EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
What I’m asking is whether he could contact the WSCC and say, “Look, this is what we’re discussing. Is there a safety issue with this type of machinery and does this need to be put in?”
I’m just going to ask again: would the minister be willing to contact the WSCC and ask if the specs meet the technical requirements?
Like I said, I don’t know all of the ins and outs, but I’m sure they would know what needs to be required for a safe operation of that machinery.
I don’t believe that my colleague requires any help from WSCC and if he does need help, I’m sure that he would advise me whether we should get involved or not. At this moment, he has not requested any help from WSCC.
And I believe the Housing Corporation is keeping within the guidelines and they will continue to do so.
I guess I’ll ask again: does that mean that the minister is saying no, he will not contact the WSCC and ask or inquire about this?
We don’t have a case that the WSCC must investigate about, so we will not do so.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister Curley.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Speaker.
I’m not quite sure what question to ask in the sense that once again I’m finding that the minister is not willing to cooperate and pick up the phone and make a phone call to maybe find out about safety.
To me, it’s a preventative thing.
And I guess I’ll just ask one more time: would the minister be willing to contact the WSCC and make an inquiry on behalf of the safety for the workers who are going to be using it?
Mr. Speaker, WSCC does not respond to any questions that may be related to third parties or whatnot unless there has been a real serious situation that occurred within their mandate.
But at this moment, I believe the member himself could probably find out. He could probably go to a library somewhere and find out whether or not the guidelines are being adhered to or not at the moment.
We’re speculating whether or not some of the equipment is meeting the safety rules or not.
At this moment, I don’t believe I have a case to inquire about.
Going to Item 7.
Item 13. (interpretation ends) Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills.
Committee Report on Bills 001 – 3(2): Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (Ningeongan)
I wish to report that Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, has been reviewed by the Standing Committee on Legislation and that the bill is ready for consideration in the Committee of the Whole.
Bill 4 is ordered into Committee of the Whole for Monday, June 15. (interpretation ends) Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills.
Tabled Document 025 – 3(2): Government of Canada Supports Sylvia Grinnell Bridge (Okalik)
I would like to table the release from the federal government regarding the Sylvia Grinnell River.
Hon. Eva Aariak.
Tabled Document 026 – 3(2): Annual Report on the Administration of the Government of Nunavut’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009 (Aariak)
I am pleased to table the Annual Report on the Administration of the Government of Nunavut’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the period April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009.
Ms. Eva Aariak.
Tabled Document 027 – 3(2): 2008-2009 Annual Report for Nunavummit Kiglisiniaqtiit (Aariak)
I am also pleased to table the Nunavummit Kiglisiniaqtiit Annual Report for the period April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009.
Tabling of Documents. (interpretation ends) Hon. Lorne Kusugak.
Tabled Document 028 – 3(2): Office of the Fire Marshal 2008 Annual Report (Kusugak)
I wish to table the Office of the Fire Marshal 2008 Annual Report.
Hon. Daniel Shewchuk.
Tabled Document 029 – 3(2): Towards a Representative Public Service Statistics as of March 31, 2009 (Shewchuk)
I am pleased to table the Human Resources’ Towards a Representative Public Service Statistics as of March 31, 2009.
Bill 03 – Western Canada Lottery Act – Notice
I give notice that on Monday, June 15, 2009, that Bill 3, Western Canada Lottery Act, be read for the first time.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. (interpretation ends) Item 16. Notices of Motions for First Reading of Bills.
Second Reading of Bills. (interpretation) Item 20.
Bills 1, 2, and 5 with Mr. Ningeongan in the Chair.
In Committee of the Whole, we have the following items to deal: Bills 1, 2, and 5.
We would like to continue with our review of Bill 1 with the Department of Justice at the witness table, followed by the Housing Corporation, and if time permits, we would appreciate it if the Department of Education is able to make an appearance at the witness table.
Are we in agreement that we first deal with the main estimates for the Department of Justice?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Minister Peterson, do you have witnesses you would like to bring to the table?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I have witnesses.
Chairman: Thank you. (interpretation) Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the officials to the witness table.
(interpretation ends) For the record, Minister Peterson, please introduce your witnesses.
To my left is Koovian Flanaghan, Deputy Minister of the Department of Justice, and to my right is Doug Garson, Assistant Deputy Attorney General.
I don’t see any members wishing to make general comments.
We will go on to E-4.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $10,794,000.
I also want to thank the minister and his officials for being here.
During my opening comments yesterday as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Wellness, I mentioned that the Family Abuse Intervention Act came into force on March 1, 2008.
