EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Even though the Department of Health and Social Services budget was approved, line by line, page by page, right up to when we got to H-9 or H-11 or whatever the page was, then the budget was deferred.
If we approve this budget page by page by page we may get to the point, which is the prerogative of the House to do.
We may get to the point where every page in education is approved, until the last one, and we could defer the budget.
That wouldn’t be fair to say at this point or juncture that people can access money because one page is approved.
Therefore and thus, I’m suggesting that when the budget itself is approved then people could access that money and that would be a fair comment to make.
I just want to make one other point, Mr. Chairman. I forgot to mention to you and to the House that in the gallery with us is the president of Nunavut Arctic College.
Some members had asked in their opening comments about who is the president.
He is with us right now: it’s Mac Clendenning.
He’s sitting right behind Minister Tapardjuk.
Mac, welcome to the gallery.
And for the members’ information, there he is.
Well, it’s good to see you back to normal; the minister is not agreeing with me on something, which is fine.
We can’t always agree on everything.
I can understand his point, Mr. Chairman, that once the Department of Education’s budget is approved that funding will be available.
Not the whole budget, but….
I would like to ask the minister when he plans on having the criteria made available to the district education authorities once the department’s budget has been approved.
I’m sure there will be at least 27 district education authorities looking for that information.
Hon. Ed Picco: Again, Mr. Chairman, one of the creative things we’ve tried to do to within that budget is bring in these new dollars.
I know it’s a small amount.
I would hope that the criteria for the program itself, of $100,000, would follow the standard criteria of the program when we looked at contributions to district education authorities.
So, I would suggest to you, shortly after the education budget, as the member has pointed out, was approved then we would be able to have the information provided to the local education authorities.
I was going to ask a question on grants and contributions but the minister and my colleague have already answered it.
Mr. Curley: Yes, my question is really on that specific item.
I really was interested in whether or not you have policies, guidelines.
I don’t want to just refer to guidelines for your department and education councils; is there a policy guideline being planned for this item?
Page G-5, education branch summary. Directorate.
Total, operations and maintenance: $1,162,000.
Members agreed?
Just one thing I forgot on that…. Actually, the minister had indicated that he’s going to provide information to the DEAs throughout Nunavut, but would he commit to, at the same time, providing it to members of the Legislative Assembly as well?
Minister Picco.  Hon. Ed Picco: Yes, I will.
Just so I know…. It’s not a small amount in the way of dollar figures, but under purchased services it’s just doubled from the previous year. I’m just wondering if the minister could explain what that is for.
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That line item is a transfer into that area, up to $9,000 for other expenses.
I’m just wondering how come if it’s just a transfer from one to the other…. There must be a reason for that. Give an explanation as to why.
It’s under the area of purchased services.
So, when you see something like that $9,000, small amounts of money within the $160 million budget, those are small transfers in a line item.
In this case it would be under purchased services. Those purchased services could be, for example, advertising, an extra $9,000 for advertising which would be, for example, advertising for teachers, staff, education supplements, and so on.
Would the purchase of consulting services be included there? Would that be included under compensation and benefits?
Hon. Ed Picco: No, that line would be under contract services.
I believe, when you look at the amounts, that there is actually a category for contract services, when you hire someone on a contract.
Chairman: Thank you, Hon. Minister Picco.
Page G-7, education grants summary.
Total, operations and maintenance: $1,305,000.
I just wanted to ask the minister…. In his opening comments he made a comment for proposed reform for a new education-school act.
I wonder Mr. Chairman, if the minister could outline his consultation plans that he has, or will have in place for the development of a new education act.
I don’t believe in the next two years of this Assembly there will be a piece of legislation with the importance that we have with the new education act.
It was already talked about in this budget already, an allocation for extra PY. The total consultative plan for the education act itself, I said in the House at committee, I would be tabling that in the fall. I would be doing that in October, beginning the round process of consultations.
