EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Ms. Crowe talked about the courageous battle she is fighting with terminal cancer and how as a result of workplace smoke, she contracted the disease.
Nunavummiut should be very proud of the direction we are taking with the issue of tobacco as one of the messages that Ms. Crowe gave last night.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers of a kid’s night out and the excellent presentation by Ms. Crowe to all our young people last night at the Inuksuk High School library.
Member’s Statement 402 – 1(6): Letter from a Single Mom – Finding a Care Giver
It is sad that the people in Nunavut know that me and Mr. Picco shop at the same store, but I guess everybody knows it now.
On a more serious note, Mr. Speaker, I want to read a letter that was sent to me this afternoon by a single mom in Baker Lake and I will try to leave out some names as it just expresses the concern in Nunavut.
Dear Glen,
I am writing this letter concerning my needs for help for my 25 year old daughter and my family.
I have had a seasonal job for many years and this affects my daughter because she is mentally challenged and also because she was abused in the past.
Because of these things that have happened recently, I feel that I have to be with her or have a caregiver with her at all times.
She has attempted to overdose and I am scared that this might happen again, and that I would not catch her on time.
We all hope for the person we think will have a voice for us in all my years of asking for help.
Since she became an adult several years ago, there has never been any money in any budget for the programs that would help the disabled.
We are always told that we have to keep working when we are able.
But my pay check cannot cover the expenses for a caregiver as well as all of my bills.
I am not asking for pity, but I want something done while there is still a chance to help disabled people.
We say that our kids are our future, even if they have a disability like my daughter.
She has to take medicine for the rest of her life and income support is not just my style.
The only way I would get income support is if I quit my job and stayed home all of the time to look after my daughter.
This would not be much of a life for her or for me. Income support only covers food, housing, power, etc.
These are not the only things we need for our lives.
I used to go out on the land, but I am not able to do that anymore and if I can get some help somewhere.
I would be so glad if social workers could get back up to help us get the kind of help we ask for, but their hands are always tied because of budget restrictions and cut backs.
Taking this all into consideration, Glen, the thing that worries me the most and it is that the greatest concern to me and all of the parents of disabled people is what is going to happen to my daughter and others in her situation when we are no longer around to care for her?
I hope you can see your way clear, Glen, to stand up for the rights and needs of these disabled people who cannot stand up for themselves.
I count on your help. Thank you.
Her Mother.
Member’s Statement 403 – 1(6): Drum Dancing Competition in Kuugaruk
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Department of Community Government and Transportation made an announcement about the support for sport.
There are some individuals in Repulse Bay who drum dance.
We are also going to have drum dancing in Kugaaruk at the end of this month or the beginning of April.
It is something that is enjoyed by the people in our communities along with the other people who get together.
They would drum dance and if you want to participate I would like to be there, but I apologize that I will not be able to.
These types of activities help the young people gain confidence and also gain more of the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
I would like to commend the people of Pelly Bay and Repulse Bay for reviving the drum dancing competition.
Member’s Statement 404 – 1(6): Keeping Sanikiluaq Arena Open for Longer Periods
I will try to be very clear, but you probably noticed that I have a tooth missing.
I had one removed this morning.
This is an issue that I have brought forward on more than one occasion in this House; it is in regards to the arena that we have in Sanikiluaq.
On January 13, we finally started using the arena for hockey and this lasts only to the end of March.
We get about two months worth of ice time at the arena.
I indicated earlier the arena opened on January 13 and it will close at the end of March.
I am honoured to mention that this morning a group of hockey players travelled to Inukjuaq, Northern Quebec for a hockey competition. It is called the Eastern Hudson Bay Cup that they are competing for.
My thoughts are with the Sanikiluaq league representatives.
It is unfortunate that we cannot use the arena longer than we do due to the weather.
I will keep the Sanikiluaq Hockey Team in mind.
I wish to extend my gratitude to Becky Crowe for travelling here for our children and offer my sincerest sympathy for her terminal illness.
Member’s Statement 405 – 1(6): Quebec City Spelling Competition
Mr. Speaker, I rise on the issue of Educational Achievement and Excellence and to pay tribute to an Iqaluit constituent success story.
Mr. Speaker, in April of this year Quebec City will host Dictate Merit, an internationally recognized Spelling Competition for young people.
Nunavut will be represented by one Iqaluit youth.
Ms. Kim Lamongtaigne.
Kim is an Iqaluit student and will be competing in the age 10 to 19 category.
Mr. Speaker, over 18 countries will be sending competitors to this event.
Mr. Speaker, youth with strong spelling skills develop their academic potential and express themselves more effectively in writing.
Mr. Speaker, we all know that the ability to write well is one of the foundations of a strong education.
