EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening comments and I anticipate that members will raise their own questions and concerns as we proceed.
The chairman usually does know when we start a new department.
For the purpose of the continuation of the meeting members have about 10 minutes each to make opening comments.
And according to Rule 77 you have 10 minutes each to do your opening remarks in regards to the departments and the first 10 minutes are for general comments.
We are dealing with 2-6.
I’m impressed with the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs who represent Nunavummiut and are developing programs that are needed in Nunavut.
I’m glad to see that they’re implementing projects or programs that will benefit Nunavummiut but with that there are some areas that need improvement.
In Nunavut the jobs that should arise, for instance, the Clyde River Protocol and the Agreement, I think there’s going to be questions raised later as to what’s been happening with the agreement.
As Nunavummiut, we are aware of some needs in communities that are being ignored or left out.
The communities are able to express what needs they have and what is important to them and their values.
A lot of times, when they are expressed they are set aside and under the Bathurst Mandate a lot of the areas or improvements that need to be made in communities are expressed by Inuit but they don’t seem to be followed by this department.
With that, we become aware of what the departments are doing and I think the department needs to know that the people are looking at the work that’s being done and that needs and values should be kept in mind.
So, I hope that under the agreement they should follow what’s in the agreement and not set aside areas that are important to the people of Nunavut and I think there are some areas that we need to correct as a government.
We represent the people of Nunavut and we have to be kept well informed about what’s happening and what improvements are being made.
As the Nunavut Government, we have to be open to the public and support one another.
Without good communication, we won’t get along.
As the government we are encouraged by the people of Nunavut to work together.
I’d like to encourage this department to keep the people informed about any changes that will be made in the agreement.
There needs to be good communication so we could support them in areas that they’re trying to implement or change.
As Members of the Legislative Assembly it’s overwhelming at times trying to keep up with the needs in communities.
The projects that are being done and people need to know what changes need to be made.
They should respect the needs of Nunavummiut and keep us well informed of what’s happening within the department. I just made my comments brief.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Iqaqrialu. Any other comments?
My comments will be brief but I will have questions later.
I’d like to welcome the minister and his officials.
In the premier’s opening comments, I was able to go through them and I don’t think he said anything about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
As the Minister responsible for Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, I think it’s important that Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is dealt with.
It’s something that the elders are encouraging this government to deal with.
In the committee’s opening comments, we have to realize the minister has to take all the notes and the committee comments seriously and look at what the committee has considered and to be able to respond and be accountable.
This department needs to be more accountable, this department that is in front of us, it needs to be more accountable to the people.
I know that when I travel to communities, the government, the recording of what’s happening in the government, I think needs to be renewed just to keep people informed of what’s happening.
The government needs to be able to respond to concerns within Nunavut.
I will have questions later in this area and we’re also awaiting for example, the household survey that was done.
As a committee, we were hoping that this would be completed and we’ve been waiting for the household survey and these are areas that we will keep bringing up. The program review that is being done in the government is also something that we will asking questions about because we expect, we want Inuit people to be involved just so that the premier is aware of what questions might arise.
On my list I have Mr. Havioyak next.
I just want to make a brief comment on decentralization.
Just recently, I just wanted to on these reports and how the decentralization is being, how it is in the communities out there.
In some cases it’s very good for people and in some cases it’s not.
Sometimes it gets very difficult in Kugluktuk in terms of jobs.
In other communities, it seems to be working.
For Kugluktuk, if it’s going to work well, for Kugluktuk we’ll keep that in mind.
If it’s going to be amended or changed then I would like to be notified so I can notify the hamlet there and how well it’s going to be working.
Or even know before it’s changed or made amendments to.
Your report was very clear there.
For example, in Kugluktuk, or Igloolik, because they are mentioned in this report here, in Kugluktuk, there were 33 positions that were to go to Kugluktuk.
This is what I brought up in recent times.
There were 33 positions that were to be moved to Kugluktuk.
If there are 33, in the future, I don’t want that changed at all if there are going to be 33 positions transferred there.
This is one of my concerns and I will be bringing up questions on that.
Also on the recommendations, if they’re going to be working on the recommendations, then we would like to be notified.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to be notified.
There are other members that want to be notified as well.
For example, if it’s okay, in Baker Lake, it works for Baker Lake.
There are more workers there now in the community and I have questions on this training on the job or the trainees.
We’ll know from there that there will be more Inuit people who will be working in the government and this is one of the concerns that I have.
