EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Can the minister clarify what consideration has been given to establishing a new hamlet office for Rankin Inlet?
In relation to the hamlet office, we know that it is becoming small, space is running out, and we have asked the hamlet if they could put them in Nunavut building priorities because they are the people that identify the priorities in the capital plans.
Mr. Speaker, the mayor and hamlet council have indicated that hamlet priorities for new community infrastructure do not appear to be supported by the Government of Nunavut’s capital plans for the community.
Can the minister explain how he and his departmental officials work with hamlet representatives to ensure that the community’s needs are properly identified and prioritized?
(interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker
Hon. Minister of Community and Government Services, Mr. Sammurtok.
I can meet with any hamlet that wishes to meet with me and my officials. I am just waiting around for an invitation.
If and when they wish to have a meeting with us about these things, I am here.
Question 156 – 4(2): Nunavut Food Strategy (Hickes)
I would like to touch on this strategic plan on food security and action plan that was tabled yesterday.
Mr. Speaker, in the life skills section of the strategic areas for action, it talks about a number of different objectives; one of them being incorporating life skills into existing programs wherever possible.
Would the minister be able to explain to the House on how that is being accomplished?
I thank the Member for Iqaluit-Tasiluk for his question. (interpretation ends) The Department of Family Services recognizes that there are barriers to workforce participation at the individual level in Nunavut, and that these barriers create a skills gap in Nunavut between available employment and individuals, Inuit in particular, with the required skills to fill those vacant positions.
The minister kind of touched on where I was going with my first supplementary.
One of the other objectives is supporting Nunavummiut by providing resources training and encouragement.
Is Family Services providing resources to Nunavummiut as part of the food security strategy?
There are two goals in relation to food security in terms of how Inuit can be caused to learn and be able to acquire food.
The last time we had discussions in Rankin Inlet, in relation to this, they had discussions about the various things, and one of the things they want included is for parents to develop more life skills and people who do not work, their predecessors hunt and provide food and develop skills, and these new parents should be developing skills.
These will be the goals that we will be addressing over the next five years. Life skills is part of food security.
These two goals go hand in hand, and we are just getting off the ground in terms of this program.
Mr. Speaker, during my campaign last fall, I brought up life skills development to create our youth into independent members of society, and it is a very important process in any development of our territory.
One of the other objectives that was listed in the report talks about creating a network of people, including content experts and educators. Can the minister describe to me how her department is providing experts and educators to Nunavummiut to assist them in their life skill development?
I thank the Member of Iqaluit-Tasiluk for that question and for his interest in understanding how people can develop life skills as a way of moving forward in life.
The Department of Family Services provides training dollars if they know of a specific job that they would be interested in and if the department can provide it, they will provide it.
Question 157 – 4(2): Compliance with Annual Letters of Expectation (Angnakak)
My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Public Agencies Council.
I am wondering if the minister can indicate how the Public Agencies Council monitors and enforces Crown corporations’ and agencies’ compliance with their annual letters of expectations.
Hon. Minister responsible for the Public Agencies Council, Mr. Peterson.
Mr. Speaker, I have had concerns for many years of the Public Agencies Council; I do not think it has enough authority to provide oversight to the public agencies. We do meet on occasion to discuss with CEOs and presidents of public agencies to discuss with our ministers.
The letters of expectation are provided through the minister to the public agency or territorial corporation, but of course, they are accountable to the minister for their actions.
The Public Agencies Council, right now, doesn’t have the authority.
All they can do is make recommendations and they can take their advice or not take their advice.
It kind of addresses my next question. Can the minister tell us how would the Public Agencies Council deal with a non-compliance of expectations by Crown corporations and agencies?
Would you work with the minister of that Crown corporation or what would be the process?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) The Hon. Minister responsible for the Public Agencies Council, Mr. Peterson.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Mr. Speaker, territorial corporations and statutory bodies have boards of directors who provide oversight to the president and CEOs of their organizations.
The board of directors would provide that oversight relationship and the board would have the relationship with the minister.
The minister could come to the Public Agencies Council.
Again, as I said, we would discuss concerns, but we can only make recommendations at this point. I’m reviewing this.
I believe, under the Financial Administration Act, that, in itself, should give me enough authority to ensure that the territorial corporations comply with the Government of Nunavut.
An example would be several years ago with the Nunavut Housing Corporation. For example, many of us recall the Nunavut Housing Trust issue. Under section 78, I believe, I compelled the Nunavut Housing Corporation to report directly to my staff and my officials in the Department of Finance on a regular, monthly basis with financial information to ensure that they were delivering, once we put the recovery plan together, that they were complying the terms of that recovery.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that answer.
