EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
With the mention of community freezers, I know there were other MLAs that brought the question up as well as a concern in terms of providing traditional and country food in the community and having people within the community provide not the traditional labour force but filling up the freezers.
Is one of the considerations in the rollout of the community freezers… ? Is it specifically freezers alone or are communities going to be able to apply for a community freezer with the addition of a meat processing plant as well?
As I indicated to my colleague from the Kitikmeot the other day, for an application process, we’re going to be reviewing the applications for community freezers, not necessarily for meat plants.
I also indicated that we’re considering inter-settlement trade of country foods. By way of doing that, it’s going to be more or less a non-commercial entity, a non-commercial meat plant.
For a commercial meat plant, you do need federal inspectors to approve the product being sold to other jurisdictions.
For this, we’re looking at inter-settlement trade and specifically for community freezers, not necessarily meat plants.
Going to our orders of the day. (interpretation ends) Item 7. (interpretation) Written Questions. (interpretation ends) Item 8. (interpretation) Returns to Written Questions. (interpretation ends) Item 9. (interpretation) Replies to Opening Address. (interpretation ends) Item 10. (interpretation) Replies to Budget Address. (interpretation ends) Item 11. (interpretation) Petitions. (interpretation ends) Item 12. (interpretation) Responses to Petitions. (interpretation ends) Item 13. (interpretation) Reports of Standing and Special Committees on Bills and Other Matters. (interpretation ends) Item 14. (interpretation) Tabling of Documents.
Tabled Document 020 – 3(3): Department of Fisheries and Oceans Total Allowable Harvest Recommendations for Nunavut Narwhal and Beluga Populations (Elliott)
I wish to table a copy of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ central and arctic region total allowable harvest recommendations for Nunavut’s narwhal and beluga populations.
Mr. Speaker, this is the document and research that is being used to support the federal government’s recommendation to change the number of whales our constituents are allowed to hunt. I encourage all members to view this document.
There being none. (interpretation ends) Item 15. (interpretation) Notices of Motions.
Motion 002 – 3(3): Referral of Tabled Documents 248 – 3(2), 249 – 3(2), 251 – 3(2), 274 – 3(2), 275 – 3(2) – Notice (Elliott)
I give notice that on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, I will move the following motion:
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Hon. Member for South Baffin, that Tabled Document 248 – 3(2), Government of Nunavut 2009-2010 Contract Activity Report; Tabled Document 249 – 3(2), Government of Nunavut 2009-2010 Lease Activity Report; Tabled Document 251 – 3(2), Government of Nunavut 2009-2010 Procurement Activity Report; Tabled Document 274 – 3(2), Qulliq Energy Corporation 2008-2009 Lease, Contract and Procurement Activity Report; and Tabled Document 275 – 3(2), Qulliq Energy Corporation 2009-2010 Lease, Contract and Procurement Activity Report be referred to the Committee of the Whole for concurrent consideration.
Speaker (interpretation): Notices of Motions. (interpretation ends) Item 16. (interpretation) Notices of Motions for First Reading of Bills. (interpretation ends) Item 17. (interpretation) Motions. (interpretation ends) Item 18. (interpretation) First Reading of Bills. (interpretation ends) Item 19. (interpretation) Second Reading of Bills. (interpretation ends) Item 20. (interpretation) Consideration in Committee of the While of Bills and Other Matters.
Bills 1, 4, and 5 with the Member for Nanulik in the Chair.
>>House recessed at 14:51 and Committee resumed at 15:18
Chairman (Mr. Ningeongan) (interpretation): Good afternoon.
I would like to call the committee meeting to order. (interpretation ends) In Committee of the Whole, we have the following items to deal with: Bills 1, 4, and 5.
We wish to continue with the Department of Education and, if time permits, we shall move on to Community and Government Services.
Are we agreed to continue with the O&M budget for the Department of Education?
Are we in agreement that Minister Tootoo and his staff can go to the witness table?
For the record, Minister Tootoo, if you can, perhaps, introduce your officials.
I hope you all had a good weekend.
Again I would like to welcome my officials here. To my left is Ms. Kathy Okpik, she’s the Deputy Minister of the Department of Education, and to my right is Mr. David Pealow, who is the Controller of School Operations.
Thank you to your officials. (interpretation) Welcome. (interpretation ends) We were on page G-6 and taking questions on page G-6.
Corporate Services for the Department of Education.
I wanted to ask a couple of questions about the new website in terms of what was happening with the student financial assistance for Nunavut. I know that the department has worked on the new website.
I’m just wondering: are applications available online on the website?
