EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Question 362 - 1(5): Income Support Review Report Completion Date
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Minister of Education tabled a document on the new vision and new direction of the Income Support program.
This document was written on November 22, 2001.
The Standing Committee on Health and Education presented its report on the review of the Income Support program on Tuesday November 27. 2001.
Was the report already concluded at the time they presented the report.
Was there already a report Mr. Speaker.
I did present a report Mr. Speaker.
I am sorry I don't have this report in front of me at this time.
He is correct in saying that the dates are in reverse.
I will look into this and find out if the dates are in fact reversed.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): With respect to the report there were some recommendations made.
I think it was in Cambridge Bay that these recommendations from Nunavut communities were presented.
The Minister of Education has said before that they were not directed to his department, so therefore we made other recommendations with respect to income support.
Did he read the recommendations of November 27, did he read these recommendations, Mr Speaker. Thank you.
As I stated earlier in my response, there were forty six recommendations and these were dealt with in Cambridge Bay.
I responded through my statements.
I have given a response to this issue already, Mr Speaker.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): Did he read the read the recommendations of November 27, Mr Speaker.
Speaker: Minister Kilabuk
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have not reviewed the November 27th recommendations myself, but these are being dealt with under my department and my officials.
As I stated in my report, I was saying that I would be responding to these new recommendations and even though I have not reviewed the recommendations, I will do this.
With respect to the report that he tabled yesterday and in regards to the income support program, when can we deal with the recommendations.
Perhaps I can answer his question in this way.
I'm not going to say what date we are going to work on this, but it is a pretty long path that we have to deal with, when we're dealing with the recommendations.
We will be working on the recommendations from our department.
Question 363 - 1(5): Community Freezer Update - Repulse Bay
I believe the minister received a letter from Repulse Bay requesting a community freezer.
I would like to ask what is the status of this request at this time.
The community freezer issue is one that we are reviewing.
The Department of Community Government & Transportation used to be responsible for that and we have made an agreement as to which department should be responsible for those freezers.
Under the agreement, after it is signed within the government, then Public Works & Services will be dealing with that responsibility for community freezers.
I thank the minister for clarifying which department I should be directing my question to.
The freezers are very old and sometimes they are a health hazard when repairs haven't been done for a long time.
So I would like to ask the minister when that freezer would be replaced.
I think Public Works & Services would be in a better position to respond on the status of community freezers.
They would have this information about various freezers in the communities in Nunavut and as soon as the agreement has been signed then they will be able to deal with this issue and the Hamlets would be notified.
I am not sure exactly when they would be able to replace that freezer in Repulse Bay.
Perhaps the member could direct his question later on to the Minister of Public Works & Services.
It would appear that the question is for the Minister Responsible for Public Works & Services.
Maybe the minister can take it as notice and the appropriate minister can get back to the member when she is back in the House.
Question 364 - 1(5): Review of Search & Rescue Policy
This question is about search and rescue policies.
Are these policies being reviewed.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): I am sorry Mr. Speaker, but I didn't hear the rest of his question because I was looking for a response.
If the member could clarify his question or repeat it.
Speaker: Could the member clarify or repeat his question.
Our questions are getting short.
This is what I asked, on the issue of search and rescue policies.
Are these policies being reviewed, and if they are when will they be completed.
The present search and rescue policies as we know Mr. Speaker, have to be reviewed and amended because they create problems in the communities.
But we have not decided when those policies will be reviewed.
For instance, last week we had an incident in Rankin Inlet.
Although this young person had a radio he was stuck out on the land.
He tried to reach people in the community by radio and the Rankin Inlet search and rescue team had to look for him.
Those policies have to be reviewed and changed.
We will review the policy to make it better for Nunavummiut.
The mayors know a lot about their communities and the mayors and councils will be involved in the review of the policy.
I am not quite sure exactly when that will be completed, but I would like to tell the member that we will involve the Members of the Legislative Assembly, and search and rescue along with the Hamlets.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Minister for your answer in terms of reviewing the policies.
I would like to give you something to think about.
The local search and rescue society.
If there is an emergency they head out to search and at times they run into difficulties.
They phone around and begin to prepare and are told at times they cannot go out because they are not prepared enough, because of cold weather.
Those kinds of things need to be better prepared so they can do their search and rescue work.
What the member is saying has been said so many times by people especially when they have to do a search for an individual that is lost and the RCMP has to be involved at times.
The search and rescue in the communities know the kinds of places that they have to look and they have a 24 waiting period before the RCMP can be involved.
