EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
There have been some issues with the FANS Program; they were highlighted again in the Nunavut Arctic College review not only from the committee members but also internally through the department.
We have put together several steps including working with the Auditor General for Canada on the review of the FANS Program itself and making recommendations internally.
That is occurring right now as we speak. I also would like to be able to move forward and look at the monthly living allowances that the members have raised again to see, can we make some improvements there.
How has the department’s support for literacy programming across Nunavut been affected by the federal government’s recent cut to literacy funding?
The department base funds adult basic education, literacy programs, ABE programs in all of our community learning centres. The cuts from the federal government are a little over $17million nationally by HRDC.
It occurred when I was at the Ministers of Education meeting in the south and we weren’t very pleased with that and I have written the minister responsible and let them know that that is the case.
We are also looking at where we can help the Nunavut Literacy Association to try to make up those differences in funding.
Since the federal cuts on literacy has the Nunavut Literacy Council had to cut any positions as a result of the federal cuts?
Kim Crockett is the person in charge of the Nunavut Literacy Association, and is well known to most members here in the House. She’s been doing excellent work on trying to not only advocate but lobby to get extra funds for the Nunavut Literacy Association.
My understanding is that they had to cut a position because of the cuts in the federal funding and again that is federal funding, it wasn’t Nunavut funding.
We did not have the luxury as a government to actually put the money back in that the federal government had taken out, but then again, there may be some opportunities to review and to see where we can help out the Literacy Council with the new monies that we have received. Again, those decisions will be coming in the next two months.
Will the Government of Nunavut step in to replace the federal funding?
On top of delivering the ABE programs that we talked about, we put another $100,000 in what we call community specific programs. As an example we have had literacy projects in Taloyoak, Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay, Cape Dorset, and Pangnirtung.
We have not replaced any specific amounts of dollars that have been cut by the federal government.
I have more questions here. What is the status of the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Board?
Mr. Chairman the board is up and running, we have just recently appointed new members to the Trades Apprenticeship Board.
Mr. Evyagotailak: Thank you Mr. Chairman.
What activities was the board involved in over the past year.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Evyagotailak, Minister Picco.
Hon. Ed. Picco: Thank you. With the appointment of the new board members to the Apprenticeship Board Mr. Chairman, it is very important that not only an orientation session be held with them to give them direction on what legislation they follow, but also to give them an overview on what is occurring with the apprenticeship programs in Nunavut. I had an opportunity to meet with the board just before Christmas and that was some of the work that they were involved in at that time.
The business plan states that the department will begin working on the development of mature high school graduation options, including the general equivalent fee diploma. What other kinds of qualifications will the mature high school graduation options offer?
One of the key recommendations by Mr. Berger was to have mature graduation options in the school system. I believe Mr. Berger put the cost about $600,000 to $700,000 annually. We have begun the implementation of that program in Nunavut at the same time we have re-initiated the GED testing program or Grade Equivalent Diploma, the GED and that continues in Nunavut.
Mr. Evyagotailak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to thank the Minister.
My last question is what kinds of staffing and resources will the department be contributing to the community based training component of the Nunavut Housing Trust Strategy?
Hon. Ed. Picco: I am quite pleased, Mr. Chairman, with some of the work that Mr. Clendenning has been doing on the Nunavut Housing Strategy Trust.
Right now we have courses already underway in several communities including Igloolik. Pang, Clyde, Hall Beach, Sanikiluaq, Repulse, Coral Harbour, Whale Cove, Kugluktuk, and Taloyoak, and these are programs that are the pre-trade courses to help us have people in place to be able to start construction and working on those units.
G10, G11, 12.
Mr Curley.
Mr. Curley: Thank you. The minister just indicated that they have a new President and new Vice-President. Can the minister invite the Board of Governors to the Visitors’ Gallery for tomorrow, it would be a good time to indicate that we want to work together and give them our blessing?
Hon. Ed. Picco: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, we are quite excited that the board of governors has a new chair and a new vice-chair and I’ve asked Mr. Clendenning if he would, they are in their meeting right now, Mr. Clendenning has stepped out of their meeting to be with us here today, and he will invite them to be here tomorrow to be introduced to the Gallery.
Members will have a chance to see the new chair of the board of governors, as well as his team.
I really appreciate that. I will just call him Mac in view of time. I have difficulties some times pronouncing his last name.
I have a question with respect to trades and apprenticeship programs.
I know that the minister and college president have been working very hard. In view of the fact that I wasn’t here in the fall, could you maybe just give us a bit if a rough schedule and timeline with respect to the trades facility in Rankin Inlet, as well as the residence. I am sure these are well in the planning branch of the Adult Learning and Post Secondary Services.