The reason why I’m saying I would table in the fall is because I want an opportunity to meet with all the DEAs.
I’ll have an opportunity this fall; I will be calling a meeting. We’ll be meeting with the chairs of each DEA as well as having an opportunity to visit more schools and so on.
At the same time, my Advisory Education Program Council will be in place and we would be able to use a multi-task, multi-faceted, aggressive approach on the education act.
So, I would be in a position this fall, I would suggest October, to outline a time frame and the process for consultation so that the act would be ready for February of 2006 in the Assembly. And I believe we need to be able to take our time and do a good job with the act.
We have got some really good work, and we have it already on the act, through the other process.
We need to be able to add to that and augment what has occurred already.
That is good to hear, that there is a plan.
I am just wondering….
The minister is referring only to the IDEA. There are a lot of individuals in communities, such as hamlet councils…. There are parents, there are the kids themselves that probably need to be consulted.
So, I am wondering, Mr. Chairman, if the consultation process will include other people besides the IDEA, including some of the folks that I have just mentioned.
There will be numerous checks and balances as we move and roll out the process for the new education act.
Part of that will be the education authorities. At the same time we are talking about education authorities we are talking about the representatives of affair.
There are consultative processes that give the members of the House a chance, as well as the minister, for example, at having an opportunity to meet with mayors through the NAM, the facilitation through the NAM meeting and so on.
I would suggest to you, Mr. Chairman, that when I bring forward the communication program, and the plan, as well as the district education authority education act consultative process, I would hope that there would be multi-task and multi-level giving us an opportunity not only logistically, but financially and administratively… They will be able to do consultations and be able to be in every community and so on.
That is why we put the extra PY in place within the policy and planning branch of the department.
So, I can say to the member: it will be all-encompassing, and I would suggest that the members of this House will also have an opportunity through the Standing Committee on Education to have input with me on that process.
I am glad to hear that minister say it is going to be all-encompassing.
I believe the last consultations were also going to be all-encompassing as well, and we know what happened there.
So, I am hopeful that the minister is able to be true to his word that it will be all-encompassing and will take into all consideration everybody; I should also mention teachers and those folks should be involved in it.
But I am wondering, Mr. Chairman, if the minister could tell us if he has any other plans for legislation for this year.
If you could comment on that, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In the first few weeks of being appointed I met with all of my senior managers within the department and talked about some of the things I’d like to come into being, changes in the income support program in the food allowance.
There are several regulatory changes that I would like to see in the income support program itself, that I would like to bring forward under education.
The education act is another part of the program that we have talked about, as well as some of the areas around curriculum resources and language of instruction.
This is part and parcel of the reform program.
The government itself…. When you look at the legislative agenda or the legislative calendar for the Government of Nunavut there is the education act. The income support program itself, that is something I would hope to be able to bring into the House at some point, but I want the department to focus on one piece of legislation so that it actually gets done and done right.
Some of the issues that have happened on the last consultative going-around…. Although the education act was widely consulted there were some concerns from different groups. And that is why I am saying I want to give the department time to be able to do that, in consultation, to be able to facilitate the act with as much input and at the same time to get the act passed.
At the end of the day, that’s your hope and your outlook as the minister.
So, on the legislative calendar, there are some areas, for example income support….
I would hope to be able to do those after the education act.
That act would take precedence at this time.
I’m glad to hear that the minister is mentioning income support because he must recall that I did have a conversation in Cambridge Bay, I think within a couple of weeks of his taking over, about income support.
As everybody knows, there is a lot of money that goes into income support, and based on the folks that get the money, you know, a lot of them need it.
They need that help, but there is a way to take some of that income support money and help folks get the jobs that are available in our territory.
I suggest to the minister that they look at a new policy to maybe create a worksite assistance program. Use some of the income support funds to underwrite or subsidize the cost of travel instead of just giving people money to sit at home and not be productive.
