EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I know that there are cultural programs using our elders but what I am asking is in the smaller communities, when they are in a situation where they have to produce their own instruction material by translating them from English because there is no academic material in Inuktitut. I am referring to actual materials that are produced locally, and not the ones that are produced regionally.
Are there any plans for producing this curriculum locally?
Speaker (interpretation): Premier.
That is what we are trying to accomplish at this time by producing an Inuktitut curriculum that will be used Nunavut wide.
The Minister of Education and the Minister of Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth had set aside some funding to produce Inuktitut material to be taught within the schools so that we can start teaching our Inuit students all year round from elementary to high school levels.
It can be taught as well to non-Inuit students who want to learn Inuktitut as a second language.
Again this applies to all schools in Nunavut where the people require learning Inuktitut as a second language and we are consulting the regions as we speak.
We support this initiative and we will continue to work hard at it.
We want to reach a stage where all subjects and all materials are available to be taught in Inuktitut.
We are presently consulting on what other changes we need to make.
We are in the planning stages of producing the Inuktitut curriculum.
That is where we are at this point.
Speaker (interpretation): Supplementary, Mr. Iqaqrialu.
I understand your response and it is clear.
Although you have plans for producing Inuktitut curriculum, one of the major problems that we have is our dialectal differences.
We have so many problems with our dialects.
Although we are using one Inuktitut dialect, some times it is very different in other dialects when it is read.
One word can mean a very different thing in another dialect.
The communities I represent have told me that they want to produce their own materials in their own dialect so will you be able to provide us the funding?
I think that is the appropriate approach.
Our dialects will be lost if we have a standardized Inuktitut curriculum and it will contribute towards our losing Inuktitut.
Are you looking into this as well so that we can produce materials in our own dialect?
We are providing that type of work at this time and I want it understood that it will be a costly exercise.
We are in full support and I want the Members to realize that it is a complex matter.
We are still directing the process and to date we have outlined the skeletal regime, but we have not even started to look at the meat required to fill it out.
The details are being worked on at this time.
I appreciate the Member telling this House about dialectal difference concerns emanating from his communities.
I made a Members Statement earlier on today. When our children are five years old, they start their school career in kindergarten.
Their lives start from the time that they start school.
Have you looked into the issue about the lives of the children that enter into the school and for the individual to be able to continue on with their education or their careers?
Have you thought about that type of thing when you are doing the review of the development of the curriculum for Nunavut?
Yes, this is being dealt with by those who have more experience in this regard.
It is being looked after by the elders at this time.
The elders know what they are doing, and know their culture; they are developing these types of curriculum.
That is the stage we are at right now.
Some times it is very difficult for those children who enter the school system.
We try our very best to provide long term social development for them.
I realize that we cannot lose our language, and we try to think of that.
The school system can be used to provide those learning endeavours for the school children.
Speaker (interpretation): Question Period is now over.
Item7: Written Questions
Written Question 006 – 1(6): Victims Assistance Funding
I have a written question.
It is regarding the Victims Assistance Fund.
The questions that I have are
What are the specific funding guidelines and/or policies for funding projects out of the Victims Assistance Funds, pursuant to the Nunavut Victims of Crime Act?
The other question that I have is who is eligible for funding under the Victim Assistance Fund?
Who is the Victims Assistance Co-ordinator?
Who are the members of the Victims Assistance Committee?
As of March 2, 2003, what projects or proposals have been funded in the fiscal year 2002-03 to date?
What was the value of each funding award?
What GN-Funded compensation program exists to financially compensate individual victims of crime who incur direct financial costs as a result of a crime?
Speaker (interpretation): Would the Member please provide us with a copy of her Written Questions?
I am sorry that I skipped a number.
Bill 28 – An Act to Amend the Young Offenders Act and Other Acts in Consequence - Notice
I give notice that on Friday, March 7th, 2003, that I shall move that Bill 28, an Act to Amend the Young Offenders Act and Other Acts in Consequence be read for the first time.
Bill 29 – An Act to Amend the Nunavut Power Utilities Act and Certain Other Acts in Consequence - Notice
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, March 7, 2003, I shall move that Bill 29, an Act to Amend the Nunavut Power Utilities Act and Certain Other Acts in Consequence be read for the first time at that time.
Bill 23 and Bill 24.
Minister’s Statement 095-1(6).
Tabled Document 030-1(6), with Mr. Iqaqrialu in the Chair.
Before we begin Committee of the Whole, we will break for 20 minutes.
>>House recessed at15.21 p.m. resumed at 15.53 p.m.
In Committee of the Whole, we have the following items to deal with Bill 23 and Bill 24, but we have a problem there.
We have the Minister’s Statement 095-1(6). Tabled Document 030-1(6).
