EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I don’t know if this wellness program that you mentioned occurred. But the person that is the oldest one involved in exhuming these bodies is now in his 70’s.
For myself, I am not highly educated, nor am I a counsellor, but to try to counsel a 70 year old is … that person knows more than I do.
I am very glad and grateful that you did have a community feast. That feast probably had a price tag of five hundred dollars.
I'm representing the people that had to go through this ordeal, because of course, that is my job, this is not for me personally.
They are not looking for a five hundred dollar feast.
They want something worthwhile to compensate them for exhuming the bodies.
This is an old case and they are looking at approximately 5 thousand dollars.
There are very few living people now who were involved.
I do know what kind of response you are going to make.
There was a time that we could have done something about this, then one department said no, and all of a sudden there was this blockage.
What department was that?
Mr. Speaker, this issue that the member has raised in the past, and I remember many times it having been raised in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories with Mr. Evaluardjuk, Mark Evaluardjuk, who was the MLA also for Amittuq prior to division.
At that time, the GNWT of the day, after a lot of research in the Premier's Office, Premier Don Morin had looked at the responsibility being DIAND because there was no Northwest Territories Government.
When the member brought the question up in this Assembly and I said to the member, and I frankly said to him, "I would love to have paid the people that were involved in the removal of the graves".
I think anyone who is associated with and knows about the traumatic events that occurred, would agree with that statement.
At the same time, Mr. Speaker, the government can't set itself up.
That's been explained in the past by the Premier, who was also the Minister of Justice.
We have, Mr. Speaker, taken the case on as a government.
The Premier's Office has been involved in the work with Intergovernmental Affairs, with our federal partner.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I have written the Federal Minister who has responded.
Again, Mr. Speaker, that is where the compensation should be coming from.
We have done everything in our power to facilitate that.
Mr. Speaker, the minister in his previous responses, in the beginning, told us that there was an agreement between the two departments, Justice and Health & Social Services.
And that there was going to be 35 thousand dollars was set aside.
But it wasn't in writing.
We had a meeting between myself and the Minister of Health and Social Services, also with Mr. Anawak, who was then the Minister of Justice.
During the meeting with these two ministers, I was told that there was money set aside, ready to compensate those people who were involved in this ordeal.
But then one of the departments turned around and decided that they weren't going to go ahead with it.
I would like to know which department that is so that I can do a follow-up on it.
Mr. Speaker, the discussions that took place, I guess it is safe to say they were overridden because of the situation with precedence.
As a government we have to make sure that when something is done that it doesn't set a precedent for other types of cases that are brought forward.
That is a legal matter. Mr. Speaker, that was the case in the discussions that had taken place.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, we are seeking redress from the Federal Government because they are ultimately the ones that should be responsible for the decision to move the graves and for the compensation to be paid.
That is the position that the Government of Nunavut has taken, that was the discussions that had taken place after the initial discussions with the member.
Mr. Speaker, my question was, which department turned around and decided not to go through with this.
Which department was it, your department or the Department of Justice?
Mr. Speaker, Indian Affairs was the department that still hasn’t decided to issue the payments.
Under this government, again Mr. Speaker, the government is not a department, it is a government, the government can’t be put into a position where it pays, to my understanding and I am not a lawyer, for a precedent situation.
That’s what I am saying, this government can’t be…why would this government want to pay for something that happened forty years ago when there was no Nunavut Government, when there was no Government of the NWT.
That was the responsibility of the Federal Government in case law and in case history, precedent is made by the case at that point in time.
In this case Mr. Speaker, the operative word would be before the date, and in that case the guilty party, or the party that should pay the compensation is the Federal Government.
Not the Government of Nunavut, we weren’t even in existence. Not the Government of the NWT, they weren’t even in place.
That’s why there was no compensation paid.
Question 453 - 1(5): Staff Guidelines - Kitikmeot Boarding Home
Mr. Speaker, this afternoon in my Member’s Statement, I spoke about a disturbing letter that I had received from a constituent of mine.
When we have to go to the hospital for medical attention, the Kitikmeot residents often encounter obstacles and that is not that first time that they've encountered problems when they've been sent out for medical attention and Mr. Speaker, they have concerns.
So Mr. Speaker, the Yellowknife Boarding Home, I am wondering if they have guidelines that they need to follow to transport people from the airport to the boarding home.
Mr. Speaker, I haven’t seen the letter that the member is talking about but on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Services, I apologize for any inconvenience that the patients have experienced in Yellowknife and I am sure after question period today the member will provide that letter to me so that I could do a follow up.
