EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Chairman, that’s why we have the Utility Rates Review Council to determine all the facts that are put into the application and all input from the public. If energy efficiency audits have been done in some units, I’m certain that the council will review that and make recommendations on that.
I guess when we look at energy audits and electricity, there are some communities that are a little bit more advanced than other communities.
How will that impact general rate applications proposed in the near future?
These energy audits are done by the Qulliq Energy Corporation and/or the Nunavut Housing Corporation. Once they do that, the information is usually shared with other affected departments. For these energy audits, we don’t have that information within EIA at this time.
This is part of the same line of questioning, but I would like further information on page 2. It says here that the Utility Rates Review Council provides advice and recommendations.
We have rates that are set out and electricity is usually generated with fuel, which is expensive.
Will the Utility Rates Review Council look at or have they looked at alternative methods of generating energy in the north that is less expensive?
Mr. Chairman, the Qulliq Energy Corporation does that in trying to find alternative energy or greener, efficient, alternative energies.
It’s not the utility rates review that does that.
I got part of my question answered, but not all of it.
In the north, the generators use fossil fuels.
Are you looking at alternative methods that use less fuel that can be used in the north?
The Qulliq Energy Corporation has the ability to do audits on alternative energy. That practice has been done through Community Government and Services where there are government assets and government buildings that have been retrofitted with solar panels and other forms of energy and collecting heat off the generators.
Mr. Chairman, that’s not necessarily the utility rates review prerogative. It’s done through Community and Government Services and the Qulliq Energy Corporation.
Chairman: Qujannamiik, Premier. (interpretation) We are on page B-4. It reads, Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Directorate.
Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $3,654,000.
Page B-5.
In your business plan on page 6, fourth bullet from the top, you’re “Currently planning the next cycle of the Food Price Survey to be conducted in March 2016.”
Has that been done already?
Yes, we’re planning on conducting the food pricing in March. We haven’t done that yet, but we’re currently in the plans of doing that.
I apologize. Maybe some of these employees are working too fast.
Mr. Chairman, GLOs have collected that information and the collection of information is done at this time.
Would you be able to tell us which parts of Nunavut have the highest cost of living in all of Nunavut, which area?
I want to thank the committee member for that excellent question.
Mr. Chairman, the Kitikmeot region has the highest overall cost between the three regions.
With these surveys, we are all trying to find ways to help. We do all kind of surveys and they don’t seem to help any.
With a survey like that, how is the Government of Nunavut going to be helping the Kitikmeot region to lower the cost of living?
Mr. Chairman, as members all know, the Nutrition North program is going to be reviewed by the new Minister of Indigenous Affairs. That’s one of the things we are going to be participating in as a government. With a food survey like this, that is data that can be used to point and pitch our issues forward to a renewal of the Nutrition North Canada Program.
Part of my question is the new federal government has announced it is reviewing the Nutrition North program.
Can you describe how your department will contribute to the review of the Nutrition North Canada Program?
We intend to have discussions with the minister. Of course, we intend to use the survey to absolutely make it clear what it costs for daily living just on the food baskets alone.
We just had a meeting with the three airlines last month or a few months ago.
Did you have any discussions with the airlines on how they can help reduce the cost of living in the north?
Of course, in every community, all our foodstuffs are flown up; all the fresh stuff is flown up. There is no doubt that Minister Bennett will be including airlines on the review of the program.
I am on page 6 of your business plan and my colleague did ask a question about this and, that is, to conduct the 2016 Nunavut Food Price Survey.
I want to know how exactly that was carried out. How did you do it?
Did you hire people in the communities? How many people?
What happened? Did it all happen at the same time? They all went to NorthMart or Co-op?
Can you talk about how that was carried out?
The food price survey was done through GLOs.
Mr. Chairman, I can have Deputy Minister Akeeagok respond in more detail.
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) There is a spreadsheet that has 118 food items and 17 non-food items that each of the GLOs have and they go to the Northern Store, the Co-op, and whatever store is within those communities on a fixed date.
Tuesday was the day that all of our GLOs went to the stores and got all those prices of that day.
That has been going on for the last three years. We are having good, significant data as a result of this. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Quite a few years ago when we had the old Food Mail Program, one of the challenges that the federal government had was to be able to provide oversight on prices. They would be very limited in knowing what was actually going on.
Sometimes the director of the program would come up to the north to one of the communities. The problem is NorthMart and the Co-ops knew that he was coming, so sometimes the prices were actually marked down.
Was this a surprise thing or did you NorthMart know that you were going to be choosing this day or did the Co-ops know? How was this carried out? Was that something that was taken into consideration?
