EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
They also have different, special committees that look at arrears and also the waiting list.
So, the roles of the local housing organizations, at the community level, require a lot of one-on-one and face-to-face work with the community members.
Can the minister tell this House under what circumstances a person would not be eligible for public housing?
There are a number of factors that would be considered during the review of the eligibility of the person applying for public housing.
One of the most common that we hear about is outstanding arrears or people with a bad history of outstanding arrears. These may be people who have moved from one community to another community.
Also, because some communities do not have the immediate units readily available, sometimes the unit may have been allocated to a certain family in the community and a different family in need may not have higher points to become eligible.
So, there is a different number of factors that will lead to the local housing organization denying an application.
Speaker (interpretation): Second supplementary, Mr. Evyagotailak.
Thank you, Minister. Can the minister tell this House what circumstances would lead to a public housing tenant being removed from their unit?
Speaker (interpretation): Mr. Kilabuk.  Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Not knowing the circumstances if there may be a case in question, there are, like I said, a number of factors that the local housing organization will factor in, in deciding if tenants should be evicted or should not be allowed access to public housing.
Speaker (interpretation): Your final supplementary, Mr. Evyagotailak.
Thanks again, Minister.
There are only three communities in Nunavut that have bank branches.
Can the minister tell this House what service the corporation offers to clients who wish to buy their own home but do not qualify for the Nunavut Downpayment Assistance Program.
We have information packages that our offices are more than willing to share to assist individuals seeking home ownership.
As a matter of fact, we just recently made improvements and adjustments and also increases to allow more people to become eligible for home ownership programs, and I can most definitely commit to sharing the information packages with my colleague on the home ownership program.
Question 237 – 2(2): Status of Funding from the Federal Government Regarding Climate Change
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Environment; hopefully he’ll be able to respond to my question.
The finance minister for the federal government has recently announced his concern about funding for the North.
And because of climate change, there was some funding set aside for that.
Could the minister inform the House what the status of this is.
We are working on an Environmental Sustainability Framework with the federal government.
Last week we held meetings to discuss this through a teleconference, and right now we’re just writing up the framework on climate change.
To date, we’ve been drafting the framework and policies and procedures.
Perhaps by this coming spring we will be able to discuss this further by way of holding meetings about climate change.
But as Nunavut, we are quite unique, and we will involve NTI during the meetings that deal with climate change.
Have you been told what kind of concerns, or have their been any studies or research done on what the concerns are of the people of Nunavut, or North of 60, because it’s going to be good to acknowledge some of the things that are going to be impacted due to climate change.
Yes, I have stated that we are working on the framework.
I have discussed with the federal minister that we need to hold consultations in the North and how much it would cost the Government of Nunavut.
We want to know what kind of programs and services the federal government would provide.
So, we will be discussing all of these details with them.
What I am trying to ask is, have you done any research on the impact of climate change?
We have done research on the traditional knowledge of Inuit on climate change.
In the Nunavut Climate Change Strategy, we have included the comments and advice from the elders in regards to our wildlife and environment.
We are going to look into how we can improve on the impact of climate change so that we can manage the impact it will have on us.
To date, we are still doing research and studies.
We are working on the various impacts in Nunavut.
When we were in Iceland last fall, in November, I attended a meeting and there was a great concern about climate change in the circumpolar north.
All the other circumpolar countries are also concerned about it and they are looking into it.
Our federal minister was quite concerned about it and he was sensitive to our concerns.
They wanted to look into what kind of impact it will have on us in the future.
You mentioned research or a study being done.
Perhaps you can give me some information as to what kind of survey or research has been done or perhaps table those reports in the House.
Yes, I know about the Nunavut research and the other research reports from the various circumpolar countries.
Yes, I will provide that information to the member in regards to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
Question 238 – 2(2): Update on Environmental Technology Program
Mr, Netser (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When we were reviewing the main estimates of Nunavut Arctic College, it was mentioned that the environmental technology program students are sent out to the land to do life skills.
I have heard of a concern that the instructors were in one tent and the students in another and their tents were about four kilometers apart.
At the tent that the students were staying in, they don’t even have a rifle for protection.
The president stated that he was going to look into that.
We have not heard anything about it.
We would like to be informed about this.
I appreciate the member raising the issue.
Indeed, during the budget debate in the House, on the college, the issue was raised.
Subsequently to that, I have received an e-mail letter from one of the participants in the environmental technology program who did inform me that when he has been at those camps, that indeed the case has been that the instructors would have rifles with them for protection, and that indeed, those were housed in the tent where the instructors were.