I agree with you. I think that if the Public Agencies Council has no teeth whatsoever and just giving recommendations where you can discuss that at the cabinet level, why would you need the Public Agencies Council?
I know that recently, with the Qulliq corporation, the whole board resigned.
I’m wondering: what kind of involvement does the Public Agencies Council have when it comes to disputes between boards and ministers of the Crown corporations and agencies?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) The Hon. responsible for the Public Agencies Council, Mr. Peterson.
I thank Ms. Angnakak for that question.
In that particular situation, we are unaware of why the board of directors resigned. I believe only one remained.
That would be the minister of the appropriate territorial corporation who would be responsible for dealing with that matter.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Going back to the orders of the day.
Written Questions. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister of Education, Mr. Quassa.
Hon. Paul Quassa: Mr. Speaker, I would like to return to No. 5 of the House strategy.
Speaker: The hon. member is seeking unanimous consent to return to No. 5.
(interpretation) I didn’t hear any nays. Mr. Quassa, please proceed.
I thank the members for their consent.
I would like to recognize an individual whose name is Scott Kablutsiak-Duncan from Hall Beach.
Welcome to the Gallery, Scott.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters. Bill 2 and Bill 3 with Mr. Akoak in the Chair.
According to the authority provided to me by Motion 3 – 4(2), the committee will stay in session until it reports itself out.
>>House recessed at 11:42 and Committee resumed at 13:29
Chairman (Mr. Akoak): Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Inuit and all Nunavummiut.
We wish to continue with the review of the main estimates of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, followed by Nunavut Arctic College and the (interpretation ends) Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. If time permits, we will commence the review of the Department of Culture and Heritage.
Are we in agreement that we continue with the main estimates for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation?
Bill 02 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2014-2015 – Economic Development – Consideration in Committee
Chairman: Are you agreed to allow Minister Kuksuk’s staff to go to the witness table?
Chairman: Sergeant-at-Arms, please assist the staff.  Minister Kuksuk, please introduce your staff.
I say ‘good afternoon’ to the people of Nunavut and the people of Arviat and Whale Cove.
Mr. Chairman, today with me are on my left, Associate Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Pauloosie Suvega. Also, on my right, Tanya Winmill, Director of Corporate Services, Economic Development and Transportation.
Mr. Chairman, there are also some individuals over here that will help us out during season, Jim Stevens, Associate Deputy Minister for the Department of Transportation.
Members, please turn to page K-6.
Mr. Chairman, my question concerns the issue of Nunavut airports.
Mr. Chairman, first of all, I would like to say that my questions are not in Inuktitut so I will be reading some of them in English.
My questions, first of all, on page 182 of the department’s business plan.
Minister, it is indicated that the department has a close working relationship with Transport Canada, NAV Canada and the community governments and contractors that provide services to operate and maintain the airports and car services.
(interpretation ends) Can the minister or his officials provide a breakdown, by community, of what entities are currently providing CARS services at our airports?
Mr. Chairman, I don’t have the information off hand but I will be able to give the member what he is asking for in a little while.
On page 183 of the department’s business plan, it is indicated that one of the department’s priorities for 2014-15 fiscal year is to work with NAV Canada to ensure smooth transition of community aerodrome radio stations from the department to new contractors.
(interpretation ends) Can the minister or his officials clarify when the government’s current contract or contracts will expire?
I will get Ms. Winmill to respond to that question.
The current carriers contract are in a year of extension will expire March 31, 2015. We had a meeting with NAV Canada, the government officials and NAV Canada to ensure that we retain a close working relationship with NAV Canada to make sure that there is a smooth transition from us being the contract holder and the individual contractors with NAV Canada.
We are, however, keeping the portion of the training component of that contract in-house, which is carried out and training is provided by the Arctic College out of Rankin Inlet.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Can the minister or his officials clarify what the value is of the current contract or contracts for the provision of CARS Services?
I will get Ms. Winmill to continue to respond to that question.
The current contract value amount that the government has with NAV Canada is $6,431,000. Individually per community I don’t have that data. If the member would like that provided we can provide that later on.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Can the minister explain why the department is moving to have CARS services at Nunavut airports provided to new contractors?
I didn’t really understand his question. If I can get him to repeat his question, Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The minister is requesting clarification.
(interpretation) You can understand that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is part of his previous question. I will get Ms. Winmill to respond to that question, Mr. Chairman.