We will have to speak with the search and rescue committees or councils in the communities so we can make those policies better for the communities.
As well I would like to tell the member that we will be dealing with the search and rescue policies to make changes to them.
Like I said this summer there will be Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary units and we gave out GPS's to each community.
Yes, I will commit myself to do a review of the policies and we will also be talking with the V division in Headquarters.
Because some of the members of the RCMP are not knowledgeable enough in the communities.
It is not the same as doing search and rescue down south where they have forests and so on.
So we will be talking with the RCMP Division to make sure that the 24 hours is shortened.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister. Supplementary question.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to hear that response.
If the department is willing to find out more about the procedures in terms of search and rescue, I would urge the minister to deal with this on an urgent basis since it is getting colder out there and the days are getting shorter.
Search and rescue is a very hard thing to do because I have also been involved in these activities when I lived in Rankin Inlet and there was a death when I was involved in that particular search.
The search and rescue team worked very hard, not just physically but mentally. I agree with the member that we will try to do this policy review as soon as possible because search and rescue members work very hard to attempt to find lost people before they perish. I realize what it involves and we will try to do it as soon as we can.
Question 365 - 1(5): Gymnasium Floors
This is a question for the Minister of Education.
I notice that he is smiling at me.
I talked about the flooring in the gyms that are different from one community to the next.
I just wanted to ask the minister whether the floors in the gyms can be more consistent so when athletes are involved in competitions they can be used to the playing surface.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to explain a bit to the member about capital construction.
Whether it is a community hall or a gym, we have to go in accordance with the wishes of the District Education Authorities and if they are asking for different floors, we are not going to be giving them all the same kind.
If one of the District Education Authorities want a different kind of floor then we will look into it Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Supplementary question. Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The minister said the communities can request the types of floor they wish in their gym.
When we had the NWT Government we weren't able to do this.
So is he saying that if a community or District Education Authority wishes to have a different type of floor we can ask for it.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We work in accordance with the capital plans.
What I can say is that I have been given information that some communities request different things and my department is trying its best to follow the wishes of the community.
I'm sorry that his community has not had their request met but we will try to provide what the community wishes.
Question 366 - 1(5): Departmental Adoptions
There are three ways to adopt children.
Departmental, private and custom adoption.
My question is, what is the department doing to make sure that children up for adoption are being adopted in the communities by their relatives.
Mr. Speaker, for adoption there is a policy in place and that policy applies throughout Nunavut.
The families that want to come forward for example, if you want to do an adoption outside of Nunavut.
There is a policy in place for that.
There can be a custom adoption.
At the same time Mr. Speaker, a list is maintained by the department of children that are available for adoption and parents that are willing to put their children up for adoption.
Are there many children that are up for adoption.
Speaker: Ms. Williams would you repeat the question again please.
Mr. Speaker, I haven't got that information with me on how many children are presently available for adoption in Nunavut.
I have heard that they are advertising for people that want to adopt children.
Does the minister think this is an appropriate way for people to find out there are kids available for adoption.
Mr. Speaker, the proposal or I think there is an advertisement that the member is talking about.
In every jurisdiction in Canada the Departments of Health and Social Services make it known, in some cases through the media, that there are children available for adoption.
That is the practice not only in Nunavut but in other jurisdictions as well.
That has been the practice.
It is not my opinion.
We are in Nunavut and I would be very surprised, I think a lot of Inuit would be very surprised at the way he is going about this and wonder if this is appropriate.
For the children that are in care up here, I think that the minister should commit to do it in just in Nunavut.
If there were social workers in place we wouldn't have to be advertising.
So could the minister commit not to do that and do it in a different way.
Mr. Speaker, first of all let’s make it clear that if a child is put up for adoption usually that’s at the discretion of the parents.
In some cases the government has to take children away from parents and that’s an unfortunate situation.
In that case children are put in foster homes.
When a child is put in a foster home Mr. Speaker, as you know, there are checks that are done, security checks that are done with the family the child is received into.
Mr. Speaker, at the present time there are 170 children that are receiving services, 122 of which are presently in foster care, 29 that are out of territory placements, meaning outside of Nunavut there are 20 percent.
Mr. Speaker, we try to find good, quality homes for children.
And if a person outside of Nunavut requests the adoption of a child within Nunavut then, Mr. Speaker, the government tries to facilitate that with the parents.
I’m aware of several cases where children have been adopted outside of Nunavut.
