EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I have nothing written down
I thought there was a commissioner and there was a review done and to their understanding, how the Nunavut process was being created and I don’t know whether they understood the process of Nunavut being created.
Because they were just waiting for Nunavut to be created and Northwest Territories is saying what is happening to the rest of Northwest Territories.
(interpretation end) Mr. Speaker, just a little bit on the mid-term review, it’s nice to say that the mid-term review emphasised for all members, the importance of some of the most basic goals of the creation of Nunavut.
That’s a nice sounding statement.
That’s basically all it is if the people out there are not satisfied with the way the government is being operated.
Not everybody will be satisfied ever.
But there should be a fair amount of satisfaction with your government and right now, I don’t think there is because I’ve travelled across Nunavut in the last number of months and there’s not too much optimism out there today.
A mid-term review is supposed to reflect on what can be done.
Changing the deputy ministers, changing the ministers is not going to do it.
It’s like changing the deck chairs of the Titanic on it’s way down.
What we need to do is have a whole sale change in the way the government operates in order to recognise the wishes and dreams of the people who wanted Nunavut, who started the whole process of Nunavut Territory years ago, years and years ago in the early 70s.
To realize those dreams, we have to have some rather dramatic changes within the government at the bureaucracy level, at the civil service level.
I don’t mean throw them all out but change in thinking, a change in the way that people think that there up here for.
Direction, given by the people who are in charge, who say look, this is not acceptable, the way we’re operating the government.
Let’s change some basic ground rules here.
It’s no good to just say or just change around a few people if the commitment is not there from those people.
Then there’s no point in changing it around because the commitment will not miraculously commence.
(interpretation) Like we have indicated that since the separation of the Government of Nunavut, okay we’ve got our own Government of Nunavut, however, having our own Government of Nunavut, there are a lot of items that we still don’t understand that is supposed to be directed to Inuit and they are representing Inuit for the people of Nunavut.
We can move our government to Winnipeg from Iqaluit.
If we’re not going to be committed to our people of Nunavut.
If we are going to be committed with our hearts and we are going to have to start working on why, and with our souls, why did we work so hard to create our own Nunavut because our hearts are in Nunavut.
And we are going to have to commit our hearts to be to work hard within Nunavut.
And there are a lot of people that say what does this mean?
Sometimes it is impossible for us to talk about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, it is in our system, we know it, and it is in our system.
And we do not have to re-learn it.
But Just talking about it is useless.
For these instances that I have used, the examples, the communities, sometimes it is impossible when we are talking about a cabinet, but for instance, if we did the study, inside here, because I am very proud that we can speak Inuktitut all the way it would be all right.
What would you do if we had to operate only in English, and operate with interpreters, or without?
If we are really committed to Inuktitut language, if we are committed to Inuit culture, are we going to have interpreters regardless if we are going to be working in all in Inuktitut or Qallunaatitut if they are bilingual?
Sometimes they do not need interpreters whatsoever, but if we are committed to Inuktitut language there are going to be interpreters required, if you are in Quebec, even we are bilingual the meeting would be run in French, and French interpreters would be required.
At least we should be understood now how committed we are to use the Inuktitut language and to use the traditional knowledge and because we are going to have to start pushing and it seems that sometimes when we are trying to talk properly, sometimes we are treated that way, but however, when we are talking about it like I indicated earlier, I would like to elaborate on it more.
For those people who apply for positions within the Government jobs, as long as they are aboriginals and because they, the women and the disabled were included.
We know that in the community the levels are not going into managerial positions or they are not being thought of when the commissioner talks about creation of positions, of jobs.
Sometimes when it is being talked about, okay they are going to start working on it, it is very beneficial, are they going to be in the managerial position, there is an obstacle, and there is always a barrier, a glass ceiling.
All over, you can the people in managerial positions through the glass; the glass is stopping you from climbing any further.
We are trying to create something for the Inuit to, we were told that many women in the job force and so what is the percentages that are in managerial positions?
How many disabled people are in the managerial positions?
I’ve never seen a disabled person in those positions and even though the disabled person was qualified they were not considered for the position.
Like last year, we started working in this house about suicide prevention.
Just recently there was a suicide prevention.
There were between 600 or 700 people in Iqaluit and it was very beneficial during Saturday, Sunday and we went right on through Friday and although it was a beautiful day and there was fishing derbies going on in the other communities and those people many, many people went to Iqaluit to talk about suicide prevention.
I expected to see some of you in the workshop but I didn’t see one of you.
But like I said earlier it was a beautiful day and there was fishing derbies going on and I didn’t mind being in Repulse Bay at that time.
