1998/99 in the GNWT capital plan.
For some reason it never happened.
(interpretation) Now the problem with the pipeline is getting worse.
It was explained to me by Timoon Toonoo, Cape Dorset’s SAO, that over the years with the water rushing through that pipe it has worn away the galvanised coating inside the pipe so the iron inside the pipe is now exposed and water causes the iron to rust.  (interpretation ends) Water has caused the iron to rust in the pipe so we have iron in our water and we have pieces of rust flaking off and getting into our water as well.
Hamlet employees try to clean this rust out of the system by flushing the pipe at the bottom, recently five pounds of rust was taken out of the bottom of the pipe line.
One day there was eleven pounds of iron and sediment that had to be taken out of the bottom of the pipe.
Also the pipeline itself is not in the best of shape.
The Hamlet cannot use spare connectors to repair the pipe anymore. Repairs are being made with duct tape. After 20 years the supports for the pipeline are slipping and sliding on the hillside and now there are low spots in the pipeline and when water sits in the low spots it freezes and there is no reliable method of repairing the pipeline when it is frozen.
The heat trace has to be turned off and that section of the pipe taken apart and taken to town for defrosting.
This costs a lot, and we are lucky there haven’t been more serious freezing problems.
Several times we had to use the water from Dead Dog Lake, while frozen spots in the pipe were cleared.
That lake is shallow because the river was re-routed.
We have to pump very close to the bottom of the lake in winter to get the water.
The pump stirs sediments on the bottom making it undesirable and unsafe.
The heat trace is very awkward and expensive to repair, copper clad electrical heating cable is located inside the pipe so the line has to be almost taken apart to deal with any problems.
We need an external heat trace, and the heat trace also requires a lot of electricity, up to 200 thousand dollars per year.
Our SAO tells me that total maintenance costs were about 300 thousand per year.
We need a new pipeline laid out with a proper rate of slope.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister for sending in senior Public Works and Community Government officials to look at this situation.
I am very hopeful that they have put in place a plan to fix this problem soon.
I also know that the Minister of Community Government is well aware of these problems and this is something that I will be looking for with great interest in the coming budget session.
Community Breakwater in Cape Dorset.
Another important project which seems to have been falling by the side of the road in Cape Dorset, is the community breakwater.
Mr. Speaker, our community has a marine economy.
Our people depend on water not just for hunting and fishing but also for a source of soapstone.
We have a pretty big tide and on certain days with strong winds our boats cannot get proper shelter in our harbour.
Last year a storm damaged a lot of boats and the Peterhead Boat owned by Nuna Parr dragged its’ anchor in the wind and was so damaged that it has not sailed since.
Lake Winnipeg boats turned over, motors and all were lost as well.
The solution Mr. Speaker, is a breakwater.
My constituents know exactly where the breakwater should be built since a lot of planning and discussion has gone on over the years.
Mr. Speaker, this breakwater will cost money but it will save our community’s vessels from costly damage in our severe fall weather.
Kimmirut Arena.
Mr. Speaker, the story of the effort to get an arena is a long story of frustration and hard work.
Since the GNWT announced a program to build arenas and encourage healthy lifestyle opportunities for youth in all communities including the smaller communities, our citizens have been waiting for their arena.
The people of Kimmirut have been very pleased to see smaller communities such as Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet get arenas, we are happy for them.
I was pleased to see that even a smaller community of Whale Cove has a full sized arena.
Kimmirut, whose population was 397 in 1996 census is still waiting.
I was going to say that the people of Kimmirut are patiently waiting, but Mr. Speaker, their patience is running out.
The problem has been made worse in the confusion which has occurred in the division process.
Our arena project was in the GNWT capital plan just before division.
In fact Kimmirut arena has been in the GNWT capital plan since 1990.
Residents of Kimmirut remember being assured that the arena would be built this current year and residents worked carefully to select a site and there was even a kind of celebration when the site was selected.
The next thing we knew everything was under review.
The Mayor of Kimmirut, Mickey Akavak, has been working very hard on this arena project.
Previous Mayors of Kimmirut have worked on this project.
Three previous MLAs have worked on this project.
Mayor Akavak has shared some highlights from his extensive files on this project Mr. Speaker.
The files show that the arena was in the GNWT five year capital plan for 1987.
At that time it was scheduled for completion in 1992/93.
It was delayed again to be built over two years in 1995/96 and 96/97.
Mayor Akavak was shown a project brief in May 1998.
This was a signal to him that the project was finally going ahead.
The arena was also in the last five year capital plan for the GNWT.
It was to have been completed in 1999.
The Hamlet is still waiting.
The Mayor’s thick file also contains many letters written about this much sought after project in Kimmirut.
One letter in particular expresses the view of constituents very well.
