EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
There are also promotional activities for healthy living activities and exercise, as an example, as well as diet. So that type of information is being developed, there are some commercials in the community, as an example, ‘Drop the Pop’ activities, and the whole promotion of healthy living. And the department will be doing more in those in the next year or so.
I thank the minister for that information. Mr. Speaker, the lady I was talking to said that the Department of Health has to get out there and work with the communities.
So I’m wondering: can the minister be more specific as to what activities the department is going to do this year or in the upcoming year to raise the level of awareness of the dangers from diabetes to the population of Nunavut?
I can share with the member the plans for the communities and I completely agree with you that we have to get out into the communities.
One of the things that I have been talking about, areas I have been talking about in the House was to involve more communities in the whole area of prevention-type programming in the community, healthy living strategies through our committees, through our CHRs, and to examine the roles of those committees, as well as CHRs in the area of prevention.
At the same time, in our business plan, we stated that we are looking at developing a Public Health Strategy and that will involve...this is one piece of that, but on overall prevention, a Public Health Strategy to be established in the next year.
So there are those types of initiatives underway.
At the same time, I agree with the member: we have to do more in informing the population of the effects of poor diet, lack of exercise, and so on. I will commit to the member to share that information with the Members in the House.
Reply to Opening Address 002 – 2(3): Mr. Tagak Curley
I want to rise today, there is almost an emergency and I don’t think I will be here tomorrow.
Especially, we heard that in Whale Cove, one of the constituents, who we are very proud of, passed away.
He was out on the land and he was, unfortunately, found.
He is not very old; he is just slightly older than my colleague from Arviat, who is Paul Kaludjak’s uncle.
He is my cousin and I am very proud of him, and he is a real outdoors person.
His grandmother was old.
So our relative, we send our condolences to the family.
I can say as for us hunters, we look up to him because he was a man and we think of you, Levinia.
I will not be able to complete the questions that I wanted to ask because I will have to leave tomorrow as my wife had to go to Winnipeg.
I will have to look after my son and our grandchild.
That is one of the reasons why I brought that up.
What I wanted to ask questions on was for us Inuit we rely on the animals and on the land because what we hear from the federal government and Nunavut that the population of the polar bears is decreasing and we will have to do something.
And we just recently heard that the Wildlife Fund is now going to Kitikmeot and they are saying that we have to work every way to preserve them.
When they say that, the way I understand it is that the number of polar bears is decreasing or that we will have to stop hunting polar bears, but that is how I understand it, that we will have to decrease the polar bear quotas and in Hudson Bay, Keewatin, Rankin, Whale Cove, Arviat, and around that area.
There are only 900 polar bears in that area.
Inuit are saying that the polar bears go to different places.
They do not stay in one place.
They say in one region there will be less because of early thaw out or early thawing out of the ice. Are the polar bears gone or have they simply moved to a different region?
If we are proud of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, then how come the Inuit Qaujimajatunqangit and the biologists cannot work together?
Maybe we should not even try.
With the climate change, we definitely have to understand the Inuit culture and the polar bears don’t just come from Churchill, they come from the Fox Basin area where they migrate down and pass through Manitoba, but some of them seem to go back and forth.
So, Mr. Speaker, the Inuit and the scientists are not working together.
Maybe they’re not to work together.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker my question is to the scientists. I think it’s appropriate because the International Polar Year has been proclaimed for 2007-08. Isn’t it exciting that we be a part of that; that we don’t just leave it to the federal government to take care of all the events?
I would like the Minister of Education to listen to my concerns for once. I believe he should.
Here is an opportunity for students that are involved in high school and Arctic College to get involved with the science in Nunavut.
I believe Nunavut has always, when it was still part of Rupert’s Land and stuff, were very much part of scientific studies and evolution; very exciting.
And I have made statements that scientists, including our biologists, really can work together. I think I can work with a biologist, but they don’t come around asking me.
I can’t force him.
But whose role is it, as far as the government is concerned, to encourage them to work together with traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge? Which one of these is fallible? Only the Inuit view, or should we accept the fact that the scientists’ views are sacrosanct; that no one should question about it when they say polar bears are being depleted?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote an assessment of what scientific theories are. Here’s what is says, “Scientific theories are made to be overturned.”
Wow. That writer better be taken off the face of Nunavut if he’s from Nunavut, right? And it says, “They manifest culture as surely as traditional knowledge does.”
This particular fellow said, “A theory can never really comprehend the true complexity of nature, only provide useful ways of organizing it until a better theory comes along. In those terms, the Inuit with their indiscriminate assimilation of whatever information came to hand had produced a superior theory of how their environment works.
