EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
As you have probably heard, there have been many, maybe too many, round tables and meetings. This government, this department has been funding that 100 percent, even though we had NTI, Inuit organizations, different business, and the public. When we ask them to come for meetings, we fund it 100 percent, so it is coming out of this budget.
Again, $837,000 of it will be for homeless that we are supporting. The Uquutaq Shelter here in Iqaluit, sometimes they have 30 people sleeping in there and there are about 12 beds in the women’s shelter up by… .
I don’t know what you call that road, but it’s a two-storey building and we also fund that. Those are the two that we fund.
There is $122,000.
I mentioned earlier that a few communities are asking for shelters, so we are discussing the ideas with them. I know we are taking a very long time, but we have to spend the money wisely; it is public money. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Savikataaq: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In last year’s budget, there was $2,179,000 and then for the next three years, it is slightly over $2 million. If we are looking at this, in a four-year span, $9 million is possibly going to be spent mainly on administration, except for $800,000 a year for the homeless shelter, which comes out to roughly $3 million.
In four years, it seems like $5 million is going to be spent on administration and meetings. If that is, in fact, true, are we going to be spending $5 million in a four-year period for meetings to talk about poverty and actually doing nothing about it?
Hon. Jeannie Ugyuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The member referred to the latter amount which he believes won’t be the actual amount we would spend on this initiative. There is no budget foundation for the poverty reduction initiative.
We can’t resolve all the issues singularly as a department.
Our communities also have to be involved, as well as other organizations that can assist with the poverty reduction initiative, and we can only understand each other via these meetings.
Nonetheless, I would ask that Brandon Grant be allowed to respond with further details, as that would be helpful. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As the minister and our deputy minister stated, we are reviewing how we are providing grants and contributions and we are getting requests from communities in terms of establishing shelters there. As those community requests come in, then the priorities could change towards supporting more community initiatives. We are in the process and as our deputy minister said, we’ve got money within our grants and contributions as well to look at homelessness issues.
As these requests come in, we will work with communities in implementing programming areas.
As the minister just stated, they have to meet and plan to make sure the money is well spent, but the money to actually make shelters and all that is in a different budget.
If we take off the $800,000 every year that is being spent for the homeless shelter, that leaves about $1.4 million that could easily build a shelter, yet it’s being used to plan to build shelters.
This budget is going to be requested for the same amount for the next three years, which is slightly over $2 million.
Are there any plans or can the department use some of this leftover $1.4 million to actually do something instead of just talking about it?
The funds the member asked about are specifically for staff working on the poverty reduction initiative. The funds are also specific to our goals and what we feel is the priority.
Once I was placed in this portfolio, there were several issues that required clarification within poverty reduction before we could move forward.
As it looks rather big on paper with the various departments and organizations involved, since it seems rather large, we want to provide clear directions to staff to ensure that the people in need are being provided assistance.
That is one of our priorities. I expect that we will have a better future, as we now have funds specific to this poverty reduction initiative.
We now also require a large map now within our office to outline which department or organization is responsible for which action items within our meetings. However, we are trying to have clear guidelines and to have a long-term plan to reduce poverty faced by our residents either by organizations or our department.
I’m going to thank the minister for clarifying that some of this money is used for workers, if that’s my understanding. I guess that is one way to stop poverty because if that person is working, they are not in poverty.
At least some of the money is being used for actual anti-poverty. I’ll just leave that, but I just want to go on this.
At all the anti-poverty meetings, I assume they discuss about how to fix it and what the problems are. I know they discuss about the symptoms of poverty a lot, but in all these meetings they have, are there any discussions about the cause of poverty?
For example, when you have a medical problem, they treat the symptoms, but they also treat the cause because if you don’t treat the cause, the symptoms won’t go away. You can patch up the symptoms of a problem, but until you fix the cause, the symptoms will just keep coming back.
I would just like to ask the minister if they’re dealing with the cause of poverty as well.
Hon. Jeannie Ugyuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, that is a very good question, as they meet on these issues.
Inunnguiniq is part of teaching Inuit culture and defined as capability or self-sufficiency and in looking after our fellow Inuit.
The committee members who meet on these issues speak about this problem. We have a committee member from Arviat who is ardent about this issue.
Another committee member from Cambridge Bay, Julia Ogina, speaks to these issues.
There is a subcommittee that also deals with some of the issues we face and Inunnguiniq is an important aspect of the work they undertake.
