EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Once the tags have been depleted by June 30 or if the tags are depleted before June 30, 250 new tags would begin on July 1.
My other question is with regard to the 250 tags. When the tags are depleted by June 30, they will come up with new tags on July 1.
For example, in Pond Inlet, what if they have depleted their tags currently? What steps would you take? Once we have depleted all of our tags, do the rest of the communities wait for July 1 too?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister of Environment. Mr. Mike.
With respect to the 250 tags for caribou, QWB is responsible for the distribution as we allocated that responsibility to them.
We co-manage wildlife issues with them.
When we allocated the 250 tags to QWB, it was with the understanding that they would have the discretion in the Baffin region to allocate these tags to their individual HTOs and the number of tags allocated to each community. This is under the auspices of QWB.
If any one of the communities run out of tags, it is most reasonable to approach QWB.
At this time, due to the number of outstanding tags in the region, QWB has the authority to reallocate tags if they wish to do so. They have that mandate and can manage this issue.
This is my last question, at least for the time being.
Mr. Speaker, let me ask this question then.
For the 250 tags applying to the Baffin region, when June 30 rolls around, if there are still surplus tags somewhere in one of the communities, in my estimation, I don’t think it matters which community or if there is more than one community.
If there are surplus tags left over and July 1 rolls around to renew the number of tags, does this mean that the communities have to wait until all the tags are finished? I am speaking about the period before July 1 if tags were left over.
We work with our co-management partners in managing wildlife in the Baffin region. The Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board is our regional partner. This was based on the recommendation of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and it was their decision that led to this process.
The GN approved of this allocation of 250 tags on a trial of one year. There were no other details listed in this recommendation related to any surplus tags and if they would be added onto the next year’s number of tags.
The season usually restarts on July 1 here in Nunavut.
If there were any surplus tags left on July 1, they would not be added to the new numbers. That is how the recommendation was provided to us, with no indication of the concept of unused tags, but I know they would not be added to the renewed numbers.
The 250 would just restart on July 1.
Question 159 – 4(3): Imminent Closure of the Mamisarvik Healing Centre (Sammurtok, T)
In my earlier statement, I spoke about the upcoming closure of the Mamisarvik Healing Centre in Ottawa.
Over the years, this residential treatment centre has provided very successful programming to help improve the mental health and well-being of many Nunavummiut clients.
I’ll ask the question in English. (interpretation ends) Can the minister provide an update on what consideration, if any, has been given to accessing core funding to ensure the ongoing operations of the Mamisarvik Healing Centre after March 2016?
This is a private organization that is independently operated and the government wasn’t involved, although we provided operational funding assistance and funding for clients to attend their courses.
I met with the senior officials in November to determine how we can offer more support or assistance, but based on the assessment of their needs, we tried to offer more assistance to last until March 31.
After further discussions, we determined that we would provide more support. However, prior to that development, the organization closed down.
The government cannot force a private entity to remain open even if we want it open. We wanted to see them remain open, but we didn’t have much influence on this development.
Mr. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) As long as Nunavut does not have its own residential healing centre, our government will have to rely on services provided outside of the territory.
The Mamisarvik Healing Centre was well known for providing treatment and counselling in a culturally appropriate manner.
Can the minister clarify how many other residential treatment centres providing services to Nunavummiut specialize in addressing Inuit-specific trauma and issues?
I know of one Inuit-specific treatment centre, but there’s hardly any outside of our territory.
There are 11 treatment centres available if any one of the clients would like to go to either one of these treatment centres.
The idea of establishing a Nunavut-based treatment centre has been around for some time. (interpretation ends) Can the minister provide an update on what efforts, discussions, or plans are currently underway to establish a treatment facility in Nunavut?
Our government has stated that they would like to move towards this and we will start identifying treatment in the communities.
I know that we will have to do follow-up treatment because, after the clients get their treatment, we would like to start off in the communities.
We can plan for some time in the future to have a treatment facility in Nunavut.
Question 160 – 4(3): Fiscal Priorities (Angnakak)
I thank him for his Budget Address and I congratulate him for being the longest-serving finance minister in our territory’s history.
The Sivumut Abluqta Mandate Statement, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on March 20, 2014, indicates that one of the primary goals of the current government is to “Review government programs to determine what is working well, what needs improvement, and what we should stop doing in order to focus our resources on enabling Nunavut’s success.”
Can the minister clarify whether or not his budget reduces funding for any of the government’s current programs?