Yes, retailers knew that they were coming in.
Can the Premier tell us why you chose that method?
I don’t have that information with me, but I’ll certainly share it once I get that.
We will look forward to it.
What I was referring to was why did you use that method where there was no element of surprise? Why did you tell them, “By the way, we’re coming in to check your prices”?
Why would you do it like that?
Chairman (Mr. Akoak): Premier Taptuna.
When we’re doing surveys, we do have to give notification, as with every other survey.
If there’s any improved way of collecting food prices, we will certain look in that and make efforts to improve that.
I don’t say this is for sure, but I’m sure if they knew that you guys were coming in, some modifications were done.
I would suggest that you talk with Feeding My Family. They had a way of going into the stores across Nunavut and finding out what the prices were. Were they consulted at all in the methods that you were going to be using to collect this kind of data?
No, they weren’t consulted.
I would suggest that it would be beneficial to talk with them because they have gone through this before and they have done it in a way to get the true prices. It’s just a suggestion and I hope that you could be open to that.
We’re certainly open to any improvements that it would do. On behalf of Nunavummiut, we will certainly look into to that and find ways to improve the survey of food price collection.
We all want to get the true cost, exactly what we are dealing with, at least then we know how to deal with it.
I want to go on to the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics that I included in my opening comments.
If I remember correctly, in the decentralization study report, I think the recommendation for that office was to move it to Iqaluit out of Pangnirtung. I could be wrong, but I think I read that somewhere. I want to ask the Premier if there had been any kind of consideration for that.
When we have these divisions out there in these smaller communities, we plan to keep those positions there for employment in the smaller communities, but we are not aware of making any plans of moving the division into Iqaluit.
Can the Premier tell us why they are late in tabling all those annual reports that are due?
As departments, we do our utmost best to try to table documents on time, especially the legislative documents. I’ll be tabling all the documents that were mentioned this week.
How many people staff that office?
Can the committee member clarify which office?
Is it the Department of EIA?
Chairman (interpretation): Can you identify which one, Ms. Angnakak?
Ms. Angnakak (interpretation): The Nunavut Bureau of Statistics office. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
I apologize for that. Mr. Chairman, we have nine employees within that office.
Out of those, how many beneficiaries are working in that office?
I’ll have to get back to the committee member on the numbers there. We have overall numbers of beneficiaries working within that department.
I have just been informed that there are four beneficiaries in that office.
One of the priorities, I’m assuming, was under strategic planning, but I’m not sure and maybe you can clarify if the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics office is doing this and that is working with Statistics Canada.
I guess my question is: who would be in your… ? Maybe I’ll back up. On page 5 of the business plan, it says here, “Preparations for the 2016 Census of Canada – work with Statistics Canada to promote the census in Nunavut communities to ensure that Nunavut residences are enumerated.”
It’s a hard word to say.
Who would actually be doing that kind of work?
Who would be providing them with that support?
The director within that office communicates with Statistics Canada.
In what way would they provide support? What are they doing? Providing background information that has already been collected by the department?
How are they assisting?
I’m curious.
We don’t have operational information at this time, but we will certainly provide it to the committee member.
One of the things that have come about with all of this census taking which I have heard on the radio and I have heard people talk about is the issue of language. We have census takers coming into communities, but they don’t speak Inuktitut. A lot of people who are unilingual have refused, obviously, because they can’t communicate properly.
Has that concern been passed to you as Premier?
What’s your level of engagement with that?
In the Nunavut statistics bureau, we do have beneficiaries that speak all our official languages. Under Statistics Canada, of course, we try to engage them in ensuring that they have bilingual employees.
I understand that at one point, they did put out ads in the paper for assistance in that, to hire people who are bilingual to assist in their surveys.
I understood that there were no responses to their ads.
Is that something then that Statistics Canada could go to the Nunavut Kiglisiniaqtiit office and maybe coordinate a better coordination of this so that some elders that were on the radio weren’t faced with that kind of awkward situation?
That’s a very good question. Mr. Chairman, that’s absolutely right.
There’s another federal office here that do have bilingual employees that could assist with Statistics Canada.
Once again on page 5, the last bullet of your business plan, it says, “Revise methods and examine potential sources of data to improve community population estimates and projection models.”
I’m wondering: is there a problem with the way it’s done now that you want to revise these methods and, if so, what are the problems?
We will find ways to improve our methods.
I’m not sure exactly what they are at this point, but there’s always ongoing work to improve finding ways to ensure that we have more accurate data that we can analyze for numerous, different programs that we administer as a government.