This particular individual surely has a respectful knowledge of Inuit knowledge, and how important it is.
The only problem is that this writer is not from Nunavut, so we may have to dismiss him. He’s from Alaska.
He has seen how traditional knowledge possessed by Inupiat was fundamentally important to all aspects of scientific studies including polar age studies, biology, ecological systems, and all the other scientific stuff.
They work together. Their governments are finally a little more respectful of what scientific criteria should be before they give them a grant.
So I’m asking all the ministers here that they better find ways to encourage scientists to work together because our biologists are telling us polar bears are decreasing.
If polar bears are decreasing, let me say this Mr. Speaker, the quotas that are allocated to your community will not be met.
Maybe you’ll get only one out of 20-some odd bears that your community is being allocated. So what are we worried about? If there are no bears in my constituency, there won’t be any polar bears killed.
So they won’t be depleted; they just won’t be around. They may have moved somewhere else.
I think this government needs Inuit support to encourage that scientists work with us because according to the information I read that all scientific theories are made to be overturned.
Not just by dismissing them, but by the knowledge of other people who have better understanding of what the region or the nature of the wildlife really are.
I believe the Canadian Wildlife Service should be encouraged to meet with locals instead of using the officials of the Government of Nunavut to do the dirty work; meeting with the community and saying your views are not accepted. Let them go directly to the communities.
That is one way I believe the scientific knowledge and Inuit knowledge will meet together. They do that in Alaska, and they do it the healthy way.
And they have found ways to work together.
I’m hoping that this means this opportunity that we have will eventually be met. I’d like to just quote one review of the particular book that I’m reading. It says here, “An insider’s view of the two subcultures; one being Inuit and other Qallunaaq way; the scientific view.
Mr. Wolf’s forced back and forth narrative illuminates the tension between traditional and scientific and provokes questions about which is more reliable, if one can’t or should do without the other.”
At least they question whether or not the two should work together or not. Here in Nunavut, we don’t even question that. Biologists, scientific views, that’s the answer.
Inuit knowledge is not important. It’s a shameful tradition that we are practicing right now. I’m hoping that we will work together.
This particular book is available from our friendly bookstore in town, it’s called, ‘The Whale and the Supercomputer.’
It’s a very fascinating book. If I was the Minister of Environment, I would ask every single wildlife officer and manager to read that book.
The two cultures clashing together, two important views; one not more right than the other, but they found ways to work the scientific disagreement and traditional knowledge.
So Mr. Speaker, there are a number of questions and I hope someday that we will have a little more professional relationship in terms of all the scientific issues that we normally come by, and that licensing the terms of references of all the branches of this government normally issues to scientists, or whoever they are; whether they be anthropologists would include that they meet not only with the organizations.
We are famous for saying, “Meet with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated; meet with them.”
No, make sure that when they are going to Clyde River that they meet with the elders in the community; that’s the way to do it; that’s what they do in Alaska.
Mr. Speaker, I have a number of questions that I had wanted to raise, as I mentioned earlier. I will not be here when the Department of Justice issues a raise; the budget comes forth. There were issues that I had concerns with last year with respect to the role of the RCMP relating to the Motor Vehicles Act.
I believe the Motor Vehicles Act is very important. It provides conditions for licensing vehicles, as well as safety of vehicles, including the proper licensing requirements for people who drive and use vehicles, for instance.
Many of these smaller communities the RCMP tells me that they don’t have a particular mandate to deal with the traffic, and whatnot, in smaller communities. It’s just not part of their role.
It may be the role of the bylaw officers and so on, but the question is; the Motor Vehicle Act is an important piece of legislation.
It affects aspects of people in our communities, except for the hunters who use snowmobiles and so on, including the ATVs and all the other vehicles required that they be licensed and insured.
So what is the purpose of having it insured? Privately insured, to say the least, we don’t have a public system. However small a community in Nunavut may be, everyone who is driving an ATV must have insurance coverage, liability coverage.
And what is the purpose of liability coverage, Mr. Speaker? I believe that is there to ensure when an accident does happen that the government itself does not pick up the cost for liabilities or injuries that occur. I believe the insurance companies may have a responsibility to cover not just a vehicle if the public insurance is part of that, but in our system of government right now, when accidents do occur and injuries do occur in smaller communities, no report is submitted.
That’s why I got into a bit of a situation in my community constituency.
I thought it was not right that the serious accident happened with a young boy experiencing three broken pieces on his one leg, very serious even to now, was never properly investigated.
