EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
CGS also provides support for us in the hardware area, so they take care of our servers to make sure that our servers are in a safe environment and make sure that our servers have electrical backup, etcetera, in case of a blackout. So that’s the services that we rely on at CGS.
I’m heavily involved in technology and I can see the benefit to having records and getting information faster to different jurisdictions when we are sending medical travel patients out and don’t have access to probably, like you said, blood type and also charts, as well as x-rays.
So I think it’s great, but I think, in a way, committee members want to make sure that we have assurance that this information stays confidential.
So that seems to help a lot.
My next question is more towards medical travel in terms of what specific factors will determine whether costs for medical travel in 2011-12 will or will not exceed the allocated budgets that you put forward.
Of course, the medical travel program is a demand-driven program, so there is never a guarantee of what the cost levels will be. There are many different variables that determine whether we have to send a client down south.
I can say that we are working with Health Canada on a joint project of examining why we are sending people south. So we’re looking at it from the perspective that we would like to cut down the costs on medical travel.
So we’re looking at things, such as “Can we have more speciality clinics?
Are we sending large groups of people down for the same thing, so would a specialty clinic handle that?
Are we sending people down south for follow-up referrals, for example, and can we handle that over the telehealth system that we have set up here in Nunavut?”
So we’re working on a joint project and examining the data that we do have to date to see if there are those opportunities to save costs, but again, it is a demand-driven program and we just can’t guarantee that we would be within the budget in any given year.
It sounds like we are definitely on the right track because I remember that those are some of the things that the Office of the Auditor General was saying in terms of tracking trends and keeping track of information so that we can save money in different areas.
Your department’s current Medical Client Travel Policy has been in place for two years now and I’m just wondering what measures are being used to evaluate the success of the policy.
Hon. Tagak Curley: I think it’s about three years.
I have been in there for almost two years now, slightly over two years, and it was already in place about a year and a half when the previous administration… .
I think the program, as all members know, has been very generous, probably over-generous, because I was tempted to give some examples about the history of medical travel of all people.
I was saying privately to one of our reporters out there a couple of days ago that during the TB epidemic in the 1950s, when our parents or relatives went out, it appeared to many of us as though they had left the face of the earth, as far as I’m concerned.
We didn’t know where they went. We never had any contact with them. They never had any interpreters or whatnot.
Nowadays, it’s a very different world altogether.
We are quite generous.
I know that the current policy is applied differently even though there are two prongs to it, one is the medical side and one is the unilingual provisions in the policy, but how it’s applied has really differed in a number of areas, and I think it’s from that that the department continues to evaluate the effectiveness of it.
Internally, we have not determined yet whether or not we want to do a full-scale revision to it, but it appears that it’s something that we’re going to have to take seriously because it’s getting quite costly to be so generous when, in fact, at the other end of the destination, there is an interpreter there.
So it’s something that we are quite mindful of and we will try and tackle it as we go.
I thank the minister. That was one of my next questions.
It’s interesting that you brought up the idea of the unilingual provisions in terms of unilingual speaking clients who are travelling are given an escort.
I’m just wondering: is that going to be reviewed?
The Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth pointed out the other day when I asked questions September 2012, where you will be able to receive service in the language of your choice.
Will that provision be taken out?
With the Government of Nunavut, unilingual speakers will actually be able to have service provided in Inuktitut if that is what they require.
The answer is yes, we are going to be reviewing it in light of the legislation that is coming into play.
I think the minister alluded to the fact that the policy needs to be reviewed, so we will be doing that and make appropriate amendments.
Again, the idea of questions around the cost and the huge cost for medical travel, in terms of the regional medical air travel, the contracts that are coming up for renewal, is there any type of… ?
One of the things that I heard… . This is where I get confused because I came in sort of in the middle of it.
At first, I thought it was a five-year contract and then it’s a three-year contract with a year extension for client travel.
Maybe if you could explain the medical travel contracts that are coming up for renewal, it might be the best way to start.
The RFPs have just been put out for the scheduled medical travel airline contract and in that RFP, we have a stated that we are looking for a three-year contract with three one-year extensions.
I want to get the wording right.
So the RFP for scheduled medical travel, which means those are patients not… . When people say medevac, it’s a separate contract and this is for people who are in the communities going down to, say, Iqaluit for a checkup or going to Ottawa for a checkup.
