EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
So we’re concentrating more on that area at this time.
If I could ask for maybe a bit of a definition in terms of under the Child Day Care Act, the child who is going to daycare which is not a school program or not in the school, is an early childhood education programming something that is within the school and is regulated under specific guidelines for education?
Under the regulations we currently follow, this program is outside of the school operations with respect to early childhood education. It doesn’t form part of our school operations. However, legal requirements, such as licensing a daycare facility, are included in this area.
(interpretation ends) All early childhood education programs require licensing under the Child Day Care Act so as to ensure the safety and well-being of children.
The early childhood education program that is run out of schools is not part of this core program and, as such, still requires licensing under the Day Care Act.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister of Languages announced in the House in a Minister’s Statement that the Official Languages Act was going to come into force as of April 1. I’m wondering: will that have any implications within the Department of Education in terms of the way they provide services or will it affect funding?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will refer that to my DM, Kathy Okpik. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) With respect to the Day Care Act, one of the amendments that would have to made to it would be to bring it into compliance with the Inuit Language Protection Act.
One of the pieces of work that we would have to do is to make that change so that we are compliant with that piece of legislation. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the minister’s budget address, there was mention of $6 million or $7 million that was going to be going to the Government of Nunavut departments to help with the Languages Act to implement changes, whether it was signs or document changes and whatnot or curriculum development, I am assuming.
Is the Department of Education taking advantage of that and getting extra funds to help with providing more early childhood education curriculum?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is part of our operations, so I will refer that to Ms. Okpik. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Ms. Okpik will respond to that. Ms. Okpik.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) As part of our submissions for the Education Act implementation, we had previously requested additional monies for Inuit language implementation.
In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, we received $3,740,000, and in the 2010-11 fiscal year, we received an additional $2,792,000 for implementation on that.
With respect to the current implementation plan, Education will receive two PYs and that is including a communications officer and a language coordinator to ensure that we are compliant with ILPA.
With respect to early childhood programming, we will need to do our own submission for additional monies under ILPA for this, but we do have monies allocated for district education authorities for early childhood programming.
We do have two PYs dedicated to resource development and assisting DEAs with implementation of early childhood programming within the communities as well. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Ms. Okpik. Let me remind you that we’re on page G-4 (interpretation ends) under Directorate.
Yes, under G-4, I’m sure the directorate was responsible for sitting down and crunching the numbers to decide how best and the best way to sort of [put in a] line item for what goes with Family Services in terms of FANS, departments, jobs, PYs, dollar values for wages, and stuff like that.
Could the minister walk us through how the funding was allocated and given to Family Services?
The question he asked, is it in regard to a paper exercise and whether this was done in that manner?
Is that his question about where the funds will be allocated to? I didn’t understand the gist of his question, so perhaps if I can ask the member to rephrase his question so I can understand what he is referring to.
Mr. Elliott, please rephrase your question.
In regard to the overall budget for the department, I’m assuming it was the directorate that sat down and decided how many dollars within the budget would go towards Family Services for FANS, how many dollars and how many PYs; how the structure would be divided.
I noticed that FANS is actually under the Department of Family Services, but there are still policy people within the Department of Education.
So you have Family Services maintaining the program and you have the Department of Education holding the policies and regulations and telling them what to do. So in the future, I’m foreseeing that there might be some problems where maybe Family Services saying, “Well, we didn’t get enough PYs” or “We don’t have a big enough budget” or “Policies don’t work.”
So I guess what I was asking for was a run-through of how those decisions were kind of made.
As you know, in my opening comments, I said that the policy portion of the programs will remain in the Department of Education so that Family Services can concentrate on providing the services.
Most of the funding was in specific units so it was easy to divvy up, looking at the number of positions that are moving to Family Services and whatnot.
I will have Ms. Okpik elaborate more on that.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) The divvying up, I guess, of assets and monies was very straightforward. As the minister stated, each component was very specific. For example, the daycare piece is a set amount of money that we knew was going to stay within Education, along with the four early childhood officers, so that was contained.
If you look at the FANS monies, for example, it’s a specific amount for contributions to students, along with all the PYs.
So all we had to do was pull out the one policy analyst position that would assist with governance. The person is still located in Arviat, but just has a different reporting function.
So it was a very smooth transition with respect to the budgeting between Education and Family Services. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We’re on Education.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $855,000.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also would like to welcome the minister and her officials.
With respect to requirements under the Education Act, including new regulations means that they have to be drafted up for review. Also, we just received information upon our request on the types of regulations that are being contemplated by the department for students, including school hours. This also includes the fact that the DEA administers the schools.