It’s my understanding that you can go onto the website and see an application, and there is contact information there for individuals to get a hold of for the applications.
Right now, as of yet, the applications themselves are not available on the website.
Your second question, Mr. Elliott.
On Friday, Ms. Ugyuk was asking questions about the new student information system.
In standing committee meetings, we had been given an update on the T5 Solution. I think that’s what the program that they use for income support is called.
I’m just wondering: is this new student information system the same as what the health department or Health and Social Services is doing, where they sort of piggyback and layer the system so that it works together and functions together?
Do the two systems work in tandem to track information in terms of students who are in school and then possibly when they finish school, whether they’re out in the community on social assistance or they have gotten a job or gone on to further education or post-secondary education?
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Elliott, for your second question.
The student information [system] is a standalone system just to be able to provide all of the information on students from when they enter the school to when they leave the school, and that’s it. So right now, they’re not looking at trying to integrate it with any other system.
I don’t have any other names.
I wish to welcome the minister and his officials as I am glad to see you again.
Since you are at the witness table, I know that this is due to the review of the bill and also to answer questions. It is prudent to ask questions.
I want to ask about attendance and late arrivals. Some students either arrive late or not at all.
I believe that it states in the main estimates, Mr. Chairman, that there is an information system that will keep all of the attendance records for all schools, especially to determine the students who arrive late and those who attend regularly.
When can we expect this system to be available? When can we expect to see this implemented? When can we expect to see the system operational?
Once the system has been implemented and if we want information on which school has the best attendance or if we want to identify a school that has truancy issues or other reasons, when would this program be made available?
That is the question I wanted to ask the witnesses, Mr. Chairman.
The pilot phase of the project of the student information system will be in the 2011-12 year and hopefully, if things go well, we will have full implementation in the 2012-13 year.
I want to raise this question, although one of my colleagues may have already asked about this matter.
It is with respect to the Auditor General’s 2007 report, where she identifies the particulars related to the Nunavut Student Financial Assistance program. It states that the program requires a review. Have the Auditor General’s recommendations for this program been undertaken?
There was speculation that there was room for improvement. Has the student financial assistance program been reviewed or has a work plan to implement the recommendations been laid out? Is this still under development?
I would like that matter clarified, Mr. Chairman.
I believe on Friday, we had indicated that the work plan is being implemented and we would get back by formal letter to the members as to the exact status of the implementation.
If it’s alright with you, Mr. Chairman, I would like to recognize (interpretation ends) my wife, Celine, (interpretation) who is sitting over there in the Gallery.
Welcome, Celine.
I have no more names on my list. (interpretation ends) Education.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $2,739,000.
Chairman: Branch Summary on G-7.
Your department’s daycare grants and contributions budget supports community daycare operations and training for staff. Are there currently adequate child care spaces and programs in all Nunavut communities?
I think the very quick and easy answer to that is no, there isn’t.
I believe there are somewhere between 200 and 300 people on the waiting list just here in Iqaluit alone to get onto the waiting list to get into a licensed child care facility.
I believe, Nunavut-wide, there are probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of 900 people on various waiting lists and I can break it down; 404 of those are infants, 389 are preschool, and 113 of those are school aged children.
I believe I indicated last week that we are still committed to anywhere we’re looking at new infrastructure in a community or renovations we’re looking at including and incorporating child care spaces in those new facilities or within those projects.
How many communities in Nunavut at present do not have any daycares at all?
I just wanted to make sure I got my numbers right.
Mr. Chairman, it’s my understanding that there is only one community in Nunavut that doesn’t have a facility in it and that’s Igloolik.
I think there are four or five other communities that do have facilities in them right now but they are not operating.
You say there are 900 Nunavut-wide waiting to get into the daycare system.
What efforts is your department doing in order to accommodate more children in daycares?
The department has encouraged community groups. For example, I mentioned Igloolik as the only place without a facility. So we have staff in the department there working with individuals and organizations in the community to try and help them identify funds to get going.
What we do have right now through the department is O&M program contributions to pay for their operations and maintenance costs. There are some start-up dollars, some health and safety dollars, some administration dollars, and eligible participant dollars that are available through O&M.
There are various O&M programs that support child care facilities in the communities.
In your business plan, it indicates that one of your priorities for 2012-13 will be to review the Child Day Care Act.
What will this review focus on?
As I indicated last week and hopefully I’m indicated the same this week, the major focus of the review of the Act is to make sure that it is compliant with the Inuit Language Protection Act.
Under the new Education Act, DEAs also have certain responsibilities for early childhood education programs in the communities.