In some cases, Mr. Speaker, this has been done through traditional adoption.
So, Mr. Speaker, the policy of the Department of Health and Social Services, I believe is to make sure that the children are placed in proper homes, in good homes.
If they’re outside of Nunavut, Mr. Speaker, and it’s permissible with the parents, Mr. Speaker, we will continue to do that.
Question 367 - 1(5): Tabling of Department's Response to Education Act Review
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister Responsible for Education.
Mr. Speaker, earlier in his minister’s statement the minister indicated that he is going to be tabling the department’s response to the Education Act and that a working group was established.
I’d like to ask the minister, I believe that report was received by the department last February.
I’d like to ask the minister if he’s going to be tabling the report of the working group as well.
As I indicated earlier today I will be tabling the work that the committee has done and also additional notes on the roles and responsibilities of the DEAs.
Rather speaker, excuse me.
Mr. Speaker, while we’re on the topic of tabling reports and reports that have been done by the department.
Mr. Speaker, I understand and I recall last January the minister addressed the conference that they had here on education in Iqaluit and indicated that within a couple of months, that would have been February or March, they would be publicizing or making public the Language of Instruction Survey that was done.
Does the minister plan on tabling this document as well.
And when.
As a matter of fact the Language of Instruction Report is one I’m tabling hopefully before the end of this session.
I announced this in the House, I believe it was last night.
Mr. Speaker, I recall the minister stating something about that last week and at that time like I mentioned last January he said he was hoping to be able to table that document and make it public in a couple of months.
Ten months have gone by since then.
So I’d like to ask the minister what the delay was in making that document available to the public.
After having announced to the District Education Authorities' chairs at the conference, I ran into difficulties with technical work that the department had to do and therefore it caused some delays, which we had not predicted.
As a result, the work is now finalized and as I said I plan to be presenting this to the House before the end of the session.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to seeing that document.
However, I seem to also recall the minister stating last week when he made that announcement that the department had to do an internal review of that document itself.
I would like to ask the minister why he or his staff felt they had to do an internal review of that report before it came out.
The problems that I mentioned as to it being technical and caused the delays in our release of the report, as I say it has now been finalized and I also want to admit that I don't have a complete list of the problems that my department has been working on in trying to complete this package.
But if required, or requested by the members, I can also provide a separate list of the problems that caused the delay.
Because I know this is a very important report, not only for this House but also for our constituents.
Question 368 - 1(5): 100th Anniversary of Amundsen Voyage
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): I thought you would never get to me.
Mr. Speaker, when the members were going around to the communities I made reference to the 100th Anniversary of the Amundsen voyage.
I would like to ask the minister what kinds of plans are in the works to celebrate this 100th Anniversary.
We have been working on this and we are aware about the upcoming anniversary in my department.
We are aware of what is happening and we have already set aside some money for the celebrations.
The member is aware of this pot of money that is going to be made available, but we are also here to help the community to the best of our ability.
I don't know how to phrase my question, but with the 2003 celebration being planned, are the Gjoa Haven residents recognized for their planning efforts on this celebration.
We do recognize the importance and because of that we have set aside some money.
If we didn't recognize this celebration we wouldn't have set aside this money.
I believe that Nunavut has to be promoted and this celebration would be very helpful in attracting tourists to Nunavut.
We can use the example of the people of Norway who could be attracted here.
Is it possible for your department to work with the Government of Norway to celebrate this anniversary.
As I said earlier we are more than willing to work together with the people of Gjoa Haven.
We have had discussions about how we can give assistance and we also said that we are more than willing to help them.
We are also willing to work with the Government of Norway so we have set aside a pot of money to help with the expenses for the celebration.
We will work with them as best we can to mark the 100th anniversary of the Amundsen voyage.
I would like to thank the Minister of Sustainable Development for giving us assistance.
In 2002-2003, 25 thousand dollars has been committed for the 100th anniversary celebrations.
But I think this 25 thousand dollars is not enough and 2003 is just around the corner.
I would like to ask the minister if there is going to be more money committed to celebrate this 100th anniversary.
We don't know whether this 25 thousand dollars will be enough or not.
My department is willing to give assistance to the best of their ability.
But I do think that 25 thousand dollars is more than adequate.
We can't say how much it is going to cost at this point, but I could look into it.
Petitions. Item 10.
Committee Report 014 - 1(5): Community Consultation on the Future of Tourism in Nunavut
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide the House with an overview of our Committee’s Report, entitled: From Potential to Payoff: Report on Community Consultations on the Future of Tourism in Nunavut.