On the specific question Mr. Speaker, the member is correct, there are guidelines, there are regulations that in the contract with the operators of the boarding home, specifically what is entailed in that specific contract.
That does include Mr. Speaker, the picking up of the hospital patients.
I will meet with the minister but the Lena Pederson Boarding Home that the Kitikmeot residents go to needs to be expanded and this is something that I have raised in this House in the past more than once.
The patients that are going to that boarding home, when they are at the airport, they often aren’t met.
When this happens, they are told that they should take a taxi to a hotel as there is no room in the boarding home.
Mr. Speaker, the Kitikmeot residents have asked about the boarding home called the Lena Pederson boarding home, that it is quite small now, we have asked from about 2001 to date on whether or not the minister's department has any goals or objectives on the expansion of the home.
So could I get an update from the minister as to what’s happening with that?
We feel as a department that the current facility that is being used as the boarding home in Yellowknife is not up to standards.
Mr. Speaker, we’re in the process now of doing an RFP for the operation of a boarding home which would increase the bed capacity to 40 beds for the patients that are coming from the Kitikmeot Region and going to Yellowknife.
At the same time, we did an RFP for the operation of the current facility in Yellowknife, that’s contracted for one year and was just recently awarded.
Mr. Speaker we are moving towards the replacement of that facility and I hope to be able to have that RFP in place in the next several weeks.
The Kitikmeot Boarding Home I think have their own vehicle to transport patients from the airport to the boarding home. But quite often the patients will get into Yellowknife and have to wait at the airport for a long time, and as patients going to the hospital they shouldn’t have wait for a ride. Also when the patients are asked to, when the boarding home is overcrowded they often send patients to a hotel and they are asked to take a taxi.
So I think this is something the minister needs to look into.
Would he take the time to look at the problems that I’m raising?
Mr. Speaker we will follow the member's suggestion and follow that up.
And I think it’s important to note that the member is correct as well as the member from Kugluktuk in the past as well as the member from Repulse and Arctic Bay.
They have made some points and they’re correct.
Right now the facility houses I believe it is 20 patients.
It has room for 20 patients.
Any numbers above that Mr. Speaker have to be housed in the local motel.
That’s the reason why we're moving aggressively on the RFP to be able to put a better facility or a newer facility in place in Yellowknife for those patients and Mr. Speaker we take the member’s word.
And again, I want to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that his patients have experienced at the home in Yellowknife over the past week.
I look forward to seeing the letter of complaint.
Mr. Speaker, this concern is not just for patients travelling to these centres but also for the patients that are cared for by the staff.
This is a responsibility of this minister.
Have you ever visited these boarding homes to discuss these concerns that are arising and when was the last time the minister visited the Lena Pederson Boarding Home.
Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to be in every boarding home that the Department of Health and Social Services operates in Alberta, the NWT, in Manitoba and so on.
Mr. Speaker, the last time I was in the facility in Yellowknife I was with the operator and that was about a year ago and I haven’t been in the facility since.
I was in Yellowknife this past Christmas when I was in Kugluktuk coming through but I didn’t have an opportunity to go to the boarding home.
Question 454 - 1(5): Update on Grizzly Bear Survey
Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Sustainable Development and another one of my favourite topics in this House, regarding grizzly bears.
Mr. Speaker, I heard my colleague last week from Pelly Bay talk about grizzly bears being sighted in Pelly Bay and then last summer we heard about the grizzly bears being spotted in Cambridge Bay for the first time and the biologists still seem to think there is no increase in the population.
The minister committed to doing a survey, using the elders and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, to me last year in the House.
Can he update me on the status of this study?
The Minister responsible for Sustainable Development.
Mr. Speaker, there is an increase in grizzly bears in Nunavut, according to reports of problem bears that we hear about.
The survey that is being asked about is being started and we are looking at what we can do to deal with the problems that are arising due to increased encounters with grizzlies.
We will continue to seek solutions through our department to deal with this problem.
I will get an update but I do know work is being done.
Mr. Speaker, could the minister be more precise on when they are going to start this survey and when it is going to be completed.
Because there are pressing issues in my community.
I will get back with a date as to when it should be completed.
And on the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit side, we really want to include this as well which should help out a lot.
With the elders helping the research, I believe in that and also balance both the scientific research and also the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit research.
I will get back to you on the dates that we should be done with this survey.
That’s good that the minister responds this way, that’s the type of answers that the people in my community and constituency are looking to hear that they are going to use the elders in the consultation process.