Young people who can write well in any language are at a strong advantage.
Writing is also an avenue for creativity, self-expression, and self-confidence.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage our school students to support students involved in these kinds of events.
And I ask all Members to join me in wishing Kim good luck, and bonne chance.
Member’s Statement 406 – 1(6): Education System in Nunavut
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the issue of education.
I do not want to continue to berate the department of Education, but in order to represent my constituency I have to express their concerns.
More than one parent has told me that the standards of education have to be universal so that our children can continue their education.
As I stated earlier, I will be posing questions to the Minister of Education to the statement made earlier.
At the appropriate time, I will ask questions in regards to the high school Inuktitut curriculum and other options available in order to help our students.
Member’s Statement 407 – 1(6): Going Home for the Weekend
We give our support to the Member for Sanikiluaq.
I would like to say thank you to my wife Rosie, and our children, Lynn, Jen and Joseph and also Kevin in Broughton Island whom I keep mentioning.
In order to inform my constituents if the weather is good, I will be going up to Pangnirtung for the weekend.
I also know that my colleague over there on my left would like to go home also.
Member’s Statement 408 – 1(6): Promoting Arts and Crafts in Toronto
I made a Minister’s Statement about the Nunavut Development Corporation’s sales in Toronto to promote the sales of our arts and crafts.
There were 61 items that were purchased and 28 of them Nunavut made.
As I also stated earlier in my Minister’s Statement, we’re going to be promoting arts and crafts that are made in Nunavut.
There’s an individual who was born in Cape Dorset.
She now lives in Yellowknife and I grew up with her.
Her name is Goota Ashoona.
She is a young female and a very good carver.
Her carving brought up the highest bid.
It’s also a way of promoting and marketing to the world our Nunavut made arts and crafts.
We should be quite proud of this accomplishment.
Speaker: Are there any further Members' Statements?
If not, we’ll move onto Item 4, Returns to Oral Questions.
Today I would like to recognize an individual who I had recognized at prior sessions, Joavi Alivaqtaq and also on the right, James Alivaqtaq and Mathew, his son.
They are going to an outfitters conference in Toronto, the father and son team.
I wish them a good trip.
I would like to recognize a visitor sitting beside you, the big ulu.
Her name is Ms. Ulu Thompson.
She was made by my uncle, Mike Panikak and was sent to me last week because he knew that it was going to be a pretty rough week for me.
So it is a bigger ulu than everybody else in this building.
I thought I would let her sit beside you so you can use if the Members get out of hand.
Let’s just hope that we do not have to use it.
It is not very often that I recognize an individual from my riding but I would like to welcome one from Hall Beach, Sam Angugaatiaq and I am sure everybody recognizes him.
Another person here who is probably recognizable to residents of Cambridge Bay is sitting next to Sam.
He was originally from Cambridge Bay but has been living in Igloolik and Hall Beach for many years, Jack Hanujaq.
Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize a couple of individuals.
The first one is Mr. Jean-Francois Delaurier, who is a northern representative on the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
I am sure Mr. Delaurier recognizes a lot of Members who are here, especially the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Human Resources who he has had a good working relationship with over the last few years.
Also, an individual who was here yesterday and recognized by Mr. Picco and I would also like to recognize him, Mr. Rick Lefebvre here from First Air.
Item 5. Mr. Picco.
Mr. Speaker, very similar to Mr. Tootoo, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome to the gallery a couple of different people.
First of all, I join with the Member of the Legislative Assembly from Amittuq in welcome Mr. Sam Angugaaqtiaq and Mr. Jack Hanujaq from Hall Beach to the gallery.
I would also like to welcome Mr. Jean-Francois Delaurier, RVP for the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
Mr. Delaurier and I had the opportunity several times many years ago when I was the president of the union to have meetings and so on.
I know he’s very interested in the north.
I have been invited on Friday, I believe, to meet with some people who will be here from the Public Service Alliance of Canada and then the question is Mr. Speaker, if Nunavut receives enough money for health care in Nunavut.
So I would be interested in joining that debate if time allows during the session.
With that, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question 399 – 1(6): Placing Children in Specialized Care within Nunavut
Mr. Speaker, I made a reference to the issue of foster children earlier during my Members’ Statement.
I know that the Minister of Health and Social Services, we have exchanged a lot of correspondence over the years and had more than one meeting on behalf of the people in my riding, both in relation to foster children and young offenders.
I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services a question regarding individuals who are removed from Nunavut to be placed in a facility or institution to receive specialized care and while they are institutionalized, their parents are not able to go see them.
So, I would like to ask the Minister what you are doing in order to place these individuals within Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, first of all let me say that as the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Member has continually brought forward letters, concerns, and emails.
