EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Speaker, this allocation increase will help to strengthen our industry’s presence in Canada’s commercial fishing sector and it will represent an important step towards establishing Nunavut as a major player in commercial fisheries.
As such, we will continue to remain actively involved in discussions on shrimp management and will continue our lobbying efforts to ensure that Nunavut receives an equitable share and maximum benefits from this fishery.
Minister’s Statement 196 – 4(3): Canada-Nunavut Job Grant (Mike)
The Canada-Nunavut Job Grant provides funding support for employers to train their employees in skills that allow them to advance in the organization, earn higher salaries, and increase their job stability.
I am proud to announce that my Department received 23 successful applications from employers this fiscal year and a total of 128 employees received training.
Each region in the territory received at least one job grant.
(interpretation ends) My department provides two-thirds of eligible training costs for each trainee up to $10,000.
Employers are eligible to receive a grant if they are a Nunavut-based organization, have a position available for the trainee at the end of training, and are able to contribute to one-third of the total eligible training costs.
(interpretation) Mr. Speaker, we are now accepting applications for 2017-18.
My department is committed to strengthening training opportunities in the territory, and we continue to positively contribute to the labour market needs of Nunavummiut.
Minister’s Statement 197 – 4(3): Community Transportation Initiatives Program (CTIP) (Ell-Kanayuk)
The Department of Economic Development and Transportation is committed to helping communities develop and maintain local transportation infrastructure to connect to economic development opportunities and traditional activities.
I rise today to provide an update on our department’s successful Community Transportation Initiatives Program.
Municipalities make use of this program to carry out local transportation infrastructure projects of their choosing.
Mr. Speaker, over the past two years Nunavut communities have received approximately $3 million through this program in support of local community access roads and marine infrastructure.
Communities in all three regions have received funding for projects, such as access road development and expansion, bridge installation, and sealift area upgrades.
Our government is proud of this program.
We encourage all Nunavut municipalities to take advantage of the funding provided under the Community Transportation Initiatives Program to improve their access to the land and sea through enhanced transportation infrastructure.
The Hon. Minister of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. Peter Taptuna.
Minister’s Statement 198 – 4(3): Nunavut Devolution (Taptuna)
Hon. Peter Taptuna: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) Good afternoon, my colleagues, Kuglukturmiut, and Nunavummiut.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to update my colleagues about Nunavut devolution and an important development on the file.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, the transfer of jurisdictional responsibility is a crucial component as part of this government’s mandate to help realize the territory’s long-term development and autonomy for Nunavummiut.
We were pleased to see the federal government appoint a new chief negotiator, Mr. Fred Caron, for devolution and announce it on Nunavut Day this past summer.
Earlier last week Mr. Caron and members of his negotiation team met with our chief negotiator, Mr. Simon Awa, as well as members of his team and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated to begin the process where it left off last year before the federal election.
This is a positive signal of Canada’s intention to get back to the table.
Mr. Speaker, Nunavut’s self-reliance and future success depends on sound economic and resource development, and devolution is a critical step towards this realization.
We are excited to return to negotiations and to step forward together to develop an agreement-in-principle on devolution with the Government of Canada and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated.
The Government of Nunavut looks forward to busy months ahead in negotiating devolution.
It’s time for the people of Nunavut to make decisions and manage their public land, water, and resources.
I look forward to this next step toward a prosperous, self-sufficient Nunavut and I am enthusiastic about our territory’s future possibilities.
Member’s Statement 365 – 4(3): Four-plex Fire in Rankin Inlet (Sammurtok, T)
Mr. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) I want to convey my thoughts to the families who lost everything in a four-plex housing unit fire over the weekend.
Thankfully no one was hurt, and I also wish to commend the Rankin Inlet firefighters for the long hours they spent fighting fire.
Member’s Statement 366 – 4(3): Community Access Roads (Qirngnuq)
Mr. Qirngnuq (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) I rise today to speak about the importance of community access roads.
Mr. Speaker, please imagine a perfect day in the middle of our short arctic summer.
Imagine several generations of the same family together on the land: grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren.
Imagine the elders teaching their grandchildren and sharing their traditional knowledge of the land.
Imagine that the family has been able to find a few precious hours together, far from the daily routine of town.
Imagine that they have been able to travel together to this special place thanks to a community access road.
Imagine the beautiful landscape around them.
It refreshes their bodies and nourishes their souls.
Mr. Speaker, providing support for the development of community access roads is an important responsibility of the government, and I will have appropriate questions for the appropriate minister at the appropriate time.
