EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
For example, if there is a person who is 55 years old, and they go to Igloolik from Pond Inlet for three weeks to visit a family member, then that wouldn’t be considered earned income because they’re not there for three months and they’re not opting out of looking for employment and so on.
The income support worker in that case wouldn’t subtract or deduct the money. It’s on a case by case basis.
However, if there were someone who was 25 years old and received a ticket and went from Pond Inlet to let’s say Qikiqtarjuaq, and stayed there for three months, then that would be considered unearned income, and there would be a case judgment made because of that.
We have incorporated Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit within the policy and I want to add that as the members all know, we’ve taken the child disability benefits, the universal care benefits, and Co-op refunds last year and took them from earned income under the program so that they would not be counted. That was incorporating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit from information that we received from people in Nunavut.
At the same, Mr. Speaker, the program is undergoing review right now, and the last official review was tabled in the House in 2001 and we have made several changes to the program.
There’s also the appeals process if someone feels that they have been discriminated against in the program, they have that opportunity, too.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this issue, and he talks about case by case. If we had a great social worker that came from our community and who understands the community, then yes, that could be used.
If we had a social worker who came from Toronto and who’s not very good, then they won’t use that, even though it’s the same thing.
So you need a good guideline or goal.
Like for example, in the smaller communities, in the community of Grise Fiord, there are many small communities and everybody knows each other.
They know if the family bought a couch or a cell phone, the income support worker knows but in Toronto nobody will know.
So therefore you need a good guideline so that the smaller communities that know each other, they’re disadvantaged by that.
My question is: you state that you are now reviewing or you’re preparing to enhance that, perhaps the income support guideline or rules to incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. When do we expect to see the income support guidelines or goal on that area?
Just for clarification again, the Income Support Program is not delivered by social workers anymore. The Income Support Program is delivered by income support workers. Ninety percent of them are from their home communities; they’re not someone from southern Canada that moves into Arctic Bay or any of our communities.
They do know their community and they do know the individuals. They work very, very hard for us.
Indeed, Mr. Speaker, over the last several months and the past two years, we’ve had several communities turn back the income support contract with the department because of those issues.
At one point we almost had half the communities and hamlets in Nunavut delivering the Income Support Program. Right now, I think we only have five or six because of some of these issues that we’ve just talked about.
The government has increased the income support amount by 15 percent in the last two years. We put several enhancements as we’ve just talked about. There is an amount of over $400 available for unearned income.
Those are changes; $200 for a single person.
The program enhancements that the member’s asking about with the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, those are ongoing within the department itself in cooperation with our delivery agents which includes the hamlets and the income support workers.
I would hope to be in a position to bring more enhancements forward and update the members in our next session, which would be in about two months, I guess in May.
Question 052 – 2(4): Support for Arctic College Facility in Grise Fiord (Barnabas)
I spoke about this issue during my Member’s Statement in regard to the Municipality of Grise Fiord.
They don’t have an adult training centre or Arctic College.
So my question is: how are you going to provide support to the community of Grise Fiord when they don’t have any Arctic College there?
Speaker: Minister of Education. Hon. Ed. Picco.
The adult educator that was working in Grise Fiord left the community and the space we were accessing in the school had to be used and facilitated for the school programs itself, so we lost access to that space.
The college right now is looking at the availability of space in Grise Fiord to run some programs through.
We are looking at running an ABE program first of all, which is an Adult Basic Education upgrading program and to hire somebody within the community itself that would be able to facilitate that program.
The members of the council told me when I met with them that there might be two units available. One of the units is on a private lease while the other unit belongs to public housing and is not being used.
Perhaps the Arctic College could use either one of the two units I have mentioned. Perhaps the minister can fix the unit up to code.
Would the minister commit to provide funding to the municipality to access them?
First of all, we have to ascertain what space is needed in the community. For example, if we can be successful in hiring someone directly from Grise Fiord, then the opportunity for needing housing would not be there.
The learning space or learning environment would have to be a classroom or something similar to that. Again, we would have to review what is available in the community.
I am not sure right now if the units the member was talking about would be conducive to that.
That is something we have to review.
I know that the president of the college, Mr. Clendenning, is working on the issue and as soon as I have an update, I will update the member, in writing, to the member and to the community of Grise Fiord.
Question 053 – 2(4): Release of Inmates from the Kugluktuk Ilavut Centre (Evyagotailak)
My question today is to Justice.