I would like to begin with the two items, Minister’s Statement 095-1(6) and also Tabled Document 030-1(6).
Are we in agreement that we first deal with Minister’s Statement 095-1(6) and Tabled Document 030-1(6)?
Are we in agreement?
I would now like to ask Minister Picco to make his Opening Remarks.
Mr. Chairman, if I may, I would like to go to the witness box and the witness chair and ask my staff to join me there. And with that, I would begin with my opening comments.
Are we in agreement that Mr. Picco and his officials go up to the witness table.
Please introduce your officials, Mr. Picco.
Mr. Chairman, first of all I would like to begin by saying who’s with me today.
I have the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Department of Health and Social Services on my immediate left, Mr. Abraham Tagalik.
On my immediate right is the Acting Deputy Minister of the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Keith Best.
Mr. Chairman, we are very please today to be able to sit in the Committee.
I believe this is a first for the Government of Nunavut.
I would suggest to you Mr. Chairman, that the number one health issue facing Nunavummiut is the issue of suicide and mental health across our territory.
Since April 1, 1999, since Nunavut began, we have seen over 100, Mr. Chairman, I am speaking now from memory; I have no written speaking notes.
We are seeing, Mr. Chairman, over 100 suicides since April 1, 1999.
That’s not acceptable.
Mr. Chairman, the Government of Nunavut has begun since April 1, 1999 and myself as Minister of Health and Social Services an aggressive campaign about the de-normalization processes of suicide.
There has been yeomen’s service done by the Department of Health with people like Caroline Anawak who, tirelessly and through much sacrifice, travelled to many communities throughout Nunavut, dealing with the issue.
We have several front line workers on the ground in every community in Nunavut, Mr. Chairman, who deal with the issue of suicide every day.
Mr. Chairman, if there was one reason for suicide, then it would be easy to tackle the problem.
Each suicide is different and there’s a range of issues why people take their own lives.
Mr. Chairman, there’s not one Member in this House who is not affected or has not been touched by suicide.
Several Members have brought up Members' Statements, have discussed the issue and talked about it.
This is the first opportunity we have had as a Legislative Assembly, since April 1, 1999, to table the issue to look at and address it and I welcome that opportunity today.
I would hope, Mr. Chairman, at the end of this day, that suggestions, question, comments, concerns on how we together as elected leaders in Nunavut can help our communities, whether they be large or small, help deal with the issue of suicide.
Over the past several months, with Mr. Tagalik, and with Mr. Best, and in the audience you will also note that we have Andrew Tagak.
He is the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit specialist and coordinator for the Department of Health and Social Services, looking at suicide by region, by community, by gender, by age and by occurrence.
We are trying to ascertain, Mr. Chairman, and formulate common markers of suicide across Nunavut.
And we have seen them Mr. Chairman they are there.
We know that 80 percent of suicides are occurring with young males under the age of 25.
We know in many cases, people have been adopted out.
We know in many cases where people have been adopted out, maybe the parents are older.
These are common themes that we’re seeing throughout suicides.
They’re not the case in every case, but there are common markers.
Are those indicators reasons for suicide?
Now, Mr. Chairman, I can talk about all of the things the Government of Nunavut has done since April 1st 1999, the workshops we have run, we have trained literally hundreds of people throughout Nunavut for post-prevention, intervention programs with suicide.
Mr. Chairman, we have worked with young people and old people, we have gathered people together in every Region of this territory.
In your home community, Mr. Chairman, as you know, we have run programs out of Clyde River with unilingual people, bilingual people, older people, and elders and so on, again, in the area of Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Suicide Prevention and Intervention.
The Crisis Line operates across Nunavut with a 1-800 number.
There are many mechanisms in place and yet, Mr. Chairman, we have not been able to stem the tides of suicides.
Some of the information, Mr. Chairman that we have been looking at and again, I want to make this clear, Mr. Chairman, I want to make it clear that across Nunavut, we are only 26,000 people.
There is not a family here in this House, in our communities that has not been affected by our suicides.
It is a very emotional subject and one of the Members said, over the last couple of days, the fear of talking about suicide.
Information, statistics, and so on, demonstrate some say that talking about suicides is one of the most proactive ways of dealing with it.
The discussion and debate that we will have here today, Mr. Chairman, and I hope committee recommendations to me as Minister of Health and to your Government, will be part and parcel of that.
Quickly, Mr. Chairman, I would like to go over some of the indications and indicators and then give the Members an opportunity to speak to the issue.
As your Minister of Health and Social Services, there is not a day that goes by that we do not, in my Office, get a call about an attempted suicide or a successful completion of a suicide.
Suicide has become so normal within our culture, within our society, within our territory, we are not shocked by suicides anymore.
That is why we need to be able to denormalize the process without pointing fingers at people.
Now, Mr. Chairman, we know that some suicides may be the result of some mental illness.