Member’s Statement 367 – 4(3): Harvesting of Polar Bears (Mikkungwak)
I rise today to speak about an issue that affects many communities in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, as has recently been reported in the media, a number of hunters in the Kivalliq have expressed concerns relating to the total allowable harvest allocations that currently exist for polar bear populations in that area.
Specifically, Nunavummiut have observed an increasing number of polar bears within community parameters. As well, hunters who venture out of the community to harvest other types of wildlife have been experiencing an increasing number of polar bear attacks.
Mr. Speaker, regulations under the Wildlife Act mandate that emergency kills of wildlife that occur when it is necessary to preserve life are considered a harvest attributed to the total allowable harvest for the respective community in which the emergency kill occurred.
Earlier this year a resident in my community experienced a near fatal encounter with a polar bear while he was out hunting other wildlife.
Unfortunately this hunter was forced to shoot the animal in order to save his own life.
As a result, Baker Lake’s single allocation of a total allowable harvest for that polar bear subpopulation was used.
I remain concerned that this type of situation has become the norm in my community. It is becoming increasingly unlikely that residents of Baker Lake will have the opportunity to take part in the tradition of harvesting a polar bear for their family and community.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to emphasize that the conservation officers, local residents, and hunters alike make every effort to avoid having to kill a polar bear in self-defence.
Mr. Speaker, respect and care for the land, animals, and the environment is enshrined in our values as Inuit and has always been a guiding principle for the people in this territory.
I recognize that the current legislation and regulations are intended to ensure the survival of the polar bear species, which is and always will be a vital part of our culture and our ecosystem.
However, I believe that we need to address the serious challenges that our communities are facing in ensuring the safety of their loved ones from dangerous wildlife.
I encourage our government, in cooperation with Inuit and wildlife organizations, to work together to find a solution that will address these concerns.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will have questions related to this issue.
Member’s Statement 368 – 4(3): Happy Birthday to Grandchild (Sammurtok, A)
Mr. Alexander Sammurtok: (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to say “happy birthday” to my grandchild in Pond Inlet. Have a very happy birthday.
Member’s Statement 369 – 4(3): Proper Nutrition for Medical Clients (Shooyook)
Good day to Nunavummiut and the residents of my constituency.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about medical patients who travel for treatment either to Iqaluit or Ottawa.
The issue is sometimes patients experience problems with food either due to allergies or never having had a particular food before.
I have been informed by my constituents that medication is quite important. Some medication should only to be taken with a full stomach. Some kinds of pills and greasy foods don’t sit well together.
For that reason, my two communities have expressed concerns about this issue.
Member’s Statement 370 – 4(3): Happy Birthday to Wife, Elizabeth (Quassa)
I say “good day” to my constituents and my colleagues.
I think several people are celebrating their birthdays today.
I heard some of my colleagues celebrating birthdays as well.
I have been with this person for 35 years.
She is not in Iqaluit at the moment, but she is in Arctic Bay. I would like to say “happy birthday” to my wife, Elizabeth Quassa.
Her name is also Malaya.
A long time ago I thought “Malaya” was only a male name, but I then realized it is for both genders.
I wish a very happy birthday to my wife and to all others celebrating their birthdays here in Nunavut today.
Member’s Statement 371 – 4(3): Successful Suicide Prevention Conference (Hickes)
Late last week and over the weekend we had a large conference in town. I spoke to it through a Minister’s Statement last week.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the Iqalummiut for the warm hospitality that they showed to the delegates that travelled here from far and wide to attend this conference.
There were nearly 600 delegates that participated in the conference.
Numerous times over my participation in different events, I heard how warm the hospitality that Iqaluit and Nunavut overall was.
With the amazing work by the volunteers and the planners to put forward a conference of that size, some comments that were brought to my attention were that it was probably the largest and best CASP conference that many people have participated in.
I just wanted to take the time to publicly recognize all the volunteers, the hard work, the staff, and everything that goes into putting a conference of that size together. I just wanted to say “nakurmiik.”
Member’s Statement 372 – 4(3): Happy Birthday to Wife, Mary (Enook)
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and people of Pond Inlet.
I, too, have an individual who is celebrating her birthday. My dear partner, Mary Kilabuk, I wish you a happy birthday today, I love you, and may you have many more birthdays.
My colleagues, she won’t be going home until long after you’re relaxing as she is a transcriber. You want your Blues early in the morning and she is working to help complete them.
Have a wonderful birthday today, Mary.
Member’s Statement 373 – 4(3): Co-op Status in Iqaluit (Okalik)
Usually when I go places, I look at ways and means as to how we can beautify and improve our community.
We have a co-op here, but we can’t become members, which concerns me. I envy those smaller communities that have established co-ops and memberships.
