EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
And wherever possible, Mr. Speaker, treatment is provided in the patient’s home community.
This has been great news to the five Nunavut communities that experienced TB outbreaks last year.
Our strengths have always been our committed health care workers.
Mr. Speaker, virtually all children are immunized against TB in the first months of life.
This vaccine prevents the most serious cases in childhood which are blood borne TB and TB meningitis.
We have provided extra help when communities experience outbreaks.
Mr. Speaker, the fact that our TB rates have been increasing in the past 3 years indicate the need to return to the TB prevention programs like those of the 1980’s.
Children used to be tested each year in school.
This gave us Mr. Speaker, a window into the health of their families and communities.
Persons with a history of TB were followed regularly to make sure their disease never came back – and Mr. Speaker, if it did, it was dealt with swiftly before families and communities were put at risk.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to announce that many Health Centres were able to re-commence school testing programs last year.
This year, we hope to have other elements of a comprehensive TB strategy in place.
Funding has been identified in this upcoming fiscal year to provide two more community health nurses to achieve these goals – and Mr. Speaker, a territorial supervisor for TB programs.
This is a good beginning, Mr. Speaker.
As for World TB Day, Mr. Speaker, the theme is “Direct Observed Therapy – a TB Cure for All”. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform you that all Nunavummiut with TB are on observed therapy.
A health care worker observes each dose of medication as it is taken, ensuring a very high cure rate.
We all know what it is like to take pills, Mr. Speaker.
TB patients must take drugs for six to nine months, Mr. Speaker, sometimes longer.
It’s no wonder they need a little support to complete treatment.
Given all that has been done in the fight against tuberculosis, it gives me great pleasure to recognize Saturday March 24, World TB Day in Nunavut.
We will go on to item 3.
Member’s Statement 142 – 1(5): Weekend Trip Home
Mr. Irqittuq: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am going to do my best.
I would like to celebrate the end of the week by speaking English.
I have been thinking about what I will be talking about all week.
To this day, I still don’t have any idea what I am going to be talking about.
I would just like to say thank you to my colleagues, the Premier and the Cabinet Members, especially that good friend of mine, Ed Picco.
I am sure he will be sleeping better knowing that I won’t be asking any questions over the weekend.
Mr. Speaker, I am going home for the weekend to be with my children, who I miss and love very much but I will be coming back in time for next week’s session.
I look forward to spending time with them this weekend.
Have a safe and wonderful weekend.
Member’s Statement 143 – 1(5): Public Works & Services Portfolio
It turns out that Enoki is very good at speaking English, I am proud of him for that.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that I am thankful that the individuals near Kugluktuk that were missing have been found.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, in keeping with an unofficial tradition on Friday, in the hope that I can also show that we have a sense of humour, I would like to offer the following statement of appreciation.
Mr. Speaker, members have heard me state in the past when the Premier gave me the Public Works portfolio, I experienced a period of absolute terror. I believe Mr. Speaker, you may even recall during our first budget session at the Parish Hall when one regular member said if you are having a difficult time with this department I can take it from you.
I would just about have choked the little guy if he had been standing beside me.
Mr. Speaker, I ask you to try and picture someone that had lived by the needle and thread as well as the Lord's good book and the cook book, all of a sudden I found I was dealing with hammers, fuel tanks, contracts, blueprints and the Cambridge Bay school.
However Mr. Speaker, there was one individual that made it his personal mission to help train me.
He constantly tested my knowledge.
He pushed me to work harder and he didn't let me get away with any easy answers.
If I responded with “where” he asked “why”. If I answered, “why” he asked “when”.
If I told him “when”, he asked “how many” and finally Mr. Speaker, if I told him “how many” he would then ask “where” or he would run out of supplementary questions.
Mr. Speaker, today because of this individual I feel as comfortable talking about round rooms or square rooms as I do when I talk about making a parka.