It was known and we saw that the people were working hard really on the suicide prevention and there were leaders from Qikiqtani Inuit Association, when I saw him in Saturday morning and I was proud of him that he rather be at the suicide prevention program rather than going out hunting.
It’s impossible for me just to talk about suicide prevention.
How can the Health and Social Services can do more about the suicide prevention programs?
I know it’s going to be worked on and I know that they are working on it already and how people can be more involved.
We’re going to be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services when it was mentioned just before our last meeting.
I'm sorry I was not able to attend that meeting because I had just lost a relative and I got sick myself.
In talking about Nunavut, about ourselves within our own government, because we are an elected body, there are people outside of this house who are who knows more about how they dreamed about the creation of Nunavut.
As government, let’s not be nervous when we are being told and when we are being finger pointed. If we don’t get nervous we’re just going to be in a bubble and not hear anybody who is talking to us.
I know there are people who are happy with the creation of Nunavut but there are many people who are dissatisfied about Nunavut and they’re still asking when are we going to get our own Nunavut.
Perhaps with the elections coming fairly soon, this question is going to be raised.
What kind of government do you want to have?
What kind of government do I have?
What is happening with the government that it was suppose to be a consensus government and in February the voters will think about this?
Ask questions to the cabinet, to the government.
This is my vision here and this is what I expect.
The Inuit should start pushing the government and the government will be more useful for Inuit.
It would be beneficial to all Inuit because the Inuit tends to help each other but the government is not doing the same thing that we want.
I think it to myself, this government is supposed to help Inuit, to work well with Inuit.
I’m sure this will be brought up again in a few months or a few years from now.
And for those there are private sectors in Nunavut, the private sectors can start thinking about how can they make our contract better.
Sometimes they are rejected.
For instance, for Canadian North Airlines, Arctic Coops, Nunasi Corporation, sometimes they are rejected because they are outside of NNI.
Canadian North is owned by us 50/50 percent but what about Arctic Cooperative Ltd., I don’t know what percentages of how many percent we do own, but Canadian North, we do own half of it.
It is not recognised under the NNI policy; why, because we are not supporting our own airlines?
For the Health and Social Services, they’re always saying that some medical people that are going out for medical reasons are not satisfied with what kind of aircraft they are going.
Because I’m from Kivalliq and I support Canadian North.
I don’t exactly know what message I get out of that airline, but if it is making a profit, it will be beneficial for all of the north.
First Air, I’m not against, them.
They are also own by other Inuit but that’s from a different region outside of Nunavut.
If they’re profitable, I’m not going to see any of it. But if Canadian North does, I will see some benefits coming in.
It won’t directly come to me but indirectly it will. So, we shouldn’t be holding back.
When we’re talking about housing, there is a critical housing shortage in Nunavut.
Some live in a small house, in Bathurst Inlet, we saw small nice little houses that are perfect for young couples.
You can add on to them and that’s probably a cheaper house than what we have with the option of making an extension to that unit.
So we have to start rethinking.
The Housing Corporation should start asking the people as to what they would like to see with housing.
There are some in the south, once they come up with the numbers, they make a fire station in Naujat, and the doorway is facing the wind.
And so, the Naujamiut would have to fix that problem which in the first place was not their fault.
So, these simples things on paper that paper qualities that we depend on too much when in fact, we have the knowledge up here that could be used.
I would also like to reiterate the Minister for Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth’s comment and I am sure I can ask of him at the appropriate time, but as soon as he got elected, we started talking about an Elders’ Council and this is the fourth year now and we are still talking about it and we are hearing it will come.
However, am not in the Department anymore.
I thought that body would be very effective because we do know our leaders become leaders by being elected.
At times, we do not even look at their qualities, but we look at how good they can speak, but not their qualifications.
We just look at the image of the person.
When we look at Elders who are going to be appointed to the Council, we’ll have to have authority.
We have to give them authority and to look after them by the Government and if it does happen, we as regular Members, are we going to take part once this Elders’ Council is appointed because we were not told as yet whether we will be involved in the selection process.
But this Council will be very important to the Government, it has to be and if it will be effective and if it is going to have the teeth to have the authority and thinking about how the structure will be, I think we should be involved if it is going to be within the Nunavut Government, we should be involved in the selection process for the appointment to the Elders’ Council.
Elders have expectations and nowadays there are a lot of Elders who have been taken out of positions.
They are still looking for ways in which how they can contribute to our lives.
If it was back then, we would be asking the Elders, we would be visiting the Elders for their advice, say if I have a relationship problem I would go to them for their advise.
If I had problems with my brothers, I would go to them for advice.
These are the people that can help us to deal with our social problems and if someone is in trouble, then the Elders would deal with it or if they have to learn hunting, about life, then the Elders would be responsible for that.