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of government programs and services in Nunavut. I can’t remember them all and I could stand to be corrected, but I don’t believe we have cut funding to any of them or eliminated them yet.
As I said in my budget speech, there are programs and services for Nunavummiut.
The government is planning to add approximately 120 new positions to its departments during the next fiscal year.
However, according to the most recent employment figures released by the minister’s department, our government’s current vacancy rate is almost 30 percent.
Why is the government proposing to add over 100 new positions when it cannot fill almost a third of the jobs that it currently has?
If the member will recall, we met in Kugluktuk almost two years ago to discuss the priorities and mandate for the government under Sivumut Abluqta, what the priorities were and what Nunavut needs.
Our government, as I said in my budget speech, is moving forward on that.
It was something we all agreed to in this House and we are striving towards that.
With respect to the 30 percent vacancy, we recognize that there are issues there, but we also need staff housing.
As I said in the budget speech, through the Department of Education and Nunavut Arctic College, we are pushing to educate our kids in school so that they can get their grade 12 and move into college and university training and trade school, perhaps.
Even though those jobs are vacant, there are opportunities and careers out there for young Nunavummiut.
I should mention, even though those positions are indeterminate, they’re not filled.
They are being staffed with casual employees, consultants, or contractors.
It’s not like they are just sitting there vacant.
Most of the programs and services attached to those positions are being provided through other avenues.
That was an interesting response we got from the minister.
I am happy we will have opportunities later in Committee of the Whole to perhaps probe that a little further.
It has been said that “if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.”
Although I recognize that major ongoing projects that have been started by the government need to be completed, I also believe that we need to take a hard look at how we prioritize needs over wants.
Can the minister indicate what strategic direction the government is heading in over the next five years with respect to approving new multi-million dollar recreational infrastructure projects as opposed to new projects in such areas as health, education, or social services?
I am surprised by the question by Ms. Angnakak as she has been here for the last couple of years.
As I said, in Kugluktuk, together as MLAs in Full Caucus, we set out the priorities for this government in this mandate.
We are at the end of our second year and moving into our third year.
There is a capital planning process.
Mr. Speaker, a call goes out every year to all government departments.
For example, CGS works with municipalities and NAMIX.
The health department works with CGS.
I can’t give you specifics today, but they clearly know what health centres are on the capital plan for the next five years.
There is a process, Mr. Speaker.
If Ms. Angnakak suggests that the government doesn’t have priorities or knows where it’s going, with your support, we are going in the direction that we have all agreed to in Kugluktuk at our Full Caucus retreat.
Question 161 – 4(3): Government Policy on Elders (Sammurtok, A)
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Member’s Statement, I am concerned about the long-term impact of the government’s policy on elders.
It is my belief that too many elders are being sent away from their home communities.
The Minister of Health has indicated that his department has been working on an assessment of long-term care needs across Nunavut.
Can the minister clarify whether this assessment includes a review of the government’s policy of sending elders out of their home communities to receive long-term care?
We did a review on the elders and how we can give them further support.
The study has been completed and, if at all possible, we will table the report on the review of this assessment.
The Department of Health’s assessment of long-term care needs has been underway for some time.
Oh, he already answered this.
Mr. Speaker, I am confident that the results of the long-term assessment will show that certain communities are in desperate need of long-term care facilities which will allow residents to stay close to their families and friends.
Will the minister commit to tabling the results of the assessment during this sitting?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question 162 – 4(3): Baffin Island Caribou Management (Keyootak)
Mr. Speaker, one of my colleagues was asking questions about the Baffin Island caribou and I would like to touch on that further.
Mr. Speaker, we’re all aware that Baffin islanders have a quota to hunt caribou and we all know that we can only harvest male caribou in the Baffin region.
I don’t know who made the decision to hunt only male caribou, whether it was the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board or the Department of Environment. Who made the decision to just hunt male caribou?
Last year, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board proposed the management of harvesting Baffin Island caribou.
All the stakeholders were involved in the public hearings on this issue and at the public hearings, the stakeholders, the wildlife and environment organizations, and the Nunavut government all made appearances in front of NWMB during that hearing.
Through that public hearing process, NWMB did a very good job in setting up the structure of this plan.
QWB was involved, the elders who were hunters were also involved, and anyone who was concerned about Baffin Island caribou was involved in the public hearing process. After that public hearing, NWMB arrived at a decision to set up a certain structure and it was up to me to approve their request.
As traditional harvesters of caribou, we are aware that the young bulls are the main progenitors of caribou calves.
If we are serious about preserving our caribou population, it seems backwards to be harvesting the male caribou that seed the cows.
