EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
The minister spoke about community emergency plans. I’m just wondering: can he confirm that all communities in Nunavut have community emergency plans completed?
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Elliot.
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Mr. Speaker, I can’t confirm that they’ve all had them completed, but they are in the process of being completed.
Could the minister confirm how many communities do not have one in place?
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Mr. Speaker, I cannot only because they’re in the hands of the municipalities and they need to make motions and by-laws in order for them to be accepted in the municipalities. What I could tell my colleague is we’re anticipating that all of them should be there by the end of December 31.
As it’s an ongoing issue and as municipalities complete their programs and put them into their by-laws, it takes time.
Most of them are and hopefully they will all be complete by December 31.
That’s as close as I could tell you.
I was wondering too if the minister would be able to explain how his department is working with the hamlets that are maybe struggling and having a little difficulty with preparing these plans.
We work very closely with the municipalities on many things.
Mr. Speaker, we help them in preparing it pretty much from A to Z. If they need help in drafting by-laws or preparing response plans, our department is there. They’re part of the committee that helps do the emergency preparedness programs. Whatever they need help in that our department can help and are responsible for helping them in, we do.
My final question is: what core group is responsible for helping set up the plan? Is it the emergency services department or is it within a certain department within CGS?
Our emergency services department, along with our regional staff, help them out. Again, it depends on what it is that they require. We do provide community support services on a number of issues.
So any or all parts of our government, our CGS department helps them with it. Again, it depends on what it is they are asking for.
Speaker: Thank you, Minster Kusugak.
Question 145 – 3(3): Airline Operations during Satellite Outage (Oshutapik)
When Nunavut experienced satellite problems just recently, everything else was affected.
Although a member mentioned telephone service interruptions, that was not the only problem we experienced. Airlines were affected and all air travel was cancelled.
Should we experience another situation like that in the future, I would like to know if the Department of Economic Development and Transportation has initiated a strategy to mitigate this.
Since Nunavut does not have any highways, we cannot just drive to another community and our only option is via air transportation.
I wonder if this point was driven home to the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. I also want to know if they will be updating their strategy to ensure that we don’t experience another catastrophic communication breakdown should this type of failure occur in the future.
I thank the member from Pangnirtung for that question.
Absolutely it was a communications breakdown of not only the BlackBerrys and telephones; it was also the navigational systems for our airports. It affected 36 communities, including all of the communities of Nunavut. Of course, Mr. Speaker, it’s something that we have to take a good hard look at because there is just one satellite for our northern part of the territory.
It is an issue which caught everybody by surprise. It’s one of the things that we’re going to have to evaluate and take a good hard look at the situation for a situation like that.
Your first supplementary, Mr. Oshutapik.
When referring to the airline services we are provided, I was not just referring to regular air travel in my comments and I want that noted.
The emergency medical travel issue becomes important because we don’t have medical personnel in the communities, so people have to be picked up via air ambulance services. I had that situation in mind when I was asking my question.
I wanted that sector noted.
Since this is more of a comment and not a question, I wanted the minister to be aware that if an emergency medical flight had to be undertaken during a communications breakdown which lasted longer than one day, it would have had a larger impact on emergency medical travel.
That was just a comment, but if you wish to respond to it, Minister Taptuna.
Within our airport systems in Nunavut, we do have satellite communications and satellite phones in every airport in Nunavut.
We can’t prepare for some of these things because some of these things are unknown, but our navigational system went down and that’s why it affected the airlines. Throughout the day there, things were put in place to actually take care of any kind of emergency that may have been raised at the community level.
Mr. Speaker, with the satellite, there is so much dependency on the satellite. It provides weather and radar navigation for the airlines.
Although with this satellite communications breakdown, it gave us a chance to really take a good hard look at our services that we provide for the airlines.
So it’s one of those things that we do have to keep an open mind in preparing for such situations like this.
Question 146 – 3(3): New Office Building in Iqaluit (Ell)
Ms. Ell (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) My question is to the hon. member for QEC.
Earlier this month, a new office was opened in my constituency by the Qulliq Energy Corporation.
Can the minister update us on that move?
Yes, the Qulliq Energy Corporation office has opened; it is currently being settled with the majority of the staff moving into the building. Further, I can state that the building will be officially opened this coming Friday.
Once the building has been officially opened on that day, it will be open.
The process is moving forward smoothly, and I hope to see you there during the official opening.
Your first supplementary, Ms. Ell.
