EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Whereas section 38 of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act provides that the Legislative Assembly establish Standing and Special Committees, and;
Whereas rule 89-2 of the rules of the Legislative Assembly support the Striking Committee to recommend Member to fill vacancies on Standing Committees and whereas the Legislative Assembly has chosen to make provision to the Membership of the Standing Committees;
Now therefore I move recommended by the Honourable Member for Iqaluit Centre that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Services.
Levi Barnabas, Member for Quttiktuq to replace Glenn McLean Member for Baker Lake.
And further more, the following Members be appointed alternates to the Standing Committee of the Government Operations and Services, Mr. McLean Member for Baker Lake, Donald Havioyak, Member for Kugluktuk, and;
Therefore that the following Member be appointed to the Standing Committee for Culture, Education and Health, Donald Havioyak, Member for Kugluktuk, Glenn McLean Member for Baker Lake and;
Furthermore that the following Member would be appointed as alternates to the Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health, Levi Barnabas, Member for Quttiktuq, Glenn McLean for Baker Lake, and;
Furthermore that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development, Donald Havioyak, Member for Kugluktuk and;
Therefore that the following Members be appointed to alternate to the Standing Committee on Community Empowerment and Sustainable Development, Mr. Olayuk Akesuk, Member for South Baffin, and;
Furthermore that the following Member be appointed to the Standing Committee Ajauqtiit, Levi Barnabas, Member for Quttiktuq, and;
Furthermore that the following Member to as alternate to the Standing Committee on Ajauqtiit, Enoki Irqittuq, and;
Furthermore the following Member be appointed to the Striking Committee, Mr. McLean, Member for Baker Lake to replace Kevin O’Brien, Member for Arviat, and;
Furthermore that the Membership of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures and Privileges be reconstituted with the following Members Honourable Kelvin Ng, Member for Cambridge Bay, Uriash Puqiqnak, Member for Nattilik, Hunter Tootoo, Member for Iqaluit Centre, David Iqaqrialu, Member for Uqqumiut, Levi Barnabas, Member for Quttiktuq, Ovide Alakannuark, Member for Akulliq, and;
Furthermore that the following Members be appointed as alternates to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures and Privileges, Mr. Enoki Irqittuq, Member for Amittuq, and Jobie Nutarak, Member for Tunnuniq.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other matters.
Tabled Documents 41-1(3), Tabled Documents 61-1(3), Tabled Document 61-1(3).
Tabled Document 81-1(3), Tabled Document 85-1(3), and by the power that has been invested in me as Speaker Committee of the Whole will sit until they are ready to report progress with Mr. Iqaqrialu as Chairperson.
Chairperson (Mr. Iqaqrialu) (interpretation): Welcome.
We were dealing with Community Government & Transportation and we are also dealing with Bill 13, Tabled Document 41-1(3), Tabled Document 61-1(3), 84-1(3).
The Minister of Community Government & Transportation had his opening remarks yesterday.
Are there any comments from the members.
Mr. Anawak did you have your hand up.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Mr. Chairperson I am sorry our staff is not in the House at this time.
The departmental officials are not here.
>> Committee recessed at 10:30 and resumed at 11:03 a.m.
Chairperson (interpretation): We can resume our session.
We have opening remarks by the Chairperson of the committee Mr. Irqittuq.
2000-2001 Main Estimates for Community Government & Transportation
Mr. Chairperson I am pleased to be able to make some opening remarks as we begin the debate of the 2000-2001 main estimates for Community Government & Transportation.
Over the past year the Standing Committee has had an opportunity to meet with the Minister on a number of occasions.
Mr. Chairperson this Department plays a leading role in the development of our communities.
Its capital spending is the largest of any Government of Nunavut department.
The major projects that the Department undertakes such as community halls have far reaching impacts on the daily lives of our constituents.
Mr. Chairperson I am certain that many Members of the House will want to make comments about specific projects in their communities that they support and want to see move forward.
This year’s capital plan for the Department includes projects that some Members have been waiting for a long time to see realised.
For example Kimmirut’s new arena.
However, Mr. Chairperson members remain concerned about the lack of a 5-year capital plan.
Members are hearing from their communities that there is uncertainty about the status and future of projects that have been in the planning for sometime now.
The Members of the Standing Committee are aware that this department will play a leading role with the Department of Finance in developing a 5-year capital over the coming months.
This Standing Committee is looking forward to all stakeholders having real input to the development of the plan.
Mr. Chairperson the Standing Committee has taken the Department’s plan to undertake major reviews of Municipal Legislation and financing.