I had an opportunity to represented Gjoa Haven with him and I would say to you in all seriousness and honesty that the Member is a fantastic advocate to the issues for his constituencies of Taloyoak and Gjoa Haven.
Mr. Speaker, in answer to the Member’s question, the Department of Health and Social Services feels, as do the Members of this House, that far too many children are in programs and treatment centers outside of the Territory.
Right now, the latest numbers that I have as of this week, we had approximately 28 children in placements outside of Nunavut.
Now, Mr. Speaker, when we say placement outside of Nunavut, we mean in foster homes, long-term care, children’s group homes, and in some cases, the treatment facility for behavioural problems.
In most cases, Mr. Speaker, we do not have the resources here in Nunavut to take care of those children.
And that is one of the aims of the Department to repatriate or bring back as many children as we can and have them closer to home.
There are specific instances that the Member is talking about being addressed.
Mr. Speaker, I guess the short answer is, is that there are only 28, but that is still 28 too many.
And I would also like to thank the Minster for looking at possibilities.
But, for the children and their parents, when they are separated and when the parents and the children are separated, it creates an emotional instability for the child and also for the parents.
Usually, the separation is initiated by the social worker and at times, the parent says that, I am not going to do this again.
So, I would like to ask the Minister if we can repatriate those children and send them back to their parents if it is requested, instead of putting them through hardships.
Mr. Speaker, there are three basic ways that children are put into placements.
Mr. Speaker, the first is a clinical placement and that is where the health officials, the nurses, the doctors feel that the child is better cared for in the facility and that child may have multiple handicaps that require specialized care.
The second way that the child is put into a facility, Mr. Speaker, is by referral from social services.
In those cases, Mr. Speaker, there may be a concern for the child, the way the care is being given.
And those types of situations are not lightly made.
The third of type of placements can be done by the parents themselves when they have not got the ability to be able to care for the child and they bring the child for placement.
As the Member indicated just now, one of the things we are trying to do is repatriate more children.
We have a limited number of children group homes available and we are very limited when specialized care is needed.
That is one of the things that we are looking at now; it is under review in the department.
Hopefully, we will be able to make a move on that in this fiscal term.
I will also add, Mr. Speaker that the care of the child is first and foremost.
That we want to make sure that the child is taken care of first and foremost and we do that in cooperation with the parents in most cases.
In some cases where there has been a concern raised by social services, that is a different issue.
Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, it may be done under the statutory obligations, but the Member is correct.
Where possible, we have tried to repatriate the child, but we do not want to go and take a child out of the facility and bring them home and not have the resources to take care of that child.
That is basically why we have not been able to keep them here in the beginning and refer them out.
In his Minister’s Statement, he stated an announcement of a Youth Action Plan for Nunavut.
In Nunavut, some kids are sent outside for treatment or care.
I have heard of some cases where there was some mistreatment of children and there is a Foster Home Treatment Centre that I am referring to.
Is the Minister aware of this institution, and whether he has inspected that institution?
Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the foster home.
It is one of the facilities that we refer children to, in those situations that we had just talked about, the clinical referral, indeed the parental referral or a social services referral.
Mr. Speaker, I have not been to the foster home; I have been contacted by the Member on a couple of issues surrounding the foster home.
They are operating in another jurisdiction and it is my understanding from the last correspondence which arrived this week, that a review was done by that agency there and that everything seems to be in the very best way at that home.
So, we can be assured that children at that home are being taken care of based on the standards that are in place.
Second of all, Mr. Speaker, any facility that we refer children to, has to meet the standards and has to be up to licensure and had to have official status to be able to take the children.
And again, proportionally and statistically, they send a number of children out of Nunavut.
The number of children who are actually in care outside of the Territory is very, very low, very miniscule.
Like I said earlier, there are only 28 children in all of Nunavut at the present time.
Final Supplementary. Mr. Puqiqnak.
He said that he has not been to the foster homes.
There are some children from my riding in the homes and I have heard that some children in the home are not getting the proper treatment.
I have heard from parents, grandparents and the community that it is not a good care facility for children because they have no life skills training for the children.
I would like to ask the Minister if you go to see that place if I could accompany you.
Mr. Speaker, I think I’ve seen an increase in my travel budget for this fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Member has made a good point. I wanted to go back to the repatriation issue, Mr. Speaker.
One of the good things that the Premier has brought forward is the support for non-decentralized communities and that’s smaller communities.
The St. Theresa’s Home in Chesterfield, which is still operating right now with for example, children who need special care, we would hope that in the next nine to twelve months, we will have new facility and the space to be able to repatriate more children in Nunavut.
So that’s one thing to look forward to.