Wildlife issues, then they would deal with it.
Now, today, it is like this: social issues, social problems, we will go to a social worker.
If there is someone misbehaving, we will go to the police.
Wildlife issues, problems, we will go to wildlife officers.
If there are problems in the community, we will go to the Hamlet.
The Elders’ place in society has been taken away.
We have to take that back so you have the knowledge because they do say: We will become Elders one day, but we have been hardened more so perhaps because we have taken on the Qallunaat’s way of life.
So it is urgent that this body that will be formed, we have to think about it so that it is effective and not just lip service.
I think that is what we are expecting.
The Commissioner through his address, he says that things are going fine, that is what we expected because that is what the Government wrote, but at times they should not just be paying lip service because we still have so much more work to do.
Let us work on those responsibilities.
Work on your responsibility.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, it is no good to say, ‘We still have a lot of work to do.’ and leave it at that.
It is no good to just say that. ‘We still have a lot of work to do.’
Well get to work.
Make those changes that are necessary in order to satisfy the people of Nunavut about the Government.
Change those policies; change those rules; change those hiring policies; change the way the people are coming up, just getting off the plane and then going to work as maybe, in one case, in one community somebody coming off the plane from Ottawa and becoming an Income Support Worker for a community.
Isn’t there anybody in that community?
Do not be afraid to be biased for the community.
Get the people from the community.
Do not be afraid that the community is going to say, ‘You cannot do that.’
If you hire from within the community, they certainly are not going to say that, or getting Social Workers straight off the plane from Newfoundland.
Not that there is anything wrong with Newfoundlanders, but maybe there is somebody from that community that can do the job just as good if not better, because they would also have the cultural experience, cultural knowledge and sensitivity to that community.
Let us utilize those people.
Are we afraid to?
When are we going to change those policies to ensure that the wishes of the people are listened to?
When are we going to ensure that Social Workers are going to listen to the Justice Committees.
That they are going to think that the Justice Committee is a worthwhile body to work with, instead of thinking that I am a Social Worker with paper qualifications, so who are they, sort of attitude.
It is time that we started breaking the ground, rushing forward to make those changes.
It is time that the Government started breaking the ground, rushing forward to make those changes.
It crawls at a snails pace.
And sometimes maybe the hill is a little too steep so it goes back a little bit.
Let get to work guys.
Let us make sure that we do our best to serve the people of Nunavut who put us in here in the first place, collectively, not 19 individual ridings, collectively, they put us here, and it is up to us to serve the interests of those people.
The only reason we exist is because of those people out there.
Let us give them some attention.
Let us not get carried away thinking that we are so important that we can do all the things without consulting the people, right Donald.
It is a tragedy that we have not gone as far as we should have today.
It’s nice to sometimes take a back seat and yeah, we’ve done some pretty good things in the last four years.
As I said, when we have nothing to compare to, how can you say we’re doing pretty good.
We have nothing to compare ourselves to.
We may be thinking we’re doing pretty good, we got Nunavut.
The only comparison we have could be the Northwest Territories and between them and us, it’s like, as Qallunaat would say, the difference between fire and ice or whatever the term is, night and day, fire and ice, whatever.
They have totally different kinds of existence in the Northwest Territories.
I’m not going to knock the Northwest Territories.
Unfortunately in their case, the Aboriginal people happen to be a small minority I think, a bit of a minority there.
There in a different situation all together, so I’m saying we can’t compare ourselves to the people of the Northwest Territories.
We have to remember that we have a stake in Nunavut.
All of us, or most of us have a stake in Nunavut.
I made a brief remark yesterday about, that I’m going to be around here, I’m going to be in Nunavut for a long time.
I’m going to die in Nunavut, sooner or later.
Later rather than sooner.
I just made this remark, maybe a facetious remark.
I just said that there’s people that take pot shots at us.
And some of those people, I know, are not going to be around here when I’m still around.
So, that’s why I try and keep going. If I stumble, and that should be the case for everybody, if you stumble, you get up and start walking again.
(Interpretation) At times, we go through hardships.
After we’ve been through that hardship, we have to know that it will be over.
Let’s not give up.
And that’s what we say to the youth.
We were told and I had also said it here, that I thought we were controlling because we have the Government of Nunavut.
And then I was told yes, you are in control but we don’t grasp that idea yet.
We have to grasp that idea and realize that we are in control and that we have that authority as of the very first time as a government anywhere, that we have the Government of Nunavut.
However, we are not using that power and we are not continuing the dream by Amagoalik, Ningutsiaq, Qallutsiaq, Meeka Kilabuk and those people.
That was the dream of Elijah Mannariak and those people.
