EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
There have been a lot of home ownership programs and there are different programs that allow people to buy homes.
So those home owners that have gone through the banks for mortgage, what effect does the Housing Corporation have on these houses that have bought their homes through the banks?
Their setup is quite worrisome.
For instance, they can be moved from the house as one of the conditions from the mortgage from these banks. I am wondering if his Department has any effect on these home owners that have bought homes through the bank.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is speaking about foreclosures of individuals do not make their mortgage payments fall into arrears and obviously, the private relationship with the financial institutions, the banks, and they would have legal ramifications in respect of trying to recover their investments.
We have little input into that matter, the transaction between the private home owner and the financial institution.
Our initial assistance is obviously is through the down payment assistance program that would have helped those individuals.
But having said that, Mr. Speaker, if there are individuals that are in that situation, we would hope that they would at least come to the Housing Corporation and try to seek some kind of counselling, some assistance that we might be able to provide or should be able to assist them with.
I am sorry I called you Chair earlier.
That is a very good response and for these home owners.
I am not aware of anybody who has gone through these problems with the banks.
So, I am very pleased to hear that the Housing Corporation would be willing assist individuals who are going through a hard time to ensure the bank does not foreclose on them.
I am wondering if that is the process now, if they have any type of assistance for those people with problems paying up.
Mr. Speaker, there is no program now that would make their mortgage payments.
For example, for an individual in that situation, like, not directly from the Housing Corporation.
We would try to provide some kind of financial counselling to see, try to assist them to see if something can be worked out between that home owner and the private financial institution.
Motion 020 – 1(6): Establishment of a Task Force on Suicide Prevention and Community Healing
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on March 24, 2003 I will move the following motion.
I MOVE seconded by the Honourable member for Baker Lake that the Government of Nunavut Establish a Task Force on Suicide Prevention and Community Healing;
AND FURTHER, I MOVE that the Task Force be established no later than May 1, 2003;
AND FURTHER, I MOVE that the Task Force be charged with the responsibility of examining the issue of suicide in Nunavut and making recommendations for real action in the areas of suicide prevention and community healing;
AND FURTHER, I MOVE that:
The Task Force be broadly representative of Nunavut’s community, youth Elders, healers, educators and justice workers;
The Task Force receive all necessary resources and support from the Government of Nunavut;
The Task Force report to the Minister of Health and Social Services within six months of its establishment;
The Minister of Health and Social Services table the Task Force’s report in the Legislative Assembly.
I would like to go back to Item 7.
Speaker: The member if is seeking unanimous consent to go back to Item 7.
Revert to Item 7: Written Questions
Written Question 010 – 1(6): Ministerial Travel
I’d like to ask a written question posed to Mr. Paul Okalik, Minister of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Ministerial travel – for the period April 1, 2002 to March 1, 2003, how many trips on official ministerial business were undertaken by, the Honourable Olayuk Akesuk, the Honourable Jack Anawak, the Honourable Peter Kattuk, the Honourable Peter Kilabuk, the Honourable Kelvin Ng, the Honourable Paul Okalik, the Honourable Ed Picco and the Honourable Manitok Thompson?
What the purpose and itinerary of each trip?
What was the total cost of each trip?
Which trips were undertaken by scheduled air services?
Which trips were undertaken by air charter services?
Returning to Item 14.
Bill 33 – A Tobacco Control Act – Notice
Mr. Speaker I give notice that on Monday March 24, 2003, I shall move that Bill 33, A Tobacco Control Act be read for the first time.
Bill 30, Bill 31, Bill 32 Minister’s Statement 126-1 (6) with Mr. Iqaqrialu in the chair.
Before we proceed to Committee of the Whole, we will break for lunch and report back to the chamber at 12:45.
>>House recessed at 11:27 a.m. and resumed at 12:50 p.m.
Item 19: Consideration in Committee of Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Chairperson (Mr. Iqaqrialu) (interpretation): Thank you, for coming back.
We have Bill 30, Appropriations, Operations and Maintenance, Bill 31, Bill 32, Minister’s Statement 126-1(6).
The committee would like to deal with reviewing Bill 30, reviewing the Department of Health and Social Services.
Yesterday we started off with the Department of Health and Social Services.
The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, are you going to bring your officials down to the witness table.
Minister Picco you may proceed to the witness table. Mr. Picco, can you introduce your officials please.
Mr. Chairman, on my immediate left is Mr. Donald Maychruk, from the Department of Finance within the Department of Health and Social Services.
On my immediate right is Mr. Keith Best. He is the acting Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services.
And in the gallery, we also have Laurie Idlout, we have our policy analyst and also our Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit specialist, Mr. Andrew Tagak.