I will commit to the Member, that I will endeavour to visit foster homes and I would invite the Member and the Members from the Standing Committee on Health to be with me and join with me to see that facility like we have done when we went to the Lena Peterson Home and indeed the Larga Home.
So, I would make that commitment to the Member.
Question 400 – 1(6): Matching Funds for a New Community Hall
In my Members' Statement, I will just follow along the lines from my questioning to the Community Government and Transportation Minister.
When we first were elected, this can still apply today.
When things take precedence, we can follow them here in the House.
I know in Cambridge Bay, when they brought up the budget, we were allowed assistance.
This is about matching funds when they have funds raised.
So, that’s my question to the Minister.
Is she able to match funds?
Speaker: Minister. Thompson.
He’s probably referring to the community hall.
He didn’t say so.
He thinks I can read his mind.
The mayor and his staff of Igloolik and residents of Igloolik and the Member, we agreed that we’d have discussions regarding the community hall for Igloolik.
So we will initiated discussions.
Of course we don’t know exactly what the cost would be for the complex because this is in the very initial stages.
We all know that this is a capital expenditure and I expect that Igloolik residents will be able to raise $200 thousand dollars through fund raising.
If they were to raise that much, then what percent can her department match?
One community hall, if we were to think of its completion, it would cost $1 million 255 thousand dollars, for the project.
We don’t know how much Igloolik is expected to raise for us to pump money into the project.
But it is something that the community has really fought for and it is their obligation to raise funds before we initiate putting some funds into the project.
As I said, this is in the very initial stages but Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to say to the residents of Igloolik and the Member that we will work hard to ensure that the wishes of the community are met.
Once we have a better idea, we’ll let him know because there’s nothing on paper yet because it is in the very initial stages of planning.
I don’t really know how to explain but because it’s in the very initial stages of planning and we were in agreement at the meeting with the Minister that we would start dialogue, has the Minister directed her staff to start planning for the design of this complex?
Has she directed her staff?
The elders of Igloolik were going to be interviewed as to what their wishes were and what traditional values they would want incorporated in this project.
I have not even been able to commit funds from the department into the project but I directed staff in Cape Dorset to start planning.
We have directed a staff person to undertake the project and we will ensure that the wishes of the residents of Igloolik will be put into account when we’re discussing the design.  We’re going to start looking at what the estimates would be to build such a complex.
Question 401 – 1(5): Education System in Nunavut – Completing Grade 12
Like I said earlier, I will direct my questions to the Minister of Education.
As I stated regarding the concerns about the education system in Nunavut, things take time when we want to do it right but from his statement he said that this committee will be set up for the high school options committee within Nunavut and it will consist of educators from Nunavut.
What are the terms of reference for this committee and how can you know that this committee will be objective enough because they’re already within the schools?
Every year there are two different committees set up within the Department of Education.
We base them on the grades from kindergarten to grade 6 and then grade 7 to grade 12.
The terms of reference for this committee will be how the high school programs can be improved within the communities by incorporating the wishes of each community Member.
As well, we’d also like to get a better idea from the parents as well as teachers as to how much more involved they can be in the decision making of the high school curriculum.
My question for the Minister is the Minister aware that in the smaller communities, students who complete grade 12 sometimes don’t really pass that grade even though they have passed that grade on paper.
I didn’t seem to hear a question in there.
Could you please clarify whether that was a question or a comment?
I’m trying to ask him, in the smaller communities once they have completed grade 12, they don’t have the same level of grade 12 as someone in Edmonton would have.
That’s what they’re going to find anyways from this committee.
And that’s common knowledge already.
What is the Minister expecting from this committee?
What is the expected outcome once the teachers have actually reviewed themselves?
The students in Nunavut who complete high school, I’d like to state Mr. Speaker, we don’t make it easy for them to complete grade 12.
Whoever completes grade 12 has the same exams as those in Alberta.
That is a requirement that every student who completes grade 12 must pass this Alberta exam in order to get their high school diploma.
Because of the concerns that were forthcoming, we have set up this committee to try and find out what concerns there are out there, what improvement need to be made.
What he’s saying is very clear.
Because of the language differences and dialect differences, some of us have children who have completed high school and who really don’t have the levels that they should have.
No matter how hard they try sometimes, the attendance in high school is lacking and sometimes they can’t enter college level, because they don’t have the adequate credits from high school.
My question was, what other outcome is he expecting because what are we expecting that is different from what we already know anyway?
We hear different things within the House.
Yesterday, we had questions regarding the drop outs and there was a call to have a review done as to why there is such a high drop out rate.
Yes, we know that, so, what we have started with this High School Options Committee, it is something new, but we will come up with recommendations at the end of the month.
We are going to interview students, teachers and parents.