Population numbers are key and it’s critical for our government to ensure that we are putting out the right amounts of information and funding for our populations that are out there.
Although I do appreciate his response, I don’t think it really answers the question.
Obviously, somebody put “revised” there because a change was needed. I’m just curious what kind of change is needed there to improve community population.
Statistics for us is very important since a lot of our funding from the federal government goes by how many people we have in Nunavut and what kind of situation we’re facing.
I’m always very cautious when I see things like that. It sort of tells me that maybe the way we have been doing it hasn’t been correct.
I thank the committee member for that excellent question.
We are always trying to improve.
Mr. Chairman, if I can, I’ll have Deputy Minister Akeeagok get into more detail of the operational things we do within the department.
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) For professions such as statistics, much like accountants and other professions where they have models and tools in place, there are times that you revisit those models and data to see if there are improvements.
Once they have a standard in place, it does take a while to make some corrections and there is need for revisiting. I don’t have the specifics in terms of what exactly was reviewed, but those are ongoing improvements that professions such as statistics do for this. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
One of the things I have often heard about Nunavut - I don’t know if it’s true or not and your department under that division would be responsible - is that we don’t have enough data. We don’t have enough data to determine outcomes or what we should be doing next.
For example, when we were talking with the finance minister about the few million dollars that were taken away, it came to statistics and data and how they evaluate it. It was very different and stuff like that.
I’m just wondering what your response would be to that.
How are we doing with our statistical information? Is that office growing?
Are they actually doing more things? For example, were they involved with this price survey thing?
Hon. Peter Taptuna: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee member is absolutely right.
Statistics are important. That’s why when Canada is doing their survey of the population and demographics, they are trying to get information to base their programs and funding for all jurisdictions. That’s why it’s really important for the people of Nunavut to participate in these surveys.
Yes, our statistics bureau is growing. It does a lot of work. At times, there is ongoing work for improvement.
There is work to improve how data is analyzed and shared.
One of the key factors is that, of course, when our funding was cut to a certain amount, it was based on statistical information from 1988, I believe. That’s why it’s very important that, as citizens, we do participate in surveys that are conducted out there.
Ms. Angnakak, I believe you’re done.
Let’s take a 15-minute break.
>>Committee recessed at 15:14 and resumed at 15:31
We are ready to proceed again.
We are on page B-5. Let us proceed.
The first question I have is about the food price survey. The data was collected for the food price survey. Can it be tabled in the House when it’s ready?
Yes, we can table that.
I have questions about Statistics Canada. Although it was already discussed, why was it set up like that?
I heard in the news as well that the elders were visited, but they were unable to answer the questions because of the differences in languages. However, your office helps the people from Statistics Canada.
What’s the problem? Is it not set up right? Do they not have proper Inuktitut-speaking staff in all the communities?
Yes, it’s Statistics Canada’s census surveys they conduct.
Exactly how that’s rolled out, we try to assist them in collecting information.
Yes, I indicated earlier that there was an ad that went out from them to hire bilingual Inuit to assist them up north.
From my understanding, there have been no responses to their ads.
On page 5 of your business plan, the funding for the Policy and Planning Division for the 2015-16 fiscal year was $1,421,000. For the coming year, you are requesting $2,263,000. What is the reason for this increase?
There were changes of $397,000 and various changes in compensation levels; of course, the two new additions of policy analysts, an increase in service contracts has to do with operational audits, and a $5,000 decrease in purchased services.
Mr. Chairman, on the operational audit, it was a $450,000 increase.
I apologize that I don’t really understand.
Did you talk about PYs?
Did you add some positions? How many positions were added for the $397,000 increase? Was some of it used for a position?
Sorry if I didn’t make myself clear.
There are two new policy analyst positions that were filled that amounted to $397,000.
If we divide the$397,000 into two, they’re going to be earning almost $200,000 each.
I don’t think it’s that much, but I’ll have our director of finance for corporate services respond to that question.
Chairman: Mr. Hickey.
Mr. Hickey: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The difference in the salary levels are the addition of two policy analysts. We estimated that to be about $350,000 for those two positions.
We also, in 2015-16, upgraded the position or re-evaluated the position of an executive director for the associate deputy minister. We estimated that increase at $80,000.
The difference of $90,000 were various increments of remaining positions.
I guess they will be making a very good salary.
Let me move on to something else. On page 6, it states, “Expand on (interpretation ends) Occupational Demand model...” (interpretation) I wonder what that means.
It’s being done by your department. Is it to create positions?
