EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Like it was done as these members all know because they are members of house in that process.
In the second process, Mr. Speaker, the same thing again occurred.
The Power Corporation came forward, asked for the amount in the rider, the 5 cents that rider came forward and then increased it again the second time.
But the process had already been followed.
We had notified the members that the rate had been asked for.
The mayors had been written to.
The members had been informed.
When the Power Corporation came back and said we want another increase, the URCC was already in the process of doing their work under legislation.
So, the notification had already been done.
They would have been able to come back and say: “yes”, “no”, or “maybe”, which they have done.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow in this house, I will tabling the annual report for 2001 and 2002 and the financial report and the financial statements of the Power Corporation and Mr. Speaker, at that time I will be also announcing the cabinet’s decision, this government’s decision on the FSR and I would be pleased Mr. Speaker, to be able to follow-up any questions at that time and I think the members and the public and so on will be very informed tomorrow when that announcement will be made in this house here in Baker Lake.
Question 532 – 1(6): Protocol for Sending Out Patients for Treatment
An old issue, perhaps also a new issue.
I will be speaking on something I have brought up before and something that I have worked hard on regarding nurses.
I seem to continually bring up problems, but I am not putting the nurses down and saying they are bad bureaucrats, but perhaps is it because of funding shortfalls that patients get treatment in a delayed manner in Igloolik?
Where is the problem stemming from?
I would like to ask the minister as to how these nurses follow protocols in examining patients and sending patients out?
Do they have to apply for funding to send patients out or do they get a bonus for sending patients out?
What is the protocol for patients being examined in a timely manner?
Mr. Speaker, the process that is in place as per the protocol, the standard practices when a person, a patient presents themselves to a health centre, to see the nurse and they are examined by the nurse and depending on what the situation is, the nurse can decide at that moment if that person needs to be sent on a medivac to Iqaluit or to the south for further treatment.
They do not need to check and consult with the budget.
That is done as per course of regular protocols that are in place to see a patient.
So, a nurse can make that decision immediately once they are seeing a patient.
What I am trying to ask is that, yes, I am aware of his response so what I am trying to ask is that whether the nurses get bonuses or raises, is there a point system on their performance according to how many patients they have sent away or have taken care of?
Mr. Speaker, the nurses are following the Public Service Act of the Government of Nunavut and in that collective agreement that’s signed which includes the majority of the employees of the Government of Nunavut.
There are no bonuses, no incentives built in for the nurses specifically if they send patients south or if they send patients out or referrals.
There is no bonus or incentives in the contract for that.
Mr. Speaker, the only thing that we have in place as the member knows, is the recruitment retention bonus, but that’s only the recruitment and the retention of those nursing staffing.
So, again there are no bonuses in places for sending out patients and so on.
Mr. Irqittuq (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand his point, however, on a Friday we left for Iqaluit and I escorted a young child to Iqaluit.
This was a young child and I won’t get into any specifics.
He or she was in an amauti and he or she appears to have very bad condition on the face perhaps that child could have been sent earlier as a preventative so I’m not trampling on the services provided by nurses.
But, why are these patients that you would have thought should have been taken care of earlier are always taken care of much later?
So, Mr. Speaker, I will always rise on issue until it is resolved.
What I was trying to ask him, Mr. Speaker, is that those nurses that send out fewer patients, for instance, in Baker Lake patients are allowed to be sent away for medical purposes within reason but there would be less medical problems if they were more preventative measures.
In Igloolik and Hall Beach they wait till the last minute to send patients out.
What are the reasons perhaps you provide bonuses to nurses who do not send as many patients out, or is there such things in place?
Mr. Speaker, I just want to make sure that I understood the question properly and I’m answering it properly.
Again, there are no, the member’s question I believe, if I understood it correctly, are nurse or do nurses send patients out and if a nurse sends more patients out or less patients out is there a bonus or something built into that?
Again, there are no bonuses paid to any nursing staff, health centre staff, and so on with regards to referrals of patients or dealing with patients.
The only bonus for any nursing staff, under the collective agreement, that is in place, or otherwise it the recruitment and retention bonus.
Nurses are not rewarded by the number of patients they see or the number of patients that they are sent out.
However, Mr. Speaker, I can say if there is a concern with a nurse and so on, there was some concerns raised for example in Igloolik and we have the director for the Baffin Region go in there into the health centre, the Igloolik health centre was not up to full staff, we’ve done that, as the member brought up in the house, thanks to his good work.
The situation in Hall Beach, I’m not aware of a problem with referrals and so on.
That’s something we can look into but for the record, Mr. Speaker, there are no bonuses in place for sending out patients.