Yes, scheduled medical travel would be on the regular airlines on a scheduled travel on a scheduled flight as opposed to a medevac, where we charter a flight and it’s an emergency.
We refer to that as an emergency air ambulance.
So that’s for what we’re doing now, but I want to go back into the past in terms of the last contract with the contractors that are currently in place right now. Was it the same RFP that was released where there were the three years and we’re now in year 3, and then there was going to be an extension for two years or one year and one year?
My understanding is that the current one was a three-year contract with the extension of one year times two, but there is always a condition in all of the contracts that it’s at the discretion of the government whether to exercise those options.
So the government or the cabinet or whatnot is in charge, but if there are no real issues involved, then the managers or pretty much the deputy minister extends it to apply the options within the contract.
So in terms of issuing the RFP, is there any reason why the extension was not allowed for either one year or the two years or one times one, as the minister explained? I’m just wondering why it wasn’t extended.
I’ll have Debora Voth provide the response.
I believe that was the first RFP that went out for scheduled medical travel with the airlines.
I would have to say we have learned from our mistakes. We did have some issues in some of the communities with regard to the market share that was awarded, but the service levels were not really there to support that market share. I felt that Health and Social Services was at risk and advised the deputy that we should go forward with the RFP process.
So that actually goes into some of the concerns that we have heard from other MLAs in terms of medical travel patients from the Kivalliq region without washrooms provided and those types of things.
Are they the lessons learned that you are talking about?
We serve a constituency, obviously, which involves the economic groups, municipal groups, and all of the Inuit organizations.
They took part in providing a message with the government and there were individuals as well, many patients who have travelled back and forth within our region, particularly the Kivalliq, where there were many complaints put forward.
I know many of the MLAs in the Kivalliq have had telephone calls in the middle of the night, occasionally even myself. My wife had said yesterday that we should change our telephone number.
The thing is it was a very difficult one in one particular region. So I think it was a good time to evaluate the services provided and see whether or not we can improve the services that we provide to the medical clients, who are mostly Nunavutmiut in isolated communities.
Going back to page 129 in the business plan, the fourth bullet down, it talks about the implementation of the fully integrated communications strategy for the department. In terms of that line item, could the minister explain what will actually be done in terms of communication?
What we’re talking about here on that particular priority is to develop our own internal communication processes in the department.
I think that generally, at times, we overuse the word “strategy,” but this is more of a work plan for communications within the department. We need to communicate better with Nunavummiut on some of these issues that are arising as a result of Health and Social Services. We need to communicate better to the public and the media, as well as our partners.
That was everything.
We will go to Health and Social Services. Branch Summary.
Directorate. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $19,540,000.
In regard to medical travel for patients, for those of us who live in the Kitikmeot, I believe there’s an agreement with the Canadian North Airline to transport patients out.
That’s one of my questions.
For clarification, if that was the case, elders from Gjoa Haven have to go home via a milk run before they finally arrive at their community. Specifically, they first bypass Gjoa Haven and travel through Kugaaruk and Taloyoak before flying back. Those elders get tired of travelling through this milk run.
If there’s going to be an RFP, I would also ask you to consider this matter.
For the evaluation process of the RFP for scheduled medical travel, service level is a very large component for the successful awarding of market share.
Ms. Ugyuk (interpretation): Thank you for the clarification. I believe I know that when patients have to leave, sometimes the airline can’t make it to the community.
I think that was just comment. Nobody else? Okay, I’ll try this again.
Branch Summary. Directorate. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $19,540,000.
Chairman: Now move on to H-5. Branch Summary. Health and Social Services.
Social Services. Any questions?
While we are on this page under the Social Services Branch, I wanted to make a comment and also asked a question to the officials present here.
I received a letter from one of the staff in my community.
There are two employees working in our community and two other individuals from outside the community when a job opportunity opens.
One of the individuals who originally came from Pangnirtung had written me a letter that when they started training in the social services program this year, there were lots of students at the beginning but many of them left early.
The people coming from outside the community, especially from down south, have no knowledge about our traditions and way of life.
Their way of doing things is very different from ours and so they can’t just start working right away. We don’t want them to use their ways in what’s an Inuit environment.
I tend to speak about this issue over and over again.
We have two individuals who have completed the social worker training and received certification. When there are two certified social workers in our community who have already done their training, why do we have to rely on social workers who continually have to be replaced?
It becomes quite costly that way.
Those of us who live in our community can’t really understand when the government is supposed to serve us.