Ms. Ell (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Whenever a new building is being occupied, especially a private facility built to house staff, they generally require an inspection of the building. This is to assess its suitability as an office, along with the required fire and building inspections.
Have they completed the inspections of this office building?
Hon. Lorne Kusugak (interpretation): Thank you. You have to look at the suitability of the land, fire code inspections, and whether it would be available. I believe that the City of Iqaluit is responsible for these inspections, especially since they are the ones that sell the lands.
They are required to identify the zoning and conduct inspections on these matters with local inspectors who conduct these inspections to ensure that the building has followed all the codes prior to the construction phases. If these procedures were not followed, I doubt that the building would have been allowed to be constructed.
According to my knowledge, the inspections have to be completed prior to the building being occupied.
Your second supplementary, Ms. Ell.
I want to raise another question whether or not the minister can look into this matter with the city to determine if the fire and safety inspection was conducted prior to staff moving in. The building was not completed as they didn’t have any telephone service, although it is new.
On the other hand, it is good to have an office building that more residents can access here in the middle of the community.
Hon. Lorne Kusugak (interpretation): I didn’t understand exactly what the member wants me to look into.
Prior to the building being constructed, they have to submit their building plans and follow building codes and other legally required codes, especially access routes for fire trucks, emergency vehicles, or service trucks for water and sewage services.
All of the legal requirements are reviewed and dealt with prior to any building being constructed. This means that they would have to pass all inspections prior to the building being occupied.
I would like to get clarification on exactly what the member wants looked into as I don’t quite understand the request.
Ms. Ell, if you would like to clarify your question for the minister, please.
My question to the Minister responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation is: did he or his staff check into whether the building that staff moved into was indeed inspected by a fire inspector before they moved in?
Speaker: Thank you, Ms. Ell, for that clarification.
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that level of detail, but I would think that people wouldn’t be moving into buildings that are not up to code. Having said that, I’ll see if that was done; I don’t see why it wouldn’t have been.
Question 147 – 3(3): Social Advocacy Office (Elliott)
The questions are based around the social advocate’s office.
Over the summer, the Premier sent out an update of what was happening within that office and specifically around the child and youth representative.
I was wondering if the Premier would give the House an update as to what’s happening there.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank our colleague for his question.
In August, I stated that I would send correspondence, which I did, with copies sent to all members informing them of the events occurring in the office and its operations.
To date, research is still being undertaken.
As I have stated previously, the legislation has to be introduced but not within one calendar year.
There are several areas requiring further research prior to the legislation being drafted and introduced in the House.
The office is working with the Department of Justice as well as other departments, including other regions where they are conducting research to determine how this process operates in their area.
This part of the process is still underway.
They are currently proceeding smoothly and as I have stated previously, they are planning the completion of the research in accordance with their schedule.
This is a very important task, especially as it relates to children issues and the child advocacy office.
Due to its immense importance, we have to conduct research on all the details contained in the legislation.
This is a slow process as we don’t want to make mistakes and we don’t want to push forward by excluding areas that may be required in the legislation.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the update.
I know the Premier was talking about the legislation and some vague timelines. For my next question, I was hoping to confirm, and I believe it was in the update that you sent out, that the legislative proposal was actually complete for this piece of legislation.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This update has not been completed yet. It is still a work in progress.
Speaker: Thanks you, Madam Premier.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I have to ask that question again because maybe it came through clear in the translation, but my specific question was: is a legislative proposal completed for establishing the Office of the Child and Youth Representative?
The translation came through that this would be an ongoing process and it didn’t really say yes or no. So I would like to know, yes or no, whether a legislative proposal is completed for this.
This process is not completed yet and it is still currently being developed.
For my final question, I was curious to find out: for the legislation itself, will the legislation reflect what was mentioned in the Tamapta Mandate and the decision made by all of the MLAs to have an independent child and youth representative, an independent body?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Since that is the way the body was set up, they are researching the issues related to the level of independence.
Since the plan is to develop this as an independent body, it is true what the member raised in his question. That is how it will be set up.
Question 148 – 3(3): Nunavut Anti-poverty Strategy Update (Elliott)
Over the past year, I have heard great things about what was happening with all of the consultations and the community visits that had been done regarding the Nunavut Anti-poverty Strategy.
I was wondering if the minister could give us an update.
I thank the member from Quttiktuq for that question.
Of course, we made that our commitment for our Tamapta document and we have spoken and met with a lot of organizations, including individuals from industry, businesses, non-governmental organizations, NTI, and the regional Inuit associations.
Of course, Mr. Speaker, we have NTI as a full partner on the working file with poverty reduction.