I think that’ll help us.
I don’t need a lot of information. I just want to get a bit of a rough timeline for the eventual facility being built there?
We’re looking at a rough timeline of having a tender in place for the construction of the trade school by 2008 and open the facility in 2009.
The same process is in place for the student accommodations, however, that may be a little earlier.
Has the minister and his team cost out these facilities.
I don’t need the figures now but the costs are in the approval stages. If not, will they be introduced as supplementary needs in the fall? Or will the full costs be contained in the fall session of this year?
I know that the member because of illness was not able to be with us in that debate.
For the record, the money has been approved for Rankin Inlet. It includes $10.5 million in the Capital Budget for the accommodations and the trades’ school. The trades’ school tenders should be out early, in the next couple of weeks, should be out early this New Year, and the design for the trades’ school.
As I said earlier, the construction schedule for 2008-09 should be met. We don’t see any problem with that moving forward.
I thank the minister and Mr. Clendenning for the information.
I also want to compliment the minister and your colleagues and the President for appointing a specialist in Rankin Inlet to deal with all these trades’ facilities. I know Mr. Ittinuar is working very hard. Shortly after I got back to work he dropped into my office, along with Mr. Clendenning and his team.
That was good news stuff.
I also want to compliment all of you for changing the site as originally proposed because it was well known that I did not fully support the site originally chosen because it is in a contaminated site, as far as I’m concerned I know that if you had conducted an environmental assessment on it you would’ve brought up a whole can of worms.
I really appreciate the fact that there is now a search for a new location. I have a feeling that you guys are narrowing your eyes on a site.
I know the hamlet has been making a number of sites available to you. I want to compliment all of you for that.
We’re all excited in Rankin Inlet with David Ittinuar as the man in charge of the trades’ facility. He is really working very hard.
I do have one other question with respect to with the NTEP Program.
I believe that it is something that the minister, and again with his colleagues, are working toward to having a full program established in Arctic College in Rankin Inlet or something and I know that there is a whole contingent right now in Arviat and I would like the Minister to respond to that as well as maybe give us a brief outline exactly how many students are in Arviat that are taking I believe University training courses in Arviat and how many they are.
One of the ways we are trying to move forward with an implementation of the bilingual education strategy that we talked about, is having a community based TEP Program for example like the one in Arviat.
What we would like to do and what the TEP review, which included Jackie Bishop and Nellie Kusugak who chaired that committee for us, and the recommendations that look at expanding the NTEP Program and looking at a base funded program.
What we would look at is to try and base that program in Rankin Inlet and again that is something that we would like to be able to move towards.
Mr. Curley: Yes, thank you. I also asked a question about the number of students that are in Arviat that are taking I believe they are taking some McGill U, or some university program.
Could the minister or the college president explain to us exactly the nature of that program and how many students are taking part in that?
Mr. Chairman, we have 14 students in the TEP Program in Arviat and 19 in the program here in Iqaluit.
Page G-10, G-11, G-12.
I would like to ask the minister if he could give me an overview of what he and Nunavut Arctic College have planned in the upcoming year to provide training for the residents of the Kitikmeot with respect to mine training or other occupations.
The Adult Learning Strategy is really key at looking at opportunities within the mining resource sector.
As the member knows and I want to thank the member on the record for facilitating meetings with me and with several mining companies in the area in the Kitikmeot during the Mining Symposium last year when I was over there.
Right now we are looking at several different programs in the Kitikmeot.
They may not be just mining specific for example the pre-trades programs we talked about are running at least three programs in the Kitikmeot and for the pre-trades programs that person could move into for example some type of mine training also.
At the same time we have opened the Heavy Equipment Operator Training Program. We have over 60 graduates from that program and I believe that the employment for the graduates of that program is 90 percent.
I thank the minister for that answer. Yes, last year we did meet with the mining companies.
I don’t know if there were any commitments made but the mining companies have contacted me to ask if I could follow up with the Minister of Education about putting on some training programs and working with them.
One mining company in particular, Miramar Mining, when I arrived back in Cambridge Bay after standing committees last month, I had an opportunity to talk to the President of the mine Tony Walsh and their Project Manager Jim Curry and they said they have a project that they want to proceed with and they need the involvement of the Department of Education.
I emailed the minister’s office to get an update on the progress that has been made to date with respect to working with mines on some of their projects and identify a contact person in the department who I could give to Miramar mines that they could liaise with.
I wonder if the minister could update me with respect to what specific activities you have been working on over the last 12 months with mining companies and if they have identified an individual in their department who can be a contact person for the mining companies in the Kitikmeot to contact when they want to develop training initiatives.