So, from all of the understanding, all the documentation, all the information that has been gathered, that has been assessed there, logistically, administratively, they have been put together.
This does not seem to be the key indicator, mental illness.
Some of the markers we have talked about, Mr. Tagak, starting on April 1st, in cooperation with one of these colleges in the Keewatin, will be looking at five or ten communities uniquely and talking to families anecdotally about some of the issues around suicide.
What are the common markers?
We have still people out there and Mr. Chairman, as you know just recently, we hired an Inuk lady who is now the Communications and Suicide Specialist for the Department of Health and Social Services.
She is on the job right now; she came to see me yesterday.
We have done a range of things, but we have not been successful.
One of the things elders have told us over the past three and a half years is that suicides start in families.
And how do we address the issue of suicide within families?
Ed Picco in Nunavut, Mr. Chairman, saying no more suicides in Nunavut is not going to work.
The Government passing an act tomorrow is not going to work out suicide.
Somebody does not walk around, Mr. Chairman, and decide, I am going to take my life today.
It is a progression.
Whether we have the mental support, nursing stations, social workers, mental health workers in place, school councillors, teachers, RCMP, there are people on the ground in every community to help lend assistance.
And if you talked to 26 people in this room or the 19 or 18 or 17 Members of the Legislative Assembly, each one will have their own understanding on why there are suicides.
Each person has their own ideas.
And when you have workshops where you bring people from across Nunavut together, like we will do, Mr. Chairman, in two months, we will have the National Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention Workshop Conference held here in Nunavut.
On the recommendations of Members like Mr. Irqittuq, from Amittuq, like the health Committee with Mr. Nutarak, there have been recommendations, why doesn’t Nunavut have our own before that.
We are moving forward to do that where we have our own Nunavut wide suicide prevention conference, where we will bring survivors of suicide.
That’s the last thing I would like to bring up today unless the Members have an opportunity to discuss some of these Mr. Chairman.
Again I don’t have hand outs.
I am speaking from personal experience, from some of the things I’ve seen as the Minister of Health.
I have with me, Dr. Best.
As you know, his background is psychology and psychiatry.
We have with us, Mr. Tagalik, who’s background is a person who lives here, who’s been working in the department now for some time, who understands some of the issues.
We have an Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit specialist on how we have tried to incorporate more Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit within the department on dealing with this specific issue.
Mr. Chairman, at the end of the day, at the end of this day, I would hope that the Members would be able to help me and help the people of Nunavut, and it’s being broadcast live here today.
People are watching this across the territory and will probably see it on simulcast.
I know that our friends from CBC are here and so on.
This is the first time Mr. Chairman, since April 1, 1999, that this House has actually dedicated time to debate this issue and I hope that it goes on until 10:00 tonight or however long it takes.
I can tell you as your Minister of Health and Social Services that there has not been as disheartening an issue to have to deal with without being able to solve the problem than this.
That’s why we need the expertise of people around this table as well as getting support from the Members in the House with their personal experiences.
With that Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you and the Committee for this most important opportunity to debate probably the number 1 health care crisis in Nunavut.
I look forward to your comments, questions and concerns raised by the Members.
Thank you.  Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Picco.
Those are very wise words and very true.
Because of confrontations that come up at times, we are here to talk about the issue of suicide and social issues and I am very glad that you are able to disclose some of the comments that you have made today.
I would like to tell my colleagues, as the chairperson of the Committee of the Whole, that since we are going to be talking about the issue of suicide and suicide prevention, I will treat everybody on an equal basis.
There will be no Minister and no regular Member during this sitting of Committee of the Whole so that we can talk about this frankly and to the point.
Every single Nunavummiut has been affected by the issue of suicide and it is time that we deal with it and look for solutions.
I just wanted to make those opening comments.
Let us now be open and frank about this issue, from your heart, from your mind and let’s talk of this problem.
Of course, there are House rules.
As the Chair of the Committee I will have to abide by those rules.
Before we begin, I would like to inform my colleagues that you have ten minutes to speak on the issue at hand.
After everyone else has made their comments, we will then be able to go back to you to further discuss the issue.
I will give Mr. Irqittuq the first opportunity.
The Member representing Amittuq. Mr. Irqittuq.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity.
For the very first time since the creation of the Nunavut Government, since April 1, 1999, we are here to talk about the issue and possibly come up with recommendations or action plans on this issue.
I thank you for giving me this opportunity.
I could make this a very long dialogue.
If we are on the radio, I am very pleased that we have people out there who are listening.
On the issue of suicide, we are all at a precarious stage at this point.
It is very hard to talk about the issue of suicide without having a negative effect.
We are here to help you from those of us who have been affected by suicide, but we also have our weaknesses.