Mr. Irqittuq (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason why I was asking him is that there is a problem there that is not being resolved, nor is it even being looked at.
The minister stated earlier that the services in Igloolik have been improved regarding staffing but it is not true in reality.
A friend had a heart problem and so he asked the doctor to see if it was a result of the nurse’s care.
If they have heart problems, do they have to call the doctors for a referral?
Are you saying they have to wait for the doctor?
And they can’t call long distance.
There are a lot of cases where they are dealt with on an emergency basis only because they waited so long.
Perhaps because there wasn’t a proper examination or the examination was too late, so I’m asking him can this be looked into further.
Mr. Speaker, again I thank the member for clarifying the question.
Mr. Speaker, our nurses work long hours.
They work under what are at times very difficult and stressful conditions and they do the very best that they can.
Mr. Speaker, any nurse at any given time can say to a patient, if Ed comes to the health centre and has a problem, the nurse can say, look I don’t like the way this looks.
I’m sending you out.
They don’t need to telephone to get authorization to do that.
What they can do is phone ahead to a doctor and say, I’m sending Ed out to see you doctor and this is when he’s arriving.
So, let’s be clear on that first of all.
Secondly, if it is a specific incident, as the member is talking about that I need to have that in writing when it will have occurred and so on so you can actually follow-up.
In any given time Mr. Speaker, in the health centre here in Baker Lake is a good example, the health centre sees anywhere between 100 to 300 patients a week.
It could be more depending on well baby clinics and so on.
When you multiply that by 26 communities and multiply that by the hospital in Iqaluit which see over 100 patients a day, at times, you have thousands of people going to health centres and the hospital on a regular basis.
And yes, Mr. Speaker, when that happens and occur there may be a concern raised.
And I believe the member has just raised one, so I would ask that the member to explain in writing which situation that has resolved or has occurred and I can actually follow that up, to make sure that indeed it doesn’t occur again.
But the same time, Mr. Speaker, I want to say, without fair contradiction that the nurses and doctors and medical staff at our health centres and the hospitals, they work extremely hard on our behalf and they don’t need authorization from me or a doctor to send a patient out.
They can make that referral themselves, based on the condition of the patient.
Question 533 – 1(6): New Air Terminal Extension
I’m glad to make it to Baker Lake, but I was late with my Member’s statement so I’ll carry that over to tomorrow.
My cousin looks very good.
Mr. Speaker, I have a concern that I brought with me from the constituent to the Minister of Transportation.
He’s new in his portfolio, as he was with Education, but Mr. Speaker, my question to the Transportation Minister is in the summer of 2003, they’re building airport terminals for Gjoa Haven and Pond Inlet.
Mr. Speaker, in May 22, 2003 the hamlet had some visitors to give him a presentation on the model of that air terminal and they had said that this would be extended if the funding was adequate and we were told that in the coming years the Government would make those extensions according to the funding restraints.
So, I would like to ask the Minister when the planned extensions are taking place for this new airport terminal being built this summer.
And I extend a welcome to our colleagues who are just coming in.
According to his question, the airport terminal has a different term in different dialects and in mine, that means a waiting house, but the funding came from the Federal Government for the building of these two air terminals and the construction will begin this year.
But his question regarding the extension to these new buildings, I would have to look further into that with my staff and then I will respond to him in greater detail at a later date, but the construction is continuing this summer.
If I understood correctly, that the extension of the building, if I am not mistaken as the Minister says, the extension has not even been discussed?
It has probably been discussed, but I have not seen anything in my briefings regarding any decisions or discussions on extending or building extensions on these two airport terminals.
It only states on this paper about the commencement of the projects.
I only have the information that the construction will be this summer and that is all, no other information about the plans for extension or upgrades.
So, I will consult with my staff and get a better answer for him.
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): As Transportation Minister, have you not even seen the floor plans?
Staff came into the community to make a presentation on what this airport terminal would look like and we were informed that this extension would be needed in the future, but the total cost would be in the excess of over two hundred thousand dollars and is not possible due to funding restraints.
So, is it possible to find an additional two hundred thousand dollars so that they can just build the whole thing in one shot?
Is it possible because two hundred thousand is not a lot of money when we are talking about this building?
I did not realize my microphone was on, so I am glad that I did not talk behind his back.
Mr. Speaker, I do not have any information at this point, so, I cannot respond in respect to the planned extension of the terminal and the funding constraints.
So, I apologize to my colleague and I will take his question as a notice.
As the question has been taken notice, there will be no further supplementary questions.
