EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
AND WHEREAS search and rescue organizations have an invaluable role to play in fostering safe and healthy communities;
AND WHEREAS volunteer search and rescue organizations across the territory are critically under-funded;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin Inlet North, that the Legislative Assembly recommend that the Government of Nunavut bring forward a Supplementary Appropriation Act during the spring sitting of the House to reallocate the $500,000 that has been deleted from the 2005/06 main estimates of the Department of Community and Government Services; and that the funding be primarily directed toward contributions to community-based search and rescue organizations for local priorities.
When a loved one is lost on the land, it’s hard for communities to hold their collective breath as members of volunteer search and rescue organizations mobilize the community to begin the search.
Mr. Speaker, volunteer search and rescues are prominent and well-funded.
I can only imagine the cost of the two-week training exercise includes search and rescue training, which will be held in Nunavut in April.
In comparison, our local search and rescue organizations operate on a shoestring budget.
Mr. Speaker, members of local search and rescue organizations take personal risks every time they go out in a harsh environment to look for a lost, stranded or possibly injured person.
Often people use their personal equipment for the searches.
Mr. Speaker, the first stories of our local organizations losing valuable search time when they have to borrow equipment.
Mr. Speaker, in my communities, reference to business that donate money and in-kind contributions to support our local search and rescue groups.
Mr. Speaker, $500,000 is not a lot of money when it’s divided by the number of search and rescue organizations in Nunavut.
However, it will be a help for those organizations to work towards their current goals.
I am sure, to some of the organizations, the new equipment will obviously be invested in training.
I don’t think that hands should be tied when choosing how to spend this money.
Mr. Speaker, it all comes down to my first saying: ‘If someone is lost, they are not faceless names; they have friends and families.’
People searching for them are friends and families.
For that reason, I ask all members to support me in this motion.
As seconder to the motion, Mr. Curley.
As we mentioned before, we stated that a lot of search and rescue organizations are not supported enough and they organize themselves in the community whether it’s summer, winter, it doesn’t matter what time of the day.
Those committees go through a hard time and we know the military and RCMP but in the Kivalliq Region during searches they don’t go down too often but they do in the Eastern Arctic.
For that reason, that $500 thousand that we deleted from Community and Government Services maybe they’ll be able to meet together and give advice to each other.
I would like to tell the communities that starting now please lobby your government, ask your government because the members on this side are in full support of this and those volunteers, we like to recognize you because you work very hard, whether it’s the middle of the night and a lot of times, right in the middle of winter.
When it’s very cold, you risk your own life and the government would like to recognize you and compliment you and we want them more organized, have proper training, not just by Southern standards because they cannot be up here.
They have a lot of knowledge and they should meet and exchange their knowledge.
I urge the members to support the motion.
I am in support of this motion Mr. Speaker.
When you come from a smaller community, when you have to search and rescue hunters, it becomes very challenging and difficult, especially when the weather is so cold in the winter time, especially when the younger people go hunting and when their snowmobiles break down, it becomes really difficult to look for them.
The search and rescue teams are really concerned and they don’t know what to expect when they find an individual.
Some search and rescue have to go look for the individuals prior to the actual search and rescue team coming and this needs to be funded and at times the hunters lack funding to do their search and rescue.
So, therefore I am in support of this motion.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Comments to the motion.
This motion is serious and it means that the hunting equipment that we have is outdated.
In Arviat there is a lot of search and rescue happening all the time and I’ve been talking with Mr. Kilabuk in regards to the search and rescue for the youth who have gone out hunting.
The reason why I’m supporting this is because we need to update the equipment of search and rescue teams.
Their outboard motors have been effected by the bad gasoline, so therefore I am urging all the members to support this motion because the search and rescue are lacking funding all the time and they definitely need their support.
They’ve never been given any form of assistance or support and they only have to do their fund raising to do their work and I know that the members are in support of this and if this motion passes, I will be very pleased because even though $500 thousand is limited, at least we’ll give them some expectation.
Mr. Speaker, I too am in support of this motion and I urge all the members to support this motion.
For too many years I have been working with the search and rescue team and we always lack funding in my community.
The search and rescue have to use their own equipment.
Even if their snowmobiles break down they’re not going to be compensated.
Search and rescue teams have saved many lives in all of the communities, and we don’t recognize them and we don’t acknowledge them enough and they are not lazy to go out and search and rescue and they are just willing to go out and do their job in order to save the lives other hunters that need to be looked for.
Yes, I am urging all of the members to support this motion to reallocate this funding to search and rescue.
