EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
More frequent evaluations are given if the student is experiencing difficulty.
The OETIO arranges for interpreter-translators if any of our students require assistance.
Mr. Speaker, by the end of March 2007, the institute will have graduated over 60 heavy equipment operators from across Nunavut.
The Department of Education is working in partnership with the Municipal Training Organization, Kivalliq partners and Kakivak Association to ensure that as many Nunavummiut as possible are able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
Member’s Statement 320 – 2(3): Recognition of CBC Employees from Arviat (Alagalak)
I am pleased to have finally made it to Iqaluit to join my colleagues; if I had a dog team I would have been here a long time ago but I don’t have a dog team so I couldn’t be here sooner.
I rise today to express my appreciation for the good work that is being done by two people from Arviat.
It seems not just for the people of Arviat, but for the people of the Kivalliq region. Those two are Mr. John Main, and Mr. Kevin Kablutsiak. Both work for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC.
On behalf of the people of Arviat I would like to thank Mr. Main and Mr. Kablutsiak for their outgoing attitude and their delivery of the news. It is nice to hear the Arviat dialect, or Arviarmiutatitut, and it is very easy to understand what they are talking about on CBC radio.
I would like to encourage them to keep up the good work in bringing the news to the people of the Kivalliq and Nunavut.
They’re very professional at what they do and I wanted to thank them for doing that.
Member’s Statement 321 – 2(3): Government of Nunavut’s Position on the Edward Horne Case (Kattuk)
I rise today to talk about an impact that has touched the people of Sanikiluaq.
The Nunavut Government and the Government of the Northwest Territories did a good thing in the past years when they made an agreement about the case of Edward Horne, and they were in agreement to do something about it.
This has hurt a lot of people in the North and it has had an impact on a lot of people, but we were happy that they were able to make a settlement without having to go to court. It was good to hear that the people in the communities that were abused were being helped.
(interpretation ends) The community does not understand why the government has now decided to dispute a more recent statement of claim that was brought up by a number of victims. I believe that the government owes a clear explanation to the community of Sanikiluaq on this issue. I believe that the government should have approached this situation in the same way that they did earlier and reach a settlement.
Mr. Speaker, I reviewed the statement of claim that has been filed with the government; it is a public document. In the statement of defense the government says, “There is no solid connection between the alleged assault, attentive pain, suffering, and anguish.”
I did not understand how our government could say such a thing. I believe that I will be writing a formal letter to the Minister of Justice on this issue.
(interpretation) I would like to get consent to conclude my statement.
The member is asking for consent to conclude his statement.
Go ahead, Mr. Kattuk.
Mr. Kattuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and my colleagues. (interpretation ends) I will be tabling the letter in this House, and I sincerely hope that he provides me with a reply.
Member’s Statement 322 – 2(3): Kugluktuk Arena Still Not Open (Evyagotailak)
I rise today to update members on a situation faced by hockey players and the fans of Kugluktuk: there is still no ice in the Kugluktuk arena.
A year ago I rose in the House to tell members about the quality of ice in the arena. Hockey players were playing on slush.
Many members have raised the issue of youth boredom and the damage that some youth cause in community’s infrastructure and private property.
When the youth parliamentarians sat in this House earlier this month, they discussed the needs of recreation facilities to give the youth a place to go and activities to become involved in.
Mr. Speaker, the youth parliamentarian of Kugluktuk; Elaine Topilak, mentioned the many ways the Kugluktuk Grizzlies contribute to the community as a whole.
The volunteer base exists in the community to fully use the arena and to create programs that contribute to the health and well-being.
In February I shared with members the work the Hamlet of Kugluktuk has done in getting quotes to complete the installation of the artificial ice system. It is estimated that it will cost $230,000 to install the system.
Mr. Speaker, I was hopeful that new federal funding for community infrastructure would be used to finally get the Kugluktuk arena up and running. The 2007-08 capital plan includes several arena projects in other communities but there are no plans for completing the Kugluktuk arena.
(interpretation) Mr. Speaker, I would like to have unanimous consent to complete my statement.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. The member is asking for consent to conclude his statements.
Proceed, Mr. Evyagotailak.
Mr. Evyagotailak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and my fellow members.
I encourage the Ministers of Community and Government Services and Culture, Language, Elders and Youth to find a solution to this problem.
Mr. Speaker, the 2007 Arctic Winter Games is being held in Whitehorse. It would be nice if the people of Kugluktuk would be on the ice practicing to be able to represent our Territory at the games.