Mr. Speaker, when I think about the Lords great plan I wonder if he has his own blueprint.
I wonder if it came from Public Works and Services and I wonder what part we all play in it.
But, Mr. Speaker, no matter what else I remember about taking on this portfolio there is no doubt that this individual has done his best to ensure that I know what I am talking about.
Because of this Mr. Speaker, I hope the honourable member will accept this in the spirit that it is intended.
On behalf of all my family I would like to express my appreciation for the investment the Honourable Member Mr. Tootoo, MLA for Iqaluit Centre has made in me.
I would like to present him with this gift, a T-shirt.
And I hope you guys all have a very good weekend.
A Member: It says, “ Is that your final answer”.
Order. (interpretation ends) Members' Statements.
Member’s Statement 144 - 1(5): World TB Day
I rise today to recognize the World Tuberculosis day, which is tomorrow Saturday March 24.
Mr. Speaker, tuberculosis has had a devastating effect on the Inuit of Nunavut.
In the past many were sent away from their lives and family in the north to institutions in the south to be treated for this disease.
They had to stay in the south for a long time and when they came back it was very difficult for them and for their families and many Inuit didn't come back.
This disease caused much hardship to the lives of Inuit.
To speak of tuberculosis brings up painful memories but we also must recognize that it is still present here in our lives.
Over the past few years we have seen more and more cases in the north.
In 1997, there were 26 cases reported.
In 1998, there were 37 cases reported and the information for 1999-2000 shows that the numbers of cases in Nunavut are still high.
Mr. Speaker, the treatment for this disease is better than it used to be.
People don't have to leave their families for so long and the treatment is more effective.
But tuberculosis continues to have a big impact in our lives.
When a person is diagnosed with this disease it puts great demands on our medical workers and they have to test and investigate everyone else who may have caught the disease.
It is frightening for people especially for those who have memories from the past.
Speaker (interpretation): Time is up for you Mr. Nutarak.
I am just about done my member’s statement.
I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Speaker: Member is seeking unanimous consent to finish his member’s statement.
Continue Mr. Nutarak.
Even though living conditions have improved for many Nunavummiut, the lack of social housing is still a big issue.
Overcrowding often leads to health problems such as the spread of colds and infections and diseases like tuberculosis.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to support and encourage the Minister for Health and Social Services for his department's work in this area. I would like to encourage the Minister responsible for Housing to continue with her efforts to provide more social housing.
Together we can work to prevent the spread of TB. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Member’s Statement 145 - 1(5): Pangnirtung Athletes
Today, I would like to recognize Gabriel Bourassa, from Pangnirtung, who will be traveling south to attend volleyball training camp in Winnipeg from March 25 to the 30th.
This program is for athletes age 14-18, and is geared towards obtaining athletic excellence for aboriginal youth and is organized by the Canadian Volleyball Association.
I would like to join his parents in telling him how proud we are of him.
I was a bit disappointed that the other participant, Sam Kilabuk was not able to go with him as planned.
It turns out that Gabriel and Sam are twin brothers.
Sam was going to attend the course with him but Sam is also a hockey player and is going to a hockey tournament in Saskatoon.
So I’d just like to say that I am proud of Lucassie Etuangat, Brian Alivaktak and Sam Kilabuk.
They will be participating in the Air Canada Hockey Tournament.
They are going back at the end of the month and I hope they have a fun and safe trip home when they are done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Member’s Statement 146 – 1(5): National Social Workers’ Week
I would like to rise today to praise a very important group of professionals working in Nunavut, our social workers.
Since it is National Social Workers’ Week, there is no better time to express our thanks for the work that they do. (interpretation) Mr. Speaker, I can speak from personal experience when I say that the work of a social worker is often taken for granted and given little praise.
(interpretation) They work tirelessly in our communities, taking on several roles from delivering social assistance to counselling families of suicide victims.
It is reassuring to see that some of the workload has been taken by other departments.