As Inuit, we have a deep feeling of compassion for our fellow Nunavummiut.
The issue of suicide has had a very deep devastating impact, especially on the immediate family members, the parents of the individual, and the relatives.
I am also one of those people who have been severely devastated because I have lost three immediate family members to suicide.
I have seen the effect that it had on my parents.
Due to the sort of impact it has, we have to go through very difficult and challenging times.
Since I have personally gone through this experience, and because there are far too many completed suicides in Nunavut I would like to talk about the effect it has on the survivors.
When we were coming here in that week, there were four suicides in Nunavut, in that short span of time.
Thinking about those four and the effect it has on the family, we say, “This is too much, this is hopeless.”
As you probably know I have been vocal on the issue of suicide, and so have some of my colleagues.
I feel so helpless at times.
We have to keep going, and we have to have hope.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to look at how we can decrease the numbers of suicides in Nunavut. I am very thankful that we have witnesses.
During the Minister’s Opening Remarks, he mentioned some of the possible reasons.
Some I agree with, and some I do not agree with, especially a particular point about telling the truth.
That was one word that I heard that I didn’t like during his opening remarks.
He stated that we don’t get shocked anymore when we hear about a suicide.
From myself, personally, it is always surprising to me and it always shocks me.
I think about the immediate family members.
Especially the families who have had a family member commit suicide for the very first time.
That is the most devastating point in their lives.
Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to make those comments.
Why are there so many suicides today?
Sometimes when you try to talk about it, there are things that prevent us from communicating.
There are Members of the Legislative Assembly here who have lost family members or children just recently and we are afraid to be vocal about that point because we might hurt that individual.
Because they’re still grieving, it’s hard to talk about suicide when it’s the most crucial time to talk about it.
There are so many things we feel.
We have to set aside our feeling of compassion, our feeling of love and discuss the issue of suicide because there are survivors who are at various degrees of grieving.
We cannot bring back those people who have committed suicide.
We cannot bring those people back to life and make the family happy again.
The feeling of compassion and love, especially myself, personally, it prevents me from being very frank and open about the issue.
We all know that there are very many Nunavummiut who are going through that process of grieving and lost, we’re not the only ones.
I wanted to make those comments but because I am running out of time, I don’t want to rush through my comments.
There are many reasons why people commit suicide.
Every single suicide has a reason, whether they did it intentionally or spontaneously.
Maybe I am wrong saying that every single suicide has a reason for doing that action.
The age range in recent years is from 14-24 years old.
This is where the most numbers are.
In the past, in the 1980s, the suicide age range was higher but it’s now becoming very obvious that there are teenagers in their early teens who are committing suicide.
I am just looking at the statistics here.
Because I only have a very limited time to make my comments, I could just say that there are far too many suicides.
If we look at 26 thousand people and that’s only from the time that we created our territory.
If we look at the statistics, if we’re 20 thousand plus, total population in Nunavut, and looking at the number of suicides here, we have a huge number of suicides if we look at it from that point of view.
If we’re 20,000 plus, in a southern community and if they have that many suicides they would have to take action because it would be in a crisis situation.
Mr. Chairperson, I will give the other Members an opportunity to make their comments.
But I would like to touch up on some of the reasons and possibly solutions to decrease the number of suicides in the second round.
We’ll give each Member an opportunity and after that we could go back to you.
I will leave the floor open this afternoon.
I will give every Member an opportunity and then we will open up the floor for questions after general comments.
This is our first suicide discussion in Committee of the Whole and before we go ahead I would like to inform my colleagues that the Europeans have a different justice system and the Inuit have their own traditional custom.
In the European culture it was something that you were ashamed of and did not talk about.
In the Inuk society that was the same case but we can’t do that now because we’re now in a crises situation.
If we’re ashamed about it, if we don’t talk about it, it’s going to just keep going.
For those of us who are survivors it’s up to us now to protect the people of Nunavut.
It is now up to us to review the situation and look at all the options that are available.
Following the comments that are made around this table and following the feedback that we get from the people of Nunavut, every single Nunavummiut should have an opportunity to draft possible recommendations.
There are many people in Nunavut who have an opinion on this issue.
Every single Nunavummiut has thought at one time or another that their child is possibly suicidal.
I’ll leave it at that. I’ll open up the floor for general comments.
I am very glad that we have an opportunity to speak about suicide today.
We’re not going to end it today and it’s going to be an ongoing issue.
Although there are only 26,000 people, if there is one suicide that’s too much.
Because every living, breathing person shouldn’t have to commit suicide because as a government we need to discuss the issue and as the Minister stated there’s many studies that have been done about suicide.
I used to be a social worker for fourteen years and we had to work on it like we do today.
We’re still discussing the issue.
When you have to travel to communities as a social worker you have to help other communities other than your own community.
That is still happening.