The student went on to tell me that the students on the program did not have access to the rifles in their tents.
I have taken that e-mail, I have forwarded it to the president of the college to ascertain the veracity of the facts mentioned in the e-mail and then to follow up with instructors of the program.
We all know that when we go to the communities, when we leave our families behind or if we are going for a walk, we always take our rifles with us and we always leave a rifle for the people who we leave behind in the camp.
It is very dangerous if a wild animal happens to approach the students.
They should not be treated like little children.
Can you inform us that the students will be allowed to take a rifle, because they will be going out on the land very soon.
As I said earlier, I did receive the e-mail after the debate on Monday, in the House, on the budget.
I have asked the president to follow up and ensure that the safety of the students, the participants on the program, has to be first and foremost, the utmost, in doing these types of exercises. That has to be taken into account.
I am waiting from the president of the college to verify what has been said in the e-mail, as well as in the House, to ascertain whether they will be implementing that and when that will occur.
I have three other names on my list.
Question 239 – 2(2): Costs Saving on Fuel Re-supply
My question is for the minister responsible for petroleum products and the fuel re-supply.
I understand, if I am correct, that the way the contract was awarded in the last go around was that the government decided to split the contract, to have a purchase contract and a delivery contract.
Given that, they went on to say that with this new type of contract they were going to be saving $16 million, or something like that, over the next few years.
I would like to ask the minister if he could indicate how much we have saved to date and if those savings that we talked about were the difference between the old contract, which was a purchase and supply contract, and they split the contract in half… . So, does that savings amount include just the one contract or was it for both?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for petroleum products, Mr. Kilabuk.
I’m trying to think back to the exact figures on the projected savings that were announced at the time the contracts were renewed.
Mr. Speaker, I do not have the exact amount of savings in the new purchase and transport of the fuel re-supply.
I will commit to providing the detailed information to my colleague on the actual contract conditions and the savings.
But if memory serves me right, and I can be corrected on this, I think the total cost savings were going to be in the vicinity of about $20 million; but, I stand to be corrected on that.
Hopefully, it is correct, because if the amount he said was too small, it would be nice to see more savings.
I look forward to getting that information.
Mr. Speaker, my next question is, when the amounts of fuel that are ordered are ordered, the amounts that are initially ordered and asked for by each community and by each product grade, that the purchaser, the contract is there to purchase that fuel, purchases the amounts specified in the actual order.
For the communities and their re-supply, after the fuel dips have been done at these tanks for these certain types of products in the communities, and looking at the history of usage over the course of the year and also projected further use, if the tank facilities are there to meet increased needs then the order will be made depending on the amounts required for that community.
I can take it, then, that whatever is ordered by the community is determined through petroleum products, or whoever the agent is in determining the amount that they require.
The contract to go out and buy that fuel is for the amounts that were actually requested through the Petroleum Product Division or other agents that are out there. Mr. Speaker, I know the other half of that contract is a supply contract.
That is to transfer that fuel from wherever it’s stored, wherever the purchaser has it, to deliver it to the communities.
My question to the minister is, what happens when the amount that is purchased as per the order is not the same as the amount that is actually delivered?
I can use for an example, here in Iqaluit, for the Jet A-1 fuel: the order was short 1.8 million litres of jet fuel.
So, if we paid for it, where is it?
I’m just wondering if the minister can clarify that.
I must apologize, I don’t have the specific details of shortfall in the amount of jet fuel that may have been ordered for Iqaluit, but under normal circumstances, the orders that Petroleum Product Division puts in for re-supply are usually met.
In cases where communities have too big of a shortfall for their supplies, we have had to transfer fuel to communities with the use of aircraft.
I just used Iqaluit, here, as an example, but if we have one contract to buy 31,125,000 litres for the Baffin region, as outlined in the response to my written question to the department on 2004 fuel re-supply, there is a shortfall in what was actually delivered.
One would assume that if we have a contract to go out and buy that 31 million litres, that we would have 31 million litres out there.
How and when do we see that?
Do we get a reimbursement from the contractor on that?
If this is an issue where we’ve paid for fuel that we don’t have, is this something that the minister will commit to looking into and reviewing and possibly reviewing the contract to see whether the shipper can adequately follow through on the terms and conditions of the contract?
My colleague makes a very good point, that we shouldn’t be paying for products that are not delivered and should make every effort to make sure that the products we order are delivered, regardless of what type of order it is.
I will definitely commit to looking into the specific case and commit to providing my colleague information on my findings.
