EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I would like further clarification on exactly what opportunities were identified and why they were unsuccessful in bringing the project forward?
As we said yesterday that we have the school in Qikiqtarjuaq. We realize that we need to replace that school, but based on the dollars that were available and the change in those between last spring and now this year, almost a year later, we don’t have the luxury or the monetary values, the dollars in the capital budget, to be able to advance that project.
I think the operative word was “could” and I did review it, I actually had it moved up and we had to bring it back in line because of the cash-flowing of the capital projects.
Mr. Arreak (interpretation): Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, this is the way it goes for the smaller communities, it seems.
The bigger communities, whenever there’s an infrastructure that is supposed to be built, they go ahead with them, but the smaller communities should be considered the same as the larger communities.
And in Qikiqtarjuaq, the Qikiqtarjuaq school is very old and the equipment is not adequate. It has been inspected by the Fire Marshall and he found a lot of things that were wrong within the building.
And there’s a lack of space as well and not very many classrooms.
The Inuktitut teacher that teaches them in the library of that building of the school is not adequate as well because it has to be utilized by all the students.
If it is going to be deferred again, I would not want to see this because we believed in the House that it would be advanced.
Will the minister please consider that building again to have it renovated as soon as possible?
An early construction date could be revisited for a next capital planning cycle if access to that funding was available. So again, on a continuing basis we are reviewing the capital budget to see if there’s some flexibility within that. That’s what we committed to yesterday when we were discussing the situation in Sanikiluaq, and I would make the same commitment for Qikiqtarjuaq.
The school is at 94 percent occupancy and was designed as a K-9 school and now it’s K-12. So the information that the member has given is correct. Again, we tried to advance it within the capital budget through the motion in the House, but I just didn’t have the opportunity to do that with the dollar values that were available.
At this time we are on Page G-6. Department of Education. Are there any other questions from the other members?
A couple days ago I had mentioned on my members’ statements that the schools need to be renovated and be in good states for the teachers and the children.
I would like to know if the minister can again provide me with some information on what age is the school in Kugluktuk, the high school.
I’m sure it’s probably close to 40 years old or a little bit more.
Also, when would it be possible to get that school renovated because one of my constituents had brought up that the school needs good renovation because the rugs in some of the classrooms were all worn out and not in good shape.
There are two schools in Kugluktuk. We have the Jimmy Hikak Ilinniarvik, as well as the Kugluktuk High School. The original construction year was 1994.
The Kugluktuk High School was last renovated in 1998. The Jimmy Hikak School was renovated in 1999. Those are actually quite recent schools.
When we have issues around carpets and stuff like that, that’s under the minor capital program.
Through the Department of Community and Government Services we have them review our schools when there’s a minor repair like carpeting, and so on, then that’s facilitated through that Community and Government Services auspices.
Mr. Evyagotailak, do you have any more questions?
No, I don’t have any other questions, but I’d like to thank the minister for giving me some information on when the high school was renovated, because I wanted to know when it was last renovated.
Yes, I would sure be glad to see that those carpets are taken out as soon as possible and replaced with new ones because there’s a lot of traffic that’s going on in the schools, especially on the weekdays.
A lot of teachers and the students are not very comfortable, especially if there is a big hole in the floor; the carpets…some pieces that are coming apart.
I don’t think that that would be very comfortable for the young people and also the teachers.
I would urge the minister to try and get that fixed up properly.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Evyagotailak. (interpretation) I think that’s a comment, not a question.
We are on Department of Education. (interpretation ends) Detail of Capital. Corporate Services. Tangible Assets.
Headquarters Region. $6,185, 000.
Mr. Evyagotailak’s comments and Mr. Arreak’s comments, just to follow up on their question, I think the government should really take a close look because those renovations at the schools have to happen. I guess Inuksuk High School has to get some renovations as well.
The minister stated that it is going to be $22 million just to do some renovations in that school but that could build a new school.
I just want the Department of Education to know that adult education centre will be renovated in 2010 and 2011 because the minister said that there is no funding for that.
I would like to remind the minister and his officials that this used to be a student residence in the 1960’s, or a children’s home.
Those people that used to stay there are now grandparents.
I would like the Department of Education to know that they used to have asbestos lining in that building and it probably has dangers to the health.
Is the department of Education going to look for funding to replace these buildings that have been built in the 60s and to replace them?
Hon. Ed. Picco: Just very quickly on Mr. Allen’s comment on the carpet, I was with Mr. Allen this past spring in Kugluktuk.
