EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Community and Government Services is a one-stop-shop for many community government concerns. Our community support services include municipal transfer payments and developing community capacity through training programs for elected officials and municipal staff.
Communities are assisted with program and service delivery through monitoring and evaluations services. Community and Government Services is also responsible for consumer services and for planning and lands.
Our capital planning and technical services include planning, design, and management services for government projects carried out on behalf of communities and client departments.
We assist communities in identifying their long-term capital requirements, develop supporting infrastructure plans, and specifically technical standards for infrastructure.
We also operate and maintain standards for the government’s leased and owned facilities.
Community and Government Services has placed emphasis on protection services by bringing together the Office of the Fire Marshal, with the staff responsible for electrical and mechanical inspections of buildings, and the Emergency Measures Organization.
Working with the regional offices, this division plays a vital role in assisting communities on safety and protection issues.
The Department of Community and Government Services provides various central services to other government departments, and we provide records management and central contracting, purchasing and property management services.
We develop, deliver, and support the information-technology infrastructure that enables the Government of Nunavut to deliver its programs over telephone and computer networks.
The Department of Community and Government Services also retains the responsibility for the Petroleum Products Division during the period of transition to the Qulliq Energy Corporation.
Petroleum Products Division acquires, transports, stores, and distributes petroleum products to those communities in Nunavut that are not serviced by the private sector.
We are faced with increasing challenges because of the rapidly increasing price of oil.
While we currently have low prices in comparison to the rest of Canada, that can not last as we must buy our new supply at high prices.
I will be working with my colleagues in cabinet to address the implications of higher oil prices on our communities.
The Department of Community and Government Services is faced with new challenges in the accomplishment of its mandate to serve departments and support social and economic opportunities in communities.
These include increasing training for staff, supporting community empowerment, securing funding for more community infrastructure, and addressing related environmental issues.
I would like to indicate, Mr. Chairman, I will be working cooperatively with other departments and other issues.
This concludes my opening remarks and I am now ready to respond to the committee’s questions on the 2004-05 main estimates.
Do you have witnesses that you would like to bring to the table?
Hon. Peter Kilabuk: Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (Interpretation ends.) Does the committee agree to bring the witnesses?
Chairman (interpretation): Sergeant-at-arms.
Mr. Minister, if you would introduce your officials, please.
On my right, I am sure you all know, on my left, I am sorry, Tom Rich. And, on my left, Mike Rafter, who will be here with me.
Does the Chair of the standing committee have comments?
I am very pleased at this time to be able to make opening comments as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Housing, and Economic Development.
The committee has reviewed the 2004-05 main estimates and the business plan of the Department of Community and Government Services and has had the opportunity to meet with the minister in April.
The committee of that department was created during the March 2004 reorganization of the Government of Nunavut.
Members noted that the revised “Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunut Ikajuuti” policy came into effect on April 1, 2004.
Members are concerned that greater efforts need to be made to ensure that trained and qualified beneficiaries are given the opportunity to work for southern construction companies on government construction contracts in their home communities.
Members would like to see graduates of construction programs or apprentices given the opportunity to use their skills.
The standing committee was also concerned that increasingly stringent federal regulatory requirements concerning solid-waste disposal and sewage lagoons are putting financial pressures on communities.
For example, it is just dumped on the communities to deal with these problems.
The committee is concerned that hamlet councils are constantly being forced to do more with less.
Committee members are concerned that community empowerment initiatives are downloading responsibilities without ensuring that adequate resources are available for communities.
Inadequate resources can lead to a general decrease in the municipality’s ability to deliver all services, for example, water delivery, at adequate levels and ultimately results in the hamlets’ financial difficulties.
The committee members urge the minister to use caution when devolving responsibilities to municipalities to ensure that the municipality has the resources and the capacity to fulfill added responsibilities.
In addition, committee members would like to see a review of all current transfer agreements to ensure that adequate resources are being transferred.
Committee members were also concerned that contracts for important Government of Nunavut-funded infrastructure projects do not contain appropriate terms and conditions.
If I said it in English, they have to have the appropriate terms and conditions in order to go ahead with the projects.
Proper contracts are necessary to ensure that projects stay under specification, for example, here in Iqaluit, that they are completed in a timely manner and stay within the budget.
Those were some of the comments that were made by members.
Committee members urge the minister to ensure that all contracts have clear terms and conditions related to liability if projects are not completed as required.
We would like to see projects completed to full-term.