The Department of Justice recently held a community consultation in Rankin Inlet with plans to build a new correctional facility.
At the public meeting, some members of the public wanted to be assured that inmates would be returned to their home communities when they were released from the facility.
Can the minister confirm that inmates in the new correctional facility will be returned to their home communities once they have been released?
Minister of Justice, Honourable Paul Okalik.
Yes, we do this daily, returning them to their home communities.
Sometimes they stay in the community if they are going to school and if they are trying to complete their training or education.
It is reviewed case-by-case but we try to return all the inmates to their appropriate communities. Before they are released, we review where they are going to be released.
That is how we operate as part of our daily operations.
Speaker: First supplementary, Mr. Evyagotailak.
Mr. Evyagotailak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, minister.
My constituents in Kugluktuk have similar concerns that have been raised about the Ilavut Centre. I have been informed that a couple of inmates that have been released are now making Kugluktuk their residence.
Can the minister confirm this?
Some inmates try to complete their education and when they have to be released … prior to their release they stay in school and I am not too sure exactly with these individuals.
They try to keep them in the communities even though they have been released to complete their education.
That only occurs after they investigate, or do a review whether they’re dangerous to the public or not.
According to what I have heard that individual has family in the community.
We do try to return them back to their home community. But if it’s going to enhance the individual or the community then staying there is what’s going to occur.
Speaker: Your second supplementary, Mr. Evyagotailak.
We know that these two inmates that have been released, they’re not going to school or have a job.
(interpretation ends) What is the department’s policy on returning former inmates to their home communities after they’re released from the Ilavut Centre?
Each inmate that is about to be released is assessed and the general practice is that inmate is returned to the community where the offender committed the crime.
In some cases, the individual may be trying to complete an education in the community. They’re allowed to do that. In some cases, they may have found employment so they have become contributors to society.
Each case is assessed on an individual basis to see if there’s a need to release the individual in the community, or not. Generally, they’re always released in the community that they are convicted from.
Question 054 – 2(4): Cambridge Bay Doctor Termination of Contract (Peterson)
My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Last month our doctor departed Cambridge Bay to return to Vancouver. Her one year contract was terminated after only four or five months in the community.
She actually wanted to stay two to five years.
I received many, many letters, emails, and concerns from my constituents about the doctor leaving. People had talked to me and contacted me wanting her to stay. They’ve never had such a good doctor in years.
My question for the minister is: can she tell me why the Department of Health and Social Services, or the College of Physicians and Surgeons, terminated her contract in Cambridge Bay, yet offer her work in Rankin Inlet or Iqaluit?
Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq.
I can’t speak to the individual person’s confidential file.
I can speak generally to what we tried to do in terms of dealing with the situation that arose in the work place.
Yes, the member is correct in that the members of the community had expressed concerns about her departure, as well as to myself.
From the standpoint of providing services internally, we have issues that we needed to deal with and respond to.
At the end of the day a decision was made to offer her a transfer to a community where there were other physicians there along with her to work with her. This particular individual in Cambridge Bay was alone as a physician, and internally we had to address some matters that I cannot speak to in the House.
To provide a solution to that, we put her in an environment where there were other staff to work alongside with the individual.
It doesn’t shed any more light on the situation that we already know, and I’m sure my constituents would like a lot more details, given the fact that we really like to...you know, have the doctors stay there permanently.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that the College of Physicians and Surgeons is responsible for hiring and firing doctors in Nunavut.
So my question to the minister would the minister explain to the House the review process the college used to determine termination of this particular doctor?
The Department of Health hires all the physicians in Nunavut. The Director of Physician Services is located here in Iqaluit. That individual provides support and assistance to doctors throughout the north.
At the same time we have contracts with Manitoba that hires from them and we work with them on contract. But, all the hiring for positions in the north is done through the staff here in Iqaluit at headquarters for the Nunavut Territory.
My constituents, there could be as many as 30 or 40 have expressed their concerns that they wanted this particular doctor to stay. I understand what the minister is saying; there might have been some internal reasons for her having to leave.
My question for the minister: does the College of Physicians and Surgeons assign a higher priority to health centre employee concerns about a particular doctor over the concerns that come from community residents?
I understand the individual was well received by residents of the community.
When I make my decision as a department I have to look at it from the context of the services that we’re providing to the residents in a community. Some of that information is related to personnel internal issues. I cannot speak to them externally, but I want to reassure the member that all factors were considered.