The Department of Education is now giving social assistance, income support, and the Department of Justice is beginning to take over the probation and parole services.
This gives the social workers more opportunity to focus their efforts on child welfare and family counselling matters.
The work of the social worker often exposes them to a negative side of the community.
Social Workers are on call 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
They are often in situations where they have to investigate cases of neglect and abuse of children.
In some cases they address the family member to move away from a violent situation.
Many social workers work in their own communities with little outside support and this situation can place great emotional strain on them.
The social workers as well as the people they counsel need our support here.
I would like to encourage the regional supervisors to develop a solid support structure for our social workers and visit them regularly as they work on the front lines.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to call on the Members of this Assembly to join me in expressing gratitude and thanks to Nunavut’s social workers for their tireless efforts.
It is also good to see one of the social workers here, Ms. Akeeagok, and thank you Mr. Speaker.
Some Members: Hear, hear.
Member’s Statement 147 – 1(5): Sanikiluaq Dialect
Since today is Friday I will be using my own dialect to make my comments…
…smile if you can understand my Inuktitut.
Since today is Friday we call it Niqitchik, which means to go find food and tomorrow, Saturday is Ulingisunga, which means the day before resting and Sunday is when you rest.
Today on Friday, the men are going to be going hunting and the wife stays in the community with her own work.
If those that are left behind at home see a raven going by they would yell Nigalagit, Nigalajit and if the raven answered back while flying away it means that the hunters have found their prey.
If the raven called back Rrqau Rrqau, that means that the hunters are coming back with your dinner, food is on its way.
That would be one of the old beliefs of the Inuit, many of which relate to food and survival.
Our dialects in Inuktitut are different and that is something good, it is Alianaituq.
The meaning of Alianaituq in my dialect is good or positive.
I hear a similar related term from the dialect here Alianialiuqut, which in the Baffin dialect means going through a difficult or unhappy time.
The same word in my dialect means “you are very funny”, the total opposite.
This is the importance of understanding our dialects.
Member’s Statement 148 – 1(5): Recognition of John Quirke
Mr. Speaker, over 25 years ago a young man began his career as an employee in government.
He began in the bowels of the Brown Building and arose to stratospheric heights of the bureaucracy in Yellowknife.
Mr. Speaker, he became part of the senior bureaucracy in Yellowknife, known with derision as the Baffin Mafia.
The Yellowknife senior civil servants saw these government employees come from the hinterland to gain power and control of the senior functions of the GNWT civil service.
Mr. Speaker, he joined the likes of Ken Lovely, Mark Cleveland and Jim Britton to name a few of these very important wise men from the east.
Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Kelvin Ng who could have a career in fashion co-ordination after his political career as he always points out the length of members’ ties, their suit colours and helps the members select their footwear, but Mr. Speaker, I digress.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ng once told me that individual, that first incomparable ability Mr. Speaker, was one of the most efficient senior administrators in government.
I am told that he had to wind down a department and integrate it into the WCB, and he was given 14 months, Mr. Speaker, 14 months to do it and he did it in a record six months, Mr. Speaker.
He hasn’t had a holiday in two years, he leads by example, the Legislative godfather, a constituent and Mr. Speaker, I consider him a friend, Quirke the Clerk, Mr. John Quirke, our own clerk Mr. Speaker.
Congratulations John, on your 25 plus years of long service, the other night he wasn’t even able to make the ceremonies.
Thank you, and congratulations.
Mr. Speaker, very quickly and as a footnote, Mr. Quirke has taken up the challenge and we have a little bet going on that if any of the members see me with a foreign object in my mouth I would pay the 50 dollars, including a pen or a pencil and so on.
Mr. Quirke is playing the referee for that, and is keeping an eye on me and to date I have not had to pay that money out.
Thank you, Mr. Quirke.
John, congratulations, Mr. Quirke.