As Mr. Curley mentioned earlier we have two key people now that are in place to facilitate that training that the member has talked about. One is David Ittinuar who is based in Rankin. He is in charge of the trades programs and so on Nunavut-wide.
We also, the member is very familiar with Fiona Buchan-Corey.
Fiona could help facilitate that type of meeting with the mining company to look at what type of programs we could bring forward.
She is available as the member knows in Cambridge.
For 2007-08 we have trades access, there is 100 days of ROA that will be occurring at the Cambridge Bay Kitikmeot Campus. In 2008-09 we are looking at trades’ access again of another 100 day ROA. We are also looking at the millwright program, 18 weeks, which is pre-employment and then we are looking at the millwright, eight weeks, which is the level 1 program.
So those are some of the things that are occurring in the next year, year and a half in Cambridge and are occurring right now.
Can the minister tell me, has that information been communicated to all the mining companies in the Kitikmeot? I am thinking of Wolfden Resources, Tahera Corporation, Miramar Mining specifically. They are either in production or close to being in production.
I know that we have been working very closely with the KIA and with George Bohlender and I received some emails from Mr. Havioyak on some of the training programs that they have been working on with the Department of Education.
It’s my understanding that the mining companies are quite aware of who we have on the ground in the communities for community contact. However, if the member has information where any mining company in particular has not been contacted or needs information on what types of training opportunities there may be for their employees, or potential employees, he can let us know and I will make sure it is followed up through the Campus in Cambridge Bay.
I guess in the education field, career development field, it’s almost getting like the permitting and regulatory industry where there are so many groups or organizations involved that if a proponent doesn’t know who they should go to for funding...yeah we have all kinds of funding but you may or may not qualify under that program and may have to go to another program which may include another department, another organization.
There’s a lack of coordination with respect to accessing funding and developing proposals to implement in the Kitikmeot.
I am wondering if the minister could comment on whether he thinks it’s a worthwhile idea for some of those organizations that you just mentioned, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, the Kitikmeot Economic Development Commission, the Nunavut Arctic College, the Department of Education could get together, form a group, not a bureaucratic group but a group that can work together, and would help facilitate development of programs and services that is sort of like a one-stop shop that mining companies or other organizations, if you want to access some training, they just have to go to one person or one organization and then they have access to them all.
Instead of having to go to three, four, or five, or others, that one stop shop type of organization could also access funding through the federal sources, which are in Ottawa, that have programs and I wonder if the minister could comment on whether that would be a worthwhile idea to look at.
We have two offices in the Kitikmeot.
One through the campus in Cambridge Bay and also our regional office in the Kitikmeot and Brenda Jancke is working on proposals out of Cambridge Bay with the Department of Education. We are also meeting with KEDC at the mining symposium next month.
And also, we are meeting with Miramar next month. Miramar is also involved quite highly with the Skills Canada that we talked about.
But Mr. Chairman, that is something that we could look at, that one-window approach.
I think it would be a worthwhile thing to do. That one window is not a new concept.
It is a concept that has been around for quite awhile. In my opinion and opinions of many people involved with one-window organizations, they’re worth their weight to implement.
It not only helps the organizations applying for finances it also helps other organizations to share information and share staff and share data, contacts and connections to other funding sources.
I wanted to follow up on an outstanding project or application that I asked the minister about a few years ago.
It is called the AESP. I think it’s an application that was a year or two in development. In fact it did involve a lot of folks and organizations across Nunavut.
I think the department submitted that application to the federal department in Ottawa and I don’t think it received a favourable review. I wonder if the minister can update on whether that application is still winding its way through the halls of Ottawa or if it is an application that has died and we shouldn’t expect it to be reactivated.
Under the AESP, the Aboriginal Employment Skills Program, Nunavut’s proposal at that time I think was number two in Canada on the ones that were received.
There was a change of government. There was a new government came in and I understand now with the new federal budget that there may be new monies available.
So that is something that we will be following up.
I thank the minister for that confirmation with those plans and I hope to receive an update over the next few months.
I would like to ask the minister about a project that the Kitikmeot Inuit Association is trying to submit to the department or get support.
It is called the Mine Training Pilot Project. They’ve indicated to me that they’re not receiving much of a favourable review of that project under the Department of Education.
I wonder if the minister can update me on that aspect of that project.
There has been good work done on that proposal through the Kitikmeot and with the department.
I’ve had an opportunity to discuss it with Donald Havioyak who is the President of the KIA, and I just received e-mail from him.
We have proposed to meet with them next month during the symposium in Cambridge Bay to follow up on the proposal, what they are asking for and see what we can do to help facilitate it.