Question 534 – 1(6): Number of Community Libraries in Nunavut
Mr. Speaker, there was a recent tender for the new headquarters for the new library that is going to be based here in Baker Lake.
The tender was just closed and construction is going to happen probably right after the sealift.
And, Mr. Speaker, there are some staff in place already for the last two years.
I think there are three staff up the hill eagerly awaiting this new building that will serve all of Nunavut.
And it is no secret in this, in Nunavut that literacy is an issue because a lot of people are having, a lot of people who are unilingual and they’re trying to get their reading skills up to snuff, so my question today to the Minister of Education is currently, how many community libraries are there in Nunavut today.
Speaker: Minister responsible for Education, Minister Thompson.
There are eleven libraries today in Nunavut.
I’d like to thank the minister for her quick answer.
We have 26 communities in Nunavut, 11 community libraries, are there any plans for her department at this point to establish community libraries in every community.
We don’t have any plans right now to build any libraries other than in future years, we’re thinking of building one in Kugluktuk.
Right now our capital plans are still in mostly school additions and building new schools.
I appreciate the answer from the minister.
She tries hard and she’s doing the best she can and there’s only so many capital dollars to go around for infrastructure in Nunavut.
When they have their library established here at the headquarters, they will have trained staff that are going to work with the communities that have community libraries to run a program.
Does her department have any plans to help these communities that don’t actually have a library building in place, that maybe work in the schools to see if there’s room to set up a community library program down the road, they’ll have some kind of program in place that once we do find money for capital infrastructure, that they’ll have the program in place.
We have libraries in schools right now and I know that there’s a need for a staff member to go around and organise the books properly or assist the schools in that way to make it more accessible to the public in the communities.
We will certainly have a plan in place to see how we can have the public involved in our school libraries anyway.
Question 535 – 1(6): Update on Insurance Policy for Hunters
Yes, in regards to having an insurance policy for hunters, or harvesters, I know that we have discussed this for the past two years.
We discussed this matter at the beginning of the session.
In regards to having an insurance policy for harvesters including equipment, boats, rifles, whether it’s a small boat or a big boat, or vessel; can the minister update on that, whether we’re using the amended form, or if we’re still using the old one?
Yes, the member’s question is very clear.
It is very important to have an insurance policy for our property and I know that we’ve been working on it and to date, it still has an impact on the wildlife act, so therefore, that is why we have to deal with the wildlife act because its impact on the harvesters’ insurance.
We are looking at plans on how we can train hunters that own their private hunting equipment.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): The Minister for Sustainable Development just said that the Wildlife Bill, I think it is Bill 35, is going to have an effect on the insurance for hunters, since it is going to have an effect on the harvesters’ insurance, will the Wildlife Act or Bill have any effect on that or do we have to wait for the Bill to be implemented first?
Speaker: Just a reminder to the Member, to the Members, that this Bill is before the Standing Committee.
If the Minister wishes to answer the question, proceed.
Yes, we included that part in the review of the Wildlife Bill and it has an effect on the insurance, but we will continue to work on the Wildlife Act and I also would like to see the Bill enacted as it affects all of Nunavummiut and harvesting.
Yes, I can work with the Member to look into these things and continue the process of modernizing the Wildlife Act.
Usually the Department of Sustainable Development sets aside some funds to be used for catastrophes such as equipment damaged by flooding, blizzards and other natural disasters.
Does that have an effect on that insurance or are we talking about totally different insurance programs for the harvesters?
So, I was wondering if the Minister can clarify which one he is talking about, whether he is talking about the Wildlife Bill, which is being reviewed by the Standing Committee.
So, I was wondering if the Minister could clarify his response for me.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) Yes, we approved the Main Estimates during our last Session and the funding is available and you know that it was not a very large sum of money, but it is on its own.
We are dealing with the harvesters’ insurance on the side.
The Minister stated that it is quite expensive to have an insurance policy.
I was wondering; in order to have a cheaper policy for the harvesters, how long will it take to table that?
Will it be in 2003 or 2004?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) Yes, we are working to the best of our ability but I can’t tell you how long it will take but in order to have a very good insurance policy for the harvesters we want to work on this very carefully because all the insurance brokers are very expensive but if we pool all the Inuit harvesters together and get their insurance at a cheaper rate, then we want to do so.
We will work on the insurance issue as soon as we are able to.
Question 536 – 1(6): Staffing Social Workers in Communities
I would like to direct my question to the Minister for Health and Social Services.
My question is, at what level of current population does a community need in order to have two social workers?
Mr. Speaker, staffing within either health and or social services is not based on the per capita population.
It is historic numbers and trends as well as based on case load.