These interim regulations, entitled “Transitional Regulations” in English, are temporary stop gap regulations holding the fort prior to the completion of new regulations called for by the legislation.
It was our expectation and we were led to believe that it would be completed by 2012. At this time, we have been informed that the latest we can expect the new regulations is in the year 2014.
Can the minister inform me as to the reasons why this process is so slow and of the rationale for deferring the regulations for a two-year period?
One of the factors, and I’m sure that he will be pleased, is that we would like to go through a consultation process with the public.
I would be pleased to see some more reviews being done.
Is that the main factor? Is consulting with the stakeholders the only factor in the delay of the development of the regulations or are there other reasons for the delay?
Is it lack of capacity or resources? I would like that clarified, Mr. Chairman.
The implementation of the Education Act is huge. We would like to do it properly.
The district education authorities have indicated that they have been given too many responsibilities all at the same time.
What we would like to see is to gradually give them additional responsibilities. With regard to staff, they have committees that are dealing with this issue, that are working on the Transition Regulations. They have working groups.
On top of that, they also have to work at the school at the same time and deal with the composing of the Transition Regulations, consulting with the public, and the additional responsibilities for the DEAs all coming in at the same time. Those are some of the factors.
Again I am very pleased because the parents have to become involved in the education of their children, to be more active in the school activities, and so on.
They take ownership of their own problems and take on the role of resolving those problems since they have waited for somebody else to do that.
Again, in your business plan, in 2012 and 2014, it doesn’t seem likely that it will become implemented. Under one of your department’s priorities for 2014-15, it states that “New regulation work will include private and denominational school regulations.”
Do you anticipate the establishment of private or denominational schools in the future? Are we anticipating those kinds of moves, Mr. Chairman?
This was also included in the old Education Act.
It is also included in the Transition Regulations regarding the establishment of private or denominational schools.
To date, there have been some individuals interested in the establishment of private or denominational schools.
Thank you, Madam Minister. At least somebody is interested in the Transition Regulations and in the establishment of private or denominational schools.
It is stated as one of the department’s priorities for 2014-15.
Let me reiterate my question. One individual has apparently requested information.
In the future, if Nunavut’s population were to vastly increase or if other people from around the world started to move to our territory impacting our population, is this what we anticipate from the Education Act?
This is included in the Transition Regulations that are required. We are still working on eight issues related to the regulations which need to be completed by fiscal year 2015.
In 2012-13, there are three we developed, and for 2013-14, there are five more to draft up. This is also the last year.
So once they have been drafted up and approved, they will become regulations. We have to ensure that we have the proper implementation plans for our future. This is just part of the process of proper planning related to educational issues.
We’re on page G-5. Branch Summary.
Education. Policy and Planning. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $1,493,000.
Turn to page G-6. Education.
Branch Summary. Corporate Services. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted.
Mr. Ningeongan (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) The proposed funding for compensation and benefits within the Corporate Services Branch of your department is set to increase by over half a million dollars, even though the accounting structure indicates that this branch will have four fewer employees in 2013-14.
What is the reason for the increase in funding?
There’s a very good reason for that. I’ll refer this question to my Deputy Minister, Ms. Okpik.
Ms. Okpik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The increases are a result of negotiated changes to the compensation and benefits under the NEU.
The increases are scheduled for 2013-14. Also, last year, we had one position vacant where the funds lapsed back and re-profiled towards another position. Additionally, the rationale for this increase from last year was due to the fact that we had set aside large amounts or, rather, had some frozen funds due to our deficit.
Regarding positions in the schools resulting from the legislation where funding hadn’t been allocated, we had to fund these positions and some of the funds were allocated towards them, although the remainder has been returned to this fund.
As an example, the assistants for students with disabilities, termed SSAs or student support assistants, is outside of government. In the First and Second Assemblies, we requested a position and we were told that we had to fund those positions from our department, without given money from the government.
There were 16 positions like that. We have put those positions in the schools and are funded from our operations or being funded by unfilled positions’ funds so that we can have those employees in the schools.
Some of the funds have been returned and that is the reason you see that increase. It is just money that had been given back to the government, but has now returned to our department.
Thank you, Ms. Okpik, for responding to my question (interpretation ends) The most recent quarterly employment report for the government indicates that the number of casual employees has increased significantly from 67 in 2011 to 326 in 2012.
What accounts for your department hiring so many casuals?
This is under school operations and I will refer this question to Ms. Okpik.
I will have Ms. Okpik respond. Ms. Okpik.
Regarding casuals, it includes custodians, secretaries in the schools, and also student support assistants.