But, at the end of the day we needed to look at the issues and concerns that arose internally within the Department of Health and the services that we do provide to our patients. In this particular case, the individual is still with us within Nunavut, in a different community, with a broader working team and supervision.
It’s good to know the doctor is back in Nunavut somewhere, and she is a very good doctor from what I understand.
The minister said that this doctor needed to be with other doctors. In Cambridge Bay we are supposed to have three to four doctors. We only have one because of housing concerns.
Could the minister commit to me that she will hire this doctor back to the health centre in Cambridge Bay when they increase their doctor coverage to three to four, as they’re supposed to?
Minister of Health, Minister Aglukkaq.
I will consider his offer and pass that along to my staff.
Any individual is welcome to put their names back for any recruitment initiatives that we have within the department.
Question 055 – 2(4): Qangualuk Abduction (Curley)
First of all, I would like to thank the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth … I would like to compliment him on his work on the abduction of Qangualuk.
He was doing a superb job on this event from the 1940s.
I would also like to thank him that there will be a memorial put up and I thank you very much that you invited me there. I wish to be there during the memorial gathering.
There are a lot of questions that are in our minds that are not answered.
Who were those people who abducted those Inuit?
I think there should be more investigation as to how this happened for the benefit of their descendents and to the people in general. Does he agree with me?
Yes, I am very happy with the minister that he has worked on this to try and find out.
As a government, it has been kind of hard, and we have talked with our Member of Parliament on how they can assist us.
We haven’t put this on the backburner; we have been dealing with it and working with it so we can help the children and the grandchildren of those people.
We haven’t closed this project and we’re going to be working on it.
Yes, I know it’s hard. I think there are things that we can use.
The minister sent correspondence to Foreign Affairs requesting the Russians to investigate this.
I would like to ask the Premier if he has contacted the federal government other than our Member of Parliament.
Yes, I have worked very closely with my colleague and he has been working on it.
I know I will be assisting this minister.
As a society we have gone through various hardships where dogs were killed, and QIA has said that they will be interviewing more Inuit.
I can say that relocation of the people who were moved to the High Arctic, there have been reviews, and they have been compensated.
Those tragedies or disasters have to be worked on.
We’re talking about the abduction of Inuit. According to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, we have to find out what happened to them.
It would be very beneficial if we could understand, so there should be an inquiry.
Following the Public Inquiries Act, you have the authority.
I believe there can be an enquiry into this since you are the Premier. Can you start on that?
Hon. Paul Okalik (translation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We totally agree that this is a serious matter. CLEY has dealt with this matter well and I will continue to try and work together with them.
If we can imagine for a moment how Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit works, whichever party is at fault will be dealt with accordingly.
As a government we were never part of this, so therefore how can we know?
There is no way we can tell at the present time.
We’ve asked the federal government to look into this matter, as my ministerial collegue has already delegated this matter.
Therefore, by way of channelling this matter this way, we can obtain better information and find out what happened.
It is unfortunate that we weren’t even a government at the time. This definitely needs to be looked into.
There is no doubt we’re going to delegate the federal government again to look into this matter.
I offered the Premier a very important tool; that he has the authority to issue and order a public inquiry through the laws of this government.
He can put under oath those individuals that were involved. There was a priest, they believe, that was involved around that area who may have some information, RCMP archives may have some information, the Roman Catholic Diocese may have some information.
There may be some correspondence even with our own government because Canadian sovereignty was already being enforced in that part of the world.
I believe the best tool is to order a public inquiry so that individuals wishing to appear can be cross-examined and information can lead to other sources. So, will the minister undertake to order a public enquiry so that he will not have to worry about how to go about this?
The inquiry officials will take care of the difficult questions. If not, why not?
As a government, in no way, shape, or form were we a party to this situation.
So it is difficult for me to respond to the question because we support the families in learning about what took place.
We have been cooperating with the family and with my Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. And, we will continue to do that.
But, to accuse our government of trying to hide something, that is what public enquiries carry out. As a government, we were in no way, shape, or form involved in this incident that may have taken place.
So for me to try and find a solution, it’s very difficult for me to do that but we will continue to pursue this matter with our national government, which has responsibility for international relations in trying to get to the bottom of these matters. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question 056 – 2(4): Group Home for Arviat (Alagalak)
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I mentioned earlier in my Member’s Statement in regard to group homes, I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Under the federal government, I was a social worker in Churchill and I would visit the group homes.
