EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, this bill will establish a new Statistics Act and the Nunavut Killisinniaqtiit, Nunavut Bureau of Statistics. The Act will govern the collection, use, and disclosure of statistical information by the Nunavut Killisinniaqtiit.
Bill 8 has had second reading and can be referred to a standing committee.
Bill 06 – An Act to Amend the Financial Administration Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit West, that Bill 6, An Act to Amend the Financial Administration Act, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill will increase financial accountability of public agencies by requiring them to submit their operating and capital budgets, and any amendments to those budgets to the Financial Management Board for approval each year.
The current provisions requiring the Workers’ Compensation Board to submit budgets to the appropriate minister will remain in place. The bill also will allow regulations to be made about contracting by public agencies.
Bill 6 has had second reading and can be referred to a standing committee.
Bill 11 – An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit East, that Bill 11, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act, be read for the second time.
This bill amends the Fire Prevention Act to clarify the appointment of the fire marshall and other officials and to clarify the duties and powers of the fire marshall and those officials.
It expands the Act’s application to explosions related to fire, updates the offence provisions, and corrects inconsistencies in the language of the Act. It also updates provisions respecting the conduct of inspections in order to comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The bill, specifically, confers a new power on fire marshall to review plans and specifications for the construction or alteration of buildings.
It also provides exclusion from liability to the fire marshall and other officials acting in good faith in the performance of their duties.
Finally, the bill clarifies the regulation-making provisions and adds new regulation making powers to reflect the changes made by the bill.
Bill 11 has had second reading and can be referred to a committee.
Bill 07 – An Act to Amend the Liquor Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit East, that Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act, be read for the second time.
This bill amends the Liquor Act to clarify the provisions regarding the sale and delivery of liquor, the issuing of liquor import permits, the appointment of the Liquor Licensing Board, and Liquor Commission employees.
It also authorizes an appeal to be made to the Executive Council from an order of the board that suspends a license or imposes a fine.
As well, the bill amends the Act so that all regulations will be made by the commissioner, on the recommendation of the minister, and adds provisions regarding the possession and transport of sacramental wine and other liquor in a restricted or prohibited area that has been set out by regulation.
The bill also changes references to the Northwest Territories so that the Act will refer to Nunavut.
Bill 09 – An Act to Amend the Exemptions Act – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin South/Whale Cove, that Bill 9, An Act to Amend the Exemptions Act, be read for the second time.  This bill updates the provisions respecting the amount of property that is exempt from seizure by creditors.
I think that this amendment to the Exemptions Act is something that is long overdue. The numbers and the things that are exempt under the current Act are outdated and do not reflect the realities of Nunavut.
However, after looking at this I hope to be sitting down with the minister responsible and looking at possibly strengthening the amendments and hopefully bring forward some friendly amendments the minister would agree to amending or adding to the exclusions there.
In particular Mr. Speaker, one thing is just dealing under the act with what is considered recreational items like snowmobiles, firearms and things that people use to hunt for food. I want to make it very clear in there in there that these items should be exempt to ensure that Nunavummiut will be able to carry out their rights under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement to be able to hunt and harvest without fear of these items seized where for some unfortunate reason that might happen.
I will be reviewing this and reviewing legislation from other jurisdictions to see where there are other amendments that we could make to make this stronger and reflective of today.
Speaker (interpretation): To the Motion.
Bill 9, An Act to Amend the Exemptions Act, has had second reading.
Bill 1, Appropriation (Capital) Act 2006-07, with Mr. Arreak in the Chair.
Before we proceed we will take a one hour break.
>>House Recessed at 12:02 and resumed at 13:13
Chairman (Mr. Arreak)(interpretation): Thank you.
Yesterday the minister completed her opening comments. I now ask the chair of standing committee to do opening comments, Mr. Curley.
As Chair of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Housing and Economic Development, I am pleased to be able to provide opening comments as we begin the review of the 2006-07 Capital Estimates for the Department of Community and Government Services.
Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Community and Government Services in September to review the draft 2006-07 capital estimates.
Mr. Chairman, this standing committee has frequently urged the government to allow municipalities to have a say in determining their own infrastructure priorities.
The members are pleased to note the formation of the Nunavut Community Infrastructure Advisory Committee.
Committee members hope that this newly formalized partnership between the Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Association of Municipalities will allow communities to have a meaningful role in decision-making with respect to both federal and Government of Nunavut community infrastructure initiatives.
Members are aware that different cost estimates exist with respect to the actual municipal infrastructure deficit in Nunavut.