For instance, the Department of Health and Social Services was moved over there, 14 positions were moved there.
There are Inuit people that are working in the department as well.
The positions are like, there’s not enough Inuit there.
For people who are going to be working for Health and Social Services there we want people that are well trained, people from Kugluktuk as well.
Sometimes there are capable people that aren’t working there.
I brought this issue up many times and the minister knows as well.
If they could have training on the job then you’ll have more people working there in the government positions.
This is all I have to say and once the recommendations are out then when we’ll look at it more closely and thank you for listening to me Mr. Chairman.
Just briefly. There were comments made earlier about when we first started creating Nunavut, the government was encouraged to implement Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Inuit are still waiting for Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit to be implemented so I want to ask this department to speed up on implementing Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and the elders in the communities are waiting for the government to approach them.
If the government needs assistance from elders for Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit issues, our elders are willing to assist government officials.
Inuit are always willing to help.
In the communities, I want to encourage this department to get Inuit in the communities involved in counselling or to counsel people that are having problems because when you live in a community you know more about the problems that are happening.
And the elders are willing to assist or help the government departments, if approached by government staff.
Chairperson (interpretation): We are discussing Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Keep on topic when you are making your general comments.
We are on 2-5 in the Main Estimates just to let you know what we are dealing with.
Mr. Alakannuark (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman for your comments and I am done my general comments.
Chairperson (interpretation): We will be taking a break.
The bell will ring when the members are asked to come back.
>>Committee recessed at 3.11 pm. and resumed at 3.50 pm.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, for coming back.
I only have one name left.
I don’t have much to say.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, I will make brief general comments.
During our session, we have to do the proceedings according to the rules and guidelines.
Although we want to voice all our concerns we have a limited time to voice our concerns.
One of our members could not finish his or her statement according to the parliamentary procedures.
Since Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs is running the whole government, I think your department has to consider how we can make more time for the members to make their statements.
Implementing the agreement between Government of Nunavut, NTI and the Federal Government, we have to follow the agreements and it’s evident that they need to be followed properly.
For example, the NNI policy, there have been some concerns and it’s evident that it’s because there was not a close working relationship between Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs office and the NTI office.
They have had their differences but maybe it is due to perhaps not having a clearer working relationship, so I’m cautioning the government to watch out and have a clearer relationship with these entities.
We have no choice but to follow the rules.
The Acts should be made Inuit friendly.
Many times, the laws and statutes have been a barrier for Inuit people and I know that we can make amendments to the laws according to Inuit traditions but many times we have run into stumbling blocks because of the laws.
This is just something to consider
Your department should really consider that and I have more to say but I won’t be bringing it up now.
As the chairperson, we have to follow the parliamentary rules.
Yes, and we have no choice but to abide by them.
We feel for the members at times when we sit as the Chairperson but we have to follow the rules.
At this time, we still have this department to deal with. Page 2-6.
I have no names.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Branch Summary. Directorate.
Total Operations and Maintenance 1 million 477 thousand dollars.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Under page 2-6, it states here, two Deputy Ministers and three ADMs.
For example, the Department of Education has a Deputy Minister and two ADMs.
I don’t know how we improve it but the Deputy Ministers and the Assistant Deputy Ministers combined are five, so I was wondering if the department is willing to consider having one Deputy Minister and one Assistant Deputy Minister and the rest could be directors or managerial positions?
In the Standing Committee Report it states that the communities are lacking funding.
It seems like this department can get all the funding they need while the other departments are lacking funds.
It seems like the compensation and benefits 1 million 300 thousand dollars is for 11 staff.
So therefore I would like to ask a question. Under program review in your statement on the first page, under the premiers’ opening comments.
On the first bullet under program review, I know that it will have one-time budget expenditure of 595 thousand dollars in the O and M estimates, Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Program Summary.
I was wondering if you will be reviewing the whole thing in your department.
There were quite a number of questions that he asked but I will try and answer them.
In regards to the number of employees, we have tried different areas and we’ve had one Deputy Minister but we do have a lot of other business to deal with and we are quite busy and we have a lot of other tasks that have to be done urgently.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, we have to protect the requirements of the department and we have to, I have to be available at all times.
I’ have to represent Nunavummiut outside of Nunavut and we want to have solid government and achieve the goals that have been stated. At the same time the EIA office is responsible for the management of other programs and the executive branch of the government and there are our day-to-day operations as a Cabinet.