I want my official, Rebekah Williams, to speak to this.
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I can say that the current programs the government has today, the whole government spends $254,490,112 a year to reduce poverty in Nunavut today.
If you look at four staff, it’s in our division, but if you’re looking at what the government is doing to try to reduce poverty, it’s close to $300 million.
I think it is good to hear that this government is supporting and putting in quite a bit of money. This is for each department, housing and income support being the largest.
I think that’s good information for you.
Also in poverty reduction, there have been a lot of meetings. From the Poverty Reduction Secretariat, what that one was supposed to do is to put everybody together who could try to reduce poverty in Nunavut. There you had NTI, Inuit organizations, all the departments, businesses, anybody, moms and dads out there, and young people.
They were put together at different times to try to tackle this issue of poverty in Nunavut.
A very much southern term is poverty. Some of us who are little bit older, we know what poverty is, not like today.
I just want make sure that you understand there are many committees that have worked together.
The staff of four in my division is putting that together to be actioned.
As you know, we have to follow the budget cycle and once you approve that, we’re going to get to work again.
A lot of things are connected together. I think it is good news. It’s good to know that this government spends close to $300 million per year.
I thank Ms. Williams for that explanation. I don’t have any more questions, just still a comment. I think all the people who meet about anti-poverty or whatever you want to call it, they have to get root of the cause.
Ms. Williams is right. Poverty is different now than it was in the old days.
People actually starved and died in the old days, but we have to get to the cause because we can treat the symptoms all we want.
I know that her department alone can’t do it and the whole government is doing it. She said that this government spends almost $300 million on anti-poverty.
I would imagine that a good portion of that is probably providing subsidized public housing. Some of the people in public housing, yes, are in poverty, but some aren’t.
I just want to emphasize that when they have these anti-poverty meetings or whatever you want to call them, they have to concentrate on the cause.
They still have to deal with the symptoms, but if you don’t go after the root cause, then the symptoms will never go away.
Chairman: I take that as a comment.
If the minister wants to respond, Minister Ugyuk.
The people facing poverty are our fellow human beings and we can’t view them as “undesirables,” as we have to provide assistance.
Further, the representatives who attend these meetings speak about Inunnguiniq and of the need to support that initiative.
If they use this principle, then the parent can provide proper lessons to their children if they feel they don’t have the knowledge. Once a child is taught properly, they can learn to live within their capacity and to survive by being self-reliant. These are the topics generally discussed at these meetings.
If we don’t assist our children properly from early on, then the child will become confused about certain issues.
I am just using this example of the proper type of managing the factors that lead to poverty during these meetings.
During these meetings, they also talk about the former residential school students who lost parenting skills.
These are just examples.
I clearly understood what the member said and it is included in these meetings.
Corporate Management. (interpretation) Following my list of names, Mr. Shooyook.
Mr. Shooyook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister (interpretation) and his officials, my sister, welcome.
I would like to raise another question related to Inuit traditional knowledge which I am working on and I am ardent in trying to incorporate this into government in our future.
I seem to understand when my sister (paternal cousin) responded to a question earlier that counselling is quite different as well as addictions counselling amongst other things.
I wanted to know if perhaps your plan isn’t being drafted too fast, as we have to have a proper plan outlining our issues.
When you hurriedly draft up a plan, you may miss some issues that would displease many Nunavummiut and that seems obvious. We would not approve of the plan.
Social work is such an important matter that the Inuit traditional counselling methods related to what Inuit are fully familiar with have been set aside, as we are no longer allowed to practise them.
In your business plan, does part of the long-term future include incorporating real Inuit elder counsellors?
I’m not trying to take away from the social worker roles, but some of the elders have a lot of knowledge related to healthy living. With your department dealing with issues such as spousal clashes not related to addictions, but only due to personality clashes, I am using that as an example.
Do you have any plans included that the parents should try to be involved within the planning stage?
Hopefully I am clear in my question.
My (interpretation ends) deputy minister (interpretation) will respond to that.
Today, this practice is already in use, Mr. Chairman. Whenever a problem arises requiring a social worker, we try to search for a local elder to assist us in the counselling, but this is subject to the clients agreeing to include the elders.
If the clients don’t agree with the additional services, then we have to respect their wishes.
This is already included in the process if there is an elder available and we have to have a list of names for the communities. This is ongoing work.
Again, it is up to the clients to be counselled by the parties they want assistance from.