I believe all governments must ensure all incidents are reported by the officials that are listed in the Motor Vehicles Act. I believe that the Fire Marshal’s office has the responsibility for carrying the injured person to the medical centre. I don’t believe they are authorized by the Motor Vehicles Act to represent the liability issues on those kinds of things.
So Mr. Speaker, I think we can do more and better representation for the injured people when accidents do happen.
Mr. Speaker, in terms of my constituency, the community continues to advocate for better recreational facilities. It’s a big community; even the students continue to say they have nothing to do most of the time. I appreciate the minister’s support where the minister is involving the Association of Municipalities involved with planning for those kinds of things.
I really believe that we need to do more to speed up, where possible, the replacement for older buildings. It should probably be put on higher priority.
(interpretation) I was going to elaborate earlier Mr. Speaker; the students have stated at times that they don’t have much to do. I have tabled a letter stating that there should be a camp outside for young people to go to learn how to hunt and the wildlife officers should work together and establish a camp that can employ young people and people who are hunters not too close to the community, but a little bit further down so that...(interpretation ends)...I think it’s an excellent idea.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the Department of Education should have a role in that if they want to teach some of our youngsters the tradition of survival on land. Again, the question is: whose role is it; does the government have a role in that?
And the students offer one good example: build a camp that can be occupied at least half the year, I say, and the students can earn some living with the trap lines or whatever, or seals they caught. So these kinds of things should be thought out.
I don’t believe, Mr. Speaker, they should be just shoved onto the Inuit organizations. I think we can build stronger young people, boys and girls, if they were able to take advantage of that thing. Right now, it’s volunteering; some groups sponsor events during the summer months, but I believe we can do better than that.
Mr. Speaker, during the last two weeks, my colleague, Levinia Brown and I have been hoping that a couple of students would have come here two weeks ago. Adeen, Sandy and Rocky Airut have been trying the last two weeks to come here and help us out as pages for the Assembly, but due to the weather, they were not able to come in.
So we are now hoping that they will be able to come in the spring Session.
June is a difficult time, as we indicated to the members during our full Caucus meeting, weather permitting and hunting condition permitting.
Rocky Airut will be here. If the hunting conditions are too good, I know Rocky will not be here, but he just might be.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Item 9.
Tabled Document 097 – 2(3): A Brief Summary of QEC 2004-05 Annual Report (Picco)
I wish to table the following document: A Brief Summary of the QEC 2004-05 Annual Report. I also note that the annual report can be obtained in Inuktitut.
However, the Inuktitut language version has not yet been officially approved by the AG’s office. It will not be officially released until the approval has been received.
Bill 15 – An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act – Notice
I give notice that on March 13 that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, be read for the first time.
Bill 9, An Act to Amend the Exemptions Act; Bill 12, Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2006-07; Bill 13, Supplementary Appropriation (Capital )Act #3, 2005-06; Bill 14, Supplementary Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act #3, 2005-06, with Mr. Kilabuk in the Chair.
>>House recessed at 15:31 and Committee resumed at 15:59
Chairman (Mr. Kilabuk): Thank you. Order.
Thank you. I would like to call the meeting to order. In Committee of the Whole, we have the following items to deal with: Bill 12, Bill 9, Bill 13, and Bill 14.
We wish to proceed with Bill 12 and continue with the review of Department of Education Main Estimates and Business Plan, followed by the Department of Environment and Community and Government Services.
Are we in agreement that we first deal with Bill 12?
Chairman: Thank you. Minister Picco, if you would care to take the witness stand. Do you have witnesses that you would like to bring to the table with you sir?
Chairman: Minister Picco, do you have witnesses you would like to bring to the table?
In absence of the response I was looking for, does the committee agree to bring in the witnesses?
Chairman: Thank you. Minister Picco you shall take the witness stand please.
For the record, please introduce your witnesses.
With me today on my immediate left is Mr. David Pealow, the Comptroller for the Department of Education, and on my immediate right, I had to look now to confirm, is Pam Hine who is the Deputy Minister for the Department of Education.
Members, we were dealing with the Education.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $105,492,000. (interpretation) Are there any further comments to that page?
I would like to welcome the minister and his officials back to our hearing.
On page G-34, the business plan, it looks like you’re increasing the PYs by 40 since last year.
Can the minister give us a breakdown of what those positions would be for?
That is a good question, however, I should have put in my reminder; just to remind members not to ask questions which are hypothetical or questions that are seeking an opinion, and it is at the discretion of the Chair. Members may speak more than once on the details of the page we are working with.
Thank you, to the committee.