We have to watch the day to day operations through the Assistant Deputy Ministers.
I have an ADM that represents the staff who go down to the Ottawa offices.
On a daily basis we have to watch what the Federal Government is doing.
An ADM has to supervise the staff and also the Decentralization, because decentralization is a very important issue for the members here.
As I stated before, I want to achieve our goals and that is why we have more than one Assistant Deputy Minister because their jobs are unique and special.
We have to be solid and we have to be strong.
We don’t want to see Nunavut lacking representatives; I want to see solid representatives so that is why we have set it this way.
In the program review, it will be a one-time review of all the government departmental programs and services.
For this fiscal year the expenditures are increased.
That is about all the answers that I have for you, and I don’t know if I missed any of your questions.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Although I know the Premier is working very hard and is dedicated, Makivik Corporation got the fishing rights in our Nunavut waters.
I know that you are opposing it and I know that you are working on it.
The question that I wanted to pose is when we have staff down in Ottawa already, an Assistant Deputy Minister living down in Ottawa; prior to the Federal Government making their decision, how come you never knew what the situation was?
The Federal Government made their decision without informing us.
At that time as soon as my staff found out about the Federal Government’s decision in regards to the fisheries we were immediately informed.
Once we had that experience, the Federal Government was made aware of our opposition.
Once we made them aware that we were quite concerned about the decision, they were very supportive and our staff down there made us aware and informed us right away.
Did you find out or did you check to see if the Federal Government had broken the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Yes, we watched various kinds of legal actions through Aboriginal Affairs to make sure that the Federal Government is abiding by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
We are opposing the government on the firearm legislation as you know.
We are opposing the Water Bill also.
We changed their decision to protect the Inuit rights with the support of NTI.
That is how we received those results.
If we are going to be solid and strong we have to work with them and get support from these entities.
We will be using the entities to protect ourselves and we will try and use them on a daily basis.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): The thing I am trying to ask about, the federal government gave fishing rights in the waters that are identified in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
Did you find out if they broke Nunavut Land Claims Agreement or not?
The Nunavut Government and NTI and federal government should consult with each other before they make new decisions in either one of these entities.
Yes we try to inform each other and I don’t know if they have violated the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, but we are very opposed to it because Nunavut fishing rights could be reduced if these rights are given to other jurisdictions.
So we were opposing it very much and we were trying to make that change.
Once we found out about it we were opposing it right away.
And we will be protecting Nunavut needs, Nunavummiut needs and their rights and ensure overlooks them.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you very much Mr. Premier for your excellent responses.
Are you going to be doing a review through your legal counsel and your staff, I don’t know exactly what it is called but it’s the articles.
Will you review to see if any of the articles under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement have been violated when the fishing rights were awarded in Nunavut waters?
There was no notice given to the people of Nunavut for example and there was no agreement made.
For example, if the federal government wanted to set up a park.
The three signatories have to come to an agreement before anything can be established.
Are you going to be looking into the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement checking out the articles and see if there was any violation of the agreement?
If we had known that there was intent to give fishing rights, we would have addressed it right away.
We would have used our Nunavut Land Claims Agreement if we had known about it prior to the signatures.
We tried to protect our rights, we have also told the federal government that they have to address our needs and also represent Makivik, and we are going to be looking at how we can arrive at an agreement.
Chairperson (interpretation): Please say thank you so proceedings can go smoothly in the House.
Within the agreement if there was no protection, if there is no protection clause to protect the Nunavut waters we’ll have some problems.
And with that, I can use an example of the Nunavut Tunngavik and the Nunavut Government arriving at an agreement where they said they’d keep each other informed about the NNI policy but, maybe because they weren’t informed properly they are now opposed or have concerns about the NNI policy and I do know that it could be that.
But if there’s a protocol, are you going to be setting up a protocol so that the Nunavut and Federal Governments can agree on if there’s going to be any effects on the Nunavut waters or the Nunavut lands that they keep each other informed?
There are more and more aboriginal groups saying that they have rights to some of the Nunavut lands.
We will have representation when they’re debating this issue.
But in regards to the Nunavut waters we were not informed prior to the fishing rights being given.
We don’t want that to happen again and we need to be a participant.
If we’re going to be participants or if it’s going to affect Nunavut we have to be there.
The NNI Policy’s only a small portion of what we do.
We do a lot of other things.
