EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Exactly how many of these prospectors were able to find a job after completing the course?
Mr. Speaker, perhaps I’ll ask a question in this manner. Has this provided tangible benefits to these 750 graduates that can be presented in a report and that could be tabled in this House? How many have been assisted?
Furthermore, are there are any additional courses that these prospectors could take, for example, to help Inuit be business owners and entrepreneurs? Mr. Speaker, I would like to see a report when it’s available, not immediately but when the department is able to.
Absolutely, to be accountable and transparent, we do have to report on our findings. There were 750 people whom we assisted in the prospectors training program. I’ve got to mention that 48 of them were trained this year in several communities and 24 of them were funded with the Nunavut prospecting assistance fund.
Mr. Speaker, we intend to be accountable and transparent. We will come up with a report.
We’re going back through the 13th year and the number of folks we have assisted in this program. It may take a little bit of time to get all the data together, but surely, to be open, transparent, and accountable, I will surely get a report prepared for that.
Question 186 – 3(3): Update on Baffin Correctional Centre Incident (Ell)
I wish a good afternoon and say “hello” to my constituents of Iqaluit West watching our proceedings.
We have heard on the news that the BCC facility experienced an incident this past weekend.
Apparently there was a fire that occurred in the facility.
Can the minister elaborate further on exactly what occurred at the Baffin Correctional Centre, how much damage was caused to the facility, and whether any of the inmates got hurt?
Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Minister Peterson.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Ms. Ell for the question. Mr. Speaker, there was an incident Thursday night.
A fire was lit by three individuals who are in custody at the RCMP. They are being investigated. The fire was lit, I believe, in the washroom.
The prisoners in the area who were affected were safely evacuated, as per the protocols for the facility. The RCMP assisted. The fire marshal investigated and gave the all-clear.
Ms. Ell (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) What actions has the BCC management taken in the last couple of days as a result of this incident to prevent it from happening again?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Ms. Ell for the question.
Mr. Speaker, it’s impossible to say if it will happen again or another incident.
These are correctional facilities. It occurs in many facilities across Canada.
When you get people together in large gatherings, you can never guarantee that there won’t be an incident.
The staff at BCC has put the Baffin Correctional Centre into a lockdown condition, where there are no visitors. They’re investigating the incident to determine how it occurred, as indicated in my previous answer to the first question. The RCMP is also investigating.
Having just recently been elected a member, I thank the minister for his response on what occurred at the Baffin Correctional Centre.
Based on my understanding about the Baffin Correctional Centre, I feel that it’s too old and it’s chronically overcrowded.
Can the minister elaborate further on what the government’s plans are for the future and whether or not they will replace the facility?
I imagine it would be too expensive. I would like to know what kind of plans the Department of Justice has with respect to the correctional centre.
I thank Ms. Ell for the question again.
Mr. Speaker, it’s no secret that the Baffin Correctional Centre is an old facility.
It was opened as a minimum-security facility and originally designed for 42 inmates; it has expanded to accommodate 56.
In the last many years, it has sometimes fluctuated as high as 100.
I have personally toured the facility a couple of times. I have seen the inside and the conditions. The gymnasium is oftentimes used with cots to accommodate overcrowding.
We are building the new facility in Rankin Inlet, which we hope will address some of the overcrowding. It’s now anticipated to be opened before next spring. There will be some movement of prisoners, I’m sure.
As members will recall, in December 2009, I did actually ask for some assistance to look at renovating, upgrading, or expanding the facility and asked for $300,000 for that help, and we got a clear message from the House that investing in prisons in Nunavut is not something that is important.
Unfortunately schools, gymnasiums, and community halls are a high priority. There is limited funding available as well from our capital planning.
I’m concerned with Bill C-10, the federal government’s omnibus crime bill that they’re coming up with.
This bill may place more burdens on Nunavut’s correctional facilities to accommodate the individuals that we may be required to accommodate.
There are no immediate plans to build a new major facility in Iqaluit. The cost could be as high as $150 million to $200 million. The facility in Rankin Inlet is coming in at about $40 million.
So it is very expensive.
I have asked my officials to look at alternatives. They’re actually looking at a unique facility that’s in use elsewhere in Canada called a sprung structure, where it can accommodate minimum-security prisoners in a temporary method. It may allow us to accommodate our medium- and maximum-security facility prisoners in the Baffin Correctional Centre.
We’re looking at alternatives and any support we can get from Members of this House for funding for looking after our facilities, upgrade them, and it’s greatly appreciated.
I am very appreciative that he’s fully divested the information on what occurred today.
