EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I know they were already recognized, but my constituent Leonie Duffy and Rankin Inlet resident Catherine Pilakapsi. (interpretation ends) Give a special welcome to this House to the lady who makes my liver quiver.
The lady who gives pep to my steps and the lady who gives pride to my stride, my dear wife of 25 years, Mrs. Mona Nester. Mr. Speaker, we are only 18 years of age.
As my colleague Mr. Mapsalak said, we don’t get very many opportunities to recognize visitors in the Gallery from the Kitikmeot, so if you were recognized before it’s an opportunity to recognize you again.
I’d like to recognize the two ladies from Cambridge Bay Ann Isnor and Donna Olsen-Hakongak.
They do a lot of great work for the ladies in Cambridge Bay and I’m sure they’ll make significant contributions to the women of Nunavut.
Welcome, again, to the Gallery.
If we excluded somebody, everybody welcome.
Question 399 – 2(3): Mandatory Leave Without Pay (Tootoo)
As all members and most of the public will recall, a number of years ago we had deficit reduction initiatives that were taking place, and one of those initiatives, prior to Nunavut being in place was dubbed “Donny Days.”
The public service took mandatory days without pay. That initiative was done again in Nunavut where employees were asked to take I think it was three days off without pay at the time. And the government of the day agreed that it didn’t have to be at a certain fixed time of the year that it could be spread out at the employees’ choice.
My question to the minister is: is there an initiative like that being undertaken right now to address some of the deficit that the government is facing?
Minister responsible for Human Resources, Minister Tapardjuk.
I don’t have the information with me at this time, but I will get back to the member once I have that information.
Question 400 – 2(3): CLEY Response to Elder Abuse (Peterson)
The issue of elder abuse arose at the Kitikmeot AGM in October.
In June, I questioned the minister about what his department is doing to assist vulnerable elders who are being abused.
He indicated at that time his department didn’t know how big the problem is. My question for the minister: can the minister update the House on what his department has done since June to determine how large the issue of elder abuse is in Nunavut?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): I apologize. If I understood your question correctly, your question was if I know approximately how many elders are abused. I don’t have the information in front of me, but I would like to take the question as notice at this time.
I apologize. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Peterson, your question has been taken as notice.
Question 401 – 2(3): Environment Support for Hunters’ Lost Equipment (Mapsalak)
A few days ago I asked the minister if there would be any support given to the hunters for the loss of their equipment during a hunting trip. And I believe his response was that he didn’t have money to pay to compensate the hunters.
And one of his responses was that they would get compensated from the Disaster Funds. Where can the hunters get compensation for loss of equipment?
In regard to defence kills and also to equipment being damaged by polar bears, we don’t have any money at all but we would like to hear about incidents of that type.
Could the minister look into this and get back to me once he gets the information?
I will find out what the member is asking about, but I want to stress to the House that we don’t have any programs for hunters or trappers that have their hunting equipment damaged by polar bears.
I seem to recall that there was a Disaster Compensation Fund.
I believe we’re talking about the same thing, or maybe I should be asking the minister if there are any funds available, or if it will be possible to be compensated by the Workers’ Compensation Board.
I would like the minister to respond to that, please.
We’ll just proceed. I’ll let the minister respond to that question.
Hon. Patterk Netser (interpretation): In regard to the Workers’ Compensation Board, if a hunter is injured, they are eligible to get compensated through our department.
Question 402 – 2(3): Hamlet Call Out Fee (Barnabas)
We just heard on the news and I will direct my question to the Minister of Transportation.
There’s going to be a call out fee of $50 for the High Arctic.
What is the Minister of Transportation going to do?
For example, the hamlets will pay for the call out fee if the prices should go up. The hamlet will end up paying for it.
Minister of Transportation, Mr. Akesuk.
The employees have heard about this and we asked them to look into it and see if they can work with the communities, and also to talk with the air carriers that travel to the High Arctic.
I heard about that when they were talking about it on CBC and I asked my staff to make sure that they work with the affected parties.
This information was not given to the communities. We just heard about it today and all of a sudden it’s there.
How did it come about that this call out fee was set up?
I don’t know how it was set up by the Council of Resolute Bay.
The first ones who had the contract did not have a $50 call out fee. Why is it that the second contractors, the hamlet, all of a sudden have to pay for this?
I’m not exactly sure how it was set up or how it came about, but what I heard was that the pilots have a set number of hours that they can fly.
I will make sure that our staff work directly with the hamlet councils and find out how this came about.
I don’t think that we should be pointing fingers at anybody. The airlines come in late almost all the time due to weather or other circumstances.
