EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I was just reading a briefing note here and it says with an average of nine offenders in the Northwest Territories, the Government of Nunavut spends close to $1 million per year for an average of nine.
In Ontario it is $230 per day per offender. There’s an average of 14 offenders that are housed in Ontario.
That’s about $1.2 million per year. The current cost for housing offenders in BC, Manitoba, and Alberta is $250 per day per offender.
This is interesting. With an average of one offender housed in these jurisdictions, the GN spends over $91,000 a year. I’m just not sure why we have one person in either one of those provinces, but there must be a reason.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) We are on Justice. Corrections. Following the list of names, Mr. Shooyook.
Mr. Shooyook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me another opportunity to speak.
As other colleagues generically state, this is only a commentary.
If you allow me this opportunity, I would like to speak to the matter of corrections.
What I want clearly understood about these correctional institutions, especially in light of my passionate fight on IQ, is that all departments have to experiment with the subject of Inuit Qaujimanituqangit as I want these cultural beliefs to be incorporated.
In an earlier period I spoke to this issue of prisoners who have served their time. Even if they had been incarcerated or an alcoholic or who committed different crimes, we have people who have served their sentence in Nunavut and they can provide a lot of assistance.
One of my colleagues stated that they were fearful of prisoners at the BCC, that they didn’t wish them to be involved in a particular program.
This is contrary to our beliefs, as they have completed their jail time.
We have people that have completed their sentence.
As was mentioned, we have many people who are no longer prisoners.
Based on traditional laws, any Inuk who has served their sentence can provide assistance to others.
When a person only lives productively, they have no inkling of how to assist people who had been incarcerated.
What I want to mention here is the saying.
Whenever a person applies for a position, particularly in the schools and offices, they have to complete a criminal record check prior to qualifying fully for that position.
However, some people who may have a criminal record, who have successfully finished their sentence can provide personal experiences and loads of advice.
I’m not just guessing in this case, as this is absolutely truthful, as we have many people in Nunavut who are very capable, even with a criminal record, which I want your officials to understand.
This is also part of the protection efforts of Inuit Qaujimanituqangit where, if this is incorporated into the departments, they have to start with a clean slate, especially when incorporating IQ, as to whether the thousands of years of knowledge has a modicum of truth or not.
I don’t ever wish to state deceitful things, as experience of many generations has a grain of truthfulness.
I don’t think I’m going to be here with the next government, but I would like to urge the government to implement Inuit Qaujimanituqangit.
That’s just a comment in support of IQ. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make my comments, Mr. Chairman.
I have always appreciated Mr. Shooyook’s advice and suggestions.
He has visited me a couple of times at my office to talk about IQ in the correctional facilities. He has also visited the Baffin Correctional Centre to see for himself what needs to be done out there.
I’m sure MLAs who return to this Assembly or the new ones will have an opportunity to consider the advice he has given. There’s always the Hansard. We will have officials around in the next government who have heard his comments.
I’ll be giving first reading of the Corrections Act tomorrow at some point and that’s based on consultations we’ve had with communities.
There are a lot of good recommendations in there, and then it will eventually go to the standing committee where Mr. Shooyook and other MLAs can have a chance to review it, ask myself as a minister and my officials questions about it or make suggestions and amendments if need be.
Hopefully in the life of this government we can pass the new Corrections Act and Mr. Shooyook could have a hand in that so that when he has retired back up in Arctic Bay, he knows he has done his job.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. Mr. Shooyook. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
We are on Justice.
Corrections. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $35,401,000. Agreed?
On page E-9. Justice. Community Justice.
I just have a few quick questions on this section.
In the minister’s opening comments on page 1, you state, “In the area of community justice, the department requests $115,000 to make five community justice outreach workers GN employees. Currently the community justice outreach workers are working as hamlet employees but taking direction from Community Justice.”
Can you tell us which five communities will be affected by this?
I just want to verify. I don’t want to say the wrong community, but they have assured me that the first five communities would be Baker Lake, Pond Inlet, Pangnirtung, Rankin Inlet, and Gjoa Haven.
Are these the only communities that are under such arrangements with municipalities or are there other communities with similar arrangements and, if so, why are you only doing five and not all communities?
No, there are more communities under similar arrangements with the hamlets.
We just felt that it would be better for transition and orientation if we did it five at a time and eventually bring them all over.
You’re requesting $115,000 for five employees and that only works out to about $23,000 for each employee.
Will they be brought over as casual employees or will they become indeterminate employees for the department?
I don’t think anybody would work for that kind of money, but we have contribution agreements with the hamlets, so those would be terminated.
The funding that flows to the hamlets through the contribution agreements would come back to the Government of Nunavut and then we would top it up with $115,000 to make it… .