To date, how many DEAs have initiated early childhood programs and in which communities?
It’s my understanding right now, with this new funding that’s available to the district education authorities to utilize for early childhood programs that promote language and culture, there are two communities right now that we have received proposals from.
I believe information and packages were sent out to all of the district education authorities.
It’s a proposal-based selection right now and we have only received two.
Do you have any idea which two communities did submit their proposals or you don’t have this information at this time?
I don’t have that information available at this time, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get it for the member before the end of the day.
Under the Branch Summary of Early Childhood Services, in your response to Hon. Rumbolt, you stated that there are a number of communities that have facilities for daycare but are not operating.
So why aren’t they operating?
Is there a budget shortfall or no staffing?
There could a number of different issues that result in that.
It could range anywhere from staffing to financial problems to having a board or organization set up and established in good standing to be able to run it. So it’s a mix of different circumstances in each case.
I wanted to concentrate on the career side of the department in terms of specifically the training that was going on with the career development officers.
I was wondering if we could get an update as to how that was rolling out.
I know that two courses were held in November here in Iqaluit and there are going to be courses held on, I think, the 15th to the 17th in Baker Lake. Also, they will be looking at expanded training for other staff in the Department of Education being considered to occur throughout the 2010-11 year.
I’m just wondering: is your department experiencing any trouble with retention of career development officers across the territory?
I’m sure that the Department of Education is not immune to some of the challenges in turnover that are apparent throughout the government.
So in certain cases, we do have challenges trying to retain staff, but we take all of our efforts to try and ensure that when a position does become vacant, we try and fill it as quickly as possible.
I seem to remember, with the career development officer training that was going on, it was hoped to have some type of affiliation with Nunavut Arctic College in terms of qualifications.
Is this the way the department is going or is there some type of affiliation with the training?
Right now, we are working with the Canadian Career Council Development Foundation on identifying those things and also, we are continuing to work with Nunavut Arctic College.
One of the concerns or questions is in terms of program delivery in different communities.
Is there sort of a regulation as to how many community visits that a community would receive from a career development officer in a given year?
There’s nothing that defines how many times per community a career development officer has to visit.
What we strive for or attempt to try to get is a minimum of three visits per community per year.
Again, Mr. Chairman, that depends on as long as we have a career development officer in the capacity.
There are some communities or some regions that aren’t fully staffed with career development officers, so sometimes we are unable to meet the three visits per year to each community as a result of that.
I would like to think that that’s what I was sort of trying to get at in terms of the ability of career development officers to actually get to the communities.
It’s hard because of the distance that they have to travel, and then with problems with retention and in turnover, sometimes communities sort of fall through the cracks.
Again I don’t want to be taken as saying that they are not giving good service because I know it’s hard in terms of… . I kind of deal with some of them on a regular basis and with the resources they have and the people in the office, like you had said, it’s hard to provide services to all of the communities.
Has there been any thought given in terms of how to help the career development officers do their jobs better, whether it’s an affiliation with the income support workers to provide… ?
One of the things that we were told by the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services was sort of a laddering approach for nursing and CHRs. Is there some type of training or partnering with that or possibly the GLOs?
I’m just wondering: has your department been thinking about that or looking at that?
There are pretty different deliverables in each of those areas.
Career development officers work in that area; income support officers are a completely different thing.
Right now, we’re not looking at combining any of those duties.
As new programs or positions roll out, there is the option of taking a look to see if there can be efficiencies in service as things roll out, but at this point in time right now, we are not.
In terms of social assistance contributions, I think the Minister of Finance announced there was an increase of dollars going to this division to actually pass on, I think, about a 10 percent increase in social assistance.
I’m just wondering: with all of the work that you’re doing with the Anti-Poverty Strategy, is this one area of real concentration for your department, along with ED&T, to see what options can be provided for people in the communities who are on social assistance?
In talking to people about the increase, a lot of people are happy and are thankful to get more dollars in their pockets to be able to buy food and clothing.
At the same time, some people are saying, “Well, what are we doing to actually allow those people to go to school or get a better education and get off of social assistance instead of continuing to rely on it?”
And I figured, if you could explain how your department is working with ED&T and (inaudible) as a regular member, this would be a huge area that you would want to concentrate on to get those people off social assistance so that they’re contributing to the community and the economy aspect of it and helping out.
Through the Income Support Program, there are different things in there where we try to encourage individuals to either try to gain meaningful employment or enter into training that would allow and lead them to gain meaningful employment.
So those mechanisms are there.