There are a lot of these folks that would be more than willing to travel to some of these other communities to work, or to mines to work, because there are jobs available.
And then if you put those folks to work, of course they will be paying taxes with it.
After taxes, they’ll have more money and disposable income to bring back to the community, to be able to generate other economic activities and maybe generate the creation of some new businesses.
The other week I tabled a document called An Assessment of the Income Impact of a Transportation Subsidy for Employment in Mining Industry on Remote Communities.
There’s an order of magnitude calculation and all the members got this.
So, I tabled it for a reason: so the minister could read it and his support staff could also read it and give it some consideration.
So, I’m wondering, Mr. Chairman, if the minister, subsequent to when he went to Cambridge Bay and since I tabled this document, has given any further thought to how the income support program could be used to help create a remote worksite transportation program.
I appreciate the member’s comments.
After I spoke with the member I also heard from several of the other members, including some of the colleagues in cabinet.
I have prepared a list of regulatory changes as well as structural changes to the income support program.
I will be, hopefully, implementing the majority of those in October.
There are some costs associated with those changes.
But the restructuring of the income support program has begun with the increase in the food allowance, as well as some of the areas surrounding what is considered income under the program, as well as some of the issues around the national child benefit that’s been already heard here in the House, and some other areas that we need to address.
Those are the types of things that we hope to be able to look at in the fall: some of the structural changes to income support; and make income support flexible but at the same time make it available to the stakeholders that it’s meant to be there for.
Some of the members have talked about the cost of living.
If you can’t look at the structural changes in place, as the minister at this present time, based on budget considerations, what you can do is look at reform ideas and bring those forward in the fall.
That’s what we’re working on.
I would suggest to you that some of the structural changes to income support and a revamping of the income support program has been done.
Then we will be able to move forward.
I appreciate your support on that issue.
Mr. Kilabuk was indicating to me that there are a lot of good things done by this minister already.
I realize now why the clock stops when we finish talking: so the minister can chew up our time.
It’s good to hear.
I think the government has to be flexible with some of their programs. And of course, income support is one area that can help folks raise their standard of living and be productive; they will take advantage of the opportunity I’m sure.
Travel where work is, and then get good money back home, send the money home to their families.
So that everybody knows, income support is welcome and appreciated but the cost of living is tremendous, and it will only be, for a single person, I think, $265 a month.
That’s just not enough for a person to have a healthy diet in this part of the world.
I’m also wondering, Mr. Chairman, if the income support program could be used…. If we could piggyback other things.
A couple in Cambridge Bay for example…. Any community could supplement the income support if the person goes to work. If the money could be used to put people to work on an hourly basis, then supplement it with the money a local business would have to pay for an employee.
That kind of stuff is being looked at as well.
I’m reminded to try to keep my answers very brief and to the point.
So, I would suggest to the members that when we get to page G-14 where income support is, we’ll have an opportunity to discuss this in more detail.
But the member is correct: that’s some of the things that we are looking at under structural reform of the income support program.
I have no more further questions on this page.
On this area in the policy and planning, the minister indicated that he has an extra person there to look at setting up the strategy for the well communicated education act process development that his department’s going to be undergoing over the next couple of years, few years, who knows how long it’ll take.
The minister also indicated earlier on that he’s going to set up, I forget the term that he used, a working group, or a group of people to assist the minister and the staff in developing and looking at ways to try to improve and come up with a new education act.
Can the minister indicate how he plans on recruiting those people.
Is he going to be looking to members of the Assembly to submit nominations, or is it going to be a hand-picked bunch of people, by either himself or the department, that’s going to be looking after this? Or is there going to be an opportunity for all members to be able to submit names from people in their communities?
When the process of that…. After meeting with my senior staff, after being appointed about six weeks ago….
So, to look at opportunities within the existing framework and be able to look at moving forward to some of the changes….
Some of them we’ve already talked about: education reform, the education act.