It has come to my attention that your department will shortly be issuing a request for proposals for an evaluation of the Act.
Can you give us some detail on what areas are going to be looked at and when you expect to receive the evaluation report?
It’s an important Act, it came into force on March of last year, and like any new Act or any new program, it takes time to implement.
We did a lot of training with the community justice outreach workers in all of the communities.
The plan is to initiate the review very shortly, as the member quite correctly pointed out, with a call for proposals and hopefully the report will be done within this current calendar year.
In order to help implement the Family Abuse Intervention Act, all communities should have a community justice outreach worker.
Do all communities now have a community justice outreach worker?
I thank the member for that good question.
Mr. Chairman, there are 23 community justice outreach workers out of 25.
In fact, in my community of Cambridge Bay, we are trying to recruit a community justice outreach worker.
I also thank the minister for the response.
I had a couple of other questions.
First of all, section 49 of the Family Abuse Intervention Act requires you, as a minister, to table an annual report on the operations of the Act.
When will you table the first annual report?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, we are required to table a report.
We don’t have a date of when we will table the report but that is our intention.
I know for a fact that provinces have domestic violence concerns, or more or less have some mechanisms in place to deal with them. This one is along the lines as well for asking.
In Nunavut, one of the priorities listed in your business plan under the Directorate Branch is to take interagency approaches to the continuation of the implementation of the Family Abuse Intervention Act.
Can you give examples of the interagency approaches you intend to use?
As I said earlier, we are still early in the implementation and establishment of the FAIA, and we haven’t had a chance to evaluate the program.
But one of the initiatives we’re looking at is using the family violence group here in Iqaluit to help us with the interagency approach.
I know RCMP officers in some of the communities are involved and the community councils are involved as well.
When we complete the evaluation, that information will be available.
I’m not sure if I heard the minister correctly.
I think he indicated that we have 25 communities in Nunavut and there are 23 communities with community outreach workers.
One community that’s still trying to recruit a worker is Cambridge Bay.
What other communities still need to get a community outreach worker?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Ningark for that question.
I have been told the other community is Iqaluit.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson. (interpretation) Mr. Ningark doesn’t have any more questions. (interpretation ends) I don’t have any more names on my list.
Next page is E-5.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $25,110,000.
Thank you… Mr. Ningark, pardon me.
I was waiting for other members to raise their hands, sorry about that.
Mr. Chairman, about four or five years ago, there was some indication from the public opinion that every community detachment should have two RCMP officers to work together.
I’m going to be asking the minister if each community, regardless of size, has two or more detachment officers.
The answer is yes, every community has a minimum of two officers.
Once again, Branch Summary.
I was waving.
On March 25, 2009, you informed the Legislative Assembly about the possibility of a Summer Constable Program being started with candidates from each community.
Can you give us an update on this initiative?
I talked to the commanding officer of the RCMP last week and he told me that they’re in the process of advertising and promoting the program.
I believe there’s a training workshop later this month, but I don’t have the exact dates. From June 20 to 26 here in Iqaluit, they will be bringing in training candidates from each community and once they graduate, they will be going back to their communities to work with the RCMP.
I understand it has been a very successful program over the years. The commanding officer told me it costs them about $250,000 to hold that program every year for two months.
This year’s directional statement, which was signed by the Minister of Justice and the RCMP in June of 2008, provided a list of priorities shared by the Government of Nunavut and the RCMP.
One of those priorities is to build on existing community wellness initiatives through interagency partnerships that will aid suicide prevention.
Can you give any specific examples of what your department is doing in partnership that aids suicide prevention?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Rumbolt for that question.
Mr. Chairman, we’re in the process of reviewing or negotiating a new shared directional agreement and there will be a new commanding officer coming to Nunavut.
One of the examples that I can give Mr. Rumbolt regarding the question about suicide is when the RCMP are in the communities, they will go into schools and talk to the children about that issue.
So once again, Branch Summary. Law Enforcement.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $2,963,000.
It’s known throughout Nunavut and as well as in some communities that there are some matters that have not yet been presented before the courts.
Legal aid and services have been accessed by many constituents, varying from issues of criminal activity or even child custody matters. Some have been overlooked or some have been sitting still in a sense.
Your department’s draft 2009-2010 budget for Lawyer Support Services has increased by $488,000, most of which is due to an increase in compensation and benefits. However, there’s an increase of only one PY.