I know that we do our best to ensure that income support clients are aware of those options that are made available to them, if they choose to pursue it, and we certainly encourage those individuals that the opportunity is there and encourage them to either look at gaining meaningful employment or obtaining the training to gain meaningful employment.
Again, one of the things I really don’t want to have happen is people misunderstand what I’m actually saying or what I’m trying to get across.
I know a lot of people in my two communities who are on social assistance and they do provide meaningfully to the community and it goes along with the discussion that I think the Department of Education had for quite a few years in terms of what’s meaningful work.
With all of the talk of the Anti-Poverty Strategy and having people go out on the land and fill those community freezers with country food to be able to provide for the community, to me, that’s the idea of a productive choice, which I know the program already is being offered.
I know that there is a lot of people in my communities, in Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay, and Arctic Bay, if given the opportunity with being provided with gas, oil, and food to go out on the land, they would much prefer going out on the land and being able to still provide for their family with the regular social assistance, but at the same time, come back with a bountiful harvest of country food to be able to share with the community, and then feel that pride in who they are and what they’re doing, and being able to provide and help out the community as a whole.
A lot of that goes on now and sometimes it ends up being the wage earners who help subsidize that.
It’s maybe more of a comment or more of a question or ideas from your department to see how we can make that work in terms of making the Anti-Poverty Strategy work.
I know that Mr. Elliott said what he believes in and is pushing for, and I would like to assure him that this government does as well.
Having said that, Mr. Chairman, the Department of Economic Development and Transportation has a lead role in that and they have already committed to a public engagement process.
We feel that we should wait until that public engagement process is concluded and the comments and ideas, which I’m sure there’s an idea just like the one that the member talked about would be included in there, from the communities are analyzed by the working group before we make any changes to any of the programs.
I have no more names for G-7. Branch Summary.
In your business plan under (interpretation ends) Apprenticeship Program Delivery, (interpretation) is it for students who wish to go through the apprenticeship program or trades and occupational programs?
Further, it speaks about encouraging the private sector, such as stores and private businesses, to provide support for this initiative.
The Department of Education wants to increase the budget in the amount of $103,000 for the (interpretation ends) apprenticeship program delivery.
(interpretation) Mr. Chairman, can I get some information as to why the amount is going to be increased?
Is it because the number of apprenticeship students will be increased or are you increasing the budget for the apprenticeship program?
There was an increase in the uptake of the program in the Kitikmeot region, so that’s where the increase is.
There have been more people taking advantage of the program, a bigger demand or draw on it, so the additional resources were allocated to meet that demand.
Since this increase is for the Kitikmeot, can you clarify why more students wish to enter the apprenticeship program in the Kitikmeot than the Kivalliq and Baffin regions?
I would like to see the reasoning why this increase seems only specified for the Kitikmeot, Mr. Chairman.
It’s my understanding that the delivery of this program is done on a regional basis.
I think it was the Kitikmeot region that had identified the increased demand and the need for the dollars.
So that’s a request that comes out of the regional office for that based on the request that they are getting.
G-7. Branch Summary.
Minister Tootoo, you want to ask a question?
Hon. Hunter Tootoo: Oh, do I ever.
Mr. Chairman, I just want to clarify before I move on from this stage a question that was just asked a little while ago by, I believe, Mr. Rumbolt on the number of proposals that we received.
My eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be and I mistook a five for a two. So there are five applications that have been received for the Early Childhood Education Program funding from Igloolik, Iqaluit, Kugluktuk, Apex, and Hall Beach.
I just wanted to clarify that for the record.
Perhaps Ms. Okpik will lend you her glasses.
Branch Summary. Education.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $45,358,000.
Chairman: Page G-8.
K-12 School Operations.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $141,832,000.
With regard to the new Education Act and the new Inuit Language Protection Act, what specific progress was made in 2010-11 towards meeting the requirements in all Nunavut schools?
I think, as I have indicated a number of times, the main thing that we have been doing this year is providing in-service training to staff and district education authorities in the communities to ensure that they are aware of what additional roles and responsibilities they have.
There has also been a lot of work on regulation development, which is something I believe I spoke to the other day, at the request of the communities. It’s taking longer than we had initially set as a target. So a lot of it is that type of work that has been going on over the last year or so.
Will your department be able to meet the timeline set out in legislation?
Other than the revised timeline for regulations to get those done, our goal is still to meet the timelines.
One of your department’s ongoing priorities has been to develop and implement policies with respect to such things as attendance, discipline, and school completion.
What progress has been made to date in finalizing and implementing such policies?
I just caught the attendance. What were the other two areas that the member indicated?
It was attendance, discipline, and school completion.