EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We have had a lot of discussions in the last year about the crown agencies of the Government of Nunavut.
We have talked about the QEC and fuel corporation.
In my opinion, Nunavut Arctic College is one of the most important because we are educating people to take advantage of future opportunities to improve themselves, and benefit themselves and their families and their communities.
Although the Nunavut Arctic College is a crown agency of the Government of Nunavut, it is also an organization that belongs to the people of Nunavut.
We have to keep that in mind.
People look to the college for help in improving their future lives.
I think they should have some input into developing a mission for the Nunavut Arctic College, not just the Board of Directors. People must provide some input into that, and the Board of Directors can work with that information.
The legislators in the House here today can work with it as well.
We have a lot of dedicated educators working in the Nunavut Arctic College system.
It would be a great opportunity for legislators and standing committees and people in communities to show their support. We can help them with their jobs by giving them the resources that they need to help our residents.
I think it would be a great show of support with all of us working together to improve our training organization and help you in supporting this motion.
I didn’t hear when the motion was being read.
This will be passed, and I would just like to remind members that our constituents, whether they’re in colleges in Nunavut, we have to keep them in mind and we should always make sure that they are comfortable.
We have to keep in mind that the Community Learning Centres can be more affiliated with Nunavut Arctic College.
We want to support those kinds of things, but the Community Learning Centres are there so we can have smooth, I want that to be considered seamless, opportunity.
Speaker (interpretation): To the motion. I don’t have anybody else on my list.
I will give the mover to say a few words again.
For those of you who are for the motion, will you please rise if you are in support of this motion, and you can sit down after I say your name.
Ms. Aglukkaq
Mr. Picco.  Mr. Simailak.
(interpretation) The motion is carried.
Tabled document 52 – 2(2), Bill 8, Bill 9, Bill 10, Bill 11, Bill 12, Bill13 and Bill 14.
We’ll take a lunch break, and we’ll be back here at 1:30.
>>House recessed at 12:07 and resumed at 13:37
(interpretation): We have the following items to deal with Tabled document 52-2(2), Bill 8, Bill 9, Bill 10, Bill 11, Bill 12, Bill13 and Bill 14.
We wish to continue with Bill 8 and the review of the main estimates for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation.
We then will proceed with the review of the Department of Human Resources and tabled document 52-2(2).
Do we agree then that we will deal first with the 2005/06 main estimates for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation.
Chairman: Minister Simailak, please proceed to the witness table with your officials.
Mr. Simailak.  For the record, introduce your officials.
Rosemary Keenainak, Assistant Deputy Minister, and on my left, my Deputy Minister, Mr. Alex Campbell.
Chairman (interpretation): Welcome Ms. Keenainak and Mr. Campbell.
I will give the members an opportunity to make general comments for 10 minutes on the issue of Economic Development and Transportation and the main estimates.
I don’t have any names on my list.
We’re on page K-5, Economic Development and Transportation Branch Summary.
Total operations and maintenance, $3,785,000.
In order to go on to the issue of the NNI policy, and the requirement for training, I’m sure there are going to be contractors this upcoming year.
I don’t know how the NNI training is going to be Nunavut Government wide.
Why is it that some of the contractors are not beneficiaries and there are also people who are blaming them for the high costs?
Could you clarify that point?
The NNI policy training is specifically for the new employees, so that they’ll know how to apply the NNI policy.
Some of our staffs are also going to be going to some of the communities to meet up with individuals and entities on how the NNI Policy, how it’s going to be applied, and they will also be getting feedback on what they think about the NNI Policy, especially from the business sector and where there can be improvements.
And again, in the overall Financial Management Policy Development, when the Government of Nunavut was established, we haven’t seen any change in the Economic Development Department since we grandfathered it from the Northwest Territories.
Have you thought about the many programs that are made available to the economic groups, has your department considered restructuring the Economic Development Department and if you thought so, what kind of structure would it be?
Chairman: Mr. Simailak.
As our Premier stated in the House a few days ago, our staff are currently reviewing the Economic Development Department, identifying the obstructions or the challenges and seeing if there’s too much red tape for the people of Nunavut.
The people out there are looking to the department for help.
The Nunavut Business Credit Corporation has been restructured.
Previously, when people submitted applications through NBCC would have to wait 4 or 5 months.
That has been restructured and the waiting period is now 1 to 2 months.
That is just an example of the revamping we’ve been doing in our department.
We’ve been restructuring so that it would be more accessible to the people of Nunavut.
It’s an ongoing process.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): My next question, Mr. Chairman, is in regards to the tourism group.
Are you also considering the revamping the policy so that the tourism sector in the communities that are not members of that specific tourism association will have access.
It’s all lumped into one at this point, and it’s structured totally different from the rest of the departments.