It’s my understanding that the benefit of us giving up the contract where we are just the middle man would be more beneficial to the contractor and put more money in the local contractor’s pockets.
Perhaps part of it was answered but some of it wasn’t. (interpretation ends) Can the minister indicate is there any specific problems with the current system of providing CARS services that justify moving to new contractors?
I wasn’t given any information if there have been any problems. I’m not really sure exactly how to answer that right now.
If you don’t mind, if there is some information available, I’ll have Ms. Winmill respond to that question.
Just to clarify for the member, it won’t be new contractors. The contracts would go out to RFP regardless who was administering the contract.
I’m not sure, aside from that, what else the member is looking for.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Can the minister clarify if it is the intention of the department to award one contract to a single company to provide CARS services at all airports or a number of different contractors to different companies?
As far as I know, we will be giving the contractor... . We have been giving contracts to the hamlet, let’s say, in a community. There is not just one entity or company that is going to get the contract.
Can the minister clarify if the new contractor or contractors have been selected?
Ms. Winmill stated earlier that the contracts would go out to RFP, so it will be open to the public out there.
Can the minister clarify what process the department is using to select new contractors?
When the government deals with new contracts, we have a policy in place. This will be the same as any contract.
I will have Ms. Winmill make an additional comment on that.
Actually, it won’t be our contract and we won’t be doing the RFP. This will be a contract administered by NAV Canada.
They will be the ones who put out the tender call for all the CARS contracts, whether they put it out as one contract or multiple. We expressed that when we met with them not long ago, we would prefer it to go out as separate contracts.
Can the minister clarify how many employees the department has in this area, the current contract provided to CARS services at Nunavut airports?
The question asking for the number of employees at the airports is a number which we do not have at our fingertips at this moment.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Can the minister clarify whether the people who are currently employed to provide CARS services will lose their jobs as a result of the government’s move to having new contractors provide CARS services. (interpretation) Thank you.
It is clear that and there are many of them that are radio operators that are skilled in their jobs and have been in their jobs for a long time.
But in relation to the question as to whether they would lose their jobs or not is something which Ms. Winmill could look at in terms of the outlook.
Just to clarify, there are currently three employees; one in Pond Inlet, one in Rankin Inlet, and one in the west, I’m not sure of which community the employee is in, that are currently employed by us under the CARS contract.
They are termed employees and the process with the Department of Finance under their Employee Relations Division will work with these employees.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Before I proceed, I will stay on this.
There are workstations in the airports.
Will any of those people lose their jobs?
Hon. George Kuksuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like Ms. Winmill to continue.
Those personnel in the airports are currently under contract with the government, so if they are the successful proponents while bidding on the contract once NAV Canada puts it out then it would stay status quo.
The minister stated that there will be a loss of jobs, three to be exact.
Is this a preferred thing that people lose their jobs and that is why you are turning to contract work?
I cannot state whether it is better or it is worse.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Do I understand correctly then that when it was stated that the contract will end at 2016 and you, Mr. Minister, you stated that you cannot state whether it has benefits or not.
While you are trying to figure that out you will extend the contract then?
I was merely stating that I am not in the position to express an opinion as to whether it is good or bad.
It is very uncertain whether the answer will be forthcoming.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, this being the case, are you stating that there will be no movement on this, since you don’t know what the outcome will be?
I understand the question.
I can undertake to ask my officials, whether I will review under these circumstances, under this scenario, if it should be undertaken.
However, this is something that we cannot determine today.
Before this is clarified, what was supposed to be in place by 2015, can the minister say whether this will be delayed until such time that it is clarified after it is determined whether it is good or bad?
Do I understand this clearly?
Hon. George Kuksuk (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, I as stated earlier, we will review this whether it will be continued or not. Once we have a clear determination on this and I am not talking about 2015-16, but this will be determined later on.
Those who will be losing their jobs, he mentioned that there would be loss of job, even though we don’t know whether this is good or bad for Nunavummiut, it appears that this is where it is going whether it will have bad consequences for Nunavummiut and for our employees.
For those who will be losing their jobs, are you planning to offer them new employment?
I realize that he is addressing the same question for the third time.
Ms. Winmill responded to the question whether employees would be losing their employment and his question whether employees will be offered other employment, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Ms. Winmill to answer this question to clarify this issue.
Those positions don’t currently reside with the GN. The radio operators hold contracts with the GN. April 1, 2015, those radio stations will still need to be operated within all of the airports across Nunavut, so NAV Canada will require manpower to provide that service, so we’re just taking us out of the equation as the middle man to filter money to these contractors and they will deal directly with NAV Canada.