We will ask the mover of the motion if he has final comments to the motion.
I thank my fellow colleagues for speaking so eloquently in support of the search and rescue organizations across Nunavut.
I think this would be very much appreciated by the search and rescue organizations in our communities and make our communities much safer.
We have to keep in mind that, as legislators we always want to improve the lives of our communities, our families, our friends and neighbours, and also visitors to the north.
We get many visitors to the north who we have to rescue.
They don’t understand how harsh it could be sometimes.
So I appreciate my colleagues speaking up, and I look forward to all of the members supporting this motion while we vote on it, and furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded vote.
All those in favour of the motion please rise.
Mr. Arreak
All those opposed to the motion.
All those abstained.
Mr. Curley: Mr. Speaker, there was no indication of which way the cabinet voted; did it not abstain, did it not oppose the vote?
I don’t believe there’s any other voting category.
All those who abstain please rise.
Ms. Brown
Motion 016 – 2(2): Reinstatement of Private Accommodation Rate under NIHB
WHEREAS ensuring high quality health care for Nunavummiut is a priority for all members of this Legislative Assembly;
AND WHEREAS the non-commercial private accommodation rate for parents or escorts staying in private homes when traveling for medical treatment was reduced in October 2004;
AND WHEREAS the Government of Nunavut’s own collective agreement with the Nunavut Employees' Union recognizes the high cost of living in Nunavut by providing for a higher rate to be paid in cases where employees stay in private accommodations while on duty travel;
NOW THERE I MOVE seconded by the Honorable Member for Quttituq that the Legislative Assembly call on the Government of Nunavut to make every effort to lobby the Federal Government for the immediate reinstatement of the private accommodation rate provided under the non-insured health benefits program immediately, prior to October 2004.
The Seconder of the motion.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to publicly thank the Minister Responsible for Health and Social Services and her staff for being open to many suggestions brought forward by Members of this House with respect to her department’s Client Travel Policy for Nunavut residents who are traveling for medical care and treatment.
Mr. Speaker, this openness shows a genuine concern for the well-being of Nunavummiut.
Mr. Speaker, the motion before us today is not one which will change the world.
It is simply one that recognizes the contribution of private citizens and seeks to have them fairly compensated.
Mr. Speaker, one of the realities of health service delivery in Nunavut is that people from the outlying communities cannot always get the necessary medical services at home.
They have to travel to a larger centre where the appropriate equipment or personnel are located in order to have their tests or treatment.
When the boarding homes are full, as they so often are, patients and their escorts have the opportunity to be billeted with relatives until they return home.
In return for providing a bed and food and sometimes even local transportation to medical clients from out-of-town, billets are entitled to a payment.
Their support is greatly appreciated as our government does not have the necessary infrastructure to provide such a service.
Mr. Speaker, the people providing billets are not professional hotel operators.
They are not operating commercial bed-and-breakfasts.
They are hard-working folks, like you and me, Mr. Speaker, who are opening the doors of their personal homes to meet a need.
And, in many cases, our health care system relies on their ability to provide this accommodation.
According to the Department of Health and Social Services’ Client Travel Policy, the amount of that payment should be the same as the private accommodation rate paid by the Government of Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, again as my former colleague from Baker Lake would say, it is no secret that the cost of living in Nunavut is higher than almost anywhere else in Canada.
The Government of Nunavut’s Collective Agreement clearly recognizes that fact and explicitly allows for a Nunavut rate that is consistent with the high costs of living, or at least with the high costs of providing adequate room and board, in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Nunavut’s Collective Agreement sets a rate for private accommodation outside of Nunavut and it states that this rate will be adjusted as federal rates are changed.
I find it ironic, Mr. Speaker, that according to our Minister of Health and Social Services, Health Canada reduced the amount paid for private, non-commercial billeting services in Nunavut, to “bring the rates more in line with the rest of Canada”.
Mr. Speaker, it is clearly unfair that when the cost of food and the cost of shelter and the overall costs of living in Nunavut are not “in line” with the rest of Canada, that the amounts paid to individuals for providing food and shelter in Nunavut should be reduced to southern levels.
The current policy takes an unfair advantage of those members of our society who provides much needed service.
I urge all members to support this motion to reinstate the amounts to Nunavut appropriate levels.
As mentioned earlier, this motion won’t change the world but it will restore fairness to those who live in a small corner of that world.
Speaker (interpretation): The seconder to the motion.
I would also like to thank the minister for listening to the concerns.
