EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I want to ask the Premier this question which is quite short: did the Premier meet with the (interpretation ends) minister without portfolio (interpretation) and, if so, did the Premier ask the minister to voluntarily resign from his ministerial portfolio as the honourable thing to do?
Four days have now passed since the report was tabled.
At the time, I sat down with the member and yes, I had a candid discussion with him.
Mr. Speaker, (interpretation) I didn’t quite understand the response.
I didn’t hear about which day they met to discuss the issues prior to the Integrity Commissioner issuing a report.
My question was related to the report. With the passage of four days since the issuance of the report, did you meet with the member?
Further, I feel it is in the best interest of the government if the Premier asks the member to make the honourable decision and step down, as Nunavutmiut need ministers who hold portfolios.
Yes, I apologize that I didn’t understand his first question properly.
Yes, I have met with the member on more than one occasion and the member can speak to this matter personally if he wishes to. I also enquired about his well-being.
As you well know, when a person is undergoing a stressful situation, you feel completely alone. I took the opportunity to ask him about his well-being and I’ve had discussions with the member. He has also stated his personal views on this matter, but I don’t want to speak to that as it was between him and me.
I would like a response to the other part of the question, as the people of Nunavut have expectations.
Did you ask the member to voluntarily resign since that is the right thing to do as it would cause less worry to Nunavutmiut?
I would like to get a response to this issue, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
At the first meeting we held, this was the issue we spoke about.
I informed him of the need to do the honourable thing as a member.
Not only the Members of the Assembly, the public has been given quite a verdict of the allegation, of which a number of them the Premier has submitted to the Integrity Commissioner based on the written complaints are really quite clear, except for the two of which were not agreed to by the Integrity Commissioner to alleging conflict of interest, but at least most of them were, 80 percent of them or more.
So I’m asking the Premier once again: have you met with the [member] since the report of the Integrity Commissioner with respect to the Hon. Member for Baffin South was tabled? Have you met with him since and asked him to voluntarily resign from the cabinet?
This matter has taken a while to evolve, with all of the required steps undertaken and the various processes that continue to take time.
In the House, I also work with him on matters related to social issues, as well as being one of my colleagues.
I am unsure of divulging my own personal opinion related to this matter. However, the member has his own views. Before I could ask him to voluntarily resign, he made his personal views known to me, so I didn’t restate my question on this matter.
Question 470 – 3(3): Coming into Force of the Official Languages Act (Tapardjuk)
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning and good Friday to my constituents.
Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the minister responsible for languages.
At the start of this week, the minister tabled the implementation timetable for the legislation on languages.
Is this something the minister can clarify, and can he tell Nunavummiut through the Legislative Assembly that the Official Languages Act, the new legislation enacted, as to the dates when it will come into force?
When will this legislation enter force?
Minister of Languages, Culture and Heritage, Minister Arreak.
Hon. James Arreak (interpretation): Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also thank Mr. Tapardjuk for his questions on this matter.
The document I tabled only became available after the working group conducted their review.
I am pleased to announce that this will come into force based on the plan.
We have planned for the start date to begin in the year 2013, and we expect that the legislation will come into force on April 1, 2013 and furthermore, we have built in flexibility.
In the document he tabled, entitled Uqausivut, it states that the new legislation hasn’t come into force yet.
Prior to Nunavut becoming a reality, most of the legislation we follow was grandfathered from the previous government.
It also states that once the minister tables the implementation timetable in the Legislative Assembly that the Nunavut government will start to implement the Official Languages Act.
Mr. Speaker, the question I want to direct, is that this document doesn’t state what and which dates the legislation would come into force. As an example, here is my reasoning.
The current services provided to unilingual Inuit by private businesses, banks and other institutions still cause problems to people who can’t speak English.
Mr. Speaker, based on the response from the minister, I reiterate: when can Nunavummiut expect to be provided services in the language of their choice?
This indeed consumed more time than we thought, and some people were quite impatient for the legislation to come into force, especially when planning the Uqausivut timetable.
This document outlines our plans for the legislation, and as per my previous response, April 1, 2013 is when we propose to enter it into force.
It also speaks to the possibility of other dates, such as Nunavut Day when it could come into force.
Once the decision has been made on the actual date, the timetable for the entering into force will start falling into place for unilingual speaking people, not just Inuktitut, but for the three official languages recognized in the legislation for the Nunavut territory. This is contained in the Uqausivut document.
To ensure my constituents comprehend this clearly, let me ask this question.
When April 1, 2013 rolls around, will the unilingual people in my constituency, as an example, without requiring an interpreter, will then be able to report a complaint to the RCMP? Is the minister insinuating that the RCMP will have an Inuktitut speaking person they can call?