It seems like the government doesn’t really want to hire Inuit in the local community who are qualified. What is the real reason for not hiring those individuals who are qualified?
I believe we need to provide more information when we talk about social workers. There are two levels of social workers in Nunavut. Some social workers who have a degree in social work have completed an Arctic College program and they take training at Arctic College for four years and they get certified.
We don’t have an Arctic College in Nunavut where they can be certified or designated licensed social workers degree.
With help from Human Resources and Arctic College, we offer some of this training, which are diploma programs.
So there are different levels of social worker training programs that are available.
Perhaps the individuals you’re talking about might be certified in this way.
Definitely in the future, we will need degree programs in Nunavut, just like with nurses who take four-year training.
We definitely need to have that sort of social workers degree training in Nunavut with the proper certification and social worker qualifications.
With respect to the current people applying, I can’t tell if they have the appropriate level of training, so I’ll have to look into the matter you’re asking about.
I also thank the minister for clarifying that.
There has to be different paperwork and degrees for certification as social workers.
However, in order for our residents to be able to reach that level of education, we should be trying to recruit Inuit because they’re comfortable with and know exactly what our culture and language is, as they grew up here.
If you could look at any kind of initiative to try and increase the numbers, I would support it.
Based on what I have heard in your initiative that you’re trying to undertake with Arctic College, I urge that you continue those initiatives and I encourage you to work harder because it really does lead to cost increases when we continually have to replace workers, and that includes the cost of flights and meals.
It would also allow the communities to be able to retain more employees, but at this time, I guess the level of certification in education is what our people are facing as a barrier.
This is more or less a comment; it’s not really a question.
I look forward to hearing more information from them.
I am quite pleased with his comments and we understand the points that the member has elucidated.
We will keep them in mind as we need to provide as much support for Nunavutmiut as we can through the field of social service work.
The workers are very important to our communities as they provide many services.
As the Minister of Finance stated during his Budget Address, they would provide more funding for social services.
Since 1999, probation officers had been transferred to social services.
Some of these positions will be returned to the Department of Justice.
If this occurs in the future, the social workers will be less burdened and can start concentrating solely on social service work.
In looking at the future, I expect that to happen, although the transfer may take up to a year to be completed.
Social workers don’t just deal with probation cases; their work includes people with mental health problems who require the proper care and treatment, as well as other cases.
I want to let you know that we are committed to this as we want to ensure that we have personnel adequate to serve the needs of Nunavutmiut.
However, due to the distances involved between communities and our population base, sometimes we have to hire social workers from outside of the territory.
I recently asked the question via email to Deputy Minister Alex Campbell and I want further clarification on the matter.
We have been informed previously on this matter relating to senior management positions, which is usually what members ask about. It takes a long time in order to fill these senior management positions.
In Coral Harbour, the social worker position has been vacant for some time.
When can the residents expect a replacement social worker?
Since our residents occasionally go through stressful times, they sometimes really rely on social workers to provide assistance.
Can we be given a timeframe as to when a social worker would be hired in Coral Harbour?
We have been informed that it is imminent, but I would prefer a date when we can expect a social worker in our community.
That is my question. When can we expect our social worker?
The social worker in Coral Harbour, I understand from the reports we received from my regional staff as well as HR that the competition of that position was closed. They were doing the screening of the applications and then they were going to be doing interviews.
I’m not sure how long that process takes, but in the next two months, we should be able to see a position there if everything falls into place.
I know that you’re having problems with social workers.
One of my constituents in Hall Beach has paid attention to the issue because of the fact that a social worker has never been available.
Furthermore, with regard to court injunctions or court paperwork which asks you to meet with probation officers, due to the fact that our community doesn’t have a probation officer or social worker, the residents are facing barriers in trying to meet the requirements of their probation orders or other court orders.
In this particular page, 3-23, in English, it’s the environmental scan for 2011-12. Your priorities are listed and it states that it’s difficult and challenging to hire a social worker.
It also states that “As of October 2010, only 25 of 46 social worker positions were filled with indeterminate staff.”
Can you clarify to us here exactly what your plans are to fill these positions?
I believe you stated that there was a request for proposals.
Well, I’m not sure when you mentioned it or when I recall hearing it, but you stated that you were trying to deal with the shortage of social workers.
That’s why I would like to get an update on your progress on this file to date, Mr. Chairman.