Given the fact that there’s an increase of only one PY for the Lawyer Support Services Branch, can you explain why there is such an increase in the budget for compensation and benefits?
Mr. Chairman, in fact, it’s actually two positions.
The first position would be the assistant deputy attorney general, which is Mr. Garson here, and the second is another lawyer position which I believe is in the Legal and Constitutional Division, so there are two lawyers.
Registration and Court Services.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $9,207,000.
On E-7, Mr. Chairman, my understanding is that the community outreach worker is to work closely with the JP in the community.
Does every community have the benefit of a Justice of the Peace?
I believe that every community does have a JP. I recently signed some documents to appoint new JPs or reappoint JPs for many of the communities.
So if there isn’t a JP in a particular community, they can call a JP in an adjacent community.
Where there isn’t a JP, we would certainly advertise and ask the hamlet council for recommendations of names to appoint a JP. But as far as I know, there’s a JP in every community.
Your business plan indicates that a priority for this year is to introduce amendments to the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act.
What is the status of this initiative?
All of the community consultations have been completed.
We’re in the process of writing a report, it should be complete within a month… well, I would say within a month or two, and then we would be able to present it to the MLAs.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $23,136,000.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $4,792,000.
One of the priorities listed in your department’s business plan is to “Address social concerns at their roots.”
Can you give specific examples of how your department will address social concerns this way?
One of the ways we will try to tackle that issue is through the interagency approach - get as many members of the community, hamlet councils, wellness centres, RCMP, schools, and justice committees involved in discussing the issues and making them more public, talking about possible solutions and possible programs that we can initiate in the communities to tackle the issue.
I thank the minister for that response as well because it’s going to be very encouraging to see community members and professionals participate.
I’m obviously not going to overlook any of the departments, but I also wanted to suggest, as you mentioned the DEAs and hamlets, that there are also social workers and other counselling services, and you may also want to consider health centres.
Overall, the scope of the community is basically to participate in all of this.
There are some elders’ committees as well, and I would also like to suggest to the minister to consider the leadership and participation of our elders as committees and organizations.
I thank the member for that suggestion; it’s a very good suggestion.
We do have elders on the justice committees, but there are a lot of agencies in all of the communities that are doing important work and they can all contribute on their unique perspective on how to address the social issues.
It’s important that the interagency groups don’t just sit there and talk but actually make decisions and then initiate ideas, and come to the Department of Justice, the Government of Nunavut, all of the departments looking for support on some of the initiatives they want to introduce in their communities.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson. (interpretation) Are you finished?
(interpretation ends) I have no more names.
So once again, Branch Summary.
Chairman: We will go back to page E-3.
Department Summery.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $76,002,000.
Do members agree that we are concluded with the Department of Justice?
Chairman: I would like to thank the minister and his officials for appearing before the Committee of the Whole.
Minister, do you have closing comments?
I thank the Members of the Committee of the Whole. You asked a lot of good questions not only in the Committee of the Whole but during our appearance before the standing committee. I appreciate the input and the direction that you have given us.
We look forward to working with you during the coming year to implement a lot of the good programs and policies that our department has. If you ever have any questions during the year, feel free to contact myself or the deputy minister. Don’t wait for issues to develop; we’re open and willing to listen.
I would like to thank my officials in the Department of Justice for the work they did in putting together the business plan and main estimates for this year.
I would just like to let you folks know the people to each side of me. I would like to introduce J.P. Deroy, he didn’t get a chance to appear today, and Wendy Bens is a recent graduate of the intern program. She is a budget analyst, so she has done a lot of work putting the numbers together.
You will be seeing a lot more of her in the coming years.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Peterson and your officials. (interpretation) Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out.
Thank you. (interpretation ends) I would now like to ask the Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, Minister Tootoo, to make his opening remarks.
Bill 01 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2009-2010 – Nunavut Housing Corporation – Consideration in Committee
It’s a good thing I’m ready.
Things are just cruising right along and I hope it keeps going that way.
Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to be able to meet with the Committee of the Whole today to discuss the 2009-2010 Main Estimates and Business Plan for the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
Fiscal 2009-2010 GN funding to the Housing Corporation will increase by $15,151,000 from the main estimates of 2008-09 but after the supplementary appropriations, the Nunavut Housing Corporation is requesting an additional $8,946,000 above the revised main estimates.
The supplementary appropriations during the 2008-09 year were to address the special issues that arose, such as the Rankin Inlet power outage repairs, the increase in power and fuel rates, as well as the Nunavut Employees Union contract increases.