Member’s Statement 149 – 1(5): Toronto Maple Leafs to Win Cup
Mr. McLean: Koanna, Uqaqti. Uqaqti, since we have come in here at the end of February there has been an uneasy pall over the Legislative Assembly that really disturbed me.
I have noticed that the cabinet members have been down on the first floor quite a bit of the time.
Wandering around, trying to see what our agenda is and what our secrets are and stuff like that.
To this date, I didn’t really realize what they were down there for.
But it became very clear to me Mr. Speaker, that last night the hopes and dreams of that crew over there that are Montreal Canadians fans were quashed.
But Mr. Speaker, the upside is they will be out fishing before the Toronto Maple Leaf fans and they will hopefully contribute their fish to us when the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
Member’s Statement 150 – 1(5): Recognition of Full-time Specialized Hunters
Today I will be speaking about hunters.
We all know that there is a class of hunters that hunt for the joy of it, big game hunting.
There is another class of hunters that hunt in good weather only and there are also weekend hunters.
The fourth class, which the government does not recognize properly, are the full-time hunters, who hunt for a living, that is their occupation.
I would like to recognize them today.
They provide food for their families and to the people of their communities.
Especially for the needy and for the families who don't have a hunter.
They provide all that meat for the community.
They go out hunting whether it’s nice outside, or if it’s bad weather.
They go out to work in a very dangerous environment.
Even when they know that there are risks involved, they will never give up.
The government does not pay them but they are appreciated and are supported by the people of their communities.
The government has a system that only provides funding for certain groups that they, the government, recognize on an annual basis like we're doing in the main estimates and so on.
We do not provide funding for them even though they do a lot to support their community.
So at this time I would like to ask members to recognize those full time hunters who provide for the needy and for their community.
Member’s Statement 151 - 1(5): Discipline and Suicide
This morning we have heard some statements that made us smile, and that is important, but today I will talk about a serious subject.
Mr. Speaker, when I was a child I made mistakes without realizing it.
Sometimes if it was called for, my father and my mother would spank me and help me correct my mistakes. That is how I found out the difference between right and wrong.
This was good for me and helped me become a happier person.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that for the youth out there and even to the people who have matured and elders, that not every day is a happy day.
We can all get hurt in our lives, mentally or otherwise.
No matter who you are, you can get hurt mentally.
We all have to accept that our lives will come to an end.
Our time will come.
Because of that I want to see suicide eradicated because we will all pass away when our time comes.
Our grandfathers and our grandmothers have brought us to this day.
Some of them have passed away a long time ago.
I would like to thank my ancestors, because of them we are here today.
We now even have our own government, and we can create systems that are made in Nunavut.
This is something that was never anticipated by our grandparents but was talked about.
Even as members and even no matter who you are, your life will have its ups and downs.
There is always good and bad throughout your life.
Back to the Orders of the Day. (interpretation) Sorry, Members' Statements.
Member’s Statement 152 – 1(5): Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens
I would first like to say hello to the people in the two communities in my constituency, and apologize for not having the time to visit recently.
(interpretation ends) A couple of weeks ago I was in Toronto for the PDAP over in Toronto and Mani was there and a bunch of us from DSD.
So I went to Toronto and I was looking for a cup of tea, a place where I could have a very good, decent cup of tea in Toronto. Of all the restaurants in Toronto I couldn’t find one.
I found the reason why I couldn’t find a cup of tea in Toronto is because all the cups are in Montreal.
Return to OQ 097 - 1(5): Staff Housing Rental Rates
I didn’t know what the member was talking about when he was talking about tea. (interpretation ends) I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Hunter Tootoo on March 8 of 2001.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide a response to a question posed to me by Mr. Tootoo on March 8, 2001.
The member raised the issue of staff housing rental rates and asked if the age and condition of the units are taken into account when calculating the rental rates.
Mr. Speaker in calculating the monthly rates for the government staff housing units the age and condition of rental units are not taken into consideration.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Public Works and Services is currently reviewing all aspects of staff housing in consultation with the Housing Strategy committee.