We mentioned this to the Department of Community and Government Services to make sure that was taken care of because they do the maintenance for us. If it hasn’t been repaired, we’ll just need another order to follow up with Kugluktuk to get that done.
Specifically on Mr. Arvaluk’s comment; the Inuksuk High School is a good example. Right now we have $26 million to renovate that school. It is one of the oldest schools, as members know, in Nunavut, but to go ahead and build another school the same size would cost $40 million.
That is our best estimate. So it is actually cheaper in the long run for us to actually to renovate that building. That’s what we’re trying to do.
Specifically on renovation projects, the majority of our schools have been renovated and upgraded, in the past ten years.
The oldest asset that we have on the books is about 36 years old for a facility.
Even in those two cases there had been major renovations.
Whenever major renovation occur, if there’s asbestos or any of those other types of products at the school or learning centre then those are dealt with at that time because of the codes.
Every time we do a renovation you have to bring the whole building up to modern standards and those types of issues are taken care of that time.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Arvaluk do you have any other questions?
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): My question is that I’m not only talking about Pond Inlet; it is also a concern of Qikiqtarjuaq.
And with these older facilities, are you going to be looking for third party funding so that they can be renovated prior to 2010 and 2011? And I am talking about elementary schools in Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq.
The high school in Pond actually brand new; built in 1999. Olayuk School in Pond, the member talks about was actually built in 1987.
There were two major renovations, one in 1994 and again in 2002.
The situation in Qikiqtarjuaq, and there’s no argument from me or from any of the members on the issues there. We need to be able to deal with that school. It was originally built in 1990 and again it was built for K-9; it’s being used for K-12.
When we looked at the cash flow within the budget itself, the Qikiqtarjuaq School we estimated to be over $9 million to be able to do that project. I just didn’t have the money in the budget to be able to do that. It’s one of those cash flow issues.
So I’d say it again, and I repeat in the House, that as the budget cycle continues in the New Year we’ll have an opportunity to go back.
And if there’s an opportunity to bring it forward in the budget that’s what we’ll do, but I’m not able to put something in the budget if I don’t have the money for it.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): We are speaking in the Nunavut language, but I don’t think we are understanding one another.
I’m talking about the adult learning centre in Pond Inlet. The CLC; I’m not sure what else to call it.
What I’m trying to say is: are you and your department going to be looking for third party funding?
And which programs or facilities are of lower priority than the CLC in Pond Inlet because it’s slated to be replaced in 2010.
What monies can we look for within our department that could be put in last and put this forward?
We had some discussion on the CLC yesterday in Pond Inlet, and again, it’s a project that we have in the capital plan.
The only opportunity we have to bring this project forward would be to advance it in the capital plan but then I have to identify the money.  So if I try to find $2 million or $3 million for that and try to find $9 million for Qikiqtarjuaq, try to find several million dollars for Sanikiluaq, I can’t pull it out of the air.
I don’t know what third party funding I could get to help me facilitate the construction of the facility.
Educational facilities, health facilities, those come directly from the Government of Nunavut’s own capital planning processes.
If the member has some ideas for third party funding that we could access to build that type of project, then that is something that I would be willing to entertain.
We are well aware that they are getting prepared to start the development in Mary River, and they will require employees.
We know what plans there are to develop the site at Mary River.
What kind of employees will be required?
The Government of Nunavut could look at accessing third party funding and I don’t know if they do that.
I don’t know if there is going to be training required to prepare for the opening of the Mary River site.
We know that there are empty buildings available in Nanisivik that could be used as a training centre.
Are you going to meet, or have discussions with BaffinLand and see if you can come to an agreement so that you can build the new Community Learning Centre in Pond Inlet?
Just very quickly, I have had an opportunity to meet with some of the officials from BaffinLand. It is my understanding that we are looking at a window between five and seven years before the development of that mine.
The Community Learning Centre in Pond is actually scheduled to begin in 2010. We’re in the 2007 budget, so you’re talking about three and a half years.
So the new Community Learning Centre in Pond Inlet will actually be built and in place before the beginning or the opening of the mine on the positive side, which would be between five and seven years.
So that gives us that lead window.
At the same time, again, the capital budget is always being revisited and updated.
If, as the Minister of Finance has mentioned, if we get extra money from the federal government, if the territorial funding program changes and so on, maybe there will be some extra money.
And again, these are three projects that I would bring forward in the capital budget that are prioritized.
We tried to do that last year with the Qikiqtarjuaq School, based on the Committee of the Whole motion, but nine months later we find ourselves in a different fiscal situation, and we’re not able to do that.
So I will try to contact again the BaffinLand Mining Corporation people to see what their time frame is for the operation and opening of the mine.