What is the minister going to do about this fee? The price will increase again for those communities that I represent and it’s going to be an additional hardship.
We will make sure that your concerns are looked into. Again, it’s going to increase the airfares.
We will make sure that all of the parties involved work together to make sure that something is done to rectify this matter.
Question 403 – 2(3): Hospital Specialist Appointments (Arreak)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I think it’s every year that specialists come into Iqaluit to provide services. At that same time, the people from the outlying communities are flown in to Iqaluit to see the specialists.
At times, the patients who are supposed to come in don’t make it due to the weather, and then since they can’t come in, they’re usually booked again to see the specialist at the following visit.
What is your department going to do about this?
The Department of Health provides specialist services in two ways. One in that they come up to Iqaluit as an example, or the patients that require specialist services go down to Ottawa. So it’s not just here, but they also go to the communities.
In cases where individuals are not able to fly due to weather to see their specialists, those individuals are rescheduled for the next visit, or if it’s more urgent, we will fly that patient down to Ottawa to see the specialist.
With the current situation, or possibly through misunderstanding, the patients who are supposed to see a specialist and who don’t make it, sometimes have to go down for medical services, and then they end up getting more drastic treatment, either requiring surgery or something more urgent.
I would like to ask the minister if it’s possible to send them at all times if it’s a serious case.
Any citizen can go to the health facilities and seek treatment. In cases where we have to reschedule, we try and provide the earliest opportunity for the person to be seen by the specialist, whether it be through Iqaluit, or with a traveling physician, or down to Ottawa.
If there are ways to better improve communication with clients just on that process, I will commit to that.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. Your second supplementary, Mr. Arreak.
A lot of the people are not informed about what process they should follow when they have to go see a specialist, or if they miss an appointment. There’s also cases where a person goes up to the nursing station and then they’re told that they’re perfectly fine.
Every individual has a right to a second opinion, and I think that the people out there should be informed about that, too.
I didn’t hear a question, but I did hear him suggesting that we do better communication to our clients and patients on what services are available, I have committed to that.
Speaker: Thank you, minister. Thank you. Oral Questions.
Question 404 – 2(3): Agriculture Ministerial Conference (Alagalak)
There are conferences that go on down south to meet with the ministers and the ministers from the Nunavut Government are involved in those conferences. It helps the people of Nunavut when the ministers go down for a meeting.
I think it was in June or May that the APF had a conference to deal with...and they had a meeting down south about farming, or agriculture and the ministers from the Nunavut Government are involved in that conference with the other ministers down south.
In November they also had a chance to have a meeting with the ministers in the seven provinces; I would like to ask the minister if he was involved in that conference down south with the other ministers.
I did not attend the conference in November because I was in one of my constituent communities but what we are doing with the Agriculture Ministers is that we received some funding for the operations of the meat plants here in Nunavut, to be able to process meat in those meat plants.
I just want to let you know that I am not Mr. Arreak.
I think there’s money, over $1 million that is given to, given by the federal government. I think the ministers have heard that, how much money, how much funding did you get provided by the federal government, in what amounts?
The federal ministers provide some funding in various amounts each year, but I understand what the Nunavut Government gets and I will try to get the information as to how much money that we were provided with for agricultural purposes.
I know they spend a lot of money by providing those funds, but I can’t really say what amounts at this time.
We have to be heard and seen by the federal government as being partners in the government, such as fish and meat plants have to be provided with funding.
I know that there is going to be a conference with the minister again down south this winter and it’s good that the federal government is thinking about the Nunavut Government for a change.
Can the Nunavut Government put in a proposal to get some funding for that?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have written them with a proposal and we wanted to be able to get some funding for three years in the amount of $900,000 for the Nunavut Government to be used for meat and fish plants.
That’s the amount of money that we’ll be receiving from the federal government in a three-year period, but we will be requesting the federal government again for more dollars to run our meat and fish plants.
That’s good to hear. I just wanted to ask the minister again when that conference will be held because Inuit people have to hear about what’s happening when the ministers go down to have a meeting with their counterparts.
Is there going to be any information for the people of Nunavut? Have you given any information to the people of Nunavut about that?
If I understand the member correctly, we would very much like to inform the public out there in regard to the meetings that we attend with our counterparts down south. I will look into this further to see that the people of Nunavut are being informed about the meetings that we have with our counterparts.
We would like to be able to give them more information, but I will get back to the member about giving information to the public out there about those kinds of meetings that we attend as Nunavut Government ministers with our counterparts down south.
Question 405 – 2(3): Sealift Fatality and Equipment Loss (Tootoo)
In my questioning to the minister yesterday in regard to sealift services, the minister had indicated that there was an incident here where there was a fatality when a piece of heavy equipment fell into the water just outside here where the boats anchor.