I am sure that we are all aware, and for those of us who come down to Iqaluit from the outlying communities, if you look at the Boarding Home it is always overcrowded.
The homes are very friendly and the patients are very well taken care of.
Usually those people who open their doors have children.
They use their own money to buy the food for their family and for their billets.
If you look at the Boarding Homes they are used on a daily basis.
Some of the medical patients usually have to stay at the hotel.
For those reasons I fully support this motion.
Question has been called. All in favour of the motion.
Tabled Document 52-2(2), Bill 8, Bill 9, Bill 10, Bill 11, Bill 12, Bill 13 and Bill 14, with Mr. Evygotailak on the chair.
In accordance with the authority vested in me by Motion 3-2(2), the Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out.
We’ll take a lunch and resume at 1:30.
>>House recessed at 12:23 and resumed at 13:34
Chairman (Mr. Evyagotailak): I would like to call the committee meeting to order.
In the Committee of the Whole we have the following items to deal with: Tabled Document 52-2(2), Bill 8, Bill 9, Bill 10, Bill 11, Bill 12, Bill 13 and Bill 14
We wish to continue with Bill 8 and review concurrently the main estimates for the Department of Human Resources, Tabled document 52-2(2) and the appropriate hansard.
If time permits, we will commence the review of the main estimates for the Department of Environment.
Chairman: Do we agree that we deal Human Resources and Tabled Document 52-2(2).
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Tapardjuk.
Please return to the witness table.
We invite your officials to join you. (interpretation ends): Minister Tapardjuk, for the record please introduce your officials.
On my right is Tom Thompson, the Assistant Deputy Minister.
Welcome Ms. Okpik and Mr. Thompson.
We will return to page D-5.
We will return to Mr. Curley for questions.
He still has five and half minutes.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I will do that when I have ten minutes.
Chairman: I don’t have anymore names on the list.
Operations and Maintenance. $2,067,000.
Operations and Maintenance. $6,590,000.
I have a question, but did have a lot of questions, but I do have a question.
I had asked that same question when we were having our committee meeting.
There are no applications anymore for people who would wish to work for the government.
They have to send out their resumés to the government.
Is that still the case for some individuals who would like to work for the government but they don’t have an office, they don’t have computers.
Usually they have a hard time updating their resumé.
Since there are a lot of people in that predicament, why is it that you don’t just take applications anymore?
Could the minister respond to that question?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you.
In regards to the applications we are going to be putting that out again on April 1, 2005.
It is going to be reinstated April 1, 2005.
Could you say when?
When is it going to start?
Could you repeat that again, please?
You are saying that the application process is going to be put back in.
There was one time when I was asked for a resumé which I haven’t updated in a while.
I would like that answer please.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Yes, as I said we will be putting back the application process starting April 1, 2005.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I’m all for the people who send in their resumés, but, I would like clarification on an issue about the aboriginal people.
And there’s a quite a number of people in one household that work, either the with the government or at the municipality level.
With the government employees, and for people who are hired outside of the community, they have staff housing and usually the spouse of that individual gets a job right away.
Do you have any statistics on how many spouses work within the government?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): We don’t have statistics on that; we don’t have any of that.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Well I’m starting to think that there should be statistics done on that.
Usually they have very good references.
They know people who work with the government and they’re able to get excellent references.
Is it possible for your department to find out about that issue, because there’s a lot of relatives working together or working within the government?
In the application process, could there be a question where it asks whether they have any spouses working in the government.
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): When a job opportunity is made available, the candidates of course have to follow the procedures and policies.
It would be relevant to ask the husband or a wife working within the government.
It’s not included in the process for anyone who wants to apply for a position can do so.
Of course we have to follow the policies and the preferences.
Following our policy, it’s going to create a problem.
It might create a problem well; we can’t turn anybody down just because they have a husband or a wife working within the system already.
We have to treat everybody equally as a government and there’s a possibility of problems arising if we did do so.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you. I would want to hear from the Deputy Minister because it’s an implementation procedure.
I am not saying that those individuals should not be hired; I am just saying that including that information would be good.
Following the Integrity Act, we can’t hire any relative as a CA. For example, if it was maybe a distant relative, but not an immediate relative.
With the senior management positions, nepotism is now becoming evident within the government’s system.
If you could ask if a spouse is working in any one of the departments, maybe you can get information during the interview process.
It’s becoming more and more evident, then you hear more and more people saying that there’s nepotism in the government system.
I would like your department to take that into consideration and I would like to get a report back on it.