Because myself, I was talking to elders just before I came over here on the grizzly bear issue, and they said, most of them said that they have never seen a grizzly bear up until about the last ten years.
So I would like to commend the minister on that.
In the meantime the damage that these bears have been causing in regards to cabins, digging up a lot of caribou caches and so on.
Can the minister let me know if there is going to be any kind of compensation for the damage that these animals have caused in the past?
The equipment or other things that have been destroyed by grizzly bears is something that we are looking at as to what more we can do to assist the hunters.
Through the Hunters’ Support Program, we are looking at how hunters could be compensated when their property has been damaged.
Oral Questions. Supplementary. Final supplementary.
Mr. Speaker, I have pressing issues in my community with a lot of people and the issue is that it has been a long, long tradition of people caribou caching in August and September so that they can feed their families throughout the winter.
They go out, dig it up, and feed their families.
They spend a lot of money on gasoline, oil and bullets and stuff like that so they can prepare for the winter.
And like I said it has been going on in my community for thousands and thousands of years as I have been told.
A lot of people are going out there and looking for their caches, they are gone, and it puts undue hardship on them.
Can the minister be more precise on whether he is going to help these individuals through the HTO or though the Wildlife Management Board or through his department.
Mr. McLean’s questions are very clear.
The hunters often cache their meat for the winter and a lot of money is used for hunting.
This is something that I could look at as to how they could be compensated under the Community Hunt Program.
If the community needs assistance on this that is what the Community Hunt Program is for.
Question 455 - 1(5): Iqaluit Positions Advertised - Unavailable Staff Housing
Mr. Speaker, I was looking through the paper that we get every week, not only here in town the Nunatsiaq News, but also the News North and I couldn’t help but be somewhat alarmed or wondering why we are seeing a lot of Government of Nunavut positions being advertised for here in Iqaluit that don’t come with staff housing.
I am just wondering if the minister could explain to the House why those positions aren’t eligible for staff housing.
There are over five communities and Iqaluit that have a big problem with staff housing.
We have been advertising positions, but there is no housing available.
So if there is a staff house available, we will try to provide it.
Mr. Speaker, I guess the reason is that there is no staff housing available for these employees.
I think no one here is unaware of the problems and the high cost of housing and the shortage here in Iqaluit as well as in all of our communities.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister give an indication as to whether any of these jobs that he has advertised that are not eligible for staff housing have been successful and if any people are coming from somewhere else other than in Iqaluit to apply for these jobs.
If for instance a job that is advertised for Iqaluit, if there is a job opening here and we advertised for people and no staff house is available then there are usually people hired even though there is no housing available for them.
I don’t have the written information available with me at the moment about how many people have been hired even though there is no housing in the community at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I know or I believe that I have raised in this House in the past and other members have been asking whether there were jobs that weren’t being filled because they didn’t have staff housing.
Now we have jobs being advertised with no staff housing.
I don’t know if that is in response to that or not, but I look forward to getting information from the minister to show how successful that has been, where those people are coming from.
All of our departments are short staffed, some of these are very technical positions, are we just taking and looking to attract employees from other government departments or are we looking at bringing on new employees.
I would like to say that I will give him information about the five communities that have been advertising for employment within the government.
For the people that we really need for the government jobs there are contingent plans for hem, but I am sorry at this time we don’t have any staff houses for the people that are hired.
Perhaps if there are more staff houses built this will encourage people to apply more for government positions.
Mr. Speaker, maybe just to narrow it down for the minister.
I am not interested in any other communities, I am just interested in seeing what the stats are on the positions that were advertised without staff housing here in Iqaluit.
Not the other five communities, that should hopefully help expedite the process of the minister being able to get that information.
What I am looking for I guess, is how successful are we in filling those positions and if we are getting no one applying for them, we can’t hire them because they don’t have staff housing, how much are we spending in advertising these jobs that we know people aren’t going to apply for.
So I am just wondering if I could get that kind of an analysis, that is the kind of information that I would like to see.
Mr. Speaker I guess the other thing is, I know that the minister isn’t the minister responsible for staff housing.
But does the department have any plans on working, what plans or suggestions they have for the minister responsible for staff housing, for information to try and help solve some of the problems we see with staff housing here in Iqaluit.
I just want to make a note to the member that I mentioned the five communities because we don’t much staff housing available in them.
As to how many people we have hired so far or how many applied for the positions, I will give that information out to the member.