As a department, we are working with the Department of Human Resources to try different ways of trying to speed up our recruiting process.
One thing we have done in the territory is we have received applications in one pool and then we have our senior managers reviewing that one pool of candidates, and trying to streamline that process and trying to hurry up and get the folks in place.
I understand there are frustrations around the hiring process and getting these positions in place as soon as possible.
There are certain requirements that we have to go through in the hiring process that need to take place.
As the minister reported yesterday, I believe there are 46 social worker positions.
I believe 22 of those were filled by indeterminate, 12 of which are beneficiaries.
So we are working on trying to improve those numbers, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Thanks.
You probably cut it down from 318 to 317, but go ahead, Mr. Tapardjuk.
It’s quite understandable that it’s very difficult when you’re trying to recruit Inuit as social workers. We hear about their capabilities and skills, but then when we talk about the legislated requirements, I believe it leads to legal hurdles or problems that cause an issue. Inuit are so sympathetic and empathetic with their clients that it leads to legal problems, especially when you’re trying to utilize cultural counselling.
Due to these issues, you have publicized that the current legislation is being evaluated and it’s the (interpretation ends) child and family services legislation, (interpretation) if I’m not mistaken.
Have you identified what’s the most obvious area that needs to be changed within the legislation?
I also thank the member for his questions.
If you recall, the elders who were in the Gallery are reviewing that.
We have yet to see the recommendations that they have provided.
I believe some of my officials have seen those recommendations, but I haven’t received them yet.
Once the report is completed and the regional Inuit associations, including the social workers, have been consulted as to which particular areas require revision, that report would be finalized and submitted to the minister for approval.
Once that approval process has been completed, we would be able to review it.
I know for a fact that it would have to go through the Executive Council.
Our particular practice in this field has to change, especially in social services and child protection services. The legislation has to be revised.
It has been mentioned by the Supreme Court that the work plans were being delayed for too long and the action plans were not being developed, especially for people who were dealt with through protective services, and they have to have agreements between the parents and the agencies.
There are quite a few errors that we have to massage in order to improve the social services area.
We had quite a number of children who were apprehended and there were a lot of families who required support from social services. I believe that up to March 2011, we have that opportunity to review them.
If we look at the Auditor General’s report, it speaks about child protection services.
It applies to all levels of government.
We’re not the only department responsible for child services. There are other departments, such as Education and Justice, which have to be involved in this.
However, when we’re looking at specific Nunavut needs, if we get to a place where people are less leery of social services, and as per some of the elders’ recommendations and comments, if we improve the interaction between clients and social services, it will alleviate all of our problems.
Without the report, I can just guess as to what the recommendations will be, Mr. Chairman.
That’s very clear.
Obviously, this review will be comprehensive.
The current legislation, which we keep referring to, was grandfathered from the previous government.
If we look at it, it has broken up a lot of families, but the Inuit cultural way is to keep families together. We have to ensure that we merge the legislation with our cultural practices so that there is less splitting up of families, and children are not taken away from their families, and that we continue to ensure we support families.
I believe this has to be reviewed carefully.
I’m sure my colleagues will ask more questions, but since I don’t have a lot of time, I want to get this clarified.
In the 2010-11 priorities, you will be looking at developing the Residential Care Strategy and that you will be detailing out the action items. For example, people with disabilities could have more.
You have stated that you will be developing this for implementation in the 2011-12 fiscal year.
What parts of the strategy will apply or be a result of the issues related to the legislation, especially when they’re trying to implement the Residential Care Strategy?
Will this require more funding or less?
That’s what I want to find out, Mr. Chairman.
As members know, we’re doing the social services review.
We have indicated that we would have a strategy developed on this particular item, but we have put that on hold given that the review was going to be happening.
So in this coming year, we will be developing that after we get the report from the review process. We will be developing a strategy around that.
Right now, we don’t have anything around the foundation document on how we administer that. We just react to situations where requests are made for out-of-territory residential care services.
We are going to be looking at the whole issue of residential care.
We will be developing a strategy this coming fiscal year.
I also thank Mr. Campbell for his response.
When you look at the government report regarding procurement contracting, it highlights that there are a fair number of contracts geared towards residential care, specifically for people who can’t leave their homes outside of Nunavut.
It seems that there are a fair number of contracts that we’re dealing with.
Wouldn’t it be much better to care for these residents in Nunavut or perhaps to get a facility that enables us to look after our own residents in Nunavut?