The major additional increase for 2009-2010 consists of $8,052,000 for O&M costs for new public housing that will be available during this year and $1,256,000 to offset the net reduction in CMHC funding as well as other programs having sunset, such as the Nunavut Arctic College pre-trades course.
The need for additional public and affordable housing continues to place a burden on the finances of the government and we must seek alternative sources of funding.
I look forward to continue lobbying the federal government and discuss our growing housing issues in Nunavut, including the requirements for extra funding for both capital and operating costs.
Our federal partners, such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which I’ll refer to as CMHC from here on in just to get it on the record, are important to housing in Nunavut and the recent signing of the $109 million agreement with CMHC, which includes a $100 million northern housing initiative, shows the continued investment for housing in Nunavut by the federal government.
I would be very pleased to answer any questions you may have regarding the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s 2009-2010 main estimates and business plan.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Tootoo. (interpretation) Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort his officials in.
(interpretation ends) For the record, Minister Tootoo, please introduce your witnesses.
To my right and your left is Mr. David Akoak, he is the Vice-President of the Nunavut Housing Trust, and on my left and your right is Mr. Eric Whitworth, he is the Chief Financial Officer for the corporation.
Does the Chair of the Standing of Community and Economic Development have opening comments?
Mr. Komoartok: Yes, we do. (interpretation) Can we begin?
I’ll try to be slow for the benefit of the interpreters as some members talk a bit too fast.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Standing Committee on Community and Economic Development on its review of the 2009-2010 Main Estimates and Business Plan of the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
The standing committee notes that the corporation’s proposed 2009-2010 main estimates of $128,168,000 have increased by approximately 62 percent since the introduction of the department’s 2004-05 main estimates.
The number of positions in the corporation has increased from 70.0 PYs in 2004-05 to 89.0 PYs in 2009-2010.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to note that the recent report of the Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts made a number of observations and recommendations concerning the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s management of the public housing program and the delivery of new units under the Nunavut Housing Trust.
Accordingly, my opening comments today will not repeat that which has already been raised in the House.
Mr. Chairman, the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s 2006-07 annual report was not tabled in the Legislative Assembly until September 18, 2008.
It is important that the corporation’s annual reports be tabled in a timely manner.
The standing committee recognizes that the corporation has been working with the Department of Finance to address issues related to reporting requirements involving local housing organizations’ audited financial statements.
The Government of Nunavut’s recent annual reports on departmental contracting, procurement and leasing activities have not included information on the activities of Crown corporations and agencies.
The standing committee recommends that information concerning the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s contracting, procurement and leasing activities also be tabled in the Legislative Assembly on an annual basis.
The standing committee looks forward to the timely tabling in the Legislative Assembly of priority-setting items that are directed to Crown corporations and agencies, including the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation’s 2008-09 annual ministerial letter of expectation to the corporation’s president stated that “the time is right for the Nunavut Housing Corporation to undergo a full organizational review in order to determine if the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s current organizational structure and operating framework is still suitable to meet the housing needs of Nunavummiut.”
The Nunavut Housing Corporation’s 2009-2010 business plan states that one of its priorities is to “Move forward in addressing recommendations resulting from an organizational review of the NHC to determine how best to deliver housing initiatives in Nunavut given available human resources and to determine areas in which the NHC requires additional supports to achieve its vision, mission and mandate.”
Members look forward to reviewing the results of this review.
Earlier this year, the Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation announced that the corporation will be “undertaking a comprehensive and Nunavut-wide housing needs survey.”
The standing committee looks forward to the tabling of the results of this survey and supports the minister in his efforts to use these results to make the case for additional federal investments in housing.
On September 13, 2005, the GN announced its new staff housing strategy and policy.
During this time the Government will incrementally increase rental rates in all Nunavut communities and withdraw from providing staff housing in the emerging market communities of Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.
GN Staff Housing will continue to exist in all other communities until private markets are established.”
In recent years, concerns have been raised with respect to the impact of the GN’s staff housing policy on the government’s overall recruitment and retention efforts.
Last year’s Budget Address announced that staff housing rents would be rolled back to January 2007 levels.
The Nunavut Housing Corporation’s 2009-2010 business plan indicates that its priorities include enhancing “the staff housing portfolio, particularly in communities with growing staff housing requirements” and providing “an increased range of options to GN employees to encourage homeownership.”
The standing committee looks forward to further discussion on the strategic direction that the government should take with respect to its staff housing policy.
An evaluation of the impact that the policy had between 2005 and 2008 will need to be undertaken in order to make sound decisions for the future.