Members of the Standing Committee have expressed to the Minister on several occasions the need for financing to local governments to adequately to meet the needs of residents and to take into account the high cost of delivering local services such as water and sewage.
Members of the Standing Committee are also concerned that the Government take steps to address the difficulties facing those communities that are in deficit situations.
Mr. Chairperson the Standing Committee also encourages the Department to take a lead role in securing additional resources from the Federal Government as consultations begin on the Government of Canada’s recently announced physical infrastructure plan for Canada.
Mr. Chairperson these are just some of general area of concern that we have had as a Standing Committee.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairperson of the Standing Committee.
Mr. Anawak if you can avail yourself to the witness table with your officials.
Thank you Mr. Minister of Community Government & Transportation, welcome and please introduce your witnesses.
Mr. Minister Anawak.
To my left is Mike Ferris, Community Government & Transportation Deputy Minister and also Ms. Rosemary Keenainak will be with us representing municipal and local governments.
Chairperson (interpretation): At this time general comments and questions to the Department.
Just a general comment, not a question concerning Mr. Irqittuq’s statement regarding arenas and community halls for the communities.
Some of the community halls are becoming too small; in fact in our community it is happening.
I think this is a similar problem everywhere.
We are going to ask for a proper review in the future and I have discussed this previously.
But I just want to reiterate that the communities who are in need should be reviewed, especially for the communities that need community halls.
I am sure they will be getting the facilities required but other communities have to be remembered especially for our youth and our children.
Community halls are important facilities for them; they can help to promote community well-being especially for the children.
It can also help to alleviate mischief at the community level.
If you have more facilities where our children can go and expend their energies and the other thing is the Community and Municipal Governments require proper funding because of a lot of the time they are not receiving adequate funding.
We request that this be reviewed properly whereby the funding formula is going to be reviewed by the Government so that the Municipal operations can run smoothly within the communities.
I know some communities run properly but you have to consider the growing population in the communities and it would very good to see that the funding formulas for the Municipal Governments be reviewed and I wish to talk about that.
Do you have any more general comments.
I have some concerns that I wish to express in this forum.
I wish to express it to everyone because we have a definite problem further to Mr. Akesuk’s general comments.
During the opening remarks, I mentioned that community halls and arenas need to be expanded in many of the communities.
For example in Igloolik the community hall that I saw and in fact the Minister saw that the community hall is far too small for the population.
I would like to see something in the plans that it would included in the 20-year plan and considered as a priority project.
The residents and the Mayor in Igloolik have requested for a new community hall.
At times it comes close to being shut down during community festivities.
If they see the masses of numbers in the building because it is definitely overcrowded.
I want this to be taken into consideration immediately.
Also concerning harbours and breakwaters, this is another community concern because a lot of the communities do not have adequate harbours.
I have been informed that some of the communities in the lower sea level areas should have breakwaters.
In addition, they should have wharves built.
This would cost a lot of money but it would be very helpful to the communities and if you consider it in the long term it would be a cost saving measure.
Because you need harbours or wharves in the higher level communities because these add to the costs.
When you have to dock the ships at the beach and it takes a lot of machinery to deliver the supplies into the community.
I am sure it costs a lot of money.
However, for those of us in Hall Beach we would not be able to get a harbour.
But we would like a marina.
But communities like Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet, Pangnirtung.
Those who are in the high sea level areas definitely will require wharves because in a long run this would be a cost saving measure.
Those are my priorities.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Irqittuq.
General comments from the floor.
My comments are going to be very brief and short.
I like to thank the Minister for the new fire truck that we have been requesting for the last 8-9 years in Baker Lake.
The community really appreciated, it was long overdue for like 10-15 years and finally somebody listened to us.
This year in our capital plan we are going to get an extension of our snow fence and maybe even some money for a pick-up truck.
That being said I sometime wonder if our requests from this Department are listened to from the community level.
We talk about docks.
It is nice to drive around and see all the beautiful docks in other communities.
But our dock consists of a lump of gravel in the side of the lake.
There have also been a couple of deaths there in the last 10-15 years and we have numerous requests to have a safe docking facility in Baker Lake.
The water and sewer subsidy program has been.
I have looked at the dollars that have been cut back.
When we get into the detail.
I will have more questions on it.
But we do not have many utilidor services in a lot of the communities.
We relay on the truck services.
Like other communities the demands on the systems are increasing because we have a young population.
We have crowded houses and we depend on truck services for a healthy lifestyle for our constituents.