Is she aware if that heavy equipment is still sitting at the bottom of the bay?
Thank you for that question from the member.
Yes, due to the equipment being in the water, the Department of Environment has been consulted.
The member is right; there is a piece of equipment under those 90 feet, and Transport Canada has been advised that the equipment is 90 feet.
I am advised that there is no environmental danger at this point; the fuel spill would have been evaporated within 24 hours.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. Your first supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
I guess to ask the question that you know this happened.
The minister indicated last month or earlier this month that there was no notification to anyone about the report and I would think that organizations maybe like the Hunters and Trappers Association or someone would have been notified that there was a piece of heavy equipment filled with diesel fuel, hydraulic oil, engine oil that went into the water here and is still there.
I am wondering if the minister has an idea why there was no public notice no notification in regard to this.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and I thank the member for Iqaluit Centre.
I am sure that the people are looking after that piece of equipment and know what they are doing.
Speaker: Sorry, Minister Brown.
We appear to have problems with the hearing piece. Please proceed, Minister Brown.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the member for asking the question and I feel the same way that he does.
I am pretty sure that the people who were looking after that equipment, or know about the equipment know what they were doing and tried to do their best to try and retrieve that piece of equipment.
As to the people why they were not informed about the incident, my staff is listening to us right now.
They are probably looking for ways to make the public know about what happened about the incident about the heavy equipment sinking.
The members, the Cabinet Members, were informed about that though.
I guess I would like to follow up by asking the minister if she would be prepared to provide a formal report on that incident and other incidents that happened during this year’s sealift.
I understand she said yesterday that there was an issue in Pond Inlet where the ship had to be towed all the way back down south for repairs.
My colleagues from Sanikiluaq indicated there was another sinking or an abandonment of a barge in Nunavut waters, and also the fact that some materials have been frozen or iced in in Baker Lake that were destined for other communities.
On those types of incidents, and also if their department have received any concerns, or displeasures, or whatever you want to call it that were raised to them on behalf of other Government of Nunavut agencies or other departments that utilize the government’s contract to sealift.
We have not heard any concerns from any other government departments. To address his concerns, I will ask for a report as to the incidents that happened. It’s unfortunate that incidents like this happen because this is not the first time and we don’t wish any harm on anyone.
We don’t predict whether there’s going to be anything wrong.
The ships that have contracts with the government are trying to do their best in a harsh environment like Nunavut. I will request my department to do some investigations and write them all down, and give that out as information.
Question 406 – 2(3): Federal Cuts to Nunavut Literacy Programs (Peterson)
Mr. Speaker, in September of this year, the federal government announced devastating cuts to a number of programs in order to achieve a $1 billion savings in their budget. And over $17 million was cut from the budget of Human Resources and Skills Development for the Adult Learning and Leadership Skills Program.
My question for the minister: can the minister clarify for the House exactly how these cuts have affected or will affect the literacy funding in Nunavut?
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Peterson. (interpretation) Minister responsible for Education, Minister Picco.
When the cuts were announced by the federal government, I was in the meeting of the Canadian Ministers’ Council for Education in the south.
The chair of the meeting Ms. Burke...we put out a communiqué immediately saying how devastating these cuts may be.
At that time, we weren’t aware of what the total amounts would be and how they were broken down by jurisdiction.
In Nunavut, there’s a lot of ...in the cuts announced by the federal government, which included the Status of Women’s Council, literacy funding, labour market development agreements, skills training programs under HRDC, the cuts on literacy alone were about $100,000 to Nunavut. Under the different labour market development agreements, there were several hundred thousand dollars more cut from our budget.
In total Mr. Speaker, we’re looking at, in Nunavut, a loss of between $3 and $4 million of extra funding in a wide variety of different programs and services that the federal government was supporting in the territory.
I am pleased to note that he has done some lobbying.
Mr. Speaker, the Nunavut Literacy Council contributes significantly to improving literacy levels in Nunavut. I’m very concerned about their future ability to continue their fine work in Nunavut; over the years, they have made tremendous contributions to our territory.
My question for the minister: can the minister tell the House if he has lobbied his federal counterparts, I guess Minister Findlay, to restore this funding and whether he believes the federal government will reverse their decision?
I have written to Minister Findlay on the literacy cuts, as well as the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education have also sent a letter to the minister.
It would seem from the federal government that they would like to concentrate their funding toward the K to 12 educational school system. As we know, the federal government has been suggesting that their area of responsibility, with the Berger Report as an example, is not in the K to 12 education system.