Sorry. It’s $449,000 that we have contribution agreements, so that plus the money of $115,000 would top it up and then we could offer them the same salary and benefits that they might expect being a Government of Nunavut employee Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just one final question because he didn’t answer it in my previous question. Will these employees become full-time employees or will they be listed as casual or part-time employees?
I apologize, Mr. Rumbolt.
Those employees would be indeterminate employees with the Government of Nunavut.
On page E-9.
Community Corrections.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $4,852,000.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $114,274,000.
Chairman: Do members agree that we have concluded the Department of Justice?
Hon. Minister of Justice, Mr. Peterson, closing comments.
I thank yourself and the committee for the excellent questions today, very good and insightful questions that make us think about where we are now and where we want to be in a few years.
It is all very helpful to me, my officials, and our government.
I would like to thank, of course, my officials, who are here today.
I neglected to mention our backup fellow in the gallery, Mr. Stephen Shaddock. I didn’t have to ask him to come in.
I would like to especially thank our staff out in our various offices and facilities across Nunavut in all our communities. They do a tremendous job every day under some very trying circumstances.
I want them to know that they have the support of me, my officials, and the Legislative Assembly as they go about their jobs serving our communities, making our communities a better place to live, and helping their fellow citizens. I would just like to throw that shout-out to them.
(interpretation ends) We will take a five-minute break to set up for the next department.
>>Committee recessed at 19:12 and resumed at 19:22
Bill 34 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2017-2018 – Finance – Consideration in Committee
I would now like to ask the Minister of Finance to proceed with opening comments.
I am here to discuss the Department of Finance’s 2017-18 main estimates and business plan.
Before we discuss spending details, I would like to first describe some high-level changes we made to our department’s organizational structure last summer.
The main change was to create a human resource branch within the department.
Because of this, the core HR functions our department oversees - compensation and benefits, recruiting and staffing, employee relations, and job evaluation - are now part of a focused branch of HR personnel led by a dedicated associate deputy minister.
Before last summer the department had delivered these HR services from within a larger comptrollership branch, which also managed matters like the GN’s Public Accounts and our back-end financial systems.
By splitting this larger branch in two, we have created a streamlined structure that better supports our delivery of both HR and comptrollership functions.
Mr. Chairman, the department is well positioned to continue its good work in 2017-18 and beyond.
I would like to highlight a few achievements from this past year:
We worked with the Nunavut Employees Union to develop and sign a new collective agreement for GN employees;
We tabled the 2015-16 Public Service Annual Report in the fall sitting of the Assembly, three months earlier than the 2014-15 report and nearly seven months earlier than earlier governments had delivered it;
249 students in 24 communities took part in our most successful summer student program ever;
We maintained our Aa1 credit rating with Moody’s Investors Services, an important marker in how others think of the government’s finances;
We once again tabled our audited Public Accounts in the fall sitting, with no qualifications of any kind.
Looking ahead to next year, the Department of Finance is seeking total O&M funding of $94,831,000 through the main estimates.
This is just $537,000 more than what we received through last year’s main estimates, an increase of about 0.6 percent.
All of the new funding requested is dedicated to centrally administered funds and not core departmental operations.
Centrally administered funds are payments our department manages on behalf of the entire government and include costs related to GN employee medical travel, the Nunavut Electricity Subsidy Program, lease payments on certain office buildings, Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission premiums, and other insurance premiums.
In total the department is seeking $52.7 million for the Centrally Administered Funds Branch in 2017-18.
All other changes you see reflected in this year’s Department of Finance budget are the result of internal reallocations of existing funding.
We are planning increases for our Corporate Management, Fiscal Management and Comptrollership branches, seeking $505,000 in total reallocations across all three.
The largest driver of funding changes across these branches is compensation and benefits adjustments to reflect current and expected staffing levels.
Mr. Chairman, as part of our work to deliver quality human resources services and in line with the structural changes I discussed earlier, we are proposing to redirect an additional $1.6 million in our new dedicated Human Resources Branch.
This funding will support ten new human resource positions:
Four new positions for Recruitment and Staffing as a way to help all Government of Nunavut departments better address the vacancies they face;
Four new positions for Employee Relations as we continue our work to build a productive, healthy and supportive workplace; and
Two new positions in Rankin Inlet to support our payroll operations in the Kivalliq region.
These 10 new positions, which we are proposing to fund through internal reallocations, will bring the department’s total number of personnel to 281.
These new positions will help us advance our work to implement the Government of Nunavut’s Human Resource Strategy.
As I noted in my Budget Address, we have made several improvements to date, including:
Introducing a policy on workplace harassment;
Providing anti-harassment training to nearly 500 employees across the territory to promote a respectful workplace;
Better supporting individuals who return to work;
Training our managers about their responsibilities to accommodate employees’ needs; and
Supporting breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.
The department will continue our work to increase Inuit employment, recruit skilled people, develop our employees, and improve our service to the public.