Question 240 – 2(2): Conducting Investigations on Incorrect Diagnosis
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the minister of health.
Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents had a life threatening experience just after Christmas.
He was experiencing headaches, but the medical professionals were treating him for an earache.
In fact, after three or four long days of headaches and deteriorating health, he was finally diagnosed with an aneurism and was finally medivaced directly to Edmonton, where he was operated on immediately. I’m happy to say that he survived.
My question for the minister: can the minister explain to the House whether her department conducts reviews of incorrect medical diagnoses to determine what went wrong and how to improve them.
Ms. Brown: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I can’t comment on the specific individuals or issues, stuff like that, but I will check into your request.
Perhaps the minister misunderstood me.
I wasn’t asking her to comment on the specific case. I was asking her, do they conduct investigations into incorrect diagnosis in general?
If there is a doctor or a medical professional who incorrectly diagnoses a patient, the patient dies or suffers a long illness, does her department conduct an investigation to see what went wrong, how it can be improved, to improve our medical health system?
I feel very much for the member and I would also like to thank him for bringing this subject up.
I will look into the issue and talk to the nurse that was involved and find out what they do in these processes.
Of course, we’re all human and we can all make mistakes.
I have yet to see a human that has never made a mistake.
I know people make mistakes, but sometimes you make mistakes and people die.
We do not want people dying in Nunavut through mistakes.
We can make mistakes here, but nobody is going to die. A question for the minister, Mr. Speaker.
Would the minister tell the House how many Nunavumiut suffered through long illnesses or die annually due to incorrect medical diagnosis by medical professionals.
I do not have the responses in front of me and I do not know the numbers of misdiagnosis.
I do not have the information because it was never made available to me, but I will look into it and I will take that question as notice.
Question 241 – 2(2): Increase Funding for Sports in Nunavut
Mr. Barnabas: (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to ask some oral questions in regards to my member’s statement.
This question is directed to the Minister of CLEY.
Last year, they took over, in regard to sports in Nunavut, from Community and Government Services.
I wonder if the minister can give us information as to the portfolio that he took over, how much of an improvement there is.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister of CLEY, Hon. Louis Tapardjuk.
When the Department of Community and Government Services had that portfolio, there was a huge amount of money that they used for sports.
Since we took over that, what we do now is to carefully divide the money up for certain recreations, sports, and athletics.
What we want to do is increase the funding for sporting in Nunavut. We also would like to incorporate traditional Inuit games.
What we do now is we have those traditional southern sports, basketball, volleyball, and all that other stuff, but what we are going to do is include the traditional games of the Inuit.
That is what we would like to do.
The recreation coordinators have been given a workshop and we had a meeting to let them talk about including Inuit games.
The minister told us that CGS has responsibility for capital planning.
My question is this, how does CLEY work with CGS to develop capital plans in relation to sports facilities in our communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We have various responsibilities.
We have the responsibility of the facilities; there are people who deal with the capital recreation facilities.
What we do is we deal with the sports part of it and improve the games that the people of Nunavut play.
As to how we work with Mr. Kilabuk’s department, me and the Minister of Community and Government Services, we have not had a discussion on that as yet. To date, we have not had a consultation because we deal with different things right now.
I am kind of surprised.
It has been a whole year since the portfolio was given to the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth and those two ministers have not had a chance to speak to each other on those things.
I wonder if the minister can inform me of when they will have discussions on those topics.
When is the minister going to meet with Mr. Kilabuk’s department?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): I know that some community halls are quite small, and the other minister has the responsibility for capital facilities.
So, I am not really sure exactly what the member wants to know.
What do you mean by asking, “When will you be discussing those with the other minister”?
What we deal with is sports or going out down south for competitions and stuff like that.
We can do that as a department, but we have nothing to do with the capital funding for facilities.
We don’t decide which community will be getting their facility renovated or expanded because it’s the responsibility of Mr. Kilabuk’s department.
So, if you could specifically ask me a question as to what you want, maybe I could respond to you.
Mr. Barnabas (interpretation): I am not really sure; we need to find out, as ordinary members, some information, and we talk about the needs of our communities.
What happens to those member’s statements and questions that we are asking? Because we are dealing with young people. It seems like we just ask questions all day, and nobody seems to pay any attention to the questions and the statements that we make as ordinary members in this House.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes, there are different needs for different communities.
Some want to get facilities or some of them want swimming pools, and you have to request that from the Community and Government Services. But the only thing that we deal with is the contributions for sports purchases.
So, you can make a proposal or an application to my department, and there are various kinds of sport activities that we have in our budget. That’s what we do, but I’m not really sure what the member is asking of me.