He just stated that the federal government is about to introduce Bill C-10. Once this bill is introduced, has the minister started preparing to speak with his federal counterparts and initiate discussions on the impact and consequences of this bill in the Canadian Arctic, especially if we look at the correctional centres down the road? Can he negotiate for further funds to accommodate the additional facilities that may be incurred due to this new bill?
I thank Ms. Ell. That’s a very good question and a very timely question.
Mr. Speaker, the government in Ottawa has promised that that bill will proceed through the House of Commons in the first 100 days of their sitting. There has been quite a lobby effort across Canada from all provinces and territories that that bill is going to put pressure on all of our jurisdictions.
I recently spoke with the president of the Canadian Bar Association, who was here in Iqaluit last week, and I expressed my thanks to her and her organization for lobbying quite strenuously at the Canadian Bar Association AGM in Halifax this past August. Again, last week, they were presenting a paper and lobbying a position paper in the House of Commons to point out that this is going to put a lot of stress on our facilities across Canada. I explained to her how much more stress our facilities will be under.
I certainly hope to have an opportunity to speak to my colleagues in Ottawa at some point to discuss how they could support Nunavut to develop or expand facilities to accommodate the expected uptake in prisoners as a result of the omnibus crime bill.
Question 187 – 3(3): Implications of New Federal Legislation on Crime (Elliott)
I would like to direct my questions to the Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, my questions will overlap with those of Ms. Ell regarding the proposed new federal legislation on crime.
In his earlier response, the minister had noted that the new legislation will have a significant impact on the number of individuals who will be required to spend time incarcerated.
Can the minister advise the House what steps he and his officials have taken to analyze the financial impact that this new legislation may have on the cost of providing correctional services in Nunavut?
Mr. Speaker, our department is monitoring the progress of the bill through the House.
Obviously we believe it is going to have some additional costs for Nunavut and it would be premature for me to speculate at this point exactly what those costs will be.
Nunavut’s correctional system also includes such programs as on-the-land camps.
Can the minister update the House on how the proposed new federal legislation will impact the delivery of important programs, such as on-the-land camps?
As I indicated earlier, it’s premature for me to speculate on what the impacts will be, but I can tell the member that we do have five outpost camps.
We do try to encourage our prisoners to participate in those camps.
Unfortunately it’s a voluntary program. The inmates do have to volunteer to go on the on-the-land camps.
They’re good programs, but you have to voluntarily go on them and we can’t force people to go on them.
We have talked internally in the department about creating a government-owned outpost camp, where we could have our own corrections officers and officials working at the camp, and then we could place more prisoners out there.
Just for clarification, though, I think I would like to rephrase my question to focus a little bit more on the new proposed legislation.
Will it eliminate on-the-land camps for our residents?
I hope the new proposed legislation doesn’t eliminate our need for the camps.
Many of Nunavut’s clients of the justice system are victims themselves.
Can the minister describe what supportive and rehabilitative programs are currently offered within the correctional system and whether these programs will be able to continue with the anticipated increase in the number of Nunavut inmates?
As I indicated in my answers to Ms. Ell, our facility at BCC is quite small for the number of inmates we have, but we do endeavour to offer programs. We have a counsellor out there. We have an adult educator who offers programs.
Of course, we have the on-the-land camp. It’s quite popular with our young offenders. We have elders who work with the young people.
In the Rankin Inlet facility, we’re going to have people from the community who will work right in the facility with inmates. So there’s a broad range of programs.
Our belief is that you can’t just lock individuals up. You do have to offer rehabilitative programs to the individuals so that when they do serve their time, they can reintegrate into their communities.
It’s very important from that perspective.
We’re going to monitor this legislation very carefully. We anticipate that when it is passed, we’re going to look at all the potential impacts it will have on all of our Nunavut corrections operations.
I assure the members that we’re not ignoring it. We will very carefully monitor it and take the necessary actions to continue to work with our inmates.
Question 188 – 3(3): Filling Social Worker Positions across Nunavut (Ningeongan)
Mr. Speaker, the minister is probably well aware that the community of Coral Harbour currently does not have a social worker. I have heard from my colleagues that this is a problem for other Nunavut communities.
Can the minister clarify when Coral Harbour can expect to have the position of social worker filled?
I thank the member for his very good question.
I believe there are 43 social worker positions, 28 positions are filled and 15 are vacant.
We had made this a top priority.
I have spoken to my cabinet colleagues, especially my colleague at Human Resources, with respect to the social worker positions and the fact that we’ve had to keep these positions open for a long time.
Whenever someone leaves the position, we put out job competitions. Whenever candidates are available, we bring them in and interview them right away. Some of the successful candidates are unable to fly into the communities.