Back to our Orders of the Day. Item 4. Returns to Oral Questions.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome to the Gallery a well-known individual across Nunavut and indeed the circumpolar world, the star of her own cooking show, soap opera, singer, actress extraordinaire, and Emcee at the Annual Pangnirtung Music Festival at times, it gives me great pleasure to introduce that entrepreneur, and wonderful person; Oleepeeka Veevee.
Question 361 – 2(3): Community Funding for Breakwaters (Alagalak)
I was waiting for somebody else to raise their hand before I did.
I’d like to direct my question to the minister responsible for transport, wharfs, and breakwaters.
First I’d like to ask, in the five-year capital plan, what projects is the Government of Nunavut funding? Because it states there are seven communities.
Which communities are those seven that will be assisted with wharfs in the communities?
Minister for Economic Development and Transportation. Minister Akesuk.
The seven communities include Pond Inlet, Qikiqtarjuaq, Clyde River, Pangnirtung, Chesterfield Inlet. I‘m not too sure on the other two.
I indicated four from Baffin region. Repulse Bay, Chesterfield Inlet and community of Kugaaruk in the Kitikmeot.
Those seven are mentioned where we’ve requested funding from the federal government.
Your first supplementary, Mr. Alagalak.
I wasn’t too sure which communities were going to be assisted. In my community there are hunters, not just hunters…every time they come into community they go through great difficulty. I have mentioned this in the past: there are a lot of waves and rough waters.
I’d like to ask the minister again. It seems like we’re ignoring the port that they started which was never completed. And it’s not an exactly a shelter.
And it’s not being used. I wonder when this will be completed by the minister.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Alagalak.
Minister of Economic Development and Transportation, Minister Akesuk
The funding that we have is never enough and we have to request the funding and there are a lot of communities in Nunavut who request ports. This is often a request of the communities that I visit.
We have not forgotten about that. We want to, once we have better access for funding, we want to be able to supply them with ports.
We will be asking for funding again from the federal government for those communities. We don’t want to leave any community out, and how else we can get more funding for those projects that are not completed in their communities from our government.
Yes, that is always the case for the last three year years I have brought this up and the hamlet of our community keeps bringing it up too because they have to jump off their boats when they land because their boats might be damaged, especially in rough waters, if they don’t do that.
There is usually some emergency funding that is under the responsibility of the minister, and we should have some access to those.
I wonder, before next summer, I wonder if this can be considered by next spring because we definitely have to have it done.
As I have stated earlier, we are aware that all the communities are in need of those wharves, or ports and especially when they start losing their hunting equipment.
We are forever looking for funds because they would be very beneficial to the communities, as in my community of Cape Dorset, the waters can get quite harsh and we have great difficulty too.
So we will definitely try and come up with more funding to address this major concern in Nunavut. We try and lobby the federal government to provide us with the funding so they can be built in those communities.
Question 362 – 2(3): Program Funding (Tootoo)
My question is for the Minister responsible for Economic Development.
I think this government has gone on the record as part of their mandate that wants to try and boost the economy and help to develop the private sector economy in Nunavut and I think we all know that the government department itself can’t do it by itself.
I know for example, here in the Baffin region, the government has an agreement with the Baffin Business Development Center to administer some of its programs for them.
Is the minister aware, I’d like to ask him if he’s aware who administers those programs on behalf of his department in the Kivalliq region?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We provide funding to Nunavut Business Credit Corporation to provide support for the private businesses in Baffin region and it’s like, we would like to see the same system established in Kitikmeot and Keewatin region to provide support for all of the businesses.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister. Your first supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
Maybe I’ll rephrase it a little bit differently to get an answer from the minister.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister if the Kivalliq Partners in Development and Kivalliq or Keewatin Business Development Corporation or whatever is KDBC, administers programs on behalf of his department in Kivalliq.
Yes, we work with them under Nunavut Business Credit Corporation.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Akesuk.
So then is the minister saying that an agreement between KDBC and Kivalliq, KDIP, KPIP, I guess, Kivalliq Partners in Development, those agreements are between Nunavut Business Credit Corporation and those organizations and in fact not between himself as minister of the department, and those individual organizations individually?
The government is involved with Nunavut Business Credit Corporation, so therefore, we are involved.
We provide funding as a government to Nunavut Business Credit Corporation, and we are responsible for it.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Akesuk. Your final supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
The minister always seems to be referring to Nunavut Business Credit Corporation which I’m not asking about.
He tabled their annual report. I think we all know about that.
My questions were on the Kivalliq Business Development Centre, I think it’s called KBDC and Partners in Development.
My question for the minister is this: if they provide funding directly from their department to these organizations what mechanism do they have in place to allow that to happen?
Is it a contribution agreement? Is it a memorandum of understanding? Is it just a separate contract in which they’re going to deliver these programs and services for the department?