I would also like to say that Public Works will work closely with the Department of Human Resource in regards to getting more staff houses in each community and we will be working with them to also make available the existing housing that we might be able to provide to staff.
Question 456 - 1(5): Expansion of Pond Inlet Day-care Centre
I made a statement earlier about the day-care centre being too small in Pond Inlet and there is a waiting list of children.
Would the minister look into getting an expansion for that day-care centre in Pond Inlet because it’s operating very well at the moment?
I would like to inform the member that we don’t have any funding available for the expansion of daycares although we have money for the O&M part of it.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): The Minister of Education also has the portfolio of the Department of Human Resources and he must want people to be employed.
Many of your present and future employees need access to day-care facilities.
I wonder if the minister could look into options to make sure that the daycare centres get expanded so the GN employees could have the access to them.
I would like to tell the member that the question he’s posing is a good one.
We have a meeting planned with the Inuit organizations to see how they can also help with the daycare centres in Nunavut communities.
I will notify them about the problem that the Pond Inlet daycare centre is having during that meeting.
Question 457 - 1(5): Member’s Statement on Safe Shelters
Mr. Speaker I will be directing my question to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Subsequent to my Member’s Statement, first of all I would like to ask the minister if he understood what my statement was about.
Speaker: I would just ask the member if he would actually repeat the question so that the minister will know exactly what the member is requesting as relates to your Member’s Statement.
I made a Member’s Statement subsequent to the Member for Tunnuniq’s Member’s Statement.
In my statement I was wondering if I could ask the minister if he understood my statement when I first made it today.
You have a choice to answer the question or take it as notice, or to refuse to answer the question.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t think it would be appropriate to take the question as notice.
I believe Mr. Speaker that I understood what the member was trying to say in his statement and I would be prepared to try to answer any questions following from that statement.
I am glad that you understood my Member’s Statement.
The first question I would like to pose is, women, when they go to a safe shelter, their spouses or their boyfriends, they leave them in the community.
What kind of support, assistance or programs do you have for these individuals who are left behind at the community level?
Mr. Speaker, as we said earlier in this House, each case is different.
After saying that Mr. Speaker, a person who is left behind when a woman who has been taken from the community, who has elected to leave because of emotional and/or physical abuse to their person and the concern is for the safety of that person.
The abuser, Mr. Speaker, the person who has assaulted the persons who has left the community, depends Mr. Speaker, on what has occurred.
If they have been charged, in many cases, Mr. Speaker, under the judicial system that we have Mr. Speaker, they would have to seek counselling. The counselling services are available through the Social Worker, through the Community Wellness Worker, through the Nursing Station, Mr. Speaker, in some cases through Church groups, there are a variety Mr. Speaker, of avenues for that person to access counselling help.
As the minister states, he said in response to my question, that the abuser has to seek counselling.
Perhaps the Department of Social Services should find some way to give support or some form of assistance to help these individuals.
I was wondering if your department has any kinds of programs or services for those abusers.
Mr. Speaker specifically under the job description of the social worker, under regulations as well as legislation and the job itself, counselling and family services are part of the responsibility of the social worker.
So that’s one area that a person could access, at the same time Mr. Speaker we have different other resource people in the community like the nurse, like religious services, Mr. Speaker, like our wellness workers who are also available to provide that type of one on one counselling and support and help to the abuser.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): That was pretty fast.
Mr. Speaker to state again perhaps since this is my last supplementary question.
What have you done with the legislation of social services today?
In respect to individuals going to the safe shelters, are you reviewing the Act or legislation so that it could be more Nunavut relevant.
Are you reviewing the Acts or legislation or have you done nothing on the social services regulations.
Mr. Speaker first of all the department has completed a very comprehensive mental health strategy that includes issues around family violence and that’s being reviewed right now.
Several recommendations have been made.
At the same time Mr. Speaker I think it’s important to point out that when we’re looking issues of family violence there are different stages that family violence takes.
The first point of contact usually after a physical incident may be the police authorities.
For example because it’s against the law to abuse someone, when that happens Mr. Speaker the judicial system is involved and that brings us all different instances and circumstances that need to be followed.
Before that happens Mr. Speaker if a couple is having problems within their relationship, they have the opportunity as a couple to seek help, assistance, guidance, and counselling.
Mr. Speaker that falls outside the regulations of statutory regulations for example our social workers work under.
So Mr. Speaker I guess the short answer would be that the mental health strategy that we have just completed will help us in identifying some support mechanisms for social workers and other counsellors at the community level for issues of family violence.