I was asked if I wanted to go to a board meeting, so I attended and then I asked, “How can we get a co-op here?”
Of course we would like to have membership privileges and so on.
Everything was approved and if we could set up a board of directors, then the conceptual co-op here could be ours. That’s what I was told.
People of Iqaluit, please set up and create a board so that we can own the Co-op that’s here.
I would like to recognize someone who’s in the gallery, in a sense. He is here often.
He lets Nunavummiut know what we talk about, what we say, and I would like to recognize and welcome Mr. Jordan Konek from CBC in the CBC booth.
Question 490 – 4(3): Proper Nutrition for Medical Clients (Shooyook)
Mr. Speaker, the disease of diabetes is a growing concern across Nunavut.
A person with diabetes cannot control the amount of sugar in their blood, which can lead to very dangerous health conditions.
Two of my constituents have a number of dietary restrictions and they will need to travel to Iqaluit for tests and medical care related to diabetes.
Can the minister clarify what steps are taken to ensure that the dietary needs of medical clients are taken into consideration when they have to travel for medical care?
Whenever somebody is travelling under medical travel to access services that aren’t available in their community, we work very hard with our contractors and our medical staff to make sure that their needs, including their dietary needs, are recognized.
In a nutshell, if the member is aware of certain instances where that’s not occurring, I would recommend that Patient Relations be contacted to deal with the one-off circumstance of that.
In general we would want to make sure that the staff at the boarding homes are informed of any dietary needs. As the member mentioned in his statement earlier, if any medications need to be taken with food, the case manager and the staff at the boarding home are made aware.
If there are any issues, again I would recommend that any person running into any challenges with their medical travel immediately contact the medical travel office or the patient relations office.
I am very thankful to the minister for his response.
Mr. Speaker, when patients come to Iqaluit, they have to stay at the Tammaativvik Boarding Home and when they have to go to Ottawa they stay at the boarding home there.
One of my constituents once told the kitchen staff that he wasn’t allowed to eat a certain kind of food, but the kitchen was not concerned at all and didn’t do anything.
I am very concerned about this.
There are people with diabetes in my constituency who are not able to eat foods like eggs and fatty foods, yet they are made available as meals at the boarding homes.
They expect that their special dietary needs would be recognized and also be served country foods.
Can the minister look into those patients who have to go to the Ottawa boarding home and remind the staff there about respecting special dietary needs of diabetic patients?
I will make sure that the member’s concerns are passed on to all boarding homes or transient centres that we use.
From a medical standpoint, we do meet regularly with the administration of these facilities and I will make sure that they are notified that there are concerns, such as the member has brought forward.
Thank you very much to the minister for supporting this because it is very concerning for Nunavut, especially because some medications are stronger than others.
Some patients need to eat certain foods to take their medications and if you don’t eat a certain kind of food when you’re taking a particular type of medication, it’s not good, but it happens.
Inuit country foods should be made available at the boarding homes.
Will you be able to support that?
Whenever people are travelling away from home, the comfort of having food that they are familiar with is an important part of their process and level of comfort.
I know when I was recently at the Larga Baffin opening, there were tuktu and maktaaq.
When I spoke to the executive director of that facility, she said that they quite often have country food available for the residents.
It’s something I know from other boarding homes that I have been informed of is that there are often HTOs or when people are travelling down to attend medical appointments, they often bring country food with them.
It’s absolutely something I encourage all members of the public, any community hunters, or any HTOs, if they have country foods that they are able to donate to these facilities to help our medical travel patients and their escorts have access to food that they’re comfortable with and that is proven to be very healthy for them, I encourage them to contact those facilities.
If there’s any way that I can assist them in providing country food to facilities that we contract, I’m open to any dialogue.
Question 491 – 4(3): Nunavut Film Development Corporation (Angnakak)
The Government of Nunavut has estimated that the film industry spends approximately $13.0 million per year in the territory.
The global acclaim for such works as Atanarjuat and Two Lovers and a Bear clearly demonstrates the need to for us to invest in this vibrant sector of the cultural economy.
In 2014-15 the Department of ED&T provided $825,000 in core funding to the Nunavut Film Development Corporation and the Department of Culture and Heritage provided an additional $200,000. However, it has recently been reported that insufficient funding is responsible for delays in the production of the next season of Qanurli, which is one of the very few Inuit language programs that exists in the world today.
Can the minister indicate if her department is presently considering requesting an increase to its Film, Television and New Media Program budget in its 2017-18 main estimates, which the Legislative Assembly will be considering about four months from now?
Hon. Monica Ell-Kanayuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to my colleague for asking that question.
Yes, we have been planning to request an increase for the Nunavut Film Development Corporation’s budget for 2017-18, making the total budget $1,361,000.