In any wildlife, whether it is an animal or human, the seed comes from the male that starts pregnancy. All cows can only get pregnant if a male caribou is available during the rut and the bull caribou are the ones that pass on their genes.
I’m talking about young bulls, as some cows are no longer able to produce calves similar to human menopause and when all animals get too old, they cannot produce any more offspring. Any old mammal, human, or animal loses their ability to reproduce at a certain age.
I believe that biologists have to review this male-centric harvesting conservation mentality if we are serious about preserving our caribou or any other wildlife.
The barren cows are the ones that cannot reproduce and they should be included in this caribou conservation effort by being harvested.
The young bulls are the main progenitors of their species, so if we want our caribou to repopulate the island, this practice of male-centric harvesting has to be changed.
I would like to know if this issue will be reviewed further when another population study is being contemplated by the Department of Environment and the minister.
My colleague has clarified some issues and some of these issues were identified earlier that my colleague specifically mentioned.
During the hearing process, NWMB was tasked with coordinating the hearing and we heard many perspectives there.
When any wildlife is managed in this system, hearings about that species bring out all the interrelated issues.
This is not the first time we have heard of such information. Nonetheless, the hearings allow the organizations to collect the data.
As the management issues were being deliberated, the question of how the Baffin region would harvest caribou came up.
The biggest issue we faced was the concept of allowing only male caribou to be harvested.
This was at the behest of NWMB and that is why it was included in the management process.
It came from the information gathered at these hearings. NWMB made their conclusion based on the comments heard from the witnesses.
With that being the case, the comments of my colleague were included in all the discussions.
Now, the question of how to allow caribou harvesting came up, so the deliberation was on how to handle the Baffin region caribou management issues. That is where the 250 male caribou tags was brought up and I believe it was the most informed decision we could arrive at.
With respect to caribou and past harvesting practices prior to the caribou moratorium, as the caribou population study commenced, it includes samples of harvested caribou that are identified in the sampling program.
If it is a male caribou, certain body parts would be sent out for sampling through the conservation officers based on the population survey requirements.
The study samples were also a means of revenue for some hunters, but with the limited tag system, the hunters still have to provide samples of the harvested caribou following the list of body parts requested by the scientists.
The hunters are no longer being paid for providing samples and they wanted to know why.
My question is: why has the sampling program stopped compensating hunters for providing samples?
Hon. Johnny Mike (interpretation): Actually with respect to our discussions on the 250 tags for harvesting caribou on Baffin Island, we reviewed the recommendations and the data used to arrive at the decision by our co-management partners.
As a government, we can only follow the process outlined.
However, at this time, this concern that has just been expressed is something I can look into.
Further, I will try to find out why compensation is no longer occurring for samples and whether past sampling programs had compensation included. Upon completion of this review, I will ensure that I inform my colleague first prior to distributing it.
Question 163 – 4(3): Health Professional Positions in Nunavut Communities (Joanasie)
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that recruiting and retaining health professionals to work in Nunavut is a significant challenge for our government.
I also recognize that many health professional positions such as doctors and specialists are currently based in the regional centres.
Can the minister provide an update on what considerations have been given to establishing positions in Nunavut communities which are not regional centres?
Yes, we want to support the communities and distribute more qualified nurses.
We used Pond Inlet as a pilot project and it was very beneficial.
We would like to do that with more communities in the upcoming years and hire and have more trained nurses for the communities.
Mr. Speaker, as you and my colleagues are well aware, physicians and specialists travel to the non-central outlying communities a number of times a year.
These visits are often not long enough for everyone in the community to get an appointment and to get the health care they require.
Can the minister clarify how community health professional visits are scheduled and what steps are taken to ensure that everyone who needs to see the doctor gets an appointment with a doctor or specialist?
Yes, doctors are challenging to deal with and we need to have an agreement with them beforehand.
We have to set up their visits in the most convenient way. When there is a problem and some people are not seen, they are usually sent outside of the community. It’s unfortunate for those who had missed an appointment, but a lot of times, it’s difficult and we hire more specialists to handle the appointments.
While I’m certain that any community would benefit from having a full-time physician, it may also interest a health professional to experience life in a northern community of Nunavut that is not a regional centre.
Will the minister commit to looking into the possibility of establishing a full-time physician position in a small community such as Cape Dorset, for example, and recruiting interested candidates?
Dealing with medical doctors isn’t a simple process. Doctors spend many years in education in their fields and we can’t just place specialists into any old position.