So, for example, Mr. Speaker, some communities where the case load is a little bit higher, I have seen a different mix of staff put in place, more social workers, or indeed a better range of alcohol and drug workers and so on.
So, it depends on the community.
There is no set formula in place to decide what the staffing level would be.
My supplementary question is that I just arrived from Arctic Bay not too long ago and they kept talking about or complaining about having one social worker because they have foster children.
There are many foster children within the community.
I would like to ask the minister responsible in regards to Arctic Bay when are we going to get two social workers?
Mr. Speaker, this would be the first official request made by the community of Arctic Bay for two social workers.
Mr. Speaker, that’s something that we’ll have to evaluate based on our staffing levels and the available budgets.
That is something that the department can take under review.
Speaker: Thank you, minister. Oral Questions. Supplementary.
I met recently with the Hamlet Council in Arctic Bay and I also met with the officials from the department.
They said that there are over 700 people in the community of Arctic Bay and they said that they require two social workers so therefore you have to look at this as a urgent case and look into that and also communicate with the community in a timely manner.
Mr. Speaker, the member has just done that.
The member has to raise the issue of the need of another social worker position in community of Arctic Bay and that’s something that we have noted and I’ll be able to get back to the member.
But again, it depends on the budgetary requirements and staffing levels and so on.
So, the member has made the point and Mr. Speaker, that’s something we’ll be able to look into.
Question 537 – 1(6): Improve Number of Teaching Positions
I keep forgetting my microphone.
I just want to return to my Member’s Statement.
As I stated earlier in regards to Education.
I just realized that in terms of the Education Board in the community.
This is in regards to the High school students teaching positions, and as well the Minister had indicated that the teaching positions would be cut. (interpretation ends): Right now I just want a commitment from the Minister that when the school starts again next year that we have the same number of teachers and filled.
Will the Minister guarantee that there will be no fear of teachers working in Kugluktuk schools during this coming school year.
In other words will all the Kugluktuk existing positions be filled in the coming year?
I believe that I have already made that commitment to the DEA that the existing teachers that are in Kugluktuk will be the same number of teachers going back in the fall.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): I am very sorry.
I keep forgetting the microphone.
I thank the Minister as well.
The DEAs would like a commitment as well they have heard because they are not sure about how many teaching positions would be available.
And because there is a need for the positions in the community and we do not want a shortage of the high school teachers.
They want to be aware of exactly what the numbers are of these teachers that are actually going to be teaching in the schools.
For example, they will have twenty teachers in the community who actually have good jobs.
There will actually be nineteen teachers working but you actually have twenty teaching positions.
According to the Bathurst Mandate, we are supposed to improve student/teacher ratios Nunavut-wide.
My Cabinet colleagues and I have had serious talks about this and we have identified this as one of the priorities in the Bathurst Mandate.
With the Members concern, I have already directed my staff that there will be no lay-off notices going to the schools.
Thank you, as well Minister, for your comments.
It is very reassuring to hear your comment.
I also stated earlier that these budgets and number of positions can change based on a formula funding.
(interpretation ends) What is the status of the Department’s funding formula review?
Can the Minister update on that?
Speaker: Mr. Havioyak, I believe that is a new question.
If you would like to rephrase and pose another question, we will allow that. Mr. Havioyak.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): I am having a hard time putting a mic on here.
As we know, the teaching positions are listed there in the budget and we are aware once teaching positions are identified then the funding formula figure is assured.
How will you review the funding as to the teaching positions in the high schools or are you already dealing with this issue of funding levels for high schools?
Speaker: Just a reminder to the Members, we have four Members yet to ask a question and we have nine minutes left.
So I would ask the Members and the Ministers to try to speed things up.
I believe that we have just started the review of the funding formula to the schools.
So, as soon as we get a status report on that, I will report to the Member.
Question 538 – 1(6): Update on Testing of Heating Fuel
I would like to ask a question to the Minister responsible for Petroleum Products.
Repulse Bay had problems with the tainted gas and I just wondered what the studies have resulted in what kind of corrective procedures, in regards to heating fuel, what is the results of the tests that were done and where is the test at?
Speaker: Minister responsible for Petroleum Products.
In the Repulse Bay bad heating fuel issue, the Member had asked that question during the last Session and the people that are doing the testing on that gas or heating fuel said that the result was to do with cold weather.
And we will not be doing anything else in respect to this issue that Repulse Bay has raised but I can only state and respond to the question that we have not heard yet since the warm weather came whether there are any more problems regarding home heating fuel.
Yes, I understand the Minister’s response and the Minister said that it had to do with the cold weather.
Like some of us know, we do not really have a problem with the cold weather.