There are replacements when they are either sick or have to be absent from their jobs. They always have to have replacements.
If we don’t have custodians in the schools, we have to close it down.
If the SSAs weren’t there, the child who requires that assistance would have to go home. With that, we have a lot of casual employees and we have to call in replacements if an individual isn’t able to come.
All the paperwork is completed ahead of time so that we can find replacements right away.
If we’re going to be advertising a position and if there is going to be a long absence by one of the employees, then the paperwork would be done already.
I’ll try it again in Inuktitut.
There were 326 casual employees in 2012 and 67 in 2011. What accounts for your department hiring so many casuals is what I asked earlier.
If it’s okay with you, Mr. Chairman, I will refer that question to my deputy.
Ms. Okpik: I don’t have an answer specifically to that today, but we can conduct an analysis to see why there’s such an increase.
To reiterate again, we have what we call standing offers for casual employment for janitorial/custodian positions, secretarial support, and student support assistants in place at any given time.
So what we do is we create what we call casual staffing for an as and when needed basis.
We may have, let’s say, one person and three separate CSAs so that if a custodian is not able to make it into work that day or the receptionist can’t make it in or an SSA, at any given time, we will call them on an as and when needed basis.
So that casual might be for a three-month period or a six-month period, but the paperwork is all done ahead of time so that we just call them in when we need them.
Rather than doing a CSA for every single time they come, one CSA covers off for a larger span of time.
We will commit to getting back to finding out why there’s such an increase. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Minister Aariak, I believe that you would like to add to that.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): No, it’s okay. Kathy responded to the question.
I look forward to getting that response.
I’ll be speaking in English.
(interpretation ends) The Education Act includes the requirement for new staff, such as elder educators and school counsellors.
Can you provide an update on what kinds of certification initiatives are available for individuals in those positions and how they’re being offered?
Yes, the Department of Education has started to certify elders, with the elders providing the expertise for the courses that will be taught pertaining to Inuit culture and language. This is part of our work towards this goal in our schools.
The number of certified elders is increasing and that’s a good thing. Our esteemed elders are starting to be utilized within the school system. With these elders assigned to teach some of these courses, they are required to be certified.
Our department continues to certify elders who demonstrate their expertise in various fields throughout the communities in Nunavut.
I would like to thank the minister. I would like to ask another question while we are on this topic.
The certification process usually entails that the person first takes courses and become certified upon passing.
Who certifies these elders prior to their qualification as teachers? I believe certification demonstrates knowledge.
The elders who provide the expertise in our community schools are, in my opinion, more knowledgeable than even some post-secondary students, especially in the areas of Inuit culture and language. In my estimation, some of these elders could easily qualify for doctorate degrees. I am, of course, just joking.
The Department of Education provides the certificates which provide acknowledgement of their special skills and knowledge, enabling them to teach just like other teachers. These elders can work in the schools immediately after certification.
The local DEAs are instrumental in identifying local elders based on their areas of knowledge, for example, traditional sewing, hunting skills, qamutik-making, and the Inuit language.
To date, we have certified 133 individuals. We most likely will see more people getting certified.
Mr. Ningeongan (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Please bear with me. I just want to ask a lot of questions.
(interpretation ends) The government’s Inuit Employment Plan discusses a number of strategies and training initiatives to address the need for Inuit teachers and other education staff.
What are the greatest challenges in this area?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Ningeongan. (interpretation ends) Let me assure you (interpretation) that I will not get impatient with you as I am just keeping time.
Minister Aariak, please respond.
This is one of best questions again. To date, one of the greatest challenges we have is teachers’ proficiency in Inuktitut.
That seems to be one of the greatest challenges. Are you making plans to overcome these challenges?
The reason why I brought this up is the teachers who are required to teach Inuktitut have to have a certain level of proficiency in Inuktitut.
It’s not part and parcel of this, but I was told one time that kindergarteners come in speaking English and not one word of Inuktitut.
We can’t blame the Department of Education; we also have to look at the parents of these children because they’re not speaking enough Inuktitut at home.
Have you looked at how you can overcome this challenge and to have proficiency in Inuktitut by the teachers?
This is very important, especially when the Nunavut-in-made Education Act states that we will be able to teach in Inuktitut.
We need a lot of Inuit people who can teach Inuktitut.
For example, we are progressing. This spring, 45 teachers will be graduating and this will help to alleviate the pressure.
We would like to increase the Inuktitut teachers in the communities.
This is happening through Nunavut Arctic College’s NTEP program.
I think there are 11 students who are taking the NTEP program. If it’s offered closer to their home communities, the number of students might increase. So that has been how it was designed and set up.