Perhaps it would also be beneficial since every community has local radios where people with that expertise can go on and advertise their availability. This would allow clients to work with those local counsellors or via traditional Inuit counselling or in being taught the proper way to live healthily.
Indeed, I have seen this personally, although I understood your response about couples who have problems.
The department isn’t the only avenue as we also have the RCMP who also becomes involved.
The RCMP has now twice touched my family without my knowledge, although it turned out to be a simple matter. The social workers weren’t aware of the issue either, but I ended up being informed while I was relaxing that one of my daughter-in-laws was already in Iqaluit.
This is problematic to hear this after the fact and causes unhappiness amongst families.
This has to be resolved in the immediate future.
Further, in accordance with traditional Inuit knowledge, I am in disagreement with the deputy minister’s response, as our goals and objectives are to incorporate traditional Inuit practices so that when my sons and their spouses have problems, I want to be able to counsel them because they are my children.
Even if they didn’t want the counselling and if they chose the social worker route, even if I want to be involved, my parental responsibilities are dissolved and I lose my parental authority since they prefer to follow the legislation.
This issue has to respect the parents’ authority, especially if the problems don’t involve addictive substances and they are only having disagreements.
To share this with you, when a couple first gets together, which I will use as an example, the couple is infatuated with each other and problems rarely arise in the early days.
It is when the relationship has matured further, as the couple learns each other’s tendencies, that disagreements arise and it has nothing to do with alcohol.
This illustrates a prime example of Inuit today not knowing the traditional knowledge related to healthy living.
We have to repatriate our authority and that is what I feel is missing in this process.
According to traditional knowledge, these disagreements are just a symptom of the couple becoming endeared to each other. Once the couple learns each other’s tendencies, that source of disagreement will disappear.
With that being the case, I feel this aspect of traditional knowledge is missing, where the parents should be involved, even if the clients don’t want them involved, so that families can work together to hash out the problems in our future.
Within the government, funding is provided when the proposals are detailed with the proposed initiative to assist the community.
If the community wishes to be involved in counselling, they can request funding to pay for a counselling course related to social services. If a community wishes to be involved, they can request funding towards this initiative.
However, the proposal has to be fully detailed out with the staff and resources required.
The department also tries to get outside counselling as social workers and when there is no alternative available, we have to undertake our work within the communities without it.
However, if any community was to submit a proposal, our department can review the proposal if it is related to the social services counselling.
The other matter the member spoke about, I believe, was specific to certain individuals and I can’t respond to specific cases or individuals.
That is how I can respond to the question.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Family Services.
Branch Summary. Corporate Management. D-4.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $6,918,000.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Moving on. Branch Summary. Family Services.
Children and Family Services. Ms. Angnakak.
I would like to start off with foster care. Unfortunately, Nunavut continues to require more foster homes across the territory.
I know that the department had an ad out a few months ago or last year, some time between last year and now, asking for more people to submit their names to become foster parents.
Can the department tell us what kind of strategy they have in place to address this increased demand?
As the member stated, foster homes are a critical resource in Nunavut. There are approximately 230 approved foster homes in Nunavut at the moment.
As the member knows, we have done a number of foster home recruitment in communities across Nunavut.
We are interested, as a department, in re-establishing the Foster Parent Association.
We think that by providing more supports to our foster parents and getting the word out on this important issue, it is going to help in the recruitment.
As well, we are currently reviewing our per diem rates for foster parents as well to make sure that isn’t a barrier to increasing the amount of foster homes.
Can the department explain how they are meeting the needs of disabled children in Nunavut who require 24-hour care, maybe in a group home or residential care?
I will have Brandon Grant respond.
Our department provides residential care services for children in Nunavut. As well, we have placements outside of the territory depending on the child’s needs.
In Nunavut, we’ve got a facility in Chesterfield Inlet that has a total number of ten beds.
It provides medical support for adults and children. It currently supports nine children in Chesterfield Inlet.
As well, we’ve got an adolescent girls group home here in Iqaluit as well where it has a total of six beds at that facility.
As well, we have recently reopened, under new management, the youth group home for boys in Cambridge Bay, which has a total bed capacity of six.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps the department can tell us the difference between the demand and the capacity of this kind of service.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) The minister has noted to defer to the official.
Mr. Grant: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the initiatives that our department has undertaken with the new deputy minister is to examine our current capacity within Nunavut and exploring a responsible transition of more children and adults back into Nunavut and building our capacity there. We have initiated that process with the development of a policy paper that will inform business cases and capital requests into the future.