Is this what the minister is saying, Mr. Speaker.
I didn’t state that was the case.
Currently we are working with these agencies, including the RCMP and the federal government departments. We are working with other groups as well.
What I am saying is that we have identified the date when we want it to come into force, in the upcoming year 2013, and it could either be April 1 or at a later date determined by this House.
The actual date hasn’t been concluded, since the document was just released recently, with revisions to the Uqausivut document.
Perhaps even during our winter session, we should have a firmer date to announce on the details listed in the Uqausivut planning document.
At this time, these are just the initial plans for consideration.
Does this mean that I can relay to my constituents, that prior to April 1, 2013, even if they want service provision in Inuktitut, that it will be impossible until that date?
Am I correct in that understanding?
At this time, since it is legislation, it is possible today for government services. These services are available in Inuktitut, since this September, the government services were to become available in Inuktitut.
Furthermore, when a person is applying for a position, especially a government position if they choose to be interviewed in Inuktitut, they can request that the interview be in Inuktitut.
This is ongoing and we are still developing capacity in the provision of government services.
However, certain sections of the legislation that are identified within the Uqausivut document will only come into force by the identified dates.
At this time, we have identified April 1 or shortly thereafter.
It is difficult to forecast the future, as to what exactly will happen but as we can’t force non-governmental bodies to suddenly offer services in Inuktitut.
However, certain sections will enter in force based on the dates identified and as certain capacities develop then these services will surface slowly. That is to ensure that there is a smooth transition.
The planning documents are slowly being implemented, but I am not saying that by April 1, 2013 that all sections will come into force, as this is a possibility but definitely will come into force sometime after that date.
Question 471 – 3(3): Principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in Tamapta (Tapardjuk)
In the Tamapta Mandate, 2009-2013, the government’s strategy, in the beginning, it clearly states that the Premier has stated that they are working very hard to incorporate Inuit societal values and that they will not give up.
That’s how Nunavut was created, based on these plans.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Premier. Back in 1999, when Nunavut was created… . Today, the government is trying to use Inuit societal values and Inuit traditional knowledge.
How much is the government utilizing that or is that just written without actually doing the work?
Inuit societal values and Inuit language, that’s how Nunavut was created, and it’s very important to the Nunavut government and all Nunavut residents.
We even have a Department of Culture and Heritage and they are working very hard to incorporate the Inuit language.
I would like to talk about what we have initiated. Every time we meet, we talk about the policies, and when we are developing policies, we usually state how we can incorporate Inuit societal values or Inuit culture into the policy. We have that opportunity to do that.
All of the departments are working very hard in regard to this, and also, the Inuit language is now being taught to the government staff and to others.
We need to use that as our foundation and we will keep that as our foundation. We cannot implement them all at the same time, but we have to work very hard with this government and the future government will have to work very hard to start implementing those.
In the Tamapta Action Plan, there’s a vision in there that they would be using Inuit societal values and Inuit culture up to 2030.
In their vision, the third vision states that the communities would be able to operate themselves sustainably, based on Inuit societal values, and they would be less dependant on the government.
According to that mission statement, Mr. Speaker, the Premier knows and has heard the Family Services legislation in Nunavut, which we are using at this time is contradicting Inuit societal values and culture.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell me if she has been briefed on that? Because the legislation we grandfathered from the Northwest Territories is not relevant to Nunavut.
The Nunavut government has been in existence for a little over 12 years, and we have many challenges facing us that we need to resolve.
Some of these problems stem from the transition from GNWT to the GN as we grandfathered their legislation and we have yet to amend or draft new legislation, although we are slowly remedying that.
Some proposed amendments to legislation can’t be rushed, although we completely understand as a government that the required amendments, as well as the legislation that the member referred to, are under review.
The required revisions are slowly being dealt with.
With respect to policies, sometimes in order to make the changes, you have to ensure that all avenues are covered, which slows the process down.
We don’t want to be hasty in amending them, since that can also lead to overlooking issues related to the policy which would also lead to further required revisions.
Indeed I totally understand the reasoning, Mr. Speaker, that when you are dealing with legislation, it is tedious and time consuming and we ought to not rush this work.
Mr. Speaker, yet we have some urgent needs, such as the social services currently offered that provoke and anger families, disrupting them is the wrong foundation.
Personally, I consider this a very urgent matter, to review this legislation with utmost haste.
Inuit societal values, that older generations and our elders are comfortable with, we are also familiar with and as Members of this House, we often hear about problems caused by social workers, medical professionals, the RCMP due to paternalistic attitudes.