We do not have the luxury to turn our tap and have never ending supply of hot water and cold water.
We have to deal with the reality on the weather and trucks breaking down and things like that.
When we cut back on the sewer subsidies or start reviewing them.
The directly affects the little people in Nunavut that have to look after this type of stuff.
Your Department is very important to the daily operations of Municipalities because their funding comes from your Department for water, sewage and garbage.
With community empowerment, our community has taken on as much as we can handle at this point.
But on that topic it was pretty well known that we agree community empowerment is a good idea, that we are going to empower the people.
Since than and like this Government has been established for over a year and there has not been much follow up on how the community is doing or any additional training opportunities as well.
You got your community empowerment.
You are left at your own means.
To me there seems to be all sorts of hesitancy there to do any more training at the local level.
The Hamlet of Baker Lake has approximately with community empowerment approximately a hundred full-time and seasonal employees.
I think we have one non-Inuit working at the Hamlet at this point.
That is probably a record in Nunavut for local employees working in a community.
Community empowerment works and I agree with this Government that it should not be shoved down the throats in the communities.
They should take it on their own.
I do not really see anything out there by your Department saying going into talking to the communities and given them a little talking to and what the advantages are for community empowerment are.
In the region that I live in I do not see anybody out there talking to Hamlet Councils about the advantages of community empowerment.
And they should maybe thinking about doing it because in my experience in community empowerment it is probably one of the best things that has been done.
But there does not seem to be much talk about it anymore.
I think many communities can take on this role.
It is a good news story for this Government.
It is one step further to the development of the community.
That is just my brief comments today.
Mr. Alakannuark (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
First, I would like to ask the Department of Community Government & Transportation a question.
As communities we get our funding every year, and there is different amount of funding we get every year.
Some years we get more, some years we get less and the communities are different in Nunavut.
Some communities have more snow and some of them do not have much snow.
I think some communities use more funding to operate than other years depending on the services that are needed in a community.
Sometimes some communities spend more money in other years and sometimes they do not have as much to spend in other years.
How would a community be assisted if they need more funding because they run short of money in certain years.
That is my first question.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Alakannuark.
The Member has a question.
If you want to respond. Mr. Anawak.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
Regarding the comments that were made by the member and the question that were asked by other members.
We are trying to deal with these concerns and comments.
Under my opening remarks yesterday I mentioned what we want to be doing for the future of the communities, to be able to start having them running their own affairs and it is very important that the young people are taken into account.
Like the Member from Baffin South and Amittuq said that there is not enough space in the community halls and it is not just for the young people.
We have to consider the population in each community not having adequate space.
We will consider the communities in those capital projects.
We are doing a catch up job right now in regards to capital estimates.
Perhaps I could respond to the Member from Akulliq.
Sometimes we do not know exactly how the community is going to run or whether it is going to have a short fall of funding.
However, we have to realise that every community encounters problems that way and if they have a shortfall whether it would be the community is encountering a lot of snow in their community and they need more services.
If we have to assist them we will be able to provide assistance if it is very necessary.
When we find that the community is having problems in regards to safety issues then we can find out and provide assistance to the community.
In the next month we would like to meet with the Nunavut Association of Municipalities when they meet here.
All the Mayors will be brought together with their SAO’s and to meet about the funding that they receive and of course, the members will be invited to those meetings.
They will be involved with the information sessions that they will be having.
We will be talking about the funding that the communities provide.
We will provide the information to the Mayors and get comments from them about this.
We will also be talking about other things such as search and rescue efforts that we presently provide.
Those are some of the things we will be discussing in the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.
I just want to assure members that we will do everything to make sure the communities are provided with adequate funding.
In addition, communities are encountering a lack of space in their community halls because they do not just use it for recreational purposes but the also use it to hold meetings.
Like some communities are state of having less space in their community halls because of the growth and populations.
Say for instance in Cape Dorset and Pond Inlet and Gjoa Haven and Pelly Bay.
We all know that the funding is not going to grow anymore in the near future.
But we are trying to find out whether it would be better to ask the mayors and the SAOs when we have a meeting with the Association of Municipalities.
They have asked us to receive block funding and we would like to see if that would work.
If we start giving them block funding we would like to do it in the best interests of the communities.
In regards to transportation, there is some things that Nunavut's Member of Parliament, Nancy Karetak-Lindell was going to get information about on infrastructure projects that had to be brought up to the region, but she had to go to the funeral in Arviat.
We are expecting to hear from the federal department on transportation issues.