Whatever the mechanism is that is in place, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that those funds are being dispensed properly?
We have policies on how we allocate funding, and we have to treat everyone equally.
We have policies, and we do work closely with these entities, and we want to work closely with those entities in the future.
We have to abide by the legislation and by the policies of the government.
So, as a government, we have to abide by our regulations.
Question 363 – 2(3): Funding to Build Cabins (Mapsalak)
Mr. Speaker, last summer, although I’ve asked this question a few times...while I was away on a boat last summer I had found a baby bowhead whale that floated up, and it burst up, and it was impossible to go to it because there were a lot of polar bears.
Around Repulse Bay all summer long and all spring long, the polar bears are very abundant, and they’re all over the place.
The hunters have been losing their equipment due to polar bear disturbances and they can’t even camp overnight now because of the fear of polar bears. They were able to overnight previously, but they can no longer do that due to the abundance of polar bears.
My question is: do you have any funding available to provide support to hunters so that they can start building wooden cabins? I was wondering if the department can provide some kind of funding to build cabins for the hunters.
We have no funding at this time in regard to your question.
For the equipment that has been lost by hunters because of the polar bears, whether they are tents or equipment, do you have any funding to compensate the hunters for that?
I don’t think we have any funding at all for that sort of thing, but we do have, I could be wrong, but we probably have some for disaster compensation.
We probably have disaster or for weather compensation but I cannot really tell you exactly what we have.
With that we hear that the polar bears are at risk, but they’re all over the place.
In view of that, could the minister look into that because I know that the polar bear management involves a lot of other entities and we hear that polar bear management to be dealt with by many people and entities, and we hear that the polar bear population is declining, but it doesn’t seem like that in our communities.
Could the minister consider setting aside some funds to be used by the hunters so that they could purchase wood to build cabins? That is the only way now that we can provide assistance to the hunters, especially when they’re hunting for subsistence, especially when they have to hunt far from the community.
I was wondering if the minister can set up some funding for that kind.
When we have to look for funding for those kinds of programs or services, we have to seek funding from Financial Management Board, so therefore I would be willing to ask Financial Management Board for some funding.
Mr. Mapsalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Or at least increase the quota so we can increase the quota for polar bear harvesting.
I would like you to think seriously about this suggestion that I have because in the non-decentralized communities the majority of the men are full-time hunters in all of my constituencies, especially in Kugaaruk.
There are a lot of polar bears in Kugaaruk, and a lot of polar bears in Repulse Bay.
The majority of the men are hunters.
So I was wondering if the minister would seriously look into looking for funds to be used for those community hunter and trapper organizations.
I would like to tell my colleague that as soon as this funding is available, I will let him know.
Question 364 – 2(3): Changes to Fuel Rebate for Hunters (Arreak)
On April 1, 2006 there was a gasoline fuel rebate instituted by the government, but of course, the hunters are having a hard time keeping up with the increasing price of fuel.
They’re having a very hard time, especially here in Nunavut.
Are you going to be making any changes to the fuel rebate rates for the communities?
Hon. David Simailak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We found that it was quite hard to get the rebate and we are in the process of making changes to the forms.
Mr. Arreak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you, Mr. Minister.
The hunters sometimes don’t get any receipts. If they do a community hunt they can only apply for 25 percent of the cost that they incur.
Are you going to be making any changes to the 25 percent that the hunters are eligible to get these days?
Hon. David Simailak (interpretation): We are making changes and our department is concerned about the 25 percent limit.
We are in the process of making changes and they will be made available to hunters and anybody who is eligible.
We’ll do all we can to make the changes so that they it will be easier to apply.
Question 365 – 2(3): Cambridge Bay Health Centre (Peterson)
Mr. Speaker, in Cambridge Bay in October 2005 we opened the new health facility and many of us were there. Today, it is approximately 50 percent operational depending on who I ask on a particular day.
My question for the minister: can the minister tell the House when she expects the facility to be 100 percent or close to 100 percent operational to provide the broad range of services for which it was intended?
Since that time we’ve made progress in our recruitment of staff for the new health centre.
There are additional programs that are now being offered which started this summer. An example is the adult day program for the community.
We are moving slowly in the recruitment process for a number…a couple of things. First, in order to extend the full services of the health centre, we need a boarding home in Cambridge Bay.
The funding for that was approved in the last capital budget and the renovation of the old high school student residence is starting, but it won’t be completed yet.
So parallel to that are the recruitment efforts underway for the Department of Health.
Some of the challenges that we are facing in expanding the services is the shortage of housing in the community so we are trying to address that in partnership with Nunavut Housing Corporation.