This is primarily because they exclude the Inuit values when trying to resolve issues that lead to feelings of alienation of the system to Inuit. Without drafting up new legislation related to social services, can’t the government deliberate on directives to resolve the current conflict between the system and Inuit?
This problem is quite imperative and we need to resolve it now.
Speaker: Minister responsible for Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, Madam Premier.
The issues related to social services we face, are such that we consider them a very important priority and that is why we have restructured the departments to create a family services department.  These issues can then best be resolved by this type of department, rather than one associated with Health, since health issues revolve around urgent matters.
If I were to say it in English (interpretation ends) urgent matters. (interpretation) To cite this example, emergencies situations, such as medical evacuations that have to be dealt with immediately, as health is another very important matter.
Sometimes, as it became obvious during our review of social issues, that when health related emergencies erupt, social issues take a back seat due to their tremendous workload.
That is why we are trying to resolve this by creating a family services department.
This is due to it being critically important, and we all know the importance of this issue.
Furthermore, the issue of complaints related to the (interpretation ends) child and youth representative (interpretation) we are reviewing revolves around the fact that this is based on an alien culture, and not on Inuit cultural values and people will be able to send their complaints to this office.
These issues are currently under review sometimes come in handy.
Family services, mental health issues have a whole list of issues and that is why we are trying to create this department.
Based on the response from the Premier, I seem to understand that these issues pose no concern and that the creation of this department is more critical than dealing with our people’s lives.
This conveys the message that these problems will eventually become a concern down the road, and that is how I see the Premier’s response.
Mr. Speaker, it outlines within the Tamapta Mandate that residents in the communities that require assistance will be a priority, yet we hear of so many people experiencing problems overburdening and overwhelming them without much assistance or notification as to the resolution of their problems.
The government states they will establish an office to that end, to assist those in need in particular.
Mr. Speaker, the Premier alluded to the representative for children and youth, but shouldn’t this be deferred until the legislation has been revised?
Once this legislation has been amended, the reasoning for the creation of this office would largely be resolved, at least in my opinion.
Mr. Speaker, I want to ask this question. The people currently who are unilingual Inuit, and further, unilingual non-Inuit who can’t speak Inuktitut trying to service them, such as the social workers, don’t speak the same language which results in further aggravation towards the system.
The current non-Inuit social workers, in this case the minister wasn’t even able to respond as to how many Inuit social workers are working for the government as perhaps all the social workers are all non-Inuit providing this extremely sensitive service.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier make a statement that Inuit have their own way of social crisis’ resolution? This has to be ingrained into the mindset of the civil servants within the Nunavut government and acknowledged.
Does the Premier agree with my statement?
I would like to thank the member for asking that questions.
Let us all be aware that everything has to have a solid foundation in order to go smoothly.
Before we make any foundations and we start working on the details, it cannot move ahead. What we’re doing is very important, especially on social issues.
That’s why we’re creating the Department of Family Services. It needs a solid foundation, and there are various issues that they will be working on, on programs and services. Also, child and youth representative are constantly being reviewed.
It has been I don’t how many months that they consulted with the Inuit in regard to social services.
It would be better to work together with the community, as the member mentioned that the communities should be sustainable.
By working together, it’s better because there are many Inuit out there who know Inuit societal values, and when we come up with a new legislation by the government, we consult with the Inuit through various means.
We truly believe that they are urgent because our culture is changing, and for people with mental health issues or suicides, we’re living among those people.
That is why we’re trying to make the foundation so we can assist them.
Question 472 – 3(3): Phase 2 of Arena Renovations in Coral Harbour (Ningeongan)
My questions will be directed to the Minister of CGS.
First of all, I would like to thank the minister. The hockey rink was renovated and it was obvious that this fall, before the end of October, they were able to play hockey.
The people who play hockey usually started their hockey in January. So for that, I thank you.
The minister knows that our hockey rink was not completed because of the lack of funds.
It was to be continued to be worked on in phase 2.
I would like to ask the minister when this project would be completed.
I am also pleased along with the MLA for Nanulik so that the kids can play hockey and have some activities going on in the fall.
It was going to be staffed just for six months, but it can also be used in the summer now for skating.
We’ll be gong to Arviat to go and open the hockey rink.
We want to continue this or spread it to the communities, because it has lots of benefits.
Mr. Speaker, the people of Coral Harbour had requested for the hockey rink to be completed.
On phase two it was going to be worked on this summer, but due to the lack of funds, we weren’t able to do it. We decided that we had to make more plans for the work to be completed.