The funding we provide to the DEAs for Inuktitut language programming totalled $1.6 million. This would be specifically for Inuktitut instruction materials.
They are continuing to deliberate on new solutions, which includes representatives from Nunavut Arctic College to work on completing their required courses, especially Inuktitut language instructors, who will be real teachers.
At the onset of my questions, I was getting smiles back, but as I progressed with my questions, everyone’s faces started getting longer.
To ensure my colleagues’ faces don’t get too long, this will be my last question.
(interpretation ends) Section 123 of the Education Act requires that the student-educator ratio across Nunavut’s school be lower than the national ratio. What is the current student-educator ratio across Nunavut’s schools and how does this compare to the rest of Canada?
I would ask that the witnesses show sincere smiles to please him.
I am offering you my most sincere smile.
(interpretation) He asked his question in English, so I’ll respond in English.
(interpretation ends) In the 2013-14 school year, the national student-educator ratio will change to 13.8 to 1.
This new figure results from the national student-educator ratio benchmark which was published by Statistics Canada in January 2013.
The Nunavut student-educator ratio remains at 14 to 1 for the 2013-14 school year, provided no DEA goes above the national student-educator ratio of 13.8 to 1, which includes language specialists.
The Nunavut student-educator ratio determines the overall number of teachers for schools based on student enrolment from the previous school year.
The current Nunavut student-educator ratio is set at 14 to 1, with additional support for smaller schools so they may offer varied programming to students across a variety of grade levels.
The Nunavut student-educator ratio is a district education authority standard, not a school-wide standard.
Some schools will see an increase in teaching staff, while there may be cases where there is no change in staffing allocation in cases where there may be a decrease.
At this time, I still have two names on my list for this page, but as per Rule 6(1), I now recognize the clock and will rise to report progress to the Speaker.
Thank you, minister and your officials. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out.
Your committee has been considering Bill 49 and would like to report progress.
Just a reminder that there’s a meeting of the MSB at ten o’clock tomorrow morning in the Tuktu Room.
This House stands adjourned until Thursday, March 7, at 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Pages 3760 – 3817
Opening Prayer 3760
Ministers’ Statements 3760
Members’ Statements 3762
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery 3768
Oral Questions 3769
Revert to Item 5: Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery 3785
Notices of Motions 3786
Motions 3786
Second Reading of Bills 3787
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters 3787
Report of the Committee of the Whole 3816
Orders of the Day 3816
Thursday, March 7, 2013 3760
251 – 3(3): Petroleum Products Division (PPD) of CGS (Kusugak) 3760
252 – 3(3): Nunavut Arctic College Publishes Book on Midwifery (Shewchuk) 3761
253 – 3(3): International Women’s Day (Ell) 3762
419 – 3(3): A Day for Everyone (Tapardjuk) 3762
420 – 3(3): Mine Training Initiatives in the High Arctic (Elliott) 3763
421 – 3(3): Recognition of Pond Inlet Environmental Technology Program (Enook) 3764
422 – 3(3): Congratulations to Canadian Delegation at CITES Meeting (Ningeongan) 3765
423 – 3(3): Tribute to Stompin’ Tom Connors (Schell) 3766
424 – 3(3): Arviat’s Ecotourism Industry (Shewchuk) 3767
425 – 3(3): International Women’s Day (Ningark) 3767
540 – 3(3): Bulk Fuel Storage Facilities in Nunavut (Elliott) 3769
541 – 3(3): Intergovernmental Justice Initiatives (Tapardjuk) 3770
542 – 3(3): Slumping Situation in Pond Inlet (Enook) 3772
543 – 3(3): Status of New Municipal Funding Formula (Ningeongan) 3774
544 – 3(3): Sanikiluaq School Windows Replacement (Rumbolt) 3775
545 – 3(3): Crime Prevention Initiatives (Oshutapik) 3777
546 – 3(3): Status of Motor Vehicle Policy (Schell) 3778
547 – 3(3): Recent Power Outage in Resolute Bay (Elliott) 3779
548 – 3(3): Status of Rankin Inlet Correctional Healing Facility (Schell) 3781
549 – 3(3): Government Liaison Officer Program (Elliott) 3782
044 – 3(3): Extended Sitting Hours and Days – Notice (Rumbolt) 3786
044 – 3(3): Extended Sitting Hours and Days (Ningeongan) 3786
Bill 54 – An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act – Second Reading 3787
Bill 56 – Write-off of Assets Act, No. 1, 2011-2012 – Second Reading 3787
Bill 49 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2013-2014 – Education – Consideration in Committee 3788