We haven’t grasped the idea totally that we are in control.
So that’s why we have to work harder on that.
So, those are the types of things we have to realize.
Some of them, it’s simple.
For instance, if we want more economic development in the communities, Department of Sustainable Development will say to Finance, change that contracting policy regarding construction of housing.
This house, for instance, erection of the building; give that contract to that community, someone from the community and that money would stay in the community.
The staff employees would be in the community.
They’re not going to rush on the job because they’re not getting out of the community.
The money would stay in the community, perhaps because they have a wife, kids, parents and relatives, and then money will stay in that community.
That’s simple.
So, if they’re holding back or nervous from those people that are contracting.
There is so much money that is flowing down south; millions of dollars that has flowed out of Nunavut in construction.
Myself I can’t build house.
I'm not a carpenter but I do know that in each and every community, there someone that can build a house regardless if they have that piece of paper or trade certificate.
The government has to get going and be sterner and not just be against some of the ideas.
When you listen to the government they have really fought for us against the Federal Government and really stood their ground.
So, we’ve done some good in area because we deserve it.
It’s what we should be doing.
I hope, I don’t know how many of us will be back or if any of us will be back next year perhaps in another community in Nunavut, however, those who are left here should really work hard to that for the first time Inuit in Nunavut, not the leaders of Nunavut, yes its desirable to be voted into top jobs but there is a lot of people that can replace us who can do the job.
Let’s not just think about being elected.
We have to think about how we can better serve the people.
Not just our constituents but Nunavut as a whole.
So, how we better serve the Inuit and that is a mindset we have to start taking on.
But I do know, because I'm saying that when you’re being elected in the different ridings it’s an issue.
Yes, we are elected from different constituencies in Nunavut however as an Inuk you’d think that there is other Inuit in Nattilik, Nanulik, Amittuq, Akulliq in Baker Lake, Iqaluit Centre, Quttiktuq, high arctic, Pond Inlet, they’re Inuit.
And now we get so divisive, for instance, Baffin, Kivalliq, Kitikmeot, there is a lot of big divisiveness because we’re from different regions.
It’s natural but we have to change that.
Like say, I have to get elected because I'm going to work hard on this.
Yes, you may be well meaning, but as a regular Joe on the street, you have to think, well I can help those other people all across Nunavut as a whole.
Yes, it’s good that the election process and the campaigning and all this, we start really more or less being self-serving at times.
(interpretation ends) I know I’ve got unlimited time, however, in the interest of my colleagues; I will try and make it short.
When the commissioner was delivering his opening his third speech of the sixth session he mentioned a lot of things and he mentioned the Bathurst Mandate which is I think a good thing to work towards but somewhere in the process I think we’ve lost some of the drive to get there.
I would just like to touch a little bit on not so much the Bathurst Mandate, but on the decentralization.
Earlier this year we went through some problems with some decentralization issues.
The decentralization issue was always the first one put out by the Nunavut Implementation commission.
It was one of the first ones that they said the Government of Nunavut will be decentralized.
I think it is a very good idea, communities should benefit from the fact that we have a Government of Nunavut, but in the process we started decentralizing decentralized communities when in fact the build up in the capitol is still ongoing.
We think you would be somewhere down south if you did not happen to notice the mountains, and the snow, and the ice, walking in Iqaluit.
Why do not we decentralize more, but from Iqaluit?
There are thousands, literally thousands people, brand new, not really we are not necessarily slating to go to Iqaluit.
But now we have a problem because we happen to be over by a few people in my community of Rankin Inlet, we will decentralize Rankin Inlet.
Rather stupid thing I thought, but I am not in charge.
But decentralizing an already decentralized community does not seem to make sense.
And by the way, people, we think some attitude seems to be that we can play around with the bureaucracy, the bureaucracy is a bunch of people Mr. Speaker, human beings with a heart, with feelings.
IQ, we talk about IQ. Those people that were supposed to move out of Rankin Inlet, all of them have families in Rankin Inlet, all of them have Families in Rankin Inlet, close knit.
It is nice when people want to move out of their communities.
But sometimes people do not want to move, because their family life is more important.
The bureaucracy is a bunch of people, sometimes we may not always agree with them, but they are people with heart, with feelings, being able to think, so let us look at them as people rather than just something out there that we can just take a piece out of and put it out elsewhere.
Use IQ, close knit families.
When are we going to start looking at the fact that in the whole plan to April 1999 the people expected a government that is closer to the people, a government that takes the best of what contemporary governments have to give along with what Inuit have to give.
Those are the kind of things that the people want to see out there.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am sure I will get another chance to outline my views before the end of this assembly; I think we have addressed the Budget Address so I will get an opportunity to do that.