I understood that part.
My line of questioning is that three jobs will be lost.
Did you say that?
Those people who will lose their jobs. Are you going to be finding them alternate jobs?
All those related questions were answered by Ms. Winmill. Those three jobs are the ones which Ms. Winmill answered. I didn’t interpret Ms. Winmill saying that they will lose their jobs.
That’s not the way we understand it.
My apologies. Ms. Winmill.
Ms. Winmill: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are those three affected employees who are currently GN term employees.
They are paid by NAV Canada at this present time. Yes, it’s a third party funding agreement. We have, actually, four positions that NAV Canada funds through this contract, and we have term employees who work within the department under that contract.
Moving forward where we aren’t extending the contract past March 31, 2015, the GN will work with these employees and involve the Department of Finance and see what options are out there.
Your department’s Arctic Airports Division is in Pond Inlet. How many employees are there in that division?
In relation to the question about our employees in Pond Inlet in this area, I would like my Associate Deputy Minister, Pauloosie Suvega, to answer this properly.
I can’t recall how many employees there are, but the vacant positions that we would look to fill will be out for competition. We are continuing to try to fill those positions.
How many employees are there for the Arctic Airports Division in Pond Inlet to date?
I would like to have Mr. Suvega to respond to that question as well.
I stated that I didn’t have the numbers at hand. However, we have them assist other communities, but there are also other vacant positions that we will be putting out to competition.
You know that you will be asked those questions. You should come here well prepared to answer the questions because you know that you will be asked questions.
Are any of the employees who work for the Arctic Airports Division in Pond Inlet going to lose their jobs?
In regards to the question, I would like to have Ms. Winmill respond to that question. If there was no response.
If I understand the member correctly, the Government of Nunavut currently has two positions that reside in Pond Inlet.
One is currently filled, the other is vacant I think is what the minister and the associate deputy minister were alluding to. As far as the number of people who work in the airport as a CARS operator, that number we don’t have because it’s a contractor.
One of those positions is, in fact, a NAV Canada termed employee under the Government of Nunavut and like it was stated earlier, the contract does expire March 31, 2015. As well as his employment contract at this time.
The two positions, one is vacant and one is filled. They will just disappear? These positions will just disappear?
I would like to have Ms. Winmill to answer the question.
One of them is a NAV Canada position so as of March 31, 2015 that does go with the contract.
The other position is the transportation programs officer and we are currently in the process of working with the Department of Finance to advertise that position for competition.
Thank you for clarifying that we will not be losing a position at the arctic airports in Pond Inlet.
Thank you very much for the clarification.
The people who are working at the arctic airports will not be losing their jobs. Thank you very much for clarifying that and I’m very pleased about that.
Let me ask a question, although I do have other questions, but I do want to ask it is my understanding that a company called ATS Services provides CARS services at approximately 18 airports in the north.
Can the minister or his official clarify if this company currently providing CARS services at any of Nunavut’s airports?
I’ll have Ms. Winmill respond though you, Mr. Chairman.
Just to clarify you’re asking if the ATS contractor holds any contracts within Nunavut airports. Yes they do. I’m not sure which communities they currently have but I know that they are a contractor in some of our communities.
Next on my list is Mr. Mikkungwak.
I forewarn the minister and his officials that my line of questions will be very technical regarding aircraft instruments.
They can start flipping them pages.
When I look at these questions, the questions that I’m going to be posing are going to be technical but at the same time will sincerely take into consideration the safety aspect and financial revenues that we can see come to Nunavut.
My first question will be regarding Nunavut airports.
I note that in the department’s business plan, one of its priorities for the 2014-15 fiscal year is to work with NAV Canada to identify community airports which would benefit from the installation of GPS systems.
I also note that the northern airport suitability study was submitted to the minister’s department on April 4, 2014.
The study highlights that nearly every airport in Nunavut is under service in terms of instrument approach procedures impacting safety and reliability.
Can the minister indicate what process his department uses to evaluate the adequacy of instrument approach procedures for each airport?
Mr. Chairman, I will have my Associate Deputy Minister Mr. Suvega respond to the question.
We work with partner organizations, such as Transport Canada, to conduct some of those assessments. Also, on things like GPS approaches, we are working with NAV Canada to try and identify future communities for such installations.
It is my understanding that lower approach minimums would provide aircrafts with better access to Nunavut airports.
According to the suitability study, instrument non-precision runways would require lower approach minimums that current runway designs in Nunavut.