That is the difficulty we face as a department, even here in Iqaluit where we try to retain doctors in the hospital.
As that is the case, we are looking at a joint review with outside agencies to see how we can advertise these positions electronically and whether we can use telehealth as that is becoming more widely used. This is especially true in communities that do not get many community visits.
The doctors can diagnose the patient using the telehealth system.
We are looking at ways to increase that, as we are well aware of the importance of this technology throughout Nunavut.
Question 164 – 4(3): Status of Correspondence to Airlines (Shooyook)
Last month, representatives from three airlines appeared before us during a special televised meeting of the Full Caucus.
At the end of the meeting, the Premier stated that he would be sending a letter to all three airlines regarding the concerns that had been raised by the MLAs and that he would make the letter public.
Can the Premier indicate when he will be tabling his letter to the airlines?
Hon. Peter Taptuna: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) I want to thank my colleague for his question about our meetings with the airline representatives in November.
We are looking at writing up our concerns in a letter asking about our financial concerns and how the funding is used in this regard.
The airlines tried to inform us that they had difficulty accessing that funding.
I was only able to express that we would submit our concerns in the letter that I will be tabling for the information of the members and this House as well as Nunavummiut.
The Premier used to be the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation, so I know that he is familiar with the challenges facing the High Arctic in the area of affordable and accessible air travel.
For example, it costs over $6,000 to fly between Arctic Bay and Ottawa.
Can the minister tell me what direction he has given his Minister of Transportation regarding the need for the government to produce an updated High Arctic transportation strategy?
We initiated the strategy while I was the Minister of ED&T and we reviewed the strategy as it related to Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord, and Arctic Bay, including the very expensive repercussions to the residents that the member highlighted. (interpretation ends) In the past, we did a survey and a fact-finding mission on the high cost of High Arctic transportation.
We know for a fact that trying to get into the High Arctic communities is a costly endeavour.
We did a study. At the end of the study, we determined that the only way to bring the costs down was through subsidies from the federal government.
At one point, we did discuss that with the federal government and we had negative results on that.
There’s no doubt that there are more discussions being taken on the high cost of transportation in the High Arctic.
Once we hear anything more about that from the federal government… . As you know, there are some subsidies that are provided through the airlines already through medical travel and employment travel, GN travel, but for this part, we had no indication or any indication from the federal government at the time to actually help us out in lowering the cost of High Arctic transportation, whether it’s for people, products, or goods and services.
We know for a fact that through our endeavour to figure out ways to bring the costs down, one of the studies that we did was a worthwhile study.
At the end of the day, we did find out that we can only bring the costs down through major economic development, which we don’t have up there, or else through federal subsidies.
Residents in Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay face many difficulties in accessing affordable air travel.
These communities play an important role in asserting Canadian sovereignty, and I believe that the federal government has a role to play in improving the situation.
Will the Premier raise this issue when he meets with the Prime Minister in Vancouver next week?
Yes, when I have a future meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau, I will convey the concerns to him.
Furthermore, we can work with our Member of Parliament, Hunter Tootoo, who represents us at the Parliament of Canada. He is well aware of the high cost of living that faces our residents in the High Arctic.
We are well aware that the High Arctic communities of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord were created by the (interpretation ends) federal government (interpretation) long ago in the 1950s when they relocated Inuit from Nunavik to the High Arctic based on this statement. We know that the High Arctic communities of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord have always been (interpretation ends) for the purpose of Canadian Arctic sovereignty. (interpretation) That’s the reason we try to reiterate this to the Canadian government.
It is important that we try to raise the awareness of the high cost of living in the High Arctic communities. As well, the mining companies have a lesser cost when they work in the community of Arctic Bay.
Once the airlines stop going into the communities, this is also a concern.
It is something that we will bring up once we meet with the Prime Minister in Vancouver along with the premiers.
This is something that we will bring up at the leaders’ conference.
As well, Minister Tootoo will be talking in regard to this.
Question 165 – 4(3): Hudson Bay Neighbours Regional Roundtable (Mikkungwak)
Earlier this month, the minister co-chaired the most recent meeting of the Hudson Bay Neighbours Regional Roundtable that was held in Churchill.
I thank him for inviting me and a number of other Kivalliq representatives to participate in the meeting.
As the minister will recall, one of the resolutions that was adopted at the meeting concerns the establishment of a hydroelectric power transmission line from Manitoba to the Kivalliq.
Can the minister outline the next steps that will be undertaken by the Energy Options Working Group on this important project?
I thank the member for the question because it’s our job to get the message out.