So my question is: how can the promotional organizations out there, the carvers, the outfitters and so on, get more benefits from your department?
Are you also thinking about revamping or restructuring the tourism sector in your department so that they can access more services?
At this time, we are restructuring through the Arts and Crafts Strategy and the tourism sector is going to be a part and parcel of that.
It would be for organizations of those who are not associated with associations, and so on.
They would be the hospitality sector, the tourism that would be part of this review.
In regards to the associations, there’s the Nunavut Tourism Association, and they get financial support from the Government of Nunavut, and the members get their support through the Nunavut Tourism Association.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Minister for responding to my question in looking at the Arts and Crafts Strategy, which is going to be very popular to the people out there.
They would also give a lot of support to the consumers of arts and crafts and also with the organizations or the individuals who own the galleries and it would be very important to the retailers.
There are also the carvers who need financial support to buy tools, and so on.
Would they be getting more support, and the galleries will want famous carvers and artists.
Are you going to be doing anything about the local arts and crafts and the carvers out there?
Hon. David Simailak (interpretation): Yes, we already have some programs for the carvers.
The carvers can access funds up to $5,000 to buy tools and other essential equipment that they need for their artwork.
If there’s a requirement to restructure or revamp, then that will be included.
Just a minute, don’t show your hand prior to the completion of one member’s questions.
My question is on K-5, Policy Development.
I just want to get an update from the minister, I know you gave us a letter about the Economic Development Agreement and the Mining Strategy, but could you give us a bit more background in detail in what you are doing to develop those two areas, please?
On the Mining Strategy, we just about have a draft completed now.
I think what we are looking at is between April and June for consultations with probably about six communities.
We will also be consulting with the mining industry, other Inuit organizations, and environmental groups.
I am even hoping that we would have a completed draft that we can do initial consultations with the mining industry at the Nunavut Mining Symposium that’s coming up very shortly.
I am hoping that we will have a draft completed by that time so that we can do some initial consultations there with those groups.
We are hoping that once we have gone through with that process, we’ll have a final draft ready probably September.
And that would going to the Cabinet.
So that’s the plan right now on developing the Mining Strategy.
On the EDA there’s really no negotiations going on right now.
I’m not sure when were looking at that, there’s no negotiations going on in the near future at the moment.
In terms of the Mining Strategy, I asked you last year if you were going to develop a section in the strategy pertaining to diamonds, the diamond industry in Nunavut. I wonder if you could give us an update on where you are with that as well.
Hon. David Simailak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Because the diamond mining industry is going to be such a huge part of Nunavut’s development, there is a section in the Draft Strategy in dealing with diamonds.
The Tahera Corporation is proposing to open their mine in late 2006, if it works out they way they plan.
One area that’s going to be very important will be the secondary diamond industry.
Extracting the diamonds is a primary activity, but there will be opportunities in the secondary diamond industry.
I’m wondering if the minister could comment on the whether the Diamond Strategy will contain recommendations in that regard.
How can the communities participate in the secondary diamond industry?
There is a section in the Draft Strategy dealing with the secondary industry, and I’m very looking forward to talking with Tahera with a copy of the Draft Strategy, and have a good discussion with them on it.
They are opening up the first Nunavut diamond mine.
And so they would have, they’d be perfect people to talk to about the secondary strategy, in fact the whole strategy, but particularly the diamond section.
I thank the Minister. I recall when the Northwest Territories’ diamond industry just starting up with the BHP and Aber Resources or Diavik Diamond Mines.
The initial years were very rough for them.
From what I’m hearing, in the secondary diamond industry, it is still a bit rough with Sirius Diamonds.
They opened up a diamond cutting and polishing business. There were three or four of them in the Northwest Territories that participated in the secondary diamond industry.
I don’t know how successful Sirius Diamonds are when you read media reports. There’s probably a lot of people hurting from the lay offs and so and so forth like that.
Is the government contemplating encouraging people to participate in the diamond cutting and polishing industry as part of the Diamond Strategy?
I was just reading in the Canadian Diamonds magazine that’s published out of Yellowknife.
There was section in there talking exactly about that, the secondary industry that’s going on in Yellowknife.
There’s two brothers that just bought the Arslanian Cutting Works, the one in Yellowknife, and they claim there making good money, if fact there hiring more diamond cutters very shortly.
They must know what the secret is to make it work for them, and they’ll be very interesting people to talk to.
Yes, we will be working with the mining industry, Tahera specifically right now, to see what we could do about helping them getting it to the secondary industry in Nunavut.
There are issues with the secondary diamond industry when it comes to cutting and polishing. This applies to Northwest Territories. It’s a very labor intensive industry.
Then you compete with the world markets, countries, like India and Hong Kong or places like that where they cut and polish diamonds very cheaply. They have huge sources of labour to draw on.