Of course, our government is making an effort to complete one of the first stages that we had planned on doing. By the end of the month, our Premier and the president of NTI will be co-chairing a meeting on coming up with an action plan for the government and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated.
Yes, I’m actually amazed at some of the means in which the government is using. They’ve got a Facebook page and they also have a distribution list in terms of everybody being able to put their input in and say what they feel should be included in this important strategy.
I’m just wondering if the minister could maybe elaborate on some of the key findings that they have found so far and some of the key aspects or themes that keep coming up when they do the community consultations as they go around.
We’ve had 44 community dialogues and over 550 people participated in our consultations and our meetings.
One of the themes that constantly come up is food security. When we talk about food security, we’re mainly talking about country foods for Nunavummiut and that seems to be one of the stronger themes for our action plan.
After November’s meetings, which the minister had outlined, he had mentioned that the consultation was actually step one in the process. I was wondering: after November, once the Premier hosts the meeting with the NTI president, what are the next steps after that?
Once we develop an action plan during our poverty summit at the end of November and that’s going to take place for two or three days, the action plan has to be agreed to and organizations have to agree to what part of the action they’re going to be tackling for this poverty reduction for Nunavummiut.
Again, one of the things that we’re going to be looking at is the five themes of how to reduce poverty in Nunavut. One of the themes that we’re looking at is the well-being of our people.
Training, economic development, our social values got to be included there, and once we have an agreement, a plan, a strategy for action, those will be our next steps.
The minister mentioned the partners and I know so far, we’ve heard NTI as being one partner and obviously the GN being another partner.
Are there any other partners or organizations that are involved in this?
Yes, we do have a private industry that’s willing to be a partner. Of course, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the regional Inuit associations, and individuals out there have participated, and of course, public or private partnerships.
We are also talking with Natural Resources Canada to assist us in developing alternate power sources for our community freezers that we are discussing at this time.
Question 149 – 3(3): Update on High Arctic Transportation Strategy (Elliott)
My questions again are directed towards the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation.
When I first took office in 2008, the biggest concern I heard from my communities was the high cost of transportation and their transportation system in the High Arctic.
Again, this issue affects every aspect of our lives, whether it’s mobility to different communities, transportation of food and resources to the community.
We started in 2009 with the High Arctic Transportation Strategy. I was wondering if the minister could update the House on what’s happening with that.
Again I thank the Member for Quttiktuq for the question.
The High Arctic transportation survey that we’re doing has proven to be very difficult.
It takes a lot of coordination, partnerships, and input from the High Arctic communities.
In order to complete the study and determine next steps of the process here, we’re still asking for further input from the High Arctic communities.
In terms of input, what type of input would the minister like from the communities?
I know there has been community visits. He mentioned a survey. Is that the completion of the survey in terms of urging constituents to complete that survey?
The constituents are not necessarily asked to complete a form, a survey. We are working closely with the municipality, the mayors and councils in coming up with the option that we have provided.
We have provided seven or eight different options on how to reduce the cost of transportation.
We’re asking for more input from the High Arctic communities, mayors, and councils on how to tackle some of these options that are put forth to them.
In order to do that, we have assisted them. We’ve had a couple of our staff travel to Arctic Bay just recently, a couple of weeks ago, to assist the council and the mayor in coming up with a collective agreement on how to actually deal with some of these options that are put forth by our department.
I’m just curious in terms of a timeline for completion of rolling all of this information together to maybe come up with a final decision. Is there a timeline that your department has for possibly completing this?
I was hoping that it was going to be done last year, but obviously, it’s not.
It has been complicated.
It takes a lot of work, a lot of coordination, and hopefully, once we get the extra information that we’re asking from the High Arctic communities, we will be able to put forth an action plan from there.
In terms of following through on the whole process and if you’re correct, I guess everybody has been trying to come up with solutions at the mayors’ and hamlet councils. We’ve had a couple of meetings with your department collectively as mayors.
I’m just wondering: in terms of contacting the airlines or the federal government or other agencies, has your department been in contact with them for suggestions or possibly insights as to where we should travel from here?
There are a lot of issues with the high cost of transportation and the high cost of freight into the High Arctic communities.
One of the things that we’re hoping to come up with is some sort of strategy where we can approach the Canadian government.
We see this as an issue for the Canadian government.
We talk about sovereignty. The High Arctic communities were put up there for the sole purpose of asserting sovereignty. With these in mind, Ottawa is still responsible for some of our communities up there that they created based on the assertion of sovereignty.