The committee also noted that several municipalities are in debt and that the minister has appointed municipal supervisors in more than one community in Nunavut.
The committee members also urge the department to be more vigilant with respect to municipal finances to ensure that budget problems are caught and addressed in a timely manner.
And again, in addition, members are encouraging the department to continue working towards new municipal operating assistance program and water and sewage subsidy formulas.
Committee members are also concerned that the current financial system being used by municipal governments is overly complex and outdated.
They are outdated, and we have to upgrade the system that is being currently used by the municipal governments.
Committee members also urge the minister to review the systems with a goal of simplifying the reporting process.
They have to make sure that it is simpler at the community level.
Members are pleased that the minister remains committed to increasing training opportunities for municipal employees.
Members also appreciate the efforts made by the Municipal Training Organization to provide information on the organization’s activities.
The committee also encourages the minister to continue working with his colleagues and other parties to ensure municipal employees continue to receive training.
Members noted that there has been a decrease in funding for protection services, for example, the fire department.
Members are concerned that detailed instructions of Government of Nunavut-owned and -leased buildings are not being undertaken on a regularly scheduled basis.
In light of the recent recommendations contained in English in the Nunavut Fire Protection Strategy and the fire marshal’s report on the Joamie School fire investigation, committee members were concerned that the contributions for fire training and fire equipment has not increased.
Members were also concerned that sealift providers are not treating consumer goods with respect and the shipments are being damaged through contact with salt water.
In 2003-04, the Nunavut government split a chain of product delivery into two contracts, one for dry goods and one for petroleum products.
Committee members look forward to receiving detailed information on the cost savings to the Government of Nunavut.
The committee noted with concern that the Petroleum Products Division did not transfer to the Qulliq Energy Corporation on the scheduled date of April 1, 2004.
The department has budgeted $500,000 to complete the transfer.
It is not clear what this money will be used for.
Members are concerned that the division will not be held to a higher level of accountability after the transfer is completed.
Members look forward to discussing the issue of transparency and accountability, in detail, with the ministers responsible for energy related issues.
Members noted that there is an opportunity for fuel sales to exploration companies operating near communities.
Members urge the department to ensure that hamlets are able to take advantage of this demand by having adequate supplies of fuel available in the communities.
Committee members recognize that there are many aspects to the cost of reorganizing the department and look forward to receiving a detailed breakdown of those costs.
Individual members may have their own concerns and comments as we proceed.
Before we proceed, I would like to remind members of the following: according to rule 77(1), you have 10 minutes to speak, and according to rule 37(2), subject to discussion of Chair, a member may speak more than once to a matter under discussion, but not until every member has spoken.
I suggest to members that, wherever possible, you ask the detailed questions during the page-by-page review of the departmental estimates.
Welcome, to the minister and Tom Rich.
I’m glad I have dealt with these fellows before in my other capacity. I am glad to see that they are working hard on behalf of the communities of Nunavut.
I didn’t want to add too much to our chairman’s comments.
He covered everything pretty well, but I wanted to mention that being a mayor, being a councillor in a community of Nunavut is very privileged and important job, because you are elected by the people to help them with their day-to-day issues and problems. And, I have already said, as the community goes, so goes all of your life in the community.
So, if your water is not being delivered, sewer is not being picked up, garbage is not being picked up, there are loose dogs, you hear about it pretty fast. Mayors, or councillors, and their staff are always on the frontlines, 24-hours a day sometimes, and most of the people are ordinary folks, they are not full-time politicians. I used to refer to them as elected volunteers.
You have to have mayors and councillors who are willing to step forward in there and represent the people.
But, I see a trend developing in Nunavut, maybe right across the north, that when we have elections every year, December, there seem to be fewer and fewer people willing to step forward to run as mayor, deputy mayor, or councillors.
Fifteen years ago if you had four vacancies on a council, you had 19 people running.
There is quite a bit of interest, but nowadays there seems to be a decreasing interest. People have to be appointed, some people win by acclamations, and I think a lot of it is attributable to the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult to run a hamlet here.
You are dealing with 6- to 8-million-dollar annual budgets. You get all of the issues that you have to deal with every day, you know health, wellness, public works, housing. Everybody turns to the hamlet council for help, then maybe on top of all of that most folks have their regular jobs to deal with and their families.
So, people are taking all of that into account and some of them are starting to say, we just want to have a normal life. I am not sure how we can help those people to change their minds about getting more involved in municipal politics, because it is very difficult for people. The Chairman mentioned about all of these issues that we came up with.