In New York, there’s a population base of 7-9 million people, and around Northwest Territories I think the total population is 40-45,000 people.
In Nunavut, you have 31,000 people and they are stretched over a huge geographic area.
It would be very difficult to participate in the cutting and polishing operation, but there may be other opportunities in the sector of diamond industry.
I guess what I am hinting at might be a jewelry manufacturing, design and manufacturing type of industry. It’s part of the diamond industry where you add value to diamonds because the more value you add to a diamond, the more you could sell at retail. We have lots of arts and crafts folks in Nunavut who are very good at design and very good at making jewelry.
In the Kitikmeot, we have worked on this. With a market survey, we surveyed 10,000 retail and individuals across Canada and the United States and we found that there was a demand for aboriginal motifs.
We have proven that there’s a market out for it; it’s just a matter of having enough money to get into the markets because in order to develop one of these opportunities you have to spend a lot of money up front to carve out a niche for yourselves.
I think the folks in the Kitikmeot want to continue that work because it’s a good opportunity for a lot of people.
I am wondering if the minister is aware of that initiative or is interested in pursuing that initiative with the folks in the Kitikmeot.
I have had very interesting discussions with the diamond cutting companies in the Toronto areas and also the representatives of diamond cutting industries from India.
They are all very interested in investing in Nunavut and doing exactly what you are talking about, doing the value-added industries that you will be making in that, but they are very interested in investing in Nunavut, and I will be continuing those discussions with them and see where that goes.
The deal that Tahera has now with Tiffany’s is a very interesting one.
I thought one of your people in the Kitikmeot may have been involved in that, and from what I have seen so far, the sales there are actually interesting, they are actually coming out with some interesting numbers right now.
So, yeah, that’s a very serious industry that we are very interested and the department is very interested in, and we will be doing whatever we can to help the industry develop.
Yes, the jewelry manufacturing, diamond manufacturing opportunity is a joint venture between Laurelton Diamonds, which is a subsidiary of Tiffany’s, the Kitikmeot Corporation and the Deh Cho out of Yellowknife.
We met with the Tiffany’s folks in New York.
If you ever get a chance to tour their store, you would be quite amazed.
I just can’t believe how people can afford the diamonds that they have for sale down there.
I saw a diamond engagement ring that was $1.3 million USD.
It’s a very expensive boutique. There are also engagement rings that are $970.00 USD. It would nice for people in Nunavut or in the North to be able to have an opportunity go to these places and see where the diamonds that come out of the ground eventually end up.
It gives you a whole new appreciation for the world of diamonds and jewelry.
I wanted to ask about the economic development agreement.
A few years ago when I was lobbying for the Nunavut Association for Municipalities for an EDA for the North, there were politicians and senior officials in Ottawa who were telling me that Ottawa supported an EDA. There is some sort of stigma attached to an EDA. They would rather call it something else, or use another term to describe it then it might be easier in the political circles in Ottawa.
I’m wondering if the Minister could comment on whether the term Economic Development being is a term that we should stop using and come up with another term that means the same thing but describes it in a different way.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated to come up with some names, or titles.
I’ve had a number of meetings now with Ethel Blondin-Andrew and also with Andy Scott and they were both very interested and committed to developing Nunavut, and the north.
Those discussions will continue.
In fact I will be meeting with both of them this Friday when they’re in town and I’m sure that discussion will come up again.
We are working towards negotiations some time in the near future.
I think the commitment is there now in Ottawa to do something.
Certainly the two ministers that I deal with are very committed to doing something.
So, the commitment is there and I think it’s a matter now of getting the staff to start talking between themselves.
I’m sure we will do something with that, I’m hoping in the near future; at least get started on it.
That’s good to know that there is still some support in Ottawa.
I think one of the issues is that a lot of folks in Ottawa and Southern Canadians think that the north and Nunavut are drains on Southern taxpayers. We must put the spin on it that, invest in the north because if you invest and we develop our economy then we can put people to work.
Companies can participate and when you start adding value, then you contribute more to the economy of Canada, so it’s not a drain.
We proved a few years ago through a report that the money that Ottawa sends to the north, a lot of it flows back south. It supports between 4,000 and 9,000 jobs in the south and we add value to what they send north in the hundreds of millions.
If the government invests and develop our economy, we could probably contribute more to the provincial economies down south like Alberta and Ontario and other provinces.
So, I think one of the other obstacles you run into with an EDA, is although the two minister’s you mentioned are in support, they have to convince all their other Cabinet colleagues. The Cabinet colleagues have probably 200 or 300 priority areas across Canada and everybody is looking for help somewhere.
The interesting thing is that we have regional development agencies across Canada, Western Diversification, Atlantic Opportunities Fund and FedNor in Northern Ontario.