If there are any more questions from the floor, it would be better if the members would ask us.
Yes we will be looking at all the communities to see how they could operate more effectively by our department providing them with then needs that they require.
We will be looking at those needs.
When we find out that it would be better off for the community this way then we will be able to provide them with that.
If we find out that the community does have a shortage of funding perhaps our department our as a government we will try to talk with the communities and find out best we can assist them.
I will try to answer the questions from the members.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Minister Anawak.
My other question is related to Repulse Bay airport terminal.
They do not have a gravel crusher in Repulse Bay and I think they requested that last year.
They do not have an access road to get gravel.
They are trying to see how they can purchase a granular grinder at the cheapest price so they can service the community better.
I think this is one of the priorities that the community stated.
They needed crusher in the community.
So what is the status of that.
Yes we are trying to help all the communities, we are trying to find ways how best we can finance them.
The question the member is stating, in Repulse Bay they are trying to build an access road to where they get gravel.
An access road for gravel can be built in two ways.
From Repulse Bay to Nirquma a gravel pit there was used years ago.
In that area is John Ray's stone house which  is an archaeological site, so we expect that there will be more tourists coming into the community as well.
We are in support of providing them with an access road to the gravel pit so tourists can access that area because it is a very scenic area.
Having met with Repulse Bay officials they stated they would want this access road about six or seven miles away from town.
I think they have a stretch of the access road but they wanted an extension of that road.
Although it might not be under the capital plan I have met with the Repulse Bay mayor and council regarding the funding that we can provide the community.
Perhaps I will just elaborate a little bit more regarding archaeological sites.
I know we have to improve those scenic areas because our tourism also brings in money to the communities.
Having met with our federal counterparts we are trying to seek more funding from the federal government to assist us so that we can provide them funding.
The federal department gives ninety-five percent of the funding and we will keep track of the ways we can find to finance the communities in Nunavut.
The Nunavut Government would only supply 5 percent of the financing to improve tourism sites in the communities.
I think there are many examples that we can use regarding archaeological sites.
Some communities have been directed to improve their tourism sites and the outsiders have been giving the communities ideas on how to improve the archaeological sites.
Going back to access roads and to tourism sites and to gravel pits.
If they have already been under way then we will find ways to fund them for future use.
The time is now 11:40 and I believe that our lunch will be provided shortly.
So we will take lunch break and I also have a question that I want to direct to the minister.
So if my co-Chairperson can take the seat at this moment.
I would like to ask my colleagues to see if any one of you would be willing to take over my seat while I ask some questions to the department.
Perhaps after lunch.
In your business plan you talked about staffing and decentralization and I have been on this side for a few weeks now.
I know you have some positions in Kugluktuk, correct me if I am wrong on that and they have been advertised locally.
How soon can you fill the positions over there.
Hon. Jack Anawak: Right now a couple of positions in Kugluktuk and I would like to ask the deputy minister as to the plan of filling up more positions.
Mr. Deputy Minister, Mike Ferris.
We are in the process of advertising for some of the positions in Kugluktuk.
There are some that are filled now and we will have ads in the newspaper probably in the next few weeks for that community.
We will be advertising in the decentralized community as quickly as office space becomes available.
So we are proceeding with the plan in those growth communities.
If I could just mention to the member at this time we have five positions that have been filled in Kugluktuk as Deputy Minister Ferris said.
We will be advertising more positions for the community and we will keep the member informed.
At this time we will take a break a lunch break and we will return at 1 o’clock.
>>Committee recessed at 11:49 a.m. and resumed at1:00 p.m.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, for coming back, we are all back in the House again.
Under general comments and questions.
We are still at general comments from the floor.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): I was going to sing but I decided not to.
Hoping some of the tension in the building would go away.
To the Minister of Transportation, the Minister indicted that he expects to hear from Nancy Karetak-Lindell concerning contributions from the Federal Government.
What is the contribution that he was referring to which Department or project would that be allotted for.
Mr. Minister for Transportation and Community Government wish to respond.
I believe we are going into detail under that item as it was supposed to go to Arctic Airports.
The contribution that would have been allotted by the Federal Government.
It would have been aimed for the Arctic Airports, thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
Would that be for all Arctic Airports that need renovations or that need maintenance.
Thank you.  Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Nutarak.
Minister for Community Government & Transportation if you wish to respond. Please proceed.
Yes it would be toward airports and the maintenance requirements.
It is not to actually make new airports.
It is for maintenance for lights and other maintenance requirements whether it be the extensions or just general maintenance for present airports.