These are the things that people take into account when they decide whether to run for municipal politics.
Many of us around this table have been councillors or mayors over the years.
So, it is a tough job.
So, I would just like to close on those comments, that we keep that in mind that we are trying to help those ordinary folks in the communities who are just trying to make communities a better place to live in, and their staff who are also living in the communities.
I have a few comments in regards to the hamlet operations.
First of all, I would like to say, things in smaller communities…. The new technology is being utilized more and more in the smaller communities.
But looking at the truck fill-stations in some communities, the technology is too old.
They should be looked at by the department. There is more and more new vehicles or there is old vehicles that we have in the communities, but we do not have any maintenance people to look after those vehicles.
Those things should be looked at by the department as well and look at the new technologies the other communities are using.
And the hamlet councils have problems, as they have a conflict whereby they are hamlet employees and at the same time they are involved in the hamlet council, because a lot of people are starting to shy away from trying to get elected as a hamlet councillor.
That is the problem that we have in smaller communities.
The same people have to do the same job as a hamlet employee and as a councillor.
I know that there is a lot more services that are not provided as larger communities.
When you come into Grise Fiord, you could see the dump site right away, and it does not look very good because it is right by the airport.
Those types of things should be relocated.
Community empowerment is very slow because of the lack of office space in some smaller communities. Especially, land administration have not much support.
There should be some more training for the positions of land administrators also in the smaller communities.
The municipalities make money when they deliver services such as water and sewage.
Some hamlets are beginning to realize that they have to get more help in training.
That is my final comment, Mr. Chairman.
I don’t have very many comments to make, but the hamlets in the communities…. There is not enough services in some communities.
I have been involved as a hamlet councillor and the funding is always inadequate to run the municipality or the hamlets.
The people in the communities, or the hamlet employees, should be taught how to use heavy equipment.
I think there is a lot of people in the communities that could be trained to operate heavy equipment so they could be hired by the hamlet councils.
I feel that their licences expire, and then the heavy equipment that they have to use is not adequate to the licensing that they carry.
There should be more training for that, and it is very expensive.
The thing that surprised me in Sanikiluaq last winter…. I am not blaming the minister, but the people of Sanikiluaq had some concern about emergency situations, because it is operated from headquarters here in Iqaluit.
They have to phone Iqaluit. They tried calling to Iqaluit, but they were diverted to the Kivalliq region during an emergency situation, and it should not happen that way.
We were worried about those people that were out on the land, because they were too young.
During emergency situations we should have an emergency number where we could get a hold of someone right away and not be diverted to another region to get assistance during an emergency situation.
There should be better communication from the department to the hamlets.
I know that communication has to be improved.
In regards to the community halls in the communities, these community hall facilities are getting outdated. We have always requested that we would like to have some physical activities and we are always looking for good athletes to represent our communities. So, that way the facilities should keep up with the wish of the department to improve the athletic abilities of our young people.
I’ll use an example from Sanikiluaq.
Today, the community hall is closed because it is inadequate.
The department should go to communities and look at all those facilities.
I’m pretty sure the department does not realize that our community hall has been closed because it is not in a safe condition.
I do not have any more comments, but I wanted to let the department to know the concerns of my riding.
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): Thank you for seeing me right away, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I do have a few comments to make to Mr. Kilabuk.
You are going to have a lot of work to do this year, Mr. Kilabuk, and I do believe that you will try your best and the same with your deputies.
I would like to make a few comments that….
The only way that we work things out is within the hamlets, especially when there is not enough funding available and when you don’t know who to try to get funding from.
We know that our government has set funding, for example, for sewage and water delivery. It is very difficult in the communities, when we look at the funding that we receive.
It is difficult to try to get more funding for the sewage and water services when they are going dead, and it gets very difficult to try to run the municipal affairs in the communities when there is not enough funding.
Like I said, it is very difficult to know where we can get more funding for the hamlets.
I feel that we should receive more funding to ensure that in the future, communities are run properly.
Also, their debts have to be forgiven. On many occasions in the hamlets, we had to make cuts every year because we do not get enough funding.
In your department, the responsibilities that you have….the hamlet homes and the garages were built 20 years ago, and they are aging.
We have to keep them from freezing all the time, and this is the way it is right now.
I feel that we should start getting new equipment for the hamlet.
It gets difficult to maintain it when it is aging.
A lot of it should be dumped, and they are costing more money when the equipment is getting old.