It was written by the Mayor of Broughton Island, Mayor Lootie Toomasie to Mayor Akavak and dated January 30, 1998.
I would like to quote from this letter because Mayor Toomasie clearly described the tremendous benefit that he felt having this facility in your community.
He said, “over the past two years the arena here in Broughton Island has been a centrepiece of activity and social interaction.
At this point in time we have on average 150 to 250 people per night".
We are grateful for the support of Broughton Island and we are grateful that the Baffin Leader's Summit that met in December of last year approved motion number 21 that the Baffin leaders once again expressed their support for the building of an arena in Kimmirut at the earliest possible date.
Mr. Speaker, in April 1999, the Deputy Minster of Community Government wrote the mayor with the bad news that this long awaited arena was not on the list for capital plans for 1999/2000.
But a new sewage lagoon was on this list.
This is because the new sewage lagoon, classed as regulatory requirement, met the department's criteria for high priority capital items.
The department decided that top priority should go to capital projects which enter one of the three classes.
Where there is a contract with built in safety contracts or where there is a regulatory requirement.
Mayor Akavak and his council feel that youth and recreation are even more important than a new sewage lagoon.
The mayor tells me that there seems to be growing vandalism in Kimmirut which involves young children.
Mayor Akavak says that even some of the younger children seem to be frustrated having heard that the arena was coming in 1999.
The Kimmirut sewage lagoon project was in the Nunavut Government's main estimate for 1999/2000 in the amount of 445 thousand dollars, however the project was never started because the Community Government and Transportation gave approval to the Hamlet too late in 1999/2000 construction season.
The Kimmirut Hamlet Council has considered this carefully.
Mr Speaker, if the project is to be carried over to the coming year the mayor tells me that he and his council have decided they will be willing to accept deferral of the sewage lagoon even though it has been condemned.
They are all so anxious to have their new arena that nothing else is more important.
The mayor has also pointed out that the Hamlet Council recently agreed to go with the Soper Lake arena location, because of complication in the hilltop location.
Clean up of the site is required and the new location will be a lot less to develop.
Having waited so long the council is hopeful that the arena will be built in one year when it is approved.
If the money for the sewage lagoon is in the capital plan for the coming year, the council has suggested that the money be relocated to the arena project to help make sure it could be built in one year.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the efforts of the Hamlet Council in Kimmirut to reduce their local government expenditures over the last couple of years.
Our government should finally reward the residents of Kimmirut with their long awaited arena by building it this coming fiscal year.
Kimmirut housing pressures: Kimmirut is also facing serious housing pressures.
This is particularly acute with young people.
Their population is growing fast but no public housing units are available.
As Kolola Pitsiulak, the manager for Kimmirut Housing Association told me, this causes social problems like overcrowding and higher utility and maintenance costs.
The housing association did a rough survey last October.
This was not a comprehensive needs assessment but it gave me a picture of the pressure on the local authority.
Right now there are ten approved applicants on the waiting list who need one or two bedroom units, and a further four applicants who are waiting for approval.
Mr. Speaker there are a large number of Kimmirut residents who are eligible for housing but have not applied because they know there is no housing available.
The housing authority did a survey that identified a total of 24 needed one or two bedroom units.
There are also three who were identified as needing three or four bedroom units, but are not eligible mostly due to arrears.
The local housing authority recommends that if new units are to be built, the need of each community should be taken into account in deciding what should be built.
The Kimmirut Housing Authority does not want to be told this is what you will get without consultation in Kimmirut.
The association recommends that the housing corporation should consider multiplex one bedroom units.
Kolola Pitsiulak noted recently that the interest in home ownership seems to be declining.
This aggravates the housing shortage in Kimmirut.
In decentralised communities where new housing is being built for the new government staff this often provides relief for the local housing authorities since public housing tenants sometimes move into the new housing.
However, small communities like Kimmirut don't have that advantage.
The local housing association is also facing a continued pressure on its O&M budgets.
As Mr. Pitsiulak put it in a recent letter to me, O&M budget funding is shrinking while the expenses of doing business are rising.
The latest example is the increase in the price of fuel announced in January 1, 2000.
The shrinking O&M budget has also meant that local housing authorities have been unable to give their hardworking employees pay increases in Kimmirut.
The local housing authority employees are stuck at 1993 pay levels.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I have outlined the strong priorities placed on education and housing for my constituency, in both communities.
This is a reflection of the hard work which has been done in Cape Dorset to plan for the new community learning centre, in the housing pressure which is obviously being felt in Cape Dorset and Kimmirut.
As well Kimmirut is wanting its new arena and Cape Dorset is in great need of a breakwater.
I look forward to working with the cabinet and my fellow MLAs to achieve these goals for my constituency.
Congratulations for your first reply to the Commissioner's Address.