So we are looking at some time in 2007 to have full operations, but at this point in time I don’t have specific dates in exactly when that will be.
We have been hearing for years about housing; that Health and Social Services have trouble recruiting professionals due to housing.
I know that for a fact that in Cambridge Bay the private sector has approximately 10 units available for lease to the Government of Nunavut including a three-plex that has sat vacant for over two years – a brand new facility that has never been lived in and would make quite nice accommodations for doctors.
My question for the minister is: can the minister tell the House how many houses are required for health professionals for Cambridge Bay?
With the opening of the new health center in Cambridge Bay, the number of new positions that will be going into Cambridge is, I would say an additional about 30, 40 positions. So we are short approximately 20 to 25 housing units for Cambridge Bay to staff up the positions there.
Speaker: Thank you, Minister. Your second supplementary, Mr. Peterson.
When I was Mayor of Cambridge Bay, back in the year 2003, I raised the issue of housing for health professionals. I was assured by the deputy minister at that time that housing would not be a problem, they were studying the issue. And I have her quote, and I pulled it off the media this weekend, her quote was to the media was, “It’s not a concern.”
My question to the minister: would the minister tell the House how the Government of Nunavut could build a multimillion dollar facility, but not plan to provide adequate housing to hire professionals needed to work in it? Is it a concern now?
The housing situation and to staff up the positions for the Department of Health is a concern to me.
We are trying to move forward in addressing the recruitment by working in partnership with Nunavut Housing Corporation to try and address the housing that we need to fill the positions, so it is an ongoing effort, or initiative of the department to staff up the facilities there and I am working with the Minister responsible for Housing to try and address some of those.
Recently, we had a request for proposal, I believe for all three regions around housing and that is still in the works so, it is a concern to, not just to the Department of Health, but other departments to try and fill some of these positions in the communities where there is no housing.
I hope you agree with me, Mr. Peterson, I believe this is your final supplementary.
Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the request for proposal that the Nunavut Housing Corporation put out, it was put out last summer. In fact, in Cambridge Bay, I don’t think one, I think only one developer responded, that was the developer with the three-plex, and they have been quite frustrated for the last two years on that.
So no other developers responded for many reasons. Some of the reasons are they don’t believe the Government of Nunavut is sincere when we put out these requests for proposals.
In fact, the deputy minister in 2003 made the exact same statement about a request for proposal; nothing came of it.
So my question for the minister: would the minister tell the House if the current restraints on the Government of Nunavut budget will prevent the Department of Health and Social Services from hiring nurses and doctors for the health facility in Cambridge Bay?
The Department of Health, like any other department, is working with the other departments to move forward in establishing our targets for next year’s main estimates process. As it is right now, we have provided the ongoing programs that are provided by the department.
We have moved forward in some new positions with the community of Cambridge. At the same time, at the Baffin Regional Hospital new positions there have gone forward, but we’ll continue to work with Housing Corporation as an example, as well as Department of Finance to try and move forward in recruitment, and some of our challenges that we face.
Question 366 – 2(3): Number of Polar Bears Tranquilized (Barnabas)
Mr. Speaker, it’s been quite a number of years in Nunavut and in the other territories that the polar bears have been tagged and if they’re going to be doing any studies on the polar bears they are usually tranquilized.
How many bears were tranquilized this year?
Hon. Patterk Netser (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, and I will inform the members once I get the figures.
I will thank you once I get the figures, but I would also like to know how many of these bears were harvested.
Hon. Patterk Netser (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once I get the information I will inform the member.
I will also want to know how long the tranquilizer stays in the polar bear’s system. As my last question: what is the Department of Environment going to do about a bear that has been tranquilized, harvested, and then eaten?
What kinds of effects does it have on an individual who eats that kind of meat?
I’ve got the questions and I will inform the member once I get the information.
Question 367 – 2(3): Fuel Price Increases (Kattuk)
We were informed about the increases in fuel prices, and I’ve been concerned about it ever since. The community of Sanikiluaq was affected tremendously by this increase.
I asked this question on November 15, 2005, when there was an increase the first time around. Almost a year has gone by and there is another increase.
The people of Nunavut weren’t given enough advance warning. I believe they were given four days advance notice the first time around, and then two days at the last increase.
The people of Nunavut weren’t given enough advance notice. I would like to ask the minister if he will give more notice before hiking up the fuel prices.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank my colleague who asked this question.
This question has been asked by a lot of people of Nunavut.
I think the question is; will the Government of Nunavut give the people of Nunavut a longer heads-up, or a longer notice before they hike up the prices again.
I think the fuel prices started going up since 2003.
What my predecessors used to do was to give notice at least a month in advance and sometimes we weren’t able to do that.