Those are designed to provide money to develop the economy.
I’ve pointed this out before but there are only two jurisdictions in Canada that don’t have these kinds of agencies. They are southern Ontario, where it’s still manufacturing, and northern Canada.
So, I’m wondering, if the minister could comment on what his discussions are with his federal colleagues in that regards. Do they understand that there is this disparity in Canada?
Yes, I’ve had that discussion with both Mr. Scott and Ms. Blondin-Andrew.
In fact it was Scott that suggested very strongly that we need to set up such an agency in Nunavut, in the north for Nunavut especially.
So, there is a commitment there.
There is support there.
I think we’ll be working as quickly as we can to set up such an agency.
In fact, I’ve had discussions with Ms. Blondin-Andrew and with Mr. Scott about setting up a partnership which could lead towards becoming an agency.
So, those discussions are ongoing right now.
Mr. Peterson, your time is up at the moment but I have no one else on my list, so please proceed if you have any more questions.
I think it was a couple of years ago, it might have been in June 2002, there was a Western Premier’s Meeting in Dawson City, Yukon.
Our Premier was in attendance and lobbied for EDA and a Regional Development Agency.
He got a lot of support.
I think the western Premiers all supported the EDA and a Regional Development Agency. There was some discussion of Western Diversification folks taking that responsibility on behalf of the North.
I don’t know if we necessarily want that.
I also don’t know if it would be wise to have one Regional Development Agency for just Nunavut or just one for the entire North.
Base it somewhere in the North, whether it is in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories or the Yukon, but somewhere in the North.
And then they have a Board from across the North that would deal with all these issues.
It would be a very complicated political struggle for you to get that in place.
It would not be an EDA type mechanism. We have never had a Regional Development Agency. The last time we had an EDA, Economic Development Agreement in the North was 1996.
That was nine years ago.
My concern is that we keep getting these little pockets of money, the Northern Strategy, the Northern Economic Development Strategy.
We don’t have a pot of money that we can draw on to target priority areas to invest in and develop.
We just get a chunk of money here a chunk of money there and then we have to spend a year or two consulting with Ottawa and amongst ourselves to develop the criteria and policies before the money starts flowing into these priority areas.
In the term of a government, like ourselves, we are already into our second year.
Economic Development is a key priority for Nunavut for this government by the end of our term.
So we are already into our second year.
I can see another year slipping by quite quickly.
Will we ever see any money flowing into these areas that we are targeting for development through our various strategies and options papers and other consultations.
I know the minister was in Cambridge Bay in February during the Kitikmeot trade show.
He made a lot of very good statements.
It was very encouraging to everybody there.
I know that you signed a MOU with Nunavut Tourism, which holds great potential for Nunavut.
Ultimately it comes down to how much money we can put into investing in all these key sectors in Nunavut.
That is where an EDA type mechanism for a program can be helpful to us because we can target arts and crafts; target construction; we can target mining; target different sectors.
The money would be assured year after year that it is there to help continue development instead of having to rely on the little chunks of money that we get.
They are not little but they are $10 million, $20 million and then you don’t know if you will get it after another five years, or after three years.
I think it is very important that we continue to lobby hard, long and strong at every opportunity.
When I meet with the Minister of DIAND and Ms. Blondin-Andrew tomorrow, I am going to, with my colleagues and neighbors, we are going to be making that argument.
Then they come here and meet with you. I encourage in your meetings.
That is more of a general comment.
I just wanted to reiterate for the record that we have to keep working really hard on our economy.
I think that that is going to be one of the ways we progress, evolve as a territory and strengthen our arguments for devolution.
We are on K-5.
Branch Summary. $3,785,000.
Economic Development, Mr. Tootoo.
I just want to go back quickly to a couple of questions on K-5.
One of the things that was brought up by a couple of my colleagues was on some of the overall direction of NNI and everything else that the department is doing.
A question for policy reasons, when you look at some of the overall direction of the department and the priorities that it wants take on this year, and the Minister highlighted a number of them in his opening comments and it might be more of a policy question, so I’m asking it here, is, in the Minister of Finance’s budget address, there was an indication one of the top two priorities of this department was going to be to begin to implement the Transportation Strategy and there was no mention of that in the Minister’s opening comments.
I’m just wondering if I could get an idea of why that is the case and what the, without getting into the details of the transportation stuff which we’ll get to later on, why that’s the case.
Hon. David Simailak: Why I didn’t mention it in my opening remarks, I guess I just thought it was a given that implementing the Nunavut Transportation Strategy is priority of this government as was mentioned by the Finance Minister in her Address.
That’s all I can say right now is that it is a priority.
I just wanted to make sure that’s on the record.
I’ll ask him some questions about that more specifically on transportation.