One of those was the education advisory council to the minister, and that would be inclusive.
I was thinking that the advisory council…. I’ve sent out a call letter to the FNT members, to the teachers. I’ve sent out a call letter to early childhood educators so early child education people would be involved.
I’ve asked instructors from Nunavut Arctic College. I have a representative from NTI onboard.
I haven’t gone to the general public. I’m asking the professionals in the field because it’s dealing with curriculum resources, and the education act, and so on.
That’s the idea of the education advisory council to the minister.
Committee members, I now recognize the clock, and we’ll report progress to the Speaker.
Thank you, minister and your officials.
Reports of Committee of the Whole.
Item 21: Reports of Committee of the Whole
Chairman (Mr. Evyagotailak) (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Your committee has been considering Bill 2 and the main estimates and would like to report progress.
Also Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be agreed to.
Who will second the motion?
Item 22. Third reading of bills.
Item 23, “Orders of the Day,” Mr. Clerk.
Just a reminder for some meetings.
There is a meeting tonight in Nanuk room for the Standing Committee on Ajauqtiit, the meeting following the term of this sitting.
There is a public meeting tomorrow in the Tuktu Room with the Standing Committee on Ajauqtiit and the language commissioner of Nunavut.
Orders of the Day for Wednesday, May 26
Speaker (interpretation): The House stands adjourned until Wednesday May 26, 2004, at 1:30 pm.
>>Session Adjourned at 17:59  Nunavut Canada
Wednesday May 26, 2004
Pages 432 – 505
Opening Prayer 432
Ministers’ Statements 432
Members’ Statements 436
Returns to Oral Questions 443
Oral Questions 443
Returns to Written Questions 464
Tabled Documents 465
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters 468
Point of Order 487
Point of Order 490
Report of the Committee of the Whole 504
Orders of the Day 504
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 432
021 – 2(1): Student Accommodations in Cambridge Bay for NAC (Picco) 432
022 – 2(1): Public Housing Rent Scale (Kilabuk) 433
023 – 2(1): Nunavut Victims’ Assistance Fund (Okalik) 433
024 – 2(1): Nunavut Power — Progress in Financial Management (Simailak) 434
096 – 2(1): Signing of the New Qikiqtani Hospital (Okalik) 436
097 – 2(1): Repulse Bay Fishing Derby (Mapsalak) 436
098 – 2(1): Support for Nunavut Association of Municipalities (Peterson) 437
099 – 2(1): Petroleum Products Price (Alagalak) 438
100 – 2(1): Sanikiluaq McGill Graduates (Kattuk) 438
101 – 2(1): Signing of Labrador Land Claims Agreement (Picco) 439
102 – 2(1): Birthday Greetings (Kilabuk) 439
103 – 2(1): Opening of Taloyoak Elders’ Facility (Aglukkaq) 439
104 – 2(1): Development in the Legislative Assembly (Tootoo) 440
105 – 2(1): Jewellry-Making Graduates (Akesuk) 441
106 – 2(1): Signing Ceremony (Alagalak) 442
Return to Oral Question 079 – 2(1): Medivac RFP Award to Kivalliq Air (Aglukkaq) 443
103 – 2(1): Purchase of Fuel for Nunavut (Alagalak) 443
104 – 2(1): Consider Purchasing Aviation Fuel for Some Communities (Mapsalak) 445
105 – 2(1): Use of the Old Health Facility (Curley) 446
106 – 2(1): Federal Funding for Access Roads – Coral Harbour (Netser) 447
107 – 2(1): Married Accommodations for Students in Iqaluit (Tootoo) 448
108 – 2(1): Difference Between Victims and Complainants (Peterson) 450
109 – 2(1): Concern on Fuel Supply Ships (Kattuk) 453
110 – 2(1): Recognition of the Inuktitut Language (Curley) 454
111 – 2(1): Concern about Medical Board Home (Mapsalak) 454
112 – 2(1): Keeping Tenants Informed of Rental Scale (Tootoo) 456
113 – 2(1): Announcement of Program Funding (Peterson) 458
114 – 2(1): Increase in the Government’s Debt (Peterson) 460
Return to Written Question 003 – 2(1): Physician Services (Clerk) 464
020 – 2(1): NAM Annual General Meeting 2004 Resolution 04-01 (Peterson) 465
021 – 2(1): Introducing Income Support – An Overview of Income Support (Picco) 466