They’re mentally challenged; they have to be assisted.
I would like to ask the minister because it’s very difficult if you hear in your mind as to where constantly there’s noise all over where the parents have children like that.
So for that reason, the residents of Arviat have thought that it would be better and the population is increasing.
The minister spoke of the significant savings in medical travel due to the ability to provide ultrasound services to patients in their home communities.
It seems to be the same thing with those patients and when they’re increasing...but if we make a group home in the community, I’m sure there would be significant savings in that area, too, because that’s what she pointed out yesterday.
Can the minister update this House on what savings could be achieved if a local group home provided living, counselling, and support services, instead of sending patients with behavioural problems out of the community; out of Nunavut?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Alagalak. (interpretation ends) Minister of Health and Social Services, Honourable Leona Aglukkaq.
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) I agree with the member’s concerns regarding Nunavummiut who are sent outside of Nunavut because we don’t have the facilities to take care of them here.
I’m in agreement with the member that it would be nice to have a facility in Nunavut. For example, there’s one in Igloolik and there’s one in Gjoa Haven; we don’t have enough facilities, so we’re looking at getting four facilities in Nunavut.
Also, there are two facilities that were passed in the budget last November, in Clyde River and also in Taloyoak. There’s a facility under public housing.
Our staff in the communities have home-care facilities.
Would it be cheaper to have a facility in the communities? I think this would be costly to operate those facilities in all communities.
It is that way but some of the facilities are not for those types of people.
What I am talking about if you have not been to Arviat is, it is very difficult to have those kinds of individuals.
The person would be holding on to one son that is mentally disabled while the other one is normal.
It seems like they have to do this type of work 24 hours a day, seven days a week and they don’t get any help from the family. It gets very difficult for them.
They are under a lot of stress and don’t know who to turn to.
When I became a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I talked about this many times but the government has not heard me.
Perhaps, if we could get some funding from the government to take them to Portage Place or Brandon Place, maybe we would be able to understand more.
I can understand how stressed those people, the parents, are. We could also get a three or four bedroom facility in Arviat.
Can the minister tell me how many people are in that condition in Nunavut right now?
I don’t know how many individuals are outside of Nunavut. Within Nunavut, there’s a facility available with staff to care for those patients.
There are many patients that are being taken care of outside of Nunavut because there is a lack of facilities and services in Nunavut.
The Department of Health and Social Services and the government have recognized this problem.  There are two facilities that are going to be built to help address the lack of facilities in Nunavut but there is not enough funding available as of yet.
Because of that, the patients that have to be taken care of every day are sent outside of Nunavut to be taken care of since there are no facilities available to them in Nunavut.
I agree with your comments completely and they are recognized but because of the number of patients that have to be taken care of, there are some funds available. We are behind on that; we have patients that we take care of inside of Nunavut, for example, in the facility in Chesterfield Inlet.
But all the communities in Nunavut are experiencing that same problem. The patients that need care have to travel outside of Nunavut at this time to receive those services because we can’t take care of them here in Nunavut.
Speaker (interpretation): Just before we begin, I just want to let the members know that if you are going to ask a question and respond, be straightforward about the question with as little preamble as possible.
I am not going to bite anybody.
I would like to ask the minister again, I think the minister received a letter from the Mayor of Arviat.
There are houses that could be renovated very easily with not a huge amount of dollars. Or you could rent or lease them.
Can the minister tell me, for sure, that under the five-year capital plan whether there could be a group home built in Arviat?
Yes, we have been looking at ways of trying to incorporate more facilities to build in Nunavut for homecare and continuing care facilities, amongst all the other priorities.
Those are the areas that I had put forth within the government.
I also want to say to the member that the Department of Health has homecare program support services in the communities to try and provide some assistance to the families that care for individuals in the communities.
In Nunavut alone, we have over 1,000 clients at the community level where homecare workers provide assistance to individual families caring for disabled children or individuals that are ill at home.
Yes, we are looking at trying to increase the continuing care facilities in the north as part of the overall capital planning process of the government. Right now we have two that are in the works in Nunavut.
Question 057 – 2(4): Income Support Eligibility (Kattuk)
Mr. Kattuk: Oh, boy. At the last minute.
(interpretation) I would like to ask a question, I will not ask my question at this time because I have supplementaries to ask.