Subject to the discretion of the chair, a member may speak more than once on a matter for ten minutes.
Once all the members have had their general comments we’ll move onto questions and we’ll start off with page 10-5, but I’ll open the floor for general comments.
First of all, I would like to congratulate the Department of Health and Social Services, because that department’s mandate is one of the most difficult departments to deal with.
As we talk about concerns to the Minister, we tell him about all our issues and concerns whether it be airlines, boarding homes for patients and other general items.
First of all I would like to acknowledge when we were young, we know how the community grows in size and back then, when I was younger, the population of Nunavut was very small compared to today.
Even in Igloolik, when I was growing up, there were less than 100 people in the community.
Igloolik is quite a large community and when I was working for CBC down in Churchill, I used to go visit Arviat.
Their population was so small they didn’t even have an airstrip but the community worked together to remove boulders to make way for the airstrip because the population was very small.
Why was the population small, because of starvation and health problems?
People from the Aiviliq region usually would lose their lives by being stranded on the ice and sometimes they would have illnesses that were curable but since they didn’t have a nursing station or health centres at the community level, usually the patients were diagnosed too late and in them days they were never medivaced to medical services down south.
I know that there were quite a few people who had gone down to TB sanatorium, whether it be Moose Jaw or Hamilton or other places.
But I do want to congratulate and acknowledge.
I think we now have 26 thousand people populating Nunavut.
How did the population explode within the 50 years because we now have health centres and there are health services now and they now operate on patients and save their lives which was never the case in the past.
So, all the Inuit of Nunavut do appreciate that although we complain about the details, yes we do complain but looking at it as a whole it has improved a lot.
Likewise with health services and being provided shelter, schools, and nursing stations.
Yes, the schools have enhanced us too because they teach us things that we would never know before and we can utilize the things we learn from school in daily life.
We all know that we still have challenging issues to face.
If were going to incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit we have to use the take the best ones with the European system for the system we use now and incorporate them together like we do as hunters and the elders don’t know the weather will hold, how the weather will be day from now.
Why can’t we forecast the weather now?
Traditionally it was possible, but now the environment has changed, and likewise with health because our diet has changed and our shelters have changed.
The knowledge of the medical professionals and the knowledge of traditional knowledge should combine their knowledge so that we can work towards resolving some of the issues and the Department of Health and Social Services made is a huge one and we all know that.
And also as Inuit, which is 85% of the population of Nunavut is not aware how we should address health issues, the preventative side, like myself.
Some of us smoke cigarettes.
Don’t we know the causes of it?
Yes, we know that it can cause health problems but we are addicted to it.
Whether it be alcohol or cigarettes and also the heat like we visit homes when somebody is ill and they let their children visit the home where there is a ill person in the home.
Is it because due to ignorance, or is it because they think they know they won’t get infected but and our diet could be hazardous to your health and there are documented cases.
Yes, there are diabetics out there and there is or there might be too much oil in the potato chips like, we are now living a foreign culture that we never knew better.
Some people now live who never gone out of their community and they’ve never gone out camping or hunting.
They just stay at their community, especially during the spring time.
We get flu and these illnesses and we experience them annually.
What I am trying to say is, Mr. Chairman, yes, the Main Estimates for the Department is a little bit over $150 million.
Yes, we want to resolve some of the problems, but we do have to remember to collect all the of traditional knowledge and Qallunaaq system.
When I say Qallunaaq system, I am not talking about white people.
What I am trying about is that the Western Culture is not our culture.
I know that those solutions, Western System solutions is not going to resolve all the issues in the north like, smoking, addiction and eating healthy foods for the people of Nunavut.
For that reason, what I would like to see, all this knowledge collected, traditional knowledge and current knowledge of the western world so that we could start living a healthier life mentally and physically and start eating better foods, and with the knowledge of what foods are good for your body or not, either by exercising to live a healthy life because our ancestors had never stopped working physically.
And nowadays, we see heart attacks and strokes and too much cholesterol.
So, I believe we have to educate the public about these things through negotiations because if we just try to work with the money, even if we build health centers, I do not think it is going to improve the health of the public.
We have to learn the knowledge of Inuit people and we have to learn their western knowledge and combine them together.
Although it is not going to resolve overnight, we are not going to resolve it overnight.
But in view of the future, long-term future with the use of this new first Legislative Assembly, we have to start making plans.
As we have stated after ten years that we would like to see Inuktitut language being spoken in all of the workplaces of Nunavut Government.
We do need to have some, a goal similar to that in order to have a healthy life and make your objectives so that the public out there will know how to live a healthy life after the ten or twenty years is over.
And so that is the kind of plans I would like to see.