Once we have a candidate available for the social worker position in Coral Harbour, we will begin the process, but I can’t tell you exactly when that position will be filled and I haven’t heard anything new on that.
Once I do, I will be able to inform the member.
Let me just make this preamble. It’s very good to have social workers who come in to visit for a tour because I have seen a social worker, who I believe comes from Rankin Inlet, who comes and visits Coral Harbour.
I would like to ask if the minister is working on solutions to the social worker problem in order to reduce the time it takes to address this issue.
I believe he just said that there are still 15 vacant positions. I wonder if we can make any progress in filling some of these positions.
This is indeed a priority issue which our officials are working on. With respect to an update on the advertisements in the newspaper, it has been advertised for a number of weeks. We have kept that open throughout this time and we have been collaborating with the Department of Human Resources to try to fill these vacant social worker positions.
We are all aware of every community that requires social workers. There are some positions that are not even being applied for, although we’re urging people to apply for them. We have tasked our officials to continue to make this a priority and to try to ensure that the communities that are most at risk get the social workers as fast as we can hire them.
I may be able to provide an update this week or before the end of the session.
Question 189 – 3(3): Lack of Students at the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School (Ugyuk)
I tend to forget, so I would like to wish my constituents in Nattilik a good afternoon.
Also, to my grandfather, I wish him a good day and say “I love you.”
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
Mr. Speaker, recent stories in the media have suggested that the newly built multi-million dollar cultural school in Clyde River is having difficulties attracting students.
Can the minister clearly describe what steps have been taken to advertise openings and recruit students to the school?
That was the situation when we had difficulty attracting students at the end of September. That was the official opening date, so it had to be deferred.
The lack of students wasn’t the only reason why it got deferred, but it was also due to the fact that the sealift supply arrived late. It did, however, bring all the materials for the classrooms as well as the equipment.
Based on the numbers at the end of last week, there have now been 25 applicants to the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School.
Further, because we delayed the start-up date, we have set it for the end of this particular month or at least the beginning of November.
Ms. Ugyuk (interpretation): Yes, I was going to raise more questions, but he answered some of them in his response. (interpretation ends) Can the minister describe what factors are affecting the number of students applying for the cultural school programs?
I thank my colleague for those questions and I’m sure a lot of people want to hear about it.
Yes, there were a number of reasons and being completely new where this is the first time this kind of school is being tried in Nunavut. It is widely known that it will provide a variety of courses in the Inuit culture. Unfortunately many of the courses were not fully prepared.
We hired a temporary worker and the principal of the cultural school worked with certain staff to complete their plans for the year. We now have a new start-up date.
The real reason was because the residents of Nunavut didn’t know what courses would be offered.
They have now been able to go on the local radios in every community and speak about the Piqqusilirivvik Cultural School. As a result, the number of applicants for the school has increased.
Have the teacher positions been filled at the school? I believe they were still looking to fill all the positions so that all the courses on Inuit culture will be offered.
Minster responsible for Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, Minister Arreak.
At this time, as I said earlier, we hired a temporary employee to work on the curriculum.
We still haven’t completed the hiring of all the teachers. Some courses are available now at Clyde River, even though we don’t have the full complement of teachers, but they will offer specific courses.
At this time, we have a temporary employee.
Question 190 – 3(3): Reducing the Costs of Medical Travel (Enook)
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Curley.
Mr. Speaker, in reviewing documentation on the budgets and expenditures of this government, I am shocked at the ever-increasing costs for medical travel.
I recognize that in the case of an emergency or an outbreak or a sudden illness, then we have no choice but to ensure that patients have access to the medical care that they need and deserve and as soon as they can get it.
However, Mr. Speaker, not all medical concerns are of an urgent nature.
I am confident that with good planning and the effective use of resources that we have in place, such as regular visits by specialists, the use of telehealth and online communications, and other pro-active programs, medical travel costs can be reduced.
(interpretation) Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister if he can clearly describe what specific steps have been taken by his department to reduce the costs of medical travel.
That’s a very important question.
I think the public as well feels the cost of medical care is very important, not only Nunavutmiut and our hon. member but Canadians as a whole.
I know my colleague, the Minister of Finance, faces practically every meeting he has with the Minister of Finance and his colleagues that the cost of providing medical care to Canadians is not decreasing but, as a matter of fact, increasing.
In this instance, Mr. Speaker, the Canadian ministers, particularly all the ministers of finance, are taking the lead in this area that they’re going to have to negotiate a better deal with the federal government. The health care transfer agreement will expire within about four years from now. My colleagues are working hard to try and find ways to reduce the costs.