The 2005 Nunavut Economic Outlook states that the Government of Nunavut’s own rough estimate is $650 million.
Members were pleased to note that the minister has negotiated for federal infrastructure funding under the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund and the New Deal for Cities and Communities.
However, tremendous concern remains that the message of the high cost of construction in Nunavut and the ongoing infrastructure crisis is not getting through to key decision makers in Ottawa.
(interpretation ends) Members remain concerned that the Government of Nunavut will be unable to meet increasingly stringent federal regulations such as those that are being drafted regarding tank farms and turbidity levels for drinking water.
The standing committee supports the minister in efforts to secure additional support in meeting the requirements of new regulations and looks forward to receiving updates as this issue progresses.
Mr. Chairman, members noted that the Government of Nunavut recently engaged a consulting firm to undertake a survey on the department’s behalf to examine dry cargo delivery in Nunavut.
Members look forward to reviewing the results of this survey with the minister.
Members continue to be frustrated by the lack of comprehensive information and total actual project-by-project spending by the department. Significant amounts of money continue to be transferred between projects within the department. Members have consistently asked the department to provide a comprehensive listing of transfers.
Mr. Chairman, the standing committee recommends that the department table information in the House concerning the final costs of its major capital projects, including information on Inuit content of each project as well as any bonuses or penalties that have been assessed under the NNI Policy.
This information will be of use to all members in evaluating the success of the NNI Policy, and will serve to enhance the transparency of the government’s expenditures.
Mr. Chairman that concludes my comments on the Capital Estimates of the Department of Community and Government Services. Individual members may wish to raise question or make comments of their own.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Curley. Madame Minister, you can proceed to the witness table along with your officials.
On my left is Mr. Tom Rich my Deputy Minister and to my right Mr. Doug Sitland.
Chairman (interpretation): Welcome to the Assembly.
Before we proceed I would like to remind the members of Rule 77(1).
According to our rule, you can make general comments for 10 minutes, and Rule 77(2), at the discretion of the Chair, you can make comments more than once only after all the members have made general comments.
(interpretation ends) I suggest to members wherever possible you ask your detailed questions during page-by-page review of the departmental estimates.
Mr. Barnabas (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome minister and her officials.
First of all, I have heard concerns, from meeting with the hamlet councils in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, about Community Government and Services moving their staff support of hamlet operations from the Baffin to the Kitikmeot regional offices and the hamlets were not even told about the move.
When we look at these detailed expenditures of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord funding, I believe it was included in the Kitikmeot, the hamlet was not informed at all, and a lot of times when they requested information, they encountered problems after it was moved to Cambridge Bay.
When it was moved just like that to the Kitikmeot region both the hamlet councils asked me, both Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, that it be transferred back to Qikiqtaaluk because they were more aware as to the financial situations of the hamlets in Resolute and Grise Fiord.
I was also told that land leases are not reviewed often enough. Those people that are requesting lots sometimes get un-surveyed lots and they wanted to see improvements in that area.
This is one of the things that have to be looked at.
Our community centres are too small for the population especially during Christmas time when there are activities, especially in Arctic Bay.
You get elders and they don’t have room and the community centre is way too small.
This definitely has to be looked at especially concentrating more in the smaller communities.
The community centres are way too small for the size of the community.
This is not the first time that I have brought this up, Mr. Chairman.
There need to be improvements with the services and they should be given adequate funding to provide those services within the hamlet. Some things are incomplete that have to be delivered by ship, especially in Resolute Bay, things have been delayed where they were supposed to get pipes for the foundation of a lot and they requested it from the housing association but they didn’t have them.
That is preventing the construction of houses up there.
I’ll leave it at that for now but I’ll be raising questions later.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Barnabas. Mr. Kattuk.
Mr. Kattuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome Madame Minister and your officials.
What my colleague just mentioned in regard to the concerns of the hamlet councils, in my constituency, there have been a number of concerns that have been raised, but I’m not going to list them all.
Our water reservoir is way too close to the community and it’s a growing concern for the population because maybe pollution might be going into the water reservoir and in the future they want to get a better located water reservoir. If this can be looked at, maybe you can instruct your staff to visit the community of Sanikiluaq and meet with the hamlet council and try and see which lake they would be able to use as a reservoir.
The same thing with the sewage lagoon, because the population is growing, and the number of houses are increasing, the sewage lagoon is getting too small.
Maybe those two can be studied in the future. That is a concern from the hamlet council. Just before I came up, I met with the youth as to what they would like to see in the future or whether they would want to see a gymnasium.