My understanding is it is a five or seven year window out from where we are today. That will give us time to have the Community Learning Centre in place.
In the meantime, if there is a shorter window, if there is an opportunity to access third party funds from them, like Mr. Arvaluk suggested, and I think is a good suggestion, then I think we should follow that up.
So, I’m prepared to do that.
Mr. Arvaluk: I think this is a very good opportunity for the Government of Nunavut to explore different avenues to get funding for the Community Learning Centre because very soon, in fact if it’s not happening already, an Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement is being negotiated with Qikiqtani Inuit Association, BaffinLand and the Government of Canada.
These could be part of…if we are going to be negotiating an Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement properly, then all sorts of benefits could be negotiated for Pond Inlet; a Community Learning Centre could be one of them.
Airport relocation or a jet airstrip could be one of them.
If the Government of Nunavut can’t talk to Pond Inletmiut about what they would like to include in the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement than I think this is an opportune time.
The Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements take different forms. The majority of the forms, because it is spelled out in the Land Claims Agreement, which is the beauty of having that in place, it spells out specific regulations and detail that the mining companies have to follow.
In most cases to date the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements specify training opportunities, for example, in mining programs.
The Government of Nunavut’s responsibility to provide that training with dollar values and what have you that comes from the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement.
I think the member makes a good point and that maybe there might be something outside the scope of the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement other than training, which would include infrastructure and so on.
That has to be negotiated, as the member has suggested, with the different parties.
I think the minister responsible under the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement is here and has heard those comments and I am sure that is something the members may have an opportunity to raise with them at some point.
Mr. Arvaluk: Okay, Mr. Chairman, very last question. Will he then talk to the Minister responsible for Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement negotiations to suggest what training and learning opportunities can be prepared for Pond Inlet including the building of Community Learning Centre and the type of training that will be required when they build the heavy equipment operator course centres in Iqaluit, Rankin and Cambridge Bay; how these can be geared towards potential employment or future employments when the mine is operating?
I think that we can appreciate that the mine, in preparation for actual production, that the mine employs approximately 40 Pond Inletmiut already.
That started several years ago through local Co-op in Pond Inlet.
Right now, they are being hired, every single one of them trained or not, as labourers right now.
I think the Government of Nunavut can demand through the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement that anyone qualified as journeymen should be recognized as such and be paid accordingly.
Again, just a little outside the scope of capital.
Just very quickly then: Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements are signed off on behalf of the Regional Inuit Association. They are the lead negotiator, along with the mining interest in this case. The Government of Nunavut has a role to play in that, but we are not the dominant player within what should be dictated to the mining companies.
That follows through from the Regional Inuit Associations.
However, again as I said earlier, maybe this is something that can be raised in those types of discussions with the mining company in particular.
Just to remind the members try to stay within the topic of the Corporate Services.
We are under G-6. So you can raise questions.
I welcome the Minister’s officials back to the House today.
Listening to the minister’s opening comments yesterday and listening to all the discussions in the last two sittings during Committee of the Whole, it seems to me that we have a real problem with providing schools, new schools in Nunavut.
I see there is only one, one listed in your capital estimates.
I’m wondering if the minister could give us an indication from his department what long-term plans that the department has for providing new schools in other communities.
And when I say long term I’m thinking over the next five to ten years.
We have been very aggressive in the Department of Education with the dollar values that are available to us. We have built several new schools, as the member is aware, since 1999 including a new high school in his community. And we have also carried out major renovations to many others.
What we try to do is we base the facility replacement, and or, renovation on a set of criteria and standards.
I supplied those standards and listings to the Standing Committee on Education earlier in our briefings on our program.
We have new schools in the budgets, forecasted for Sanikiluaq as well as Coral Harbor, for example, to move forward.
We also have major renovations that were talked about in Gjoa Haven when the tender was put out. So there is a plan in place.
Again, it’s based on need, based on the occupancy levels, the age of the facility, and so on.
I wonder if the minister could provide the House with the report or list of your analysis of the current status of elementary and high schools in Nunavut. I’m looking for the information that you might have used to help you guide your decisions and information such as how many of the schools are currently at or over 100 percent capacity; you mentioned one yesterday at 110 percent capacity.
There may be others. You mentioned some that are at 65 percent capacity.
As my colleague from Kugluktuk mentioned earlier, the school in Kugluktuk, elementary school and high school in Kugluktuk are getting a little bit old.
I wonder if that report could contain information on the age of the school, condition of the school, when it was built, when it was renovated or how many times it was renovated.