I am out of time, Mr. Chairman.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Doctor Arvaluk.
I will allow Ms. Williams to speak now.
Welcome. I do have many things to thank the Department of Health and Social Services for.
A few days ago, I made a Member’s Statement thanking the people from Baffin Larga in Ottawa because it is being operated very well and they are very receptive and the people there are very welcoming.
So, I am very appreciative for that fact.
My mother is still down there, but she will be travelling back up here tomorrow.
So, I would like to thank the Department and I am sure she feels the same.
And I am sure it is the case in other boarding homes such as Winnipeg because they do take care of the patients and take them, they transport them to and from where they should be going.
But what I talked about the other day is when the patients arrive to Iqaluit in the evenings, nobody picks them up and I am sure this has been looked into already.
Mr. Chairman, I will be asking questions in regards to this issue.
And also, in regards to councillors and social workers, Social Services being in the same Department as Health, I know that health issues are very important.
Mr. Chairman, it could be that if we’re happy in our lives and if we have confidence and if we know what our limits are, we can live a healthier life.
That’s what I’m trying to say because patience have to go to the health centres and nursing stations.
There are a lot of preventative things that we could do.
For example, cigarette smoking, it’s totally up to us whether we want to smoke cigarettes or not.
When we smoke cigarettes, it’s not good for our health.
It’s totally up to us whether we want to smoke or not.
If you smoke, you can get sick later on and the money would be used to help the person who is sick when that money could have been used for something else.
That money is being used to provide services for those preventative illnesses that the people get.
If there is more preventative work done, there would be less sick people.
Looking at the department’s main estimates and businesses plans, the overall budget has increased for the health issues.
Later on, after the general comments, I will be asking questions in regards to this issue on how the funding for health services and social services is split up.
Also, Mr. Chairman, I will be asking about the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, article 32 because previously there were documents being tabled and I don’t know if one was tabled last year, but these documents that were tabled are called “On our Terms”, that’s what they were called.
That’s what the title is which was written by social services.
I want to know how effective they were especially for social services because they have the responsibility to carry on that article because according to the land claims agreement, article 32, that the staff have to work with the land claims entity on those, especially on what kind of support they need.
Mr. Chairman, the suggestions and the recommendations have to be respected by the department.
Also, in the land claims agreement where it states that you have to work in cooperation with the Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated entity, in regards to the social issues and health issue, in view of that Mr. Chairman, during question period, Mr. Chairman, I’ll be asking questions in regards to those.
Thank you, for being here.
We all try hard to ensure the health of Nunavummiut.
We all try to do our part to ensure people live healthy lives although this is a big amount of money for the Department, but we are not always going to be satisfied with what is offered.
We are always going to get sick and we have to deal with it, but we have to move on.
What we have fought for as Arvaluk stated, that if we take all the goodness of our culture, the cultures of Qallunaat and the Inuit culture, take all of the good thing out of both cultures and combine to make it work and that is when we could see solutions.
We as Inuit understand part of the Qallunaat culture, but because the Inuit culture is so unique, it is very hard for other people to understand us.
I bring that up because for instance, it is probably really not the case in Newfoundland, but other parts of Canada.
My daughter is 18 years old and according to their culture, she has to move on out of my house and that is not our culture.
I also know of a person who is 53 years old who is still living with his parents and that is what the difference in our cultures are because it is our culture, it is the way we are.
People have to make an attempt to understand and respect our culture.
We cannot just walk into a Qallunaaq’s house, we have to knock first before we want to go in and we have to get permission to go into their homes.
If I go to my community, for instance, or if I go to Pangnirtung and I go visit an Inuit family, I could just walk in because it is the way we are.
Those are very big differences in our culture.
It is our culture and the way we live, that is a big gap.
We have different knowledge.
If I go down south and shoot a cow to sustain myself, I would not be allowed to do that.
Those are the very big differences in our cultures.
I just wanted to bring up our differences, first of all, because life is very important.
At times, I may sound like that I am against other cultures and the social workers, sometimes I’ll say why do we have a social worker in Hall Beach that does not speak Inuktitut; perhaps because over 50 or 40% or more do not speak English.
In the smaller communities there are very big differences even from community to community and the pace and progress of some of these communities is faster than others and some communities are slower and more traditional and want to be traditional.
That’s very apparent when you travel to different communities for meetings.
Some communities are using the qallunaat culture more than others.
And some who are not as traditional.
I always bring it up because it’s our lives, we’re dealing with.
It was what our parents lived and we’re just going through some big changes but at the same time trying to keep our culture.
We have elders tell us how to live our lives and we try to live by it.
Where did social services come from?