That’s a great response and we look forward to seeing that request.
As I noted in the preamble to my question, the Department of Economic Development provided $825,000 in core funding in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
Can the minister explain how this figure and perhaps the next figure of $1,300,000 were determined?
I also thank the member for asking questions about the film industry in Nunavut.
We have to understand that film production and other things like that are increasing.
The Nunavut Film Development Corporation’s budget includes training and (interpretation ends) mentoring (interpretation) of Nunavummiut.
They are thinking along the lines of having an increase in the number of employment positions in the corporation and the businesses that are under the Nunavut Film Development Corporation or other groups that support the development corporation because of the fact that it will help with the language.
We’re increasing the budget because there are more and more film productions happening all the time.
The Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s Film, Television and Digital Media Development Contribution Policy, it’s a long name, expired on March 31, 2015, over a year ago.
The annual report for the Nunavut Film Development Corporation has not been tabled in the Legislative Assembly since September 11, 2013, over three years ago.
I actually read the report and it was very interesting to note how many great movies actually have been made in Nunavut and in Iqaluit specifically.
Will the minister commit to tabling an updated policy and the outstanding annual reports when the winter sitting of the Legislative Assembly begins next February?
Hon. Monica Ell-Kanayuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also thank the member for asking another two questions. I’ll try to respond to them.
The Nunavut Film Development Corporation makes press releases and I will check into them.
The last report was in 2013 and I will have to ask them why we haven’t heard from them since that time. If we need to table anything, I will ask them to work on it.
Question 492 – 4(3): Net Metering Policy (Joanasie)
Mr. Joanasie (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation.
Last month I noted with interest when QEC announced that it plans to launch its net metering program in the spring of 2017.
QEC has indicated that this, and I quote, “will enable QEC customers who are interested in generating their own electricity supply with small-scale renewable energy systems to send excess power to the electricity grid.”
Can the minister indicate when QEC will finalize its new net metering policy and amend its terms and conditions and service to include the new net metering policy?
I also thank my colleague for that question about an aspect of QEC trying to get the net metering policy out to try to access more power from outside the corporation.
We expect that this will be put in place in 2017.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation’s new Blueprint for Action on Housing document indicates that NHC will, and I quote, “…assist QEC through a pilot project of net-metering technology through installation of solar panels on select homes in Nunavut.”
Can the minister clarify how homeowners can volunteer to participate in this pilot project?
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): This new net metering policy you speak of is already in use in some communities, with one already in place here in Iqaluit.
However, the actual policy itself will need to be revised to ensure that QEC can properly administer it.
With respect to the question, this will be available for usage by any person wishing to partake in this program.
For example, if they have solar panels, this program will be available to them.
However, with respect to the connections to QEC’s power grid, due to this program creation, it will require additional work.
With respect to his other question, I’m sorry that I can’t respond as it is specific to NHC in terms of how exactly it will fit with them.
However, we are opening this program so that homeowners can have the opportunity to connect to this and the policy will be implemented in 2017.
Can the minister confirm whether or not the implementation of QEC’s new net metering program will need to be reviewed by the Utility Rates Review Council?
We’re not sure as to when we will be submitting it or if we have already submitted it to the Utility Rates Review Council.
I will have to get back to my colleague with a definitive answer as to when or if we have submitted it, but I know there have been discussions about it.
I will have to get back to my colleague as to when or if it will be reviewed by the Utility Rates Review Council.
I understand the question, but I’ll have to get back to him.
Question 493 – 4(3): Community Access Roads (Qirngnuq)
When I made my statement earlier, I was going to say “good day” to the residents of Kugaaruk and Taloyoak as well as my fellow colleagues.
The department’s current 2016-17 main estimates include $1.5 million for its Community Transportation Initiatives Program, which provides funding for community access roads.
Can the minister indicate if her department is considering requesting an increase in this amount for its 2017-18 main estimates, which will be considered by the Legislative Assembly in a few months from now?
In the main estimates for 2015-16, we had just established that program and this is only the second year in its existence. We have no plans for the upcoming year to increase that amount at the moment, but we know that we receive many requests for that program.
Mr. Qirngnuq: Mr. Speaker, the Municipality of Taloyoak received $25,000 in funding during the 2015-16 fiscal year for the Netsilik Access Road project and I want to express my appreciation for this support.
The municipality is currently working with the department on the Redfish access road, Ivitaaruqtuq.
Can the minister explain what criteria her department uses to determine whether or not to approve the full amount requested by a municipality in any given proposal submitted under this program?
I also thank the member for requesting more information.
The Department of Economic Development handles numerous requests for access roads and other programs.