We have the water bill, the gun legislation, and other things that we’re dealing with and just this past week we signed an agreement for parks.
This is just a small portion of what we do.
We keep looking for ways to improve and to coordinate or to legislate. For example, the Wildlife Act and also the Education Act which we are reviewing with NTI; we do a lot of things within our department.
We have agreed under the Financial Administration Act that during the budget debates that we would be included.
We don’t know what’s going to be in it but we do a preliminary review of the estimates before they’re debated in the House.
That was the understanding that we got and that’s what I’m trying to say Mr. Chairman.
We don’t know what’s going to be coming up through Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs with NTI and with the Federal Government.
And for example, there are also the other Canadian provinces.
For example, we want to build a highway from Manitoba to Nunavut and we’re also looking at alternative energy sources but the Manitoba and the Nunavut Governments have agreed that if they’re going to start any projects that will affect one or the other that they will consult each other.
Do you have such an agreement or will you make such an agreement with the Federal Government, stating that if it’s going to have any effect on Nunavut and in the Nunavut waters that the Nunavut representatives will be informed prior to any action being taken?
I think we’re talking about two different things.
If we’re talking about other aboriginal groups looking at Nunavut lands the Federal Government has legislation in place that the governments that are going to be affected have to take part. We’ve been using this to date.
We’re also dealing with mining and oil exploration in Nunavut.
There are different things that we’re dealing with in our department.
Very briefly, you only have 40 seconds.
When you’re speaking and when you’re breaking for lunch it seems like the clock goes really fast.
The Federal Government, do they know that we’re not looking just for things that we can oppose?
Do they know that with our minds and hearts, we’re doing the best we can to help the people of Nunavut?
We don’t have any connections to businesses or anything else to change our minds.
Are you going to assure the government that we’re doing the best we can within Nunavut?
Yes we talk about it in our department.
We work with one another but we do have to protect the needs of Nunavut.
That’s my responsibility and I try to do it to the best of my ability.
I have meetings with various organizations and federal government representatives.
I have meetings with the federal representatives pushing or lobbying the Federal Government for the needs of Nunavut but we have to look at protecting Nunavut because we’re part of Canada and as any other Canadian, we have a right to the same services.
To use fisheries as an example, in the south they are given 80 to 90 percent of their fishing rights.
We’re at about 27 percent today.
We have very few employment opportunities in Nunavut and these are ongoing issues that we’re going to lobby on so that we can have the same types of services and the same types of programs as the rest of Canada.
We have to be on par with the rest of Canada.
It’s an ongoing issue that we lobby to the Federal Government and only if we come to par with the rest of Canada would I be happy then.
Page 2-6.
I am very happy with the department because they work in cooperation with other entities out there but I think I was out of Iqaluit at that time or missed reading some of the documents but heard all of a sudden in the news about the NNI policy and that there was a one year extension to the NNI policy.
At that time, NTI had concerns or problems with the NNI policy and with the Government of Nunavut.
NTI and the Nunavut Government had agreed that if there’s going to be any changes or extensions, that they would be consulted.
Did you not inform NTI because it was urgent, you had to extend it because of some urgency?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chairman, I’m sorry.
All the Members of the Legislative Assembly had to deal with it and it was an urgent matter, the end of that NNI policy was on March 31 and we decided to extend it for another year so that we could include other businesses out there.
We had visits from people out there before March 31, they wanted to know what was going to be happening, and because of the urgency we extended for a year.
It was an urgent matter that had to be dealt with immediately, we didn’t do it intentionally, we didn’t inform the people out there but it was an urgent matter.
Sometimes you have to take the bull by the antlers and deal with it on a day to day operational basis and this decision was reached after due consideration of the issues.
With this emergency, when you say it was an impossible task, nowadays, even if you experience an urgent matter, anything is possible; you can send correspondence any time these days, via fax or telecommunications.
If it was an urgent matter you could email it to the signatories and they’d see it right away.
And if I had an urgent matter that I had to deal with and inform my community I could inform them right away, the word urgency is used so often that it is losing its meaning.
Were you not urged to make that extension by the companies that are owned 50% or 51% by non-Inuit and did you not cave in?
I had never heard any of these comments being made in the House.
We were told to extend the policy and we have received some correspondence supporting the extension of the policy.
There was one time where we had Canadian North representatives who wanted us to extend the policy as well as the Northwest Company and these requests have been tabled in the House.
It’s not a new issue.