One thing that they really wanted was a swimming pool because we’re on an island, and the lakes that we do have in Sanikiluaq, they don’t get very warm because we’re surrounded by the ocean and those lakes are very close to the graveyard.
So that was one of the requests the young people made. They would like to see in the future a swimming pool, if that can be included in the capital planning sometime. The youth would certainly appreciate that.
Those are my general comments for now as the concerns that were brought up to me in Sanikiluaq.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Kattuk. I have no other names on my list.
I thank the minister and her officials for coming today.
I share similar concerns and comments as my two colleagues. In my riding, we are a decentralized community. It’s a growing community because every thing is coming there.
There are a lot of services, and a lot of business development. There is a lot of pressing growth needs in our community.
I talked to our hamlet council and they’re quite concerned, looking out five or ten years, that the infrastructure they have there now is not going to be suitable for the size of the community that will be there then. It just barely meets our needs now.
They gave me a list of things before I came over here and I’ll just run through them for you. We require a new fire hall. For additional rolling equipment such as water trucks, sewer trucks and other vehicles, they need an extra three bay garage.
They require a new water storage tank beside the heat station near the water line that runs to the water lake. The fuel storage tanks, I think they’ve been there since the town was built. They need larger ones to deal with the growth throughout the next few years.
That building that they’re in; I think it was designed originally as a regional government office back in the late 70s in front of our ice arena. It was not really designed for a hamlet complex but on the top floor are the hamlet offices while the bottom floor includes the curling rink, lounge and the dressing rooms for the hockey arena.
The growth is something we’re concerned about. Also a new bridge to the old town site; the bridge that goes across the river, you can see that it’s not very safe.
It’s an old Bailey bridge from the 1940s. It’s had its use but it now poses a danger, especially to people going out to their camps, or tourists going out to Mount Pelly, soon to be named Uvayok
In May, we had a bit of tragedy, our community hall caught fire. A couple of young kids were playing with matches underneath the hall near midnight.
We had a quick response from the fire department, and in their quick thinking, they were able to save most of the community hall.
It wasn’t a total write-off, but thanks to the way the NAMIX was set up, I think we’re going to be able to have that rebuilt by December or within a few months.
That was certainly welcome news to us. I was standing across the road. I think there was a crowd of 250 people and they were very upset because when you lose a community hall, you’re looking at maybe two or three years before it’s replaced.
That community hall was built close to 20 years ago, and maybe even longer. It’s currently undersized for our community.
I know our hamlet council, when they participated in the discussion on whether to build a new one or repair the damaged one, that they anticipated the expansion of the community hall in a few years. They will be, I’m sure when the mayors meet they will be discussing that with your officials.
I was concerned when I read the Nunavut Economic Outlook 2005, and as our chair mentioned the Government of Nunavut’s rough estimate of $650 million for municipal infrastructure deficit. I was really, I don’t know what the word would be, shocked because only a few years ago Nunavut Association of Municipalities estimated the infrastructure required in Nunavut was $300 million.
I know across Canada it is in the billions of dollars and all the provinces and territories across Canada require more money. You are saying we have a $650 million infrastructure deficit and your available budget every year is a little over $20 million, $22 million or $23 million now. That is not going to do much for Nunavut.
We are basically plugging holes. We can never get ahead or catch up and we have these conversations and discussions year after year.
I am not sure what the answer is if you are not having success every year with your federal colleagues when addressing the municipal infrastructure deficit. We are going to be probably facing a real crisis in the next three to five years.
I know my colleagues and cabinet have the same concerns because even though we are Members of the Legislative Assembly, we and our families and our relatives all live in small communities.
We know first hand what happens if the municipal infrastructure is damaged or destroyed or not available. We don’t enjoy the same standard of quality of life as the other Canadians who take it for granted. When I tell Canadians down south about the infrastructure deficit that we have here, they think we are making the stories up.
I assure them that I am not. I know this from my days with the Nunavut Association of Municipalities. We used to make presentations to the federal standing committee on finance and we would use terminology like “third world conditions” in our own country.
It’s a shame.
Canadians living in the north can’t enjoy proper facilities like other Canadians do enjoy.
A lot of concerns are valid.
The funding is short, but I’m not sure what our answer is if we can’t find more money every year to address this $650 million deficit. That means we are never going to catch up.
I am hoping that when you meet with your federal colleagues and in your federal, provincial, territorial, and Premiers’ meetings that you make that argument loud and clear.