Speaker (interpretation): Before we take a break I would like to recognize a person who just walked in, Raymond Ningeochiak, second Vice President of Nunavut Tungavik Incorporated and Paul Kaludjak of KIA, Rosie Oolooyuk, Chairperson of the Keewatin Health Board and last but not least Ollie Ittinuar, Chairperson of the Elders committee.
At this time we will take a twenty minute break.
Please stay here because the Premier will be making a presentation and we will be having snacks out in the hallway.
>>House Recessed for 20 minutes
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you please be seated.
Item 12, Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills. Item 13, Tabling of Documents
Tabled Document 38 - 1(3): Hamlet Council Documents
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I would like to table these documents directed to the Minister of Community Government from our Hamlet Council.
Tabled Document 39 - 1(3): Consultant Contracts
Speaker: I wish to table the list of consultant contracts entered into by the Legislative Assembly from the period of April 1 to October 31, 1999.
Tabling of documents, thank you.
Notice of Motion 13 - 1(3): Extended Adjournment  Mr. Tootoo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 2, 2000 I will move the following motion.
I move, seconded by the Honourable member for Cambridge Bay, notwithstanding rule 4, when the House adjourns on Tuesday February 29, 2000 that it shall be adjourned until March 22, 2000.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will ask to deal with my motion today.
Notice of motion.
Speaker (interpretation): Item 15, Notices of Motions for First Reading of Bills.
Mr. Tootoo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker I seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion on extended adjournment.
The member for Iqaluit Centre in seeking unanimous consent to deal with his motion 12-1 (3).
Do you have any nays.
Mr. Tootoo you have unanimous consent.
Motion 13 – 1(3): Extended Adjournment
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable member from Cambridge Bay, that notwithstanding rule 4, that when this House adjourns on Tuesday, February 29, 2000, it shall adjourn to Wednesday, March 22, 2000.
Ministers' Statements 50-1(3). 51-1(3), Tabled Document 24-1(3), Tabled Document 25-1(3) and Tabled Document 27-1(3) with Mr. Iqaqrialu in the chair.
Yesterday in committee of the whole we dealt with Minister’s Statement 51-1(3), fuel price increases.
Do you want to deal with tabled document 24-1(3), and tabled document 25-1(3) on fuel price increases.
We will just go on to deal with the fuel price increases.
To conclude, perhaps the Minister can go to the witness table along with her official.
The minister responsible for POL.
Could you introduce your official and yourself before the floor opens for questions.
My name is Manitok Thompson, Minister responsible for petroleum products, and Housing and PWTTS and my official is the only person who is knowledgeable about petroleum products, Mr. Roy Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson .
Chairperson (interpretation): Are there any comments or questions in regards to the fuel price increases.
Mr. Tootoo go ahead.
Mr. Chairman maybe I could just ask the Minister, yesterday it was very good to see the breakdown of the costs in a particular community say if it is eighty-three cents a litre the breakdown was given for Rankin.
I was wondering if the minister can provide us with that information for all the communities in Nunavut.
I'm not asking for it right now but I am looking for a commitment to provide that information some time in the near future.
Yes we will go ahead and I will try to do it as soon as possible.
To get you the information on the breakdown on the prices of fuel per community and then we will give it to all the members of the Legislative Assembly.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Madame Minister responsible for petroleum products.
Mr Tootoo do you have another question.
Mr. Chairman, I have a couple of easy questions today.
I've heard a number of different comments that when we buy our fuel, I understand that it is NTCL that buys our fuel for us, but maybe I could just ask Mr. Green that when is it that we buy our fuel for this coming sealift season, and if it is the same every year.
There is no quorum in the House.
There is no quorum at this point.
We will wait 5 minutes until we get a quorum. Then we will resume again once we get a quorum.
Thank you for getting back to your seats.
Madame Minister, if you would like to respond to the question.
That other question was directed to Mr. Green so I'll just refer this question to Mr. Green.
Chairperson (interpretation): Mr Green if you would like to respond.
The fuel order for 2000 re-supply will be sent to NTCL by April 5, 2000.
That begins in July and finishes by October 15.
Any other questions.
Committee Motion 39 - 1(3): Consultation regarding Fuel Price Increases
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman although I don’t have a question I would like to move a motion, that the committee of the whole would like the members of the Legislative Assembly to be consulted prior to fuel price increases and to be given notice ahead of time.
So that the Members of the Legislative Assembly and the public will have the opportunity to discuss and give input to the fuel price increases in the future.
Mr. Nutarak has a motion.
Mr. Nutarak, for information to the public on fuel price increases.
Are there any comments on the first motion. To the first motion.
Committee motion for information to the public on fuel prices.
Committee Motion 40 - 1(3): Plain Language Information on Fuel Prices