We see that and we want input from our High Arctic communities to help us come up with some strategy to approach Ottawa because we do see this as a problem and an issue for Ottawa.
The high cost of living up north, especially in the High Arctic communities, is unacceptable.
We all know that some of these jars of juice that cost $3 down south are $65 in some of these communities.
It’s not just a Nunavut issue. It’s not just a Nunavut government issue. It’s a Canadian issue, and we intend to bring that forth to Ottawa.
Question 150 – 3(3): School Attendance Policy (Elliott)
It’s in reply to the return to oral question that was submitted today by the Clerk.
The question that Ms. Ugyuk asked was in regard to attendance policies, how policies have been set up, and whether they are set up.
The response was, “Currently DEAs are not required to develop or adopt attendance policies until July 1st, 2012.”
I’m just wondering: in terms of not having a policy, what are you asking the DEAs to do?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The local DEAs are extremely busy undertaking their mandate in this area.
The low attendance rates of students in the schools are a major concern to many communities.
This issue requires cooperation between the parents and the community.
There will be reports outlining the parameters of what will be planned within that area in our future and this is currently underway today.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again just for clarification, I think I understand the fact that the DEAs are busy with implementing the new Education Act and following through the different steps, but if this isn’t until July 1, 2012, there’s a full school year.
Are you saying that it’s up to DEAs to choose how they wish to address attendance for this year?
The DEAs have to prepare their own plans.
They can’t just come out with an initiative without corresponding plans or research as to how their initiative would be run.
They continue to highlight their objectives and they continue to work with parents and students to showcase the importance of this issue.
That is why they are careful in drafting a well laid out plan and this is ongoing. It hasn’t been left high and dry.
It requires a comprehensive plan prior to it being introduced.
Seeing no more, we will move on in the orders of the day.
*See Appendix for full text of Returns to Written Questions 4 – 3(3), 5 – 3(3), 6 – 3(3), 7 – 3(3), and 8 – 3(3) filed with the Clerk.
Return to Written Question 004 – 3(3): Foster Care (Clerk)
Return to Written Question 005 – 3(3): Cancer Screening and Prevention (Clerk)
Return to Written Question 006 – 3(3): Update on New Taloyoak Health Centre (Clerk)
Return to Written Question 007 – 3(3): Community Access Roads Program Expenditures (Clerk)
Return to Written Question 008 – 3(3): Capital Project Change Orders (Clerk)
I wish to table returns to written questions that were asked during the June 2011 sitting. They are numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 – 3(3).
Please note that the Return to Written Question 8 – 3(3) is very lengthy and is provided to members as a CD. Thank you.
Petition 001 – 3(3): Coral Harbour Nurse in Charge (Ningeongan)
I have the honour today of presenting a petition that has been signed by 218 of my constituents in the community of Coral Harbour.
Mr. Speaker, the petitioners are asking the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Health and Social Services to reinstate the community’s former nurse in charge.
Tabled Document 089 – 3(3): 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Nunavut Development Corporation (Taptuna)
I am pleased to table the 2010-2011 Annual Report of Nunavut Development Corporation.
Tabled Document 090 – 3(3): Nunavut Social Services Review Final Report July 2011 (Curley)
I am pleased to table the Nunavut Social Services Review for the Child and Family Services Report, July 2011.
Tabled Document 091 – 3(3): Correspondence from the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization to the Premier of Nunavut dated September 25, 2007 Concerning Marine and Airport Infrastructure in Pond Inlet (Enook)
I wish to take this opportunity to table a copy of correspondence from the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization to the Premier of Nunavut dated September 25, 2007.
The correspondence concerns marine and airport infrastructure in Pond Inlet.
I strongly encourage the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation to review this material prior to his upcoming appearance to present his department’s proposed 2012-13 capital estimates.
Tabled Document 092 – 3(3): Government of Nunavut Response to the Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts (Schell)
Originally I had requested this when I was the chair of the standing committee on operations.
I’m answering my own question here.
I am pleased to table the Government of Nunavut Response to the Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts on the Report of the Review of the 2010 Report of the Office of the Auditor General to the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut on Human Resource Capacity in the Government of Nunavut.
I am sure you will find that won’t be the last one. The first one probably won’t be the last.
Tabled Document 093 – 3(3): Baffinland Iron Mines Mary River Project: Bringing Opportunities to Nunavut (Elliott)
Tabled Document 094 – 3(3): Article from September 2011 Edition of Up Here Magazine: “Bite Me” (Elliott)