I know that there was a document two years ago or within the last two years that your department put together as lobbying document to use in Ottawa to stress upon the federal officials how serious the situation is up here.
I would be interested to hear what their reaction was to that lobbying document to see if it had any sort of effect or if we are making any inroads in getting the attention of folks in Ottawa.
I know over the years we have also encouraged federal Members of Parliament to come to Nunavut. Some have.
I know when MPs would come to Cambridge Bay I didn’t just give them a tour of all the tourist sites, I’d almost invariably take them out the metal waste dump and showed them our water supply system, all those things that our federal MPs should see.
They took notes but there are 308 MPs in Ottawa in different parties and we get only 10 to 12 MPs that come to Nunavut every year visiting Nunavut. That is not enough.
I think we should be encouraging individual MPs to come to Nunavut. They have a budget to travel and I think they get 67 trips paid for by the House of Commons. I think some of those trips, from what I understand, could be used to pay for trips to jurisdictions like Nunavut.
If we could encourage them to come up here maybe we could make in-roads with those MPs as well so they could see first hand what we are up against, and maybe we could get their support when the decisions are made in Ottawa.
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome. I am very pleased to see you at the witness table.
I would like to touch on some issues under the capital estimates.
If we look at all the figures over here it seems like some communities are getting more than the other communities.
It seems like the Keewatin has been left out in the cold again. It’s been a long time since any official has gone to Arviat. We do get a lot of fog and blizzards in particular times of the season, but then again, we have known very long, at the hamlet level and as having been a part of the hamlet, about what is needed at the community level when it comes to infrastructures, and so on.
Looking at the money that is geared towards the Keewatin, there is absolutely nothing in here, and Arviat’s name is not even here.
I’m even starting to think that the government has forgotten that there is a community called Arviat, and it’s the second largest community in Nunavut.
We have all heard that, it’s not like we’re rich. The population is large and it’s a decentralized community. We have quite a number of employees based in our community.
As the hamlets are the local government, and when you are local government, you would like the people to feel friendly, that you have adequate resources, you have clean water, and so on.
The metal dumps are over flowing. We’ve got a lot of problems in those areas.
I think it was about 12 years ago that the dock was built. There were architectural drawings that were done and everything and we paid hefty dollars for the consultant to do whatever was required.
They completed 30 percent of the required work and have not gone anywhere else to date on that. I talked to the minister and was told that they were going to deal with it. The federal government was going to be putting in money.
We haven’t seen anything new happening on that dock.
We have a very poor water reservoir and also the solid waste site in our community is not going to be able to be used for part of this year. We are not sure whether we are going to be able to build a new dump that has been approved.
The hamlet stated that there have been no new monies at the hamlet level.
With the water reservoir; it’s inadequate; it’s smelly; it’s totally bad, and you all know that you can’t walk around in the spring without rubber boots.
The water is bad, and also for the water trucks, the snowploughs, the maintenance vehicles for the airport – they have to be shared because they don’t have heated housing for the heavy equipment.
Where’s all your staff that are supposed to be going to the communities and looking into what is needed and what is required and what needs replacement.
We are trying to clean it up, there are metal dumpsters and monies set aside for those but we have to look at things like clean water and maintenance and housing our equipment.
I don’t think it is going to do any good if you look at the five-year capital plan. There is nothing here for Arviat to clean the metal dump. The welfare recipients go over there to get replacement parts.
It is their Canadian Tire. But we hear that it is going to be filled.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I just want to make a short comment regarding the Kivalliq region.
I am concerned; I don’t believe that there are enough plans for community infrastructure like community halls.
They are needed and they are utilized and there are a lot of competitions in the communities.
Coming into different communities, we understand that the school gyms are used, the arenas in the larger communities these facilities are getting too old and they are getting too small.
They have been requesting to get new facilities, but in the government’s plan there don’t seem to be long term plans for these and how is it going to be rectified.
The minister and her officials perhaps should have a clearer idea and I am sure it needs to be clearer. For one example here in Iqaluit they had made a $31 million agreement over six years.
Perhaps this should be expanded to other communities for five or six years.
Iqaluit is a tax-based city and the municipality is provided $4 million a year. It is up to the city on how they want to spend it.
If you can do that to one community, I don’t understand why this kind of agreement can not be expanded to the other communities as well as Iqaluit.
Nunavut residents are not too happy if that can occur for one community and not other communities outside of Iqaluit. I will be asking questions in regard to that.
In Rankin Inlet, for example, we have been saying that the hamlet council chamber is too small.