That would be helpful information for Members of the Legislative Assembly and for the public to review. I wonder if the minister could comment on that.
All the information that the member has just requested has been provided to the committee and to the standing committee and it can be shared with the member, I’m sure, between the committees.
I will just give you an example: we have a list that lists all the schools, original year of construction, the age of the building, the last year of the renovation, the year since the last renovation, the occupancy of the school, the status of the school, and so on.
So all that is a criterion that’s put in place and then we look at the replacement of the school. We also have a criterion in place that when a school reaches, let’s say 94 percent occupancy, and we are looking at the next four or five years that it’s going to be over 100 percent occupancy then we begin that planning process.
So we are always trying to be two, or three, or four years out from that window. Almost every school in Nunavut has received a major renovation over the past several years; some of them more than once.
An example would be, you know, when you look at Kugaaruk, it is a good example: built in 1986, major renovation in 2000 and 2003.
In Pond Inlet, Ulaajuk School, built in 1987, major renovation in 1994, again in 2002.
We look at Taloyoak Netsilik School, built in 1978, major renovation in 1996, and so on.
All that information had been provided to the committee. However, if the member would like to have that information also we could provide that to him.
Unfortunately, I can’t sit in all committees. I’ll ask our researcher to provide that information.
You mentioned earlier about the new high school in Cambridge Bay.
I think it burned down originally and it took three years for it to be reconstructed. They came up with an innovative plan. It wasn’t reconstructed simply as a high school; it included a heritage centre and a community library.
So we got three important facilities for the community and they’re all contributing significantly to our well-being, health, and education of the community, and visitors to the community. Tourists, mining people, and everyone else that go into the facility, they’re really impressed.
I am wondering if the minister could comment on whether Education has considered similar types of structures in the communities where rather than just having a high school, or an elementary school, you also combine it with heritage centers, or public library and kill two or three birds with one stone.
That’s the philosophy that we have taken in the Department of Education over the last couple of years is that when we’re doing a renovation, or building a new facility, that we take into account the total community needs and not just the educational needs.
A good example of that is in Arviat where we just completed the school; we have built the media centre in the school itself.
The community can put on plays and theatrical productions, and so on. In Baker Lake we’ve built in a community library in that facility. Aqsarniq here that just had the major renovation has now the Teaching Learning Centre in there where the curriculum is being developed.
We’ve also outlined, as I said earlier, that every new facility that is built in Nunavut educational-wise as well as the major renovation, would include a comprehensive daycare space available for the community.
So I think we’re following up on that process that the member has mentioned.
I thank the minister for that information. That’s good to know.
I think that we have to be very cognizant of saving money and trying to get more bang for our buck, where we can. Providing those kinds of facilities within facilities is an attractive alternative to trying to find funding separately.
Even though we did receive a new high school a few years ago, you’d like to think that you’re getting a top quality facility with the kind of money that’s spent.
Sometime near the end they started cutting and chopping. In the case of Cambridge Bay, although the facility is beautiful and people really like it, in our gymnasium we have a floor but it is not a cushioned floor, it’s a fairly hard floor. I’ve heard complaints from some of my younger constituents that it is very hard on their knees and joints when they’re playing basketball and indoor soccer, and other sports.
That’s concerned me, them, and their parents; we don’t want joints to start wearing out.
The acoustics in the gymnasium makes it very difficult for musical events and presentations because you’re always getting, I’m not sure what the technical term is, but you get the echo, and you really can’t hear the people up on the stage.
We have been grappling with that problem over the last three or four years - how to fix the acoustics in the gymnasium.
Of course, I’ve heard from many of the basketball players in Cambridge Bay, and we’ve got some of the top basketball players in Nunavut, and they’ve mentioned to me that the basketball backboards are not good quality basketball backboards.
They’re not major issues, but they are issues that people in my riding are concerned about and they’ve asked me to raise them whenever I can with the minister and his officials.
I wonder if the minister could comment on those.
One of the innovations that we have put in place in the last couple of years since the construction of the Cambridge Bay school is the Terraflex sports floor.
The Terraflex sports floor is a soft cushioned floor that stands up very well in high traffic areas. It is conducive to most sports and would take issue with some of the things that the member has spoken about. So actually it would fix that problem.
They are expensive to install. And again, based on what we have available, it would be very difficult for me to be able to put in place the Terraflex sports floor in the community when I’m trying to build something in Sanikiluaq, Qikiqtarjuaq when I don’t have the money.
So again, I know the need is there. Our staff will be in there this spring again in Cambridge Bay, and I’ll ask them to review the situation regarding that.