The people request funding for certain sports and that’s what we take care of, so I’m not really sure exactly what the member wants to do.
Perhaps there is something that he requested that we did not honour.
We have the money here for contributions and then people request them through a proposal.
Going back to orders of the day.  Item 7.
Item 9. Item 10. Petitions.
Petition 005 – 2(2): Gasoline Delivery to Grise Fiord
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition that I would like to table.
It is in regards to the gasoline delivery to the community of Grise Fjord.
There are ten signatures.
Petitions should be delivered to the clerk’s table.
Item13, Tabling of Documents.
Tabled Document 098 – 2(2): Funeral and Burial Arrangements
I would like to table some correspondence between myself and the Department of Health and Social Services and Department of Education on funeral burial arrangements in 2004.
Please provide your tabled document to the clerk.
Tabled Document 099 – 2(2): Schedule of Vote 1 and 2 and Vote 4 and 5 Grants and Contributions 2003-04 Fiscal Year
I would like to table both financial information for Vote 1 and 2 and the contribution funding for 2003/04.
Item 14. Item 15, Notices of Motions for First Reading of Bills.
Bill 9 – Supplementary Appropriation (Capital) Act 3, 2004/05 - Notice
I give notice that on Friday, March 11, 2005, that Bill 9, Supplementary Appropriation (Capital) Act 3, 2004/05 be read for the first time.
Bill 10 – Supplementary Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act 3, 2004 - 2005 – Notice
I give notice that on Friday 11, 2005, Bill 10, Supplementary Appropriation Operations and Maintenance Act 3, 2004/05 be read for the first time.
Speaker (interpretation): Can you hold on a second for a few minutes to clarify Bill 10?
Bill 11 – Loan Authorization Act, 2005-06 – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove, that Bill 11, the Loan Authorization Act 2005/2006, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Commissioner, or the Minister of Finance acting on behalf of the Commissioner, to make loans to municipalities for the 2005/06 fiscal year.
Speaker (interpretation): Any comments.
Bill 11 has had second reading and is referred to a Standing Committee.
Bill 12 – Write Off of Assets and Debts Act, 2004-05 – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Honorable Member from Iqaluit East that Bill 12, Write off of Assets and Debts Act 2004/05, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the write off in accordance with Section 82 of the Financial Administration Act, and the write off of debts in accordance to section 24 of the Financial Administration Act.
Speaker (interpretation): Comments to the bill.
Question has been called. All those in favor.
The motion is carried and Bill 12 has had second reading and is referred to a Standing Committee.
Item 19, Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters .
Tabled Document 52-2(2) and Bill 8, Appropriation.
With Mr. Netser in the chair.
In accordance with the authority vested in me by Motion 3-2(2), the Committee of the Whole will stay in session in until it reports itself out.
>>Committee recessed at 15:35 and resumed at 16:03
We are reviewing: Tabled Document 52-2(2) and Bill 8.
We wish to continue with Bill 8, with the review of the Main Estimates for the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
After that, we wish to commence the review of the Main Estimates for the Department of Justice.
Minister Kilabuk, do you have any witnesses?
Chairman: Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses to the Witness Table.
For the record, could you please introduce your witnesses, Mr. Minister?
I’ll start from my right. Chris D’Arcy is from the Nunavut Housing Corporation from the Iqaluit office and will be here with us.
The president of the Housing Corporation on my immediate left, Peter Scott.
Are there any general comments with respect to the housing corporation from the floor?
I’d just like to say a few words.
I have been told by my constituents that the homeowners don’t have anybody to turn to.
So, for example, they can’t get into social housing units.
They have to request from another community to trade with houses and this was brought up to me before in regards to shortage of housing.
We understand that they don’t have anybody else to turn to.
For instance, if their house burned down they can’t get into social housing.
I also like to say a few words.
The funding is very clear for the new units that will be built.
I know that this is worked on and the public housing units are assigned for people who can’t afford their own homes and we know there will always be a shortage in our community because we have 134 waiting Inuit in our community who can’t get into housing.
I know, the minister is working hard and can’t do too much a lot of times.
Nowadays Inuit are more aware of the housing.
There doesn’t seem to be a clear message but in the past like the companies in Nunavut would own houses and they would be leased by the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Nunavut took over and re-leased them.
We hear concerns from the people and Arviat being one of them.
I truly support the minister, especially when there is a shortage of houses.
We realize that there is a shortage of funds for housing but if they can look at for short term leases like 10 years or less to lease them according to what government use.