Did it come from a piece of paper, no.
If it’s Qallunaaq, Inuk, it’s according to what they know they become social workers.
We have never seen a piece of paper saying this is what we’re going to do to help you deal with your social life.
Inuit elders know how to deal with social issues.
There have always been problems and Inuit dealt with it, whether you’re Inuk or Qallunaaq, you deal with those problems.
That’s why I try to fight hard to ensure that social services are dealt with by Inuit for Inuit.
If the mandate of social services changed to ensure they don’t need that piece of paper to work there, because we know Inuit can help each other.
They have that knowledge already.
We all have problems at one time or another.
Those of us that have experienced those hardships, there are a lot of people that have gone through those because we know tomorrow will always come.
Those are the people who can truly help the people with social problems.
But it’s unfortunate that if they’re not taught in southern institutions, they have to resort to using the policies and they think they can’t deal with social issues just because they don’t have that piece of paper and that education.
I’d like to say, as Inuit, it wasn’t our way of doing that.
When we started the Legislative Assembly, you could see my anger although I didn’t let it all go when I said that the government killed my sister.
That was a feeling, an emotion I had to let go of by talking about it because it happened according to policies and regulations of the government.
I didn’t mean to attack anyone personally because that’s how I saw it.
In the Inuit culture, she would have been fine and in everyday life there are different ways of dealing with things and we still have that knowledge.
I have someone that is close to me, is very strong, has all this knowledge and has lived life because he’s been through hardships and it’s kind of frustrating that that person next to me has gone through the court system for years and he’s strong enough to be here because he’s experienced it and he can help other people with his experience because he’s a very smart man.
There are a lot of other people that have had all their life experiences that, my time was too short but Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Those are very encouraging words.
Mr. Alakannuark (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you for coming before us.
That’s all I can say.
I have not too much to say but as Inuit we’re slowly becoming more self reliant because we recognized our rights.
When Qallunaaq first came we were like slaves more or less but we have over come that and have decided that we have to work together to make things work and that’s very good.
Working together is what we need and that’s what we’ve started and I encourage people to work together no matter what background you come from even though, yes, with limited funds you do the best you can to deal with people’s lives in trying to help them and I commend you for the hard work.
I’d also like to bring up issues about social work in the communities.
We need more recognition in dealing with social issues in the communities.
Yes, I know we have to take ownership in order to that and realize that we have to deal with it but a lot of people are confused about who they are because they’re between two cultures of Inuit and Qallunaaq.
That’s a barrier at this point even though we can over come that if we’re given the chance.
We want to be more self reliant as Inuit.
We don’t want to be trampled on and be given orders on how to do things or how to live life like we always hear that Elders have all this knowledge. We always here that.
Even as Elders we don’t know everything.
Young people are smarter and can really help Elders.
I was told by one of my children as an Elder I was told this is how you do it dad, and yes I admit Elders can be wrong sometimes because we’re not exposed to as many things as our young people are.
We were taught to be more afraid of Qallunaat and we had to listen to everything that Qallunaat said even though they might have been wrong.
One regret I’ve had over the years about social work, when there was school in Chesterfield Inlet, I wanted to go there for a year but my parents didn’t want me to go and they didn’t realize they were wrong at the time but yes we do make mistakes and we have to admit our mistakes.
And that is part of dealing with social issues.
That’s all my comments and I thank you Mr. Chairman.
I have no one on my list at this time.
If it’s the wish of the committee we’ll go on to the question period on page 10-5.
Would you like to go line by line?
Page 10-5, 10-6, 10-7 are all together.
Department of Health and Social Services, Branch Summary.
Grants and Contributions, $986 thousand dollars, an increase of $20 thousand dollars.
In there it says $5 thousand dollars for community councils and $5 thousand dollars for a Nunavut-wide council.
I’m not particularly asking about the money issue, but these community councils were given $5 thousand dollars per community when the regional health boards were dissolved.
The act that we amended, can we amend the change in the act because $5 thousand dollars is not enough, especially when it’s in the amended act.
Mr. Chairman, originally when we dissolved the boards, we had put in place the committees of council in each of the communities.
At that time we funded each one of them about $5 thousand dollars.
A recommendation came forward from the standing committee and the house that suggested that we increase those dollars and that’s what we did last year.
I still have about $200 thousand dollars available.
Right now we’ve allocated $177 thousand 500 dollars and there’s about $20 thousand dollars extra, and what we use that for is when special requests come from communities, from the community council.
If it’s for training or if it’s for extra dollars and so on, then we’re able to allocate some extra funds for that.
He said that they can bring forth applications.
Is that a new thing or has it been happening already?
That’s something that’s been in place for the last two years.