I thank the minister for that update and I look forward to receiving some information on it from the minister or perhaps from KIA at some future date, hopefully within the next couple of months.
Is it next month’s meeting, or certainly by May in time for the spring session?
A question on the FANS Program, can the minister give me some information on here? There is $5,607,000 budgeted.
Can the minister tell me how many Nunavut students accessed that program in 2006-07?
The uptake on that program is that it continued to be strong. I am just checking to see if we have actual numbers on the program. I don’t have the number with me.
I thank the minister for that answer. I am not sure why the minister doesn’t come with all this information in anticipation that we’re going to have some questions.
I want to know how many students in Nunavut are receiving it, and how many Nunavut students in the south are receiving it and a total? I’d like the breakdown by region, and by community, if the minister can provide that information.
I know FANS includes student loans.
I was looking on page G-13, there’s a student loan fund, and a number jumped out at me. I have it highlighted here. There are $3,328,000 estimated provisions for remissions and doubtful accounts.
That’s quite a large number.
I am wondering if the minister could explain why that number is so large.
I just want to be able to find that information. I know that Lori-Ann and the two of them were up there and they were working hard trying to find it. So I thank Kathy and Sandi for providing that information.
In the FANS breakdown and I’ll just do it very quickly. There are 163 beneficiaries in Qikiqtani for 2006-07, 113 in the Kivalliq and 74 in the Kitikmeot for a total of 350.
Non-beneficiary the total for the three regions is 97, for a total of 447 on FANS.
That was from the academic year August 1 to July 31 of 2006-07.
Total assessments were 455, with approval of 387, withdrawn 58.
The other question that the member was asking about the loan fund; the $3 million, and so on, that was a tabled document that we put in place.
It is an allowance made for the collection of the loans, as well as the, as I said earlier, the review that we’ve done through the Auditor General, also and looking at the amounts of money that would be collected.
It may seem a little bit high but we have to remember that there is a remission of loans amounts, so they wouldn’t be collected; meaning for every three years that a student attends a school in Nunavut they are eligible for one year of remissible loans in the amount of $1,600 per semester, or $3,200 per school year.
That accounts for some of that monies that the member sees there.  So it’s not all the write-off of loans; it also includes the remissions.
I thank the minister for that information on the FANS applications for students. I didn’t mention the word ‘write-off.’ I just said less estimated provision for remission and doubtful accounts.
Perhaps the minister could give me an idea of on an annual basis how many student loans that they do have to write-off?
We don’t really write-off the loans. What we would do is put in an allowance for doubtful accounts.
Can the minister tell me if the department has any students who have graduated from university or college, not returned to Nunavut and not repaid their loans?
Yes, we have had some of those.
Can the minister give me an idea of how many he has had and what the department does to try to collect the loans?
Hon. Ed. Picco: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As part of the FANS review we are looking at our collection methods right now.
When you’re looking at the remissions and doubtful accounts and also the loans amount for doubtful accounts it could be as much as 30 percent of the total outstanding amount of the loan fund.
I am aware that the student has six months following the completion of their graduation to start repaying their loans. I am wondering what happens at the end of six months if they haven’t started repaying their loans, in many cases it is possible that the student doesn’t have a job so they can’t repay the loan.
I am wondering if the minister could tell me today what initiatives or activities in the department begin to go after students to get them to repay their loans.
There have been some concerns with the student loan collections process in the past.
Part of the student loans review that we have done includes new ways at looking at how the collections are done and bringing them up to auditing and the accepted accounting practices for accounting and for collecting those loans.
We are on Page G-10. G-11. G-12.
Total Operations and Maintenance. $24,412,000. (interpretation) Do you agree?
Chairman: Page G-13 is an information item. G-14. Career and Early Childhood Services, which includes G-15.
G-14 and G-15. Mr. Arvaluk.
If you look at the business plan for income support for $33 million and the fees and payments in G-14 for $27,644,000, why is there this discrepancy there?
Hon. Ed. Picco: Maybe just two quick points.
I would like to thank Mr. Clendenning for being with us for that section and ask the Deputy Minister, Ms. Kathy Okpik to join me back at the table. At the same time, if Mr. Arvaluk could just clarify that again because I’m looking at the page and I don’t see the amount of the difference.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister. (interpretation) Does the committee agree that Kathy Okpik should go up to the witness table?
Chairman (interpretation): Would you escort her in, please, Sergeant-at-Arms.
Welcome, Ms. Okpik.
On page G-11 business plan, Co-op business that there is a budget for 2007-08, line five, Income Support, $33,000,610.
I believe that when the minister told me that the Income Support was on Page G-14, I see fees and payments.
I suspect that is the Income Support for $27,000,644.