022 – 2(1): Sanikiluaq Charter Airline Requirements - Re: Request for Quote (Brown) 466
023 – 2(1): Children’s Advocate – Departmental Response in Main Estimates - Letter to Levinia Brown (Peterson) 466
024 – 2(1): Children’s Advocate for Nunavut (NAM) Materials (Peterson) 466
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Honourable Olayuk Akesuk, Mr. David Alagalak, Honourable Levinia Brown, Mr. Tagak Curley, Mr. Joe Allan Evyagotailak, Mr. Peter Kattuk, Honourable Peter Kilabuk, Mr. Steve Mapsalak, Mr. Patterk Netser, Honourable Jobie Nutarak, Honourable Paul Okalik, Mr. Keith Peterson, Honourable Edward Picco, Honourable David Simailak, Honourable Louis Tapardjuk, Mr. Hunter Tootoo.
Speaker (interpretation): Going to the orders of the day.
Minister’s Statement 021 – 2(1): Student Accommodations in Cambridge Bay for NAC
The Department of Education and Nunavut Arctic College have worked together to develop a capital plan that best presents the educational needs of the college within Nunavut.
The plan takes into consideration requests from communities for new community learning centres, or replacement facilities, as well the need for additional student accommodations.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure you that the Department of Education and Nunavut Arctic College are exploring ways to ensure that capital dollars are spent effectively and efficiently to meet educational facility needs in our communities.
Having said that, I am pleased to announce today to the House that a decision was recently made to award the contract to build new student accomodations in Cambridge Bay for Nunavut Arctic College, and construction is planned for spring of this year, 2004.
Providing better accommodations will improve the quality of life of our students and allow the local campus in Cambridge to attract more students to Cambridge Bay.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Ministers’ statements.
Minister’s Statement 022 – 2(1): Public Housing Rent Scale
I stand today to talk about ongoing promotional and educational activities that the Nunavut Housing Corporation is providing at the community level regarding the public housing rent scale.
We are now in the second year of the revised public housing rent scale that was introduced in January 2003.
Starting this month, and for the next several months, a series of simple one-page bulletins highlighting components of the rent scale will be circulated by our community partners, the local housing organizations in the communities.
These one-pagers will be included in monthly rent-assessment mailings, posted in the housing organization offices, displayed on community bulletin boards around the community, as well as the possibility of appearances on local radio to get our message out to the tenants.
The first one, and the timely one as well, refers to students and rent.
It clearly states that full-time students are not assessed rent.
This includes students who are on their summer break.
Over the coming months we will be communicating about rent for seniors and youth, cost-of-living deductions, the net-versus-gross income provision, and more.
Our objective is simple: we will ensure that all public housing tenants are fully aware of all positive aspects and advantages as a result of the new rent scale.
Minister’s Statement 023 – 2(1): Nunavut Victims’ Assistance Fund
I rise today to speak on Nunavut’s victims’ assistance fund.
As we all know, when a crime is committed the victim of that crime often feels vulnerable and needs help.
While the justice system focuses on the offender, the Department of Justice wants to ensure that the victims of crime receive support as well.
Last year, in April 2003, the Department of Justice established the victims’ assistance committee, composed of three beneficiaries from across Nunavut.
The purpose of the victims’ assistance committee is to administer the victims’ assistance fund.
While the Department of Justice made an initial contribution to the fund, its principle source of funding comes from surcharges added to fines by the court.