At this time, we can’t ask that question when we are interviewing people because it would be kind of dangerous and that would depend upon the applicant not getting the job, and she could complain to the human rights people.
So for that reason, there’s no way that we can’t answer that question.
When there’s an applicant, we have guidelines that we use, and the people at Human Resources Office and at the regional offices have to find out if that applicant has relatives because if they have a relative working in the department or in the government, then maybe it’s going to conflict, then they have to not apply.
I was just thinking about the Interview Committee that could ask the question.
My question was that we don’t really understand the conflict of interest guidelines as yet, but what we do is we use the Integrity Commissioner’s guidelines because it’s very strict with the politicians, but I just thought that there might be a conflict of interest
If they can give me a guideline to see whether there’s no conflict of interest on anybody’s part within the government.
They could go work for another department but as long as they don’t work in the department that their spouses are working at.
I wonder if I can get some more clarification on that concern that I have.
Just to reiterate that the people that are doing the interviewing the applicants, they have to declare themselves in conflict if they are going to be interviewing their relatives.
So that’s the way it is right now.
I think we have to ask this question again somewhere because I know that you are not supposed to discriminate against anybody, but it creates a problem when the two spouses work together and there’s usually a conflict when there’s other people that don’t have a good of a reference as others.
The young people are always being told that they have potential.
The government used to say that the young people had a lot of potential and I have to tell them that in the pamphlet, in the guideline or the procedure that the government should not say that you have a certain individual has a lot of potential.
If they do have a potential, we don’t have to tell them that.
We just grab them because it gets tiring when people keep on telling you that you have a potential.
Yet at the same time, they don’t hire them.
They should just hire them right off the bat instead of just turning them down and saying that they have potential.
Usually, the young people give up because of that.
The Rankin Inlet residents have been telling me that there has been a lot of non-natives that get government jobs right away when they come in from down south; they get jobs right away with the government.
There’s a loop hole somewhere in the Human Rights Act.
So I will ask some more questions on that concern that I have later on.
That’s not a question, just a comment.
One of the things on this page here that this division looks after is the Summer Student Employment Program.
As I mentioned in my opening comments, there have been some concerns raised in the past with respect to issues of fairness and equity in the treatment of some categories of students underneath that program.
I am just wondering and I know there are some changes that were made to it.
I am just wondering if the minister or one of his officials could give us an update as to exactly what those changes are.
There were some problems encountered last year when we ran the program.
So the Human Resources staff had a meeting with the management and the trainers, and made a decision on the changes to be made.
The change to this Summer Student Employment Program is now changed to Summer Student Employment Equity Program; equity meaning that the government wants to be able to train or to be able to hire those students because they use the funding to go to school.
The training aspects of it also changed and another one is that if a certain person goes on the training and then comes back, then they’re given on the job training. So what we did was we took the training out and replaced it with on the job training. That’s another change that we did because if the departments are going to hire summer students, they have to have the individual trained on the job.
That’s another change that we made.
As to who can participate in the summer employment, the beneficiaries would be first hired, from there, the people who have been living in the north for quite some time.
Those are the ones that will be hired first.
I think there was about 30 last year that were open for summer employment in the department.
Now there are 40 of them.
We’ve put more money into in the amount of $250,000.
There will be an additional 10 this summer.
The people who are trying to get a job and are denied, they will have another chance to try out again as long as they can tell us the experience that they have.
We will also be getting a committee to look into the people who have been denied summer employment to look at all the things that the student has achieved the committee will be looking into that.
The changes that we have made are the students of grade 10 and 11 have not been changed and we will be considering them.
The students that went to southern schools that live in Nunavut, they will have a chance to apply to the government for employment as of May 1st.
Those are the changes that have been made from last year.
Minister when you are going to respond to a question, can you make your response a little bit shorter.
Mr. Chairman, I’ll try and keep my answers short and to the point too.
The minister had indicated all these changes.
I know one of the issues that were brought to my attention on numerous occasions last year where there were non-beneficiary students that lived their whole life in Nunavut that were told no we can’t hire you because you’re not Inuk.
I’m just wondering how have any of the changes that are made for this year’s program going to address that issue.
The beneficiaries will be given priority and the students that are going to school in Nunavut, they can be identified as beneficiary as long as the parents or guardians are from Nunavut.
To be eligible you have to be in Nunavut for twelve months.
They have to have a Nunavut health card in order to be considered as a Nunavut resident, or if that person has attained 21 years of age and has lived in Nunavut for a year.
As long as they have the Nunavut healthcare card they can be considered as a Nunavut resident.