Indeed, they suggest, of course, that the education is a territorial or provincial responsibility. So therein lies the kind of paradox of the cuts in the support for these types of programs.
We’re continuing our efforts with our federal partner to try to explain and justify some of the reasons we think that in Nunavut, for example, we’re unique and these types of cuts need to be reviewed.
However, at the present time, there has not been any type of sign from the federal government, whether it’s for ourselves here in Nunavut, or indeed on the national level for the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education, that the federal governments are rethinking their program cuts.
I was watching the CPAC channel the other day when the President of the Treasury Board of Canada, John Baird, appeared before a federal standing committee.
There was a terrible display of arrogance towards the Literacy Councils and Status of Women funding, and other important programs for Nunavut and Canada.
It worries me whether they will reverse their decision.
My question for the minister is: can the minister tell the House that his department has a backup plan to ensure that the Nunavut Literacy Council stays in business in the event that the federal government does not reverse their decision?
It is my understanding that the program cuts in total on literacy in Nunavut were about $378,000; about $256,000 of that for the Literacy Council and $122,000 for Nunavut Arctic College.
I am in the process right now of reviewing our budget to see where I can step in and support the Nunavut Literacy Council. Ms. Crockatt, who is the Executive Director, Kim Crockatt, and her group have done yeoman service for literacy over the last several years, as the members knows.
One of the highlights is the Peter Gzowski Golf Tournament for Literacy.
We’re continuing, with the Premier, to push the federal government to try to acknowledge the unique factors that we have to deal with in Nunavut.
I am trying to review our budget to see where we can step in to help relieve some of these cuts.
The minister mentioned the Peter Gzowski Golf Tournament; the minister and I had the good fortune to participate as team mates in that tournament. Contrary to popular belief, he is a tremendous golfer.
He made a significant contribution to literacy.
Mr. Speaker, the Nunavut Literacy Council staff have already taken a voluntary pay cut, I understand, to avert this disaster to make up for the $250,000 hit that they took, and there may be some layoffs coming in the future.
The minister indicated that he is reviewing the budget; I know that funding is going to be tight.
Can I get a commitment from the minister that he will direct his officials to take a serious look at ensuring that they find additional funding for the Nunavut Literacy Council in their 2007-08 Main Estimates in the event that the federal government does not reverse their decision?
I agree he is a good golfer, but also known for very deep divots.
I don’t understand about these debits, I never use my debit card at any time playing golf; I don’t understand his point.
Ken Dryden did play gold with me in 1990 and I kind of hit him a couple times with the ball and I apologized to Mr. Dryden for that and Rick Mercer, I apologized to him for hitting him, and I apologized to Mr. Peterson for hitting him with the ball.
And Mr. Akesuk, I played golf with him at the Toonik Tyme tournament.
Mr. Speaker, Friday is a light day and we try to have some levity on Friday.
However, Mr. Peterson has raised a very serious concern in the House and that is the issue of literacy. We know that the literacy rates in Nunavut are some of the lowest in Canada. The good work that’s been done by the Nunavut Literacy Council is at the community level; at the grassroots level.
At the same time we have to be cognizant of the fact that we are in a deficit reduction program mode in the government and there isn’t a lot of money to go around.
What I can commit to the House and to the member in all fairness is again to review the budget to see if there is an opportunity to help alleviate some of the concerns about the cuts that the federal government has made.
It is important to note, when the federal government supports a program in Nunavut and makes an arbitrary cut, it is very difficult for this government or any of our colleagues in other Provincial and Territorial governments to step back in and fund the program. That is what we saw in health care cuts and that is where we are seeing now with these types of program cuts.
Question 407 – 2(3): Medical Travel Problems (Barnabas)
I know that she tabled a report since the transfer of the transportation office for the patients. As Members of the Legislative Assembly, we don’t know how many medivacs there are and how many escorts they require in our constituency.
When you have more than one community in your constituency, you can not keep up with the patients leaving for medical purposes.
For that reason unilingual patients are experiencing problems with that.
When you are escorting an individual, whether it be your grandchild or child, if you don’t call the transportation office, then they will not arrange for your airline ticket today.
Last week I just found out, too, that in my riding, an individual coming from my riding was stuck at the boarding home here in Iqaluit for five days with her grandchild.
How much extra did this cost for the government for those patients having to wait to go to home and staying at the boarding home and the boarding home is filled to its capacity when this occurs?
The Department of Health in this government spends approximately $40 million on travel alone and that is how much we spend transporting people before they even receive medical treatment.
It is a very high amount, but it is a necessity for us in providing services to our patients that require care outside their community.