Earlier this year, we were pleased to hear the Minister of Sustainable Development announce his intention to develop a new Tourism Strategy for Nunavut.
In his 2001 budget address, the Minister of Finance stated, "Our tourism sector shows promise of strong growth.
As well, through the development of community-based tourism enterprises and hospitality infrastructure we can expand employment opportunities and economic activity in all of Nunavut's communities."
Mr. Speaker, there is ample consensus that tourism constitutes one of the three sectors with the greatest potential for creating meaningful job opportunities in our communities over the next few years.
This potential was clearly articulated in the Conference Board of Canada's major analysis of the Nunavut economy earlier this year.
However, we have been hearing words like "potential" and "promise" applied to the tourism sector for too many years now.
It has too often felt that we always have potential, but never any actual profit for our communities.
Mr. Speaker, the Members of the Standing Committee were of the view that it was very important to hear directly from the public on the issue of the future of tourism in Nunavut.
During the late summer and early fall of this year, we traveled to over half of Nunavut's communities to hold public meetings on this issue.
Members were pleased that over 130 people attended these meetings.
We made sure that we heard not only from the larger centres, but also the smaller communities.
The comments, concerns, suggestions and advice that we heard from Nunavummiut during our travels are recorded in our report.
Mr. Speaker, a number of consistent themes emerged from our consultations, which I would like to take a few moments to highlight.
Almost everywhere we went, we heard the message that training is vital to developing the skills necessary for a successful tourism sector.
Communities and HTOs want to have a major say in identifying their training needs and programs.
They want training for jobs, not training for the sake of training.
Nunavut Tourism is getting mixed reviews in the communities.
Some communities and outfitters have had good experiences with Nunavut Tourism, while many others have not.
There is a recognition that Nunavut Tourism needs to have adequate resources to do its job, but there is a strong concern that too much of the organization's funds and efforts are spent on internal administrative issues.
There is also an undeniable perception that Nunavut Tourism is not doing enough in the smaller communities outside of Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.
Mr. Speaker, Members of the Standing Committee want Nunavut Tourism to succeed.
But in order for the organization to enjoy our support in the future, it must demonstrate a renewed focus and commitment to spending more time in the communities.
It must also demonstrate clearly that the funds provided to it by the Government are being used wisely.
Mr. Speaker, we heard frequently about the need for vigorous efforts to promote and market Nunavut as a destination of choice.
This is an area where there is an opportunity for us as a government to put our money where our mouth is.
We have seen our neighbours invest significantly in marketing, and they have reaped the benefits of matching federal dollars.
Mr. Speaker, a number of federal Ministers were in my part of Nunavut this summer, fishing and hiking.
From my talks with them, I know that there is goodwill and a willingness to assist us.
We need an Economic Development Agreement with Canada, but we also need to demonstrate to the federal government that we're genuinely serious about investing in this sector.
Mr. Speaker, the federal government is not our only partner.
We also heard the view expressed that the Government of Nunavut and NTI need to deepen and intensify their co-operation on economic development issues, co-operation that will be good for all residents of the territory.
Just this week, during the review of the Department of Sustainable Development's capital estimates, it was again stressed by Members of this House about the need to finish the IIBA process.
Mr. Speaker, the high cost of travel to and within the North has always been a structural barrier in the tourism sector.
Where possible, we need to work with airlines to make it more affordable for people to visit Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, we heard the frustrations of the private sector, which often find it difficult to compete with government in attracting good staff.
We must take care not to foster an economy where the only good jobs are seen to in the government.
A strong private sector is vital to our long-term economic health.
The appearance of some of our communities has become an issue.
Mr. Speaker, we know that Nunavut will likely never become a mass market destination.
The people who want to travel to Nunavut are the people who are entranced and captivated by our wilderness, our unique culture and our wildlife.
We want these travelers to also spend time in our communities, to eat at our restaurants, to purchase our wonderful art.
But we won't attract visitors so long as some of our communities are better known for garbage-strewn streets than they are for their hospitality.
That's why we see a need for Government to support and fund beautification campaigns in the coming year.
Mr. Speaker, the year 2002 will be an important one for Nunavut.
We'll be in the spotlight once again with the Arctic Winter Games.
We have high hopes for the continued international success of our growing film industry.
Despite the damage to the travel and tourism sector from September 11, the long-term future for tourism in Nunavut can be bright, but only if we prove that we're serious about developing and supporting it.