The indicators say that the cost of services are not decreasing and therefore, increasing, particularly in isolated places like Nunavut.
We don’t have much means of alternative medical care.
Not only is medical air travel an indicator in terms of rising costs but also residential care for people who have disabilities as well as major individual patients who have to be treated outside of the territory. These rates are not decreasing, which the provinces supply to us.
Out-of-territory residential care is increasing constantly and therefore, the rates that we get have a major impact on our health care. So I don’t think it’s as simple as reducing medical travel.
I would like to raise this further question. Over the years, the Government of Nunavut, with funding from the federal government, invested in the installation of the telehealth system in all of Nunavut’s communities.
Can the minister provide an update to this House on the status of the telehealth system across Nunavut and how often it is being used for medical diagnostics?
Hon. Tagak Curley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) I can state at this time, Mr. Speaker, that the telehealth system is indeed being utilized.
The health centre nurses are utilizing the telehealth system. These proceedings are being watched by our residents, including our health centres.
There are on-call medical physicians, some of whom are in Vancouver. They are available to be conferred with, such as to announce there is this certain sickness spreading in the community and indicate what medication is appropriate.
We expect that the telehealth system will continue to provide more improvement in our overall health service delivery. We believe that the telehealth system is becoming an essential service in all communities, just like we now must have satellite phones in our back pockets.
This is how important this tool is now to the nurses who are working in the health centres. I am very proud of this system and we will continue to use it.
Can the minister advise this House on whether any analysis has been undertaken on the cost savings that have resulted from the use of the telehealth system since its installation across Nunavut?
I can’t say exactly how much money we saved, but I can tell you that it has provided a lot of assistance to the nurses in the communities and they have saved quite a bit of money. When bad weather has postponed flights, the nurses are able to consult with the doctors through the telehealth system.
The telehealth system will continue to be offered as a service and we will make it available in all communities.
At this time, we can’t say how much we will save or how much the system will cost, but it has provided a lot of benefits and assistance already to the nurses in the communities.
Your final supplementary, Mr. Enook.
As I indicated in my line of questioning last week, I feel certain that further cost savings could result from better planning of patient visits to doctors and specialists outside of the territory.
Will the minister commit to reviewing the current policies and practices relating to long and expensive trips for medical travel with a view to reducing expenditures in this area?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Enook.
I don’t think we’re taking this into consideration.
If we were sick less, then we would save a lot of money.
That’s why public health officials try to promote preventative care and healthy lifestyles so that the government doesn’t spend as much. This is specifically related to prevention strategies. If you don’t drink so much, if you don’t commit so many crimes, if you don’t smoke as much… .
We’re trying to prevent these. That way we could lower the costs. If everyone followed these preventative strategies, then it would lower costs.
There are some illnesses that we can’t prevent which are not visible to the eye.
When we submit our annual budget estimates, we try to make them as accurately as possible, but sometimes we have to request for supplementary appropriations to the House.
So any over-expenditure we face has to be submitted to the House for approval before the end of the fiscal year.
Provinces are quite slow with their billing processes after the treatment of patients from Nunavut.
Some of the bills that we receive from the provincial health departments come in after the fiscal year-end and these also add to our spending cycle, so we have conducted a review of the whole system.
The Minister of Finance has advised us to be fiscally disciplined. All departments have been advised that they have to be very observant of their expenditures. This is the only way we can control our expenses and not have another deficit.
We are very careful about that, Mr. Speaker.
Members will note that the allotted time for question period has expired. We will move on in the Orders of the Day, Item 7.
Tabled Document 104 – 3(3): NTI News Release: NTI Board and Staff to Participate in ASIST Training (Elliott)
Tabled Document 105 – 3(3): Northern FrontLine 2011: Canadian Rangers: Eyes and Ears of Operation Nunalivut 11 (Elliott)
I wish to table a copy of a news release issued today by Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. The release indicates that members of NTI’s board of directors will be provided with the opportunity to participate in the ASIST suicide prevention training.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage the Minister of Health and Social Services to make the same training available to all MLAs and I commit to him that I would be very happy to participate.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table a copy of an article from Northern FrontLine magazine titled “Canadian Rangers: Eyes and Ears of Operation Nunalivut 11.”
Mr. Speaker, the article once again points out the valuable service and expertise of our Canadian Rangers in providing support to the Canadian Forces during sovereignty exercises in the north.
Bill 22 – An Act Respecting the Constituencies of Nunavut – Notice
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, I will move that Bill 22, An Act Respecting the Constituencies of Nunavut, be read for the first time.