I feel that we should get more funding to maintain the equipment that we have in the hamlets.
A lot of times we run out of funding and we have old equipment that we have to work with.
Much of the infrastructure within the communities, which falls under the responsibility of the territorial government, is aging and under-repaired.
As a result, buildings have to be closed down, like the fire marshal’s office. Right now a lot of the aging equipment is not good.
I do have a concern about this; I will be speaking on this, especially for the Qulliq Energy Corporation, and the staff has to prepare for this.
I will be speaking on this issue when the time comes because we need better maintenance within the communities.
We do not currently have enough and we are constantly trying to save money as we have to use predictions.
We all know that we must not spend too much money, and we are talking about millions. That is a lot of money. It is very difficult to try to run our affairs properly when there is not really anything in place.
Thank you, Chairman, I will be speaking on this issue again.
Mr. Evygotailak (interpretation): Thank you, Chairman.
I also want to thank Minister Kilabuk.
I am pleased that you have the responsibility for community and government services.
Our problems and concerns are along the same lines of other communities in regards to the hamlet vehicles, the water and sewer trucks.
One, they are not brand new, or are not efficient to use anymore and they become a problem.
During the month of April when we started coming for meetings, in my community there was a problem where the residents did not have water for three days because of the vehicles that broken down.
You are probably aware that when there is a lack of water at a residence they no longer have the luxury of washing or drinking water.
So, in that case, some of the residents had to go and fetch ice for drinking water.
When the vehicles have aged, it is a problem where you have maintenance repairs. It would be nice to have that funding to repair those vehicles.
As well, for the water pump, it has been a problem, as you are probably aware, In the past, we had problems with the water pump.
Our past MLA, Donald Havioyak, had also mentioned this in the past.
As we know, the water pump is still being repaired constantly.
As we all know, water delivery is crucial for residents to use for things like washing, and drinking water, and what-have-you.
And as well, during the summer our roads get very dusty. That is a health hazard for the residents because you breath in the dust and it is not safe for especially the older people, our elders.
Perhaps the community of Kugluktuk could fix that.
I would raise an area or concern in that regard.
Those are my concerns from the community of Kugluktuk, and I appreciate you listening to our concerns.
Chairman (interpretation): I do not have any names left.
I do have concerns in Rankin Inlet as well. I would like to say thank you, that you met with the mayor and the secretary.
I feel that I will be asking questions like…. A lot of equipment, especially the sewage system, has to be repaired.
Now that we have one department, one minister will be responsible.
In Rankin Inlet the municipal services make their money by what, a water utilidor system from public works.
Public works was responsible for this and they made revenue through there, and that will be my concern as we make closure.
I feel the communities should start planning.
For example, it was exactly the same thing, that the public works looked after this through the Nunavut government in the town of Iqaluit.
It is a tax community.
In Rankin Inlet we do have two sets of revenues from water and sewage, and the utilidor was looked after by public works. It was looked after by three government departments.
I feel that I wanted to mention that this is not just a complaint. The petroleum products is delayed right now and feel that we will be talking…. We did not finish this in the committee.
As an ordinary member that…. There are petroleum products that are delivered to Rankin Inlet.
They do not want to move from there.
There are over ten people that were working for the Petroleum Products Division.
I know that Baker Lake is also decentralized, and the question that I have….
When there is not enough funding the petroleum was working okay.
It was just revolving.
Right now we are going to move it to a Crown corporation so that they have to make revenues, because we cannot just keep on getting loans.
How are we going to return the monies?
They have to put the price up, that is the only way that they can make revenues.
You will be responsible for this for another year.
I feel that there should be a review that there is going to $500,000.
Also, it is not itemized in the committee reports.
I feel that we should look at this right away because the Crown corporation has to make money.
I know that they are going to be selling to the Power Corporation.
There were five ministers within the different departments.
I feel that we should be cautious.
Will it be okay to approve the $500,000?
These are all the comments that I have for now, Mr. Chairman.
I don’t have any other names on the list.
We can then move on to page J-5.
Is there anyone with questions on J-5?
I had brought these questions up earlier on the reorganization of the department.
What is going to be happening with the titles, first of all?
I have forgotten about the other assistant deputy minister, Shawn Maley.
He will be in charge for technical services.
Mr. Curley, any further questions on page J-5?
(Interpretation ends.) Branch summary.
Total, operations and maintenance: $8,176,000.
Chairman (interpretation): We will move on to J-7, or I am sorry, J-6, J-8 and J-9 and J-10.