We will work with Coral Harbour and plan this for the winter. I am hoping that the remainder of the work be done in the summer.
Thank you, Mr. Minister for the response.
I think it’s quite obvious that what you call thermal siphon…I wonder if the minister of Community and Government Services will make sure that when the arenas are renovated that they will be doing this these types of work?
That’s what we like to do.
So if we ask for supplementary for those types of work, you can support it so our communities can get one.
It’s very hard to work on all of the communities, so we have to choose two or three communities.
I’m happy that this is going to be beneficial. I’m sure that my colleagues will be supporting if we bring out the budget.
Question 473 – 3(3): Fuel Prices (Elliott)
Yesterday, the minister gave the residents of Nunavut some good news regarding fuel prices. That good news being there will be no increase in prices of gasoline and home heating fuel this year.
By saying “year,” sometimes I think we get a little confused. Does the minister mean December 31 of 2012, this year? Does he mean the end of the fiscal year, which would be March 31, 2013, or are we talking on the resupply year, which would be the summer or around August for my constituents of 2013?
Thank you for the question. I didn’t mean to cause confusion.
Each year, at this time of year, Mr. Speaker, once all the fuel prices, the cost of delivering fuel has been calculated and once all the fuel has reached all the municipalities, all different grades of fuel, that’s the only time, really, that you could figure out the true cost of delivery of fuel. From there, the cost of delivering the service can be calculated only at that time.
So when I meant for this year, it will be effective to about the same time next year, Mr. Speaker.
As all members are aware, PPD provides a wide range of petroleum products to all Nunavut communities.
Could the minister confirm whether other PPD products, such as jet A fuel or naphtha, will remain at the same price?
I realize now that I didn’t include those two other fuel products.
This includes all fuel products that are supplied by this government, which includes the airline fuel and white gas.
That’s an extra bonus.
I remember last year when the price went up 10 cents for jet A fuel, the airlines were very concerned and then they ended up increasing the freight rates and our ticket costs, so I hope that our airlines will follow suit with the Government of Nunavut and not increase their rates, which they seem to do on an annual basis.
That’s actually good news, maybe, for everyone.
My next question is in the past few years, a number of communities have run out of petroleum products; Rankin Inlet, Sanikiluaq, Grise Fiord this year had a NOTAM, Resolute Bay in previous years. Could the minister confirm that all communities have adequate supplies of petroleum products for this year until the resupply in 2013?
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Thank you for the question, Mr. Speaker.
I do take note when the price of gasoline and heating fuel for furnaces goes down, the price of airline fuel doesn’t go down, even though their cost of maintaining those things go down in our communities. If the plane fuel goes up, within minutes, the airline costs go up.
They will have to find another excuse this year to raise their ticket prices.
Mr. Speaker, as far as we know at this moment, we have adequate supplies of petroleum products in all the communities.
That’s not to say, if there becomes a matter where airplane traffic is increased for reasons unbeknownst to us, that they may become short, but at this time, our calculations are that we should not run low.
One of the reasons we have heard in the past for the short supply for fuel in some of the communities is due to infrastructure and because of the infrastructure deficit that we have in the communities with bulk fuel storage facilities.
We just finished the capital estimates and a considerable amount of funding was allocated to bulk fuel storage.
I guess my final question would be: with the funding we have provided, will this actually help with some of the shortcomings that have happened in the past few years or are there still quite a few communities that will be requiring larger fuel storage facilities and more funding to be able to correct that deficit?
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Elliott. Minister responsible for Community and Government Services, Minister Kusugak.
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that very important question. Mr. Speaker, over the years, Community and Government Services realized that we have issues with fuel tanks in all communities.
Some communities are growing faster than the replacement of the fuel tanks and we are working to rectify that.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, we have taken steps, such as in Sanikiluaq, where we have brought in some portable tanks to deal with the shortage of capacity until such time we are able to construct proper infrastructure to maintain fuel for that community throughout the year.
We’re bringing that where we can, Mr. Speaker. It is a long process to ensure that proper infrastructure is there for fuel capacity of all different fuels.
Mr. Speaker, we continue to tackle that issue. I think we have turned the corner on that. I know last year in Pangnirtung, we had to drop some fuel off on the first day of fuel supply and then fill them up again at the other end.
So we’re trying to be creative, innovative, and ensuring we don’t run low on fuel. I hope that we’re on top of it for this year, again, barring issues, such as ice and other unforeseen problems that do arise on occasion.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister Kusugak. Members will note that the allotted time for question period is expired.
We will move on in our orders of the day. Item 7. Written Questions.