There are several reasons for the difference in the number of PYs in education. It is due to a combination of factors. I won’t go through the whole 43 positions, but basically under Curriculum and School Services, there is an increase in services of two PYs.
One is for the French Language Services Consultant, as well as the French Administrative Assistant. Those are two PYs, but they are also from the third party agreements we have with Heritage Canada.
We also have, under Corporate Services Division, an increase of 1.5 PYs, which also includes the Community Access Program Coordinator position. Under the Heritage Canada positions previously not counted in our education PY count, which are Heritage Canada’s positions, that is 3 PYs.
We also have the Director General for Superintendent Commission Scolaire for Francophonie, which is one PY, and we also have new school positions of over 19.85 positions.
So I hope that helps answers some of the questions for the member.
Good French. Mr. Peterson.
Can the minister get into some details on the 19.85 PYs for the schools?
Some of these were announced in the budget. We put in the budget last year and we have them in place this year.
And members will remember me talking about over 80 new positions and we started gearing up and funding those positions, and so on, so some of those new PYs are contingent on that.
In teachers, we have an extra 6.2 positions, program support positions of 3.5, student support and language specialists of 2.6, school counselling positions of 3.35, we have more custodial help of 4.1, for a total of 19.85 positions.
I also talked earlier about some of the other positions available.
So hopefully that helps break down the numbers for the member.
The minister has heard me raise this issue before in Cambridge Bay with respect to career guidance counsellors.
There’s a school community counsellor, who are very important to the school system, but then there’s career guidance counsellors who are very important as well.
The career guidance counsellors work with students in grades nine, 10, 11, and 12 to help them select courses and programs of study that will assist them to get through grade 12, and then pursue their education beyond grade 12 either in the Arctic College or other post-secondary institutions or trades schools.
My constituents have been quite vocal about this to me.
They would like a career guidance counsellor position in the high school in Cambridge Bay.
The minister and I met with the DEA last year.
I wondered if the minister could comment on the overall philosophy of view of the Department of Education with respect to finding funds for a career guidance counsellor in the high schools in Nunavut, in particular in Cambridge Bay.
When we had discussions last year about increasing the number of positions that I put within that budget framework, we looked putting actual bodies in the schools.
In the member’s community, a recommendation came forward from the school that they would like see a community school counsellor position created and we were able to fund that.
I would agree with the member that more career counsellor positions should be created within the budget. I didn’t have the luxury and the dollar values this term to do that.
I would hope to be able to look at bringing that position forward. The member has made a good point.
I’m only aware, right now, of one position filled full-time for a career counsellor position that is here in the high school. That’s been in place for many years.
So I would agree with the member that there needs to be more career support. At the same time, we do have career development officers at the community level in most of our communities.
There are also other career opportunity help, for example, in the member’s community, through the Department of Education with our office there.
At the school specific, there isn’t the availability of dollars within the current existing budget to be able to create that new position.
We have created a counsellor position in the community; it the school community counsellor, not a career counsellor.
Just a reminder; whenever, give your responses brief.
Just for the record, could the minister explain what the difference is between a school community counsellor and a career guidance counsellor so we have it in the record for readers?
It is my understanding the position of a career counsellor at the high school level; grades 10, 11, and 12; is to provide direction for the students at the high school on different opportunities and options for a career path.
The school community counsellor position works in cooperation with the school staff and work with issues of behavioural issues with students, truancy issues with students, and provides guidance support and counselling services to our younger students.
I am hopeful that the minister is sincere that he will bring the position forward.
I believe strongly that a lot of kids who are in High School nowadays need a career guidance counsellor in the school and who know them and have developed a level of trust and respect for the students so that the students can open up and confide in them.
I understand that there are career placement officers or career guidance officers, or whatever you call them, in the department.
They are more for the adults in the communities than the teenagers that are in the high schools.
So that is something that is very important.
I wanted to ask the minister in this area about education for children with learning disabilities. What resources does the department have available or is developing to help children with learning disabilities that are in the K to 12 programs?
In the last year, we have created over 40 new student support assistants who were hired to support our classrooms. That brings to over 123 across the board, and there have been specialists hired for unique issues, for example for hearing impairments, blindness and so on.
We are also moving forward with funding for a coordinator of functional and diagnostic assessments services and that position has been advertised. The closing date, I believe, was March 3.
That, again, is a position where we are dealing with some of the diagnostic issues with students who may have learning disabilities and so on. We will be able diagnose those properly and professionally so that we will be able to move forward with help.
Could the minister comment though on how many individual education programs there are throughout Nunavut in the various schools and in high schools in Nunavut?