Is it a person who divides up the PYs?
I’ll have Deputy Minister Akeeagok respond to that.
Mr. Akeeagok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) On the operational demand model, the member is correct.
That is what positions are out there to determine which sectors they’re in and that will allow us to provide more statistical information at regional and community levels. It’s looking at positions and identifying which area that they are in. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Can he explain further which jobs people want the most or what kinds of jobs people mostly apply for?
Would this be for government? It also talks about the private sector. One of your priorities for 2016-17 is “to incorporate the private sector occupations...” I would like clarification on whether it is mainly for the government or both.
We want to redefine the way all the positions available in Nunavut are categorized so that people will have a better idea of what jobs are out there and where they are. Once they are compiled, we want to be able to show what kinds of jobs are taken the most. With the jobs better defined, it should make it easier and more helpful to the regions as jobs become available.
Mr. Joanasie (interpretation): Thank you. Thank you for the response.
On page 7, in the Priorities (2016-17), the last bullet states, “Disseminate and analyze data files from the Nunavut Government Employment Survey (NGES) and other survey data related to Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.” Can you explain that further?
Have you compiled the data already and can you explain that further?
In the previous year, the Nunavut government employees were surveyed and some of them applied to Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. We have been categorizing the jobs that fall under that. We collect the questions and use them to help us in our planning process and training plans.
It helps us put things like that together.
Mr. Joanasie (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Can you give us an example of what kinds of questions were asked of the Nunavut government employees during the survey?
We don’t have that information with us at this time, but we’re willing to share it with the committee member once we have it.
We will expect that.
I will be expecting the contents of the survey or the scope of the survey to be tabled as well.
I will stop here for now.
I believe that was a general comment and I didn’t hear a question.
Mr. Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome.
The first question that I would like to ask is on page 5 of the business plan in strategic planning for 2015-16. It states, “work with Statistics Canada to promote the census in Nunavut communities…” It states that next year, they will provide more help “to ensure that Nunavut residents are enumerated...”
That is good news, but I think they need to change the process that they use, especially when there are unilingual Inuit people out there. The data they are collecting will contain huge gaps and therefore affect our incomes.
I am very concerned that many things will not be included.
Will you be informing the federal government that the data they collect are incomplete as far as Nunavummiut are concerned?
I would like to ask that first.
Yes, we talked about that earlier.
That is quite correct. I am encouraging Nunavummiut to participate in the [enumeration] when it comes around on census Canada.
If there are ways to assist Canada in getting all the information, we will certainly be looking at how we could do that.
The statistics people came to my home. Although they asked me a question, I wanted to see what was going on, so I answered in Inuktitut, even though I could speak English. They said that they would come back with an interpreter.
I have been waiting for approximately a month for them to come back.
How many unilingual Inuktitut-speaking people have we met so far with the census? It seems like the statistics are going to be missing a whole lot of people. Will it reduce the number of funding that we will get from the federal government?
I encourage you to tell the federal government to do a full census, without missing anyone.
I’ll be working with our Nunavut MP on this. It’s absolutely critical that Nunavummiut participate in the census gathering by Canada. We will certainly have that discussion to find out how we could ensure that Statistics Canada get bilingual Inuktitut-speaking census takers while they’re up north here in Nunavut.
Mr. Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I believe a lot of the communities have been visited by these unilingual census takers already and a lot of data was not collected from a lot of our communities, perhaps already.
Those numbers will be used to determine our funding as a government.
I think we have to be ready to explain that this census is not complete according to our figures.
Can we at least warn the federal government that these figures will not be complete until they have bilingual services for census taking?
I’ll certainly pass that concern to our Nunavut MP.
Do you have any additional questions, Mr. Okalik?
Mr. Okalik (interpretation): I’m done with that topic because I was quite concerned and I’m glad that they will do more work on it.
I’ll move on to other topics later on.
This was referred to earlier in another question related to food price reductions.
It was referred to early in the opening comments, so I want to ask this question so that I understand clearly.
For those of us who live in smaller communities, we don’t always see the price reduction listed on the food prices.
The reason why I am asking about this is because even though we are all Inuit, we all have different capabilities.
As an example, some of the older generations cannot use English, although some people are functionally bilingual.
Even those of the younger generations don’t always have proper mathematical skills to decipher the tags while some Inuit have disabilities, such as blindness or deafness.
I know it will be slowly improved, but I want to clearly understand the food price reduction program.
Now, if this is implemented, when residents go shopping who are either deaf or are unilingual Inuit, how will they understand the price reduction in the food they are trying to buy?