We’re looking as a department to have more of our clients stay in Nunavut as a long-term plan for our department.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When you talk about a long-term plan about children coming back to Nunavut, what kind of a timeframe are we talking about here?
Chairman: Mr. Grant.
As I mentioned, we have started the process now. We’re hoping to work with our current service providers in communities as well as our partners and stakeholders to look at putting the plan together.
We’ve had initial meetings. We haven’t set a timeframe on when we’re going to have specific deliverables.
I want to be clear: it started and we hope to update the House soon on our progress there, but that’s the long-term vision that our minister and deputy minister has set.
They are very clear that they want more capacity within Nunavut so that we can care for our children and adults.
I think that’s definitely a step in the right direction and something that I have always felt very passionate about, keeping Nunavummiut in Nunavut if we can at all costs.
I see from your opening comments that funding has decreased from the residential care placements.
Can you elaborate on what actions led to this decrease?
The parents request for support and when those requests are approved to the referral place, the funding line item is for the requests.
I’m just going to go on to something else. I would like to talk about family violence, which remains very high in Nunavut in comparison to the rest of Canada.
What is your department doing to address this issue?
With respect to the (interpretation ends) Ilagiitsiaqtut Framework Strategy, (interpretation) there is currently no staff within the department to review the family violence data.
Prior to undertaking the position, the staff member will undertake the work that was contracted out to the Qulliit Status of Women Council to initiate this service.
We have almost completed the first phase of the Ilagiitsiaqtut (interpretation ends) framework. (interpretation) At the end of this month, we will receive a report. There are four phases in this strategy. The first phase will be completed at the end of the month.
That’s how I can respond.
Can the minister tell us, is the status of women [council] also working with the communities when they are developing this strategy?
According to my understanding, NTI, the RCMP, and other agencies do take part in these meetings.
I don’t know. Maybe I just didn’t catch it, but when will the four phases be completed?
The first phase will be completed at the end of this month. The three phases are expected to be completed by 2017.
After the first phase is completed, all the others will follow.
I’m actually down to my last question on this and I want to just touch on adoption services.
What role does your department play when it comes to adoptions in Nunavut? How involved are you and what kind of procedures are in place?
I’m thinking more about outside (interpretation) Canadian citizens (interpretation ends) when they wants to adopt a child from Nunavut. What happens in those circumstances when you have that kind of request?
The Department of Family Services has that role as part of (interpretation ends) departmental adoption (interpretation) and if a non-Inuit family wanted to adopt a child from Nunavut, they have to go through that division to adopt a child.
The department conducts an investigation on the prospective parents and they hold meetings with the parents prior to adoption.
The child being adopted would be informed about their Inuit culture and where they come from.
Is there a difference between somebody who may want to adopt within Nunavut who might come from a different culture versus somebody who wants to adopt from outside Nunavut?
Is there a difference in how you deal with that request?
I didn’t quite understand the member’s question. Was she asking about the differences in people wishing to adopt children?
Perhaps my deputy minister understood the question and can provide a response.
The first one that is recognized by the courts is native custom adoption. We have over 25 custom adoption commissioners in Nunavut, and the social services department does not get involved in these areas.
Another adoption is departmental adoption. These are the children that are in care for a very long time and the department will go to family first.
If the extended family wants to adopt this child, they can do that. That’s one.
The private adoption is I think what MLA Angnakak is talking about.
It is anyone who is not Inuk, who doesn’t have family up here, and they may find somebody or a friend of somebody that they know in Nunavut, who wants to adopt a child.
It’s called private adoption. There, the legal documents are done up and the home study is comprehensive.
There are different ways to do adoption. Procedures are quite extensive, particularly for private adoptions.
When we do any adoptions or child protection issues, in the Act, it talks about we need to advise Nunavut Tunngavik and Inuit organizations.
We let them know about this issue. We may give names to the Inuit organizations so that they know an Inuk child is being adopted or apprehended.
Since the enactment of the Act in early 2000, we never got any feedback from Inuit organizations about what we do.
We are looking at this right now to make sure that the privacy information is being complied with, how they are protecting this information that we give to Inuit organizations.
There are three ways, but private adoption is the one I think Ms. Angnakak is talking about.
I hope I was clear.
Chairman (interpretation): Yes, it’s very clear.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you very much. Thank you for your reply. That was very informative.
I did say I had one last question, but now this is really my last question.