We look forward to the second annual report of the Government of Nunavut’s ethics officer, which is another of the important contributions we have made to and for our public service.
Last June Members of this Assembly passed a motion recommending the creation of a public service commission.
We have explored that option.
We have also undertaken a review of possible approaches to shared services so that our new government will be informed when it takes office.
I noted with interest that the Government of the Northwest Territories recently announced plans to join its own departments of Human Resources and Finance as a way to improve its own public service.
Mr. Chairman, at my last appearance I presented an overview of the Government of Nunavut’s fiscal situation and noted there was not much room within our fiscal framework for departments to increase spending substantially.
This will now be exacerbated by the tragic loss of the Kugaaruk school last week.
Overall the Department of Finance is “practising what we preach” by proposing a budget for 2017-18 that addresses core department and government priorities while making the most of existing funding by minimizing annual spending growth.
As an example, we are able to fund the cost of the new human resource personnel from within existing resources.
Whether promoting fiscal responsibility across departments, ensuring the integrity of our financial operations, or working towards excellence in human resource management, our finance officials contribute positively to the overall operations of the Government of Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Standing Committee on Government Estimates and Operations on its review of the proposed 2017-18 main estimates and 2017-2020 business plan of the Department of Finance.
The standing committee notes that the department’s proposed 2017-2020 operations and maintenance budget of $94,831,000 has increased by approximately 0.6 percent since the introduction of the department’s 2016-17 main estimates.
The number of positions in the department is 281.
This is an increase of ten positions from the 2016-17 main estimates.
The department’s proposed main estimates and business plan reflect a number of changes to the department’s organizational structure, including the establishment of a new human resources branch.
The total number of positions in the government continues to increase.
The government’s proposed 2017-18 main estimates indicate that there are approximately 4,676 positions in the government’s departments and major Crown agencies and territorial corporations.
This represents an increase of approximately 97 positions, or 2.1 percent, over the number of positions accounted for in the government’s 2016-17 main estimates.
However, the government’s December 2016 quarterly employment report indicates that there were 1,236 vacant positions across the government as of December 31, 2016, which represented a vacancy rate of approximately 25 percent.
It is also important for the government to be mindful of the Minister of Finance’s own comments to the Committee of the Whole on March 19 of 2014 when he publicly informed Members of the Legislative Assembly that the government would, from a budgeting perspective, be “…in a very difficult situation if [it] were 100 percent staffed.”
For the 2017-18 fiscal year this amounts to over half a billion dollars.
The 2015-16 ministerial letters of expectation to the government’s five major Crown agencies and territorial corporations were not tabled in the Legislative Assembly until October 30 of 2015, almost seven months into the fiscal year.
The 2016-17 letters of expectation were tabled on June 7 of 2016.
The standing committee recognizes the significant improvement in the timeliness of the tabling of these items, as well as recent improvements in the timeliness of the tabling of the Public Service Annual Report.
The standing committee continues to emphasize the importance of continuing to expand the range of information contained in future editions of the Public Service Annual Report, including absenteeism rates and information concerning the employment of disabled persons in the public service.
On November 3 of 2016 the Minister of Finance tabled the government’s 2015-16 annual report on grants and contributions made by all departments during that fiscal year.
Between the 2004-05 and 2015-16 fiscal years the government’s grants and contributions expenditures amounted to approximately $3.44 billion.
As members will recall, the Commissioner’s Opening Address that was delivered at the beginning of the Second Session of the current Legislative Assembly announced that one of the government’s priorities would be to “ensure funds provided to organizations, communities, and individuals adhere to better accountability practices that achieve the outcome this government expects from its investment.”
This in turn should assist the government and all Members of the Legislative Assembly in evaluating the extent to which grants and contributions expenditures are actually achieving their objectives and providing value for money.
The department’s proposed 2017-2020 business plan indicates that the “Phase 2 audit of grants and contributions of GN departments” is underway.
It is important that the government’s work in this area clearly distinguish between ensuring that grants and contributions payments are being made in compliance with existing authorities and evaluating the extent to which grants and contributions expenditures are actually achieving their stated objectives and providing value for money.
Approximately 2,610 students, over 77 percent of whom were beneficiaries, have participated in this program since 2001.
In recognition of the fact that many of our territory’s smaller communities do not have a significant Government of Nunavut presence, the standing committee has urged the government to consider such ideas as providing wage subsidies to municipalities and other employers to hire summer students in smaller communities that do not have a large Government of Nunavut presence.
The standing committee notes that the 2017-2020 business plan of the Department of Family Services indicates that it has recently piloted a new Summer Employment for Nunavut Students Program that provides wage subsidies to private sector employers, municipalities, and non-governmental organizations for the purpose of hiring students.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening comments on the proposed 2017-18 main estimates and 2017-2020 business plan of the Department of Finance.