It is anticipated that a draft of a new staff housing policy will be brought forward to cabinet by the fall of 2001.
I would like to recognize one of my constituents, this person has been here for the whole week and I think everybody knows this individual.
You may have seen her on television teaching hockey. She is one of our pages, Jessie Mike. Welcome to the gallery.
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to introduce to the gallery today and the House, a person that we usually see the by-line of, that intrepid reporter with the seventh estate, Ms. Jane George.
She usually reports from Northern Quebec and Nunavik.
But she has been reporting from Nunavut and the Assembly.
I would like to welcome her to the gallery, Ms. Jane George.
Today I would like to recognize some people.
I would like to recognize four people from Arctic Bay’s Inuyak School.
Noreen Pettypeace is here as one of our pages, Wayne Taqtu, is sitting over there, and Matthew Akikuluk is behind me.
Also one of the other pages Alvin Enoogoo.
They are from Arctic Bay and they are going to be paging for us. I would like you to warmly welcome them because they are new here and they are kind of shy.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you for being here from Arctic Bay. (interpretation ends) Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes when young people that I have never seen before see me they still recognize me.
This young person from Arctic Bay came up to me and said hello.
I didn't even know that person and I would like to return that respect to the person who said hello to me.
With that, I wish him a safe trip home.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Iqaqrialu. (interpretation ends) Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery.
Question 177 - 1(5): Status of M’Clintock Channel Polar Bear Tags
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask a question today to the Minister responsible for Sustainable Development.
Mr. Speaker, I know that the department along with other wildlife officials recently cut the quotas for polar bear hunting tags in the M’Clintock Channel area from 38 to 12 as a result of a decline in the population over there.
I would like to ask the minister if those 12 tags have been issued out to the community yet.
Just recently the Kitikmeot Wildlife Federation board met and they issued all of the 12 tags for the M’Clintock channel.
I am pleased that they were issued.
I would like to ask the minister if he is aware of when these tags are normally issued.
Is it the same time that they are issued annually.
In the past have they been issued earlier or later.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Minister Akesuk.
When the polar bear season opens these tags are issued.
That is usually in January or February especially when daylight starts coming back.
Mr. Speaker, I know that they are issued in January or February and we are now into March and the tags have just been issued.
I am just wondering if the minister or the department feel that, maybe some concerns in being able to fill those tags in the timelines that are faced by the hunters.
Yes, we are aware of the timelines and we have consulted with the communities about the polar bear season.
Some of these tags were already used and some are still outstanding in Taloyoak and Uqsuqtuq.
Of course, some of the tags are given out to those communities that always will use up their tags.
Question 178 - 1(5): Support and Assistance to HTOs
When we met in Committee of the Whole yesterday, I should have mentioned this, but I have the opportunity now.
The communities have HTOs and they lack office space.
I want to ask why this has not been dealt with.
They really need office space.
We depend on wildlife for nourishment.
In the communities we have to follow rules and regulations.
The HTOs require proper facilities and they end up using old used facilities for the offices.
I would like to ask the department if they could look into this.
Your question is very good.
Some communities do and some don’t have good facilities.
Not all the communities have mediocre facilities.
I am sure that’s not the case in all the HTO offices.
Yes, we contribute funding and the funding has no criteria, it is up to the HTOs to determine how they spend it.
We also contribute to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and they add even more to the contribution.
The contribution that we make to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is without criteria, it is just to give them assistance.
I know it is hard to find out how to support the HTOs with the limited resources we have but we can look into it because not all the HTOs have very old facilities.
We are willing to work on it.
The wildlife officers that come to our community from the government departments, they have wonderful facilities and office space.
But for the HTOs of Nunavut, they are the local organizations that know the community. They rarely give them any good facilities or good support.
So looking at it is not very nice to see.
I would like to see a concrete plan for them for the future.