Just a reminder that the Standing Committee on Legislation meets again at nine o’clock tomorrow morning in the Nanuq Boardroom.
Motion 44 – 4(3)
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) This House stands adjourned until Wednesday, March 8 at 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Pages 3793 – 3852
Opening Prayer 3793
Ministers’ Statements 3793
Members’ Statements 3796
Oral Questions 3806
Reports of Standing and Special Committees on Bills and Other Matters 3821
Tabling of Documents 3821
Motions 3822
First Reading of Bills 3822
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters 3823
Report of the Committee of the Whole 3850
Revert to Item 5: Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery 3851
Orders of the Day 3851
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 3793
271 – 4(3): Summer Student Employment Equity Program (Peterson) 3793
272 – 4(3): Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council (Ell-Kanayuk) 3794
273 – 4(3): Thank You to Volunteer Firefighters (Savikataaq) 3794
274 – 4(3): Fur Production Program (Quassa) 3795
275 – 4(3): Western Hudson Bay Polar Bear Subpopulation Survey (Savikataaq) 3796
508 – 4(3): Celebrating International Women’s Day (Okalik) 3796
509 – 4(3): Recognition of Volunteers and Sports Programs in Sanikiluaq (Rumbolt) 3797
510 – 4(3): Appreciation of International Women’s Day (Quassa) 3798
511 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women in Nunavut (Akoak) 3799
512 – 4(3): Celebrating International Women’s Day (Keyootak) 3799
513 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Joanasie) 3800
514 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Shooyook) 3800
515 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Mike) 3801
516 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Mikkungwak) 3802
517 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Qirngnuq) 3802
518 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Taptuna) 3803
519 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Hickes) 3803
520 – 4(3): Appreciation of Women on International Women’s Day (Mapsalak) 3804
668 – 4(3): Snow Fencing for Coral Harbour (Mapsalak) 3806
669 – 4(3): Surplus Equipment for Search and Rescue Organizations (Rumbolt) 3808
670 – 4(3): School Security (Qirngnuq) 3809
671 – 4(3): Alcohol Distribution Control (Joanasie) 3810
672 – 4(3): Alcohol Distribution Control (Enook) 3812
673 – 4(3): Environmental Assessment by Nunavut Impact Review Board (Keyootak) 3813
674 – 4(3): Lawyer Training Program (Okalik) 3815
675 – 4(3): Delays in Obtaining Driver’s Licences (Mapsalak) 3816
676 – 4(3): Annual Bulk Fuel Resupply (Enook) 3817
677 – 4(3): Problems in Obtaining Driver’s Licences (Enook) 3818
678 – 4(3): School Security (Okalik) 3819
022 – 4(3): Bill 28, An Act to Amend Certain Acts Respecting Codes and Standards (Sammurtok, T) 3821
276 – 4(3): Report on the Community Transportation Initiatives Program 2016-2017 (Ell-Kanayuk) 3821
277 – 4(3): Department of Environment’s Nunavut Fisheries Strategy, 2016-2020 (Savikataaq) 3821
044 – 4(3): Extension of Review Period for Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act (Sammurtok, T) 3822
Bill 37 – An Act to Amend the Education Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act – First Reading 3822
Bill 40 – Corrections Act – First Reading 3823
Bill 34 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2017-2018 – Finance – Consideration in Committee 3823
Mr. Tony Akoak, Hon. Monica Ell-Kanayuk, Mr. Joe Enook, Hon. George Hickes, Mr. David Joanasie, Mr. Pauloosie Keyootak, Hon. George Kuksuk, Mr. Steve Mapsalak, Hon. Johnny Mike, Mr. Simeon Mikkungwak, Mr. Paul Okalik, Hon. Keith Peterson, Mr. Emiliano Qirngnuq, Hon. Paul Quassa, Hon. George Qulaut, Mr. Allan Rumbolt, Mr. Tom Sammurtok, Hon. Joe Savikataaq, Mr. Isaac Shooyook, Hon. Peter Taptuna.
Speaker (Hon. George Qulaut) (interpretation): Can you say the opening prayer, please, Mr. Isaac Shooyook.
Minister’s Statement 271 – 4(3): Summer Student Employment Equity Program (Peterson)
Hon. Keith Peterson: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce that the Government of Nunavut is now accepting applications from Nunavut students for summer work experience with our government departments and public agencies.
The Summer Student Employment Equity Program is an opportunity for secondary and post-secondary Nunavummiut students to gain meaningful work experience within the Nunavut public service.
Mr. Speaker, this program fosters youth development, encourages continuous learning, and creates a pool of qualified employees for our government.
In my recent Budget Address, I highlighted that last year we hired a record 249 students, 202 of whom were Nunavut Inuit students, who worked in 24 communities across our territory.
I also said that this year we want to hire even more students and that is where my colleagues can help.