EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Also, we use the municipality and staff as well on monitoring the clean-up process and to see if there is any clean-up to be made.
Mr. Arreak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank the minister.
I hope that the municipality is working well with the clean-up group.
I was going to ask exactly which minister was to be asked questions too on.
So if the ministers have been changed around so, it is getting quite difficult to know which of the ministers are responsible for which project.
Since we are just ordinary members, maybe the ministers should give us an understanding as to which of the ministers are responsible for which project.
Question 252 – 2(3): Health and Welfare of Inmates (Peterson)
Mr. Peterson: My question is for the Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, Nunavut residents that are charged with crimes are convicted and incarcerated to the Baffin Correctional Centre, Yellowknife Correctional Centre, or other out of territory correctional services, but they are still Nunavut residents.
My question for the minister is: what agreements does the Department of Justice have in place with territorial/provincial correctional facilities to ensure that the health and welfare of incarcerated Nunavut residents is a priority?
I apologize; I did not understand exactly what the question was. Can you restate it?
Speaker (interpretation): Can you restate your question please, Mr. Peterson.
I thought I was fairly clear, but I will try to restate it.
We have residents incarcerated or remanded in correctional facilities in Nunavut, Yellowknife, or in the provinces.
I want to know: does the Department of Justice have agreements with the correctional facilities of other provinces and territories to ensure that the health and welfare of our Nunavut residents who are incarcerated or remanded are being treated as a high priority?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Okalik.
Each facility is heavily regulated and we make sure they are up to standard before we send any inmates to any of the facilities and that they meet our standards. So that’s how we make sure that our inmates are looked after properly and their rights are respected.
Can the minister confirm for me that prior to incarceration, and then during incarceration, or when they are remanded waiting for trial, that Nunavut residents are given full physical medical checkups to ensure they are in good health?
I’m not 100 percent sure on it because in some cases, they may be remanded for a very short period of time and in other cases, they may be awaiting trial for an extended period of time. So it may vary on the situation.
I’m aware of some residents who were remanded for a few weeks and some residents have been remanded for 15 months. It could be a considerably long time. Sometimes after they are remanded to go to trial, they are acquitted or charges are dropped.
Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents recently contacted and told me about the experience he had in the Yellowknife Correctional Centre.
Apparently, they denied his request to see a doctor. He was suffering from abdominal pains since January and then developed a golf ball sized lump on his back. The correctional centre nurses in Yellowknife apparently treated him with painkillers and told him he was not allowed to go see a doctor.
A question for the minister: under what conditions can correctional facility health officials deny a patient’s request to see a doctor?
I will have to look into this matter.
I thank the minister for making that commitment that he will look into the matter for my constituent.
Can the minister commit to the House that he will follow up with all correctional facilities in Nunavut and wherever Nunavut residents are incarcerated to ensure that the correctional health staff in those facilities are treating Nunavut inmates’ health concerns with priority?
I will make sure that we investigate this matter and see what is taking place in this area.
Question 253 – 2(3): Pilot Project Training Medical Escorts (Kilabuk)
I stand today to pose a question that has not been dealt with at the Legislative Assembly.
I know that people are here that are dealing with this particular subject.
I said yesterday, in Pangnirtung, there are some people who have completed their high school are looking for employment, but they can’t seem to find any employment. There seems to be an opening now for places where they can have employment.
The fact that we are responsible for patients being in transit and when the patients are being in transit and they need someone who has to be escorted and some of their relatives cannot go with them for any reason.
First of all, I would like to direct my question to Health and Social Services to ask if they can try and start a project, use the students and teach them so that they can escort patients to Iqaluit or to Ottawa so that they can get the experience and knowledge of looking after people and if Pangnirtung can be the pilot project to try this out.
I appreciate the member’s suggestion, I can look into that.
One of the things I committed to doing in this House was once the Client Travel Policy has been finalized after April, that there will be a communication strategy also established to inform Nunavummiut what the policy means.
In that policy will be the role of the escorts also. So perhaps part of that whole initiative I can look into providing an information session for people that escort patients and the roles and responsibilities imposed on those individuals when escorting patients, so I can look into that and commit to working with the Pangnirtung community on that.
The reason I am asking this question is because the escorts are not taught how to care for the patient that they are escorting and it is obvious that the personnel have a lot more to do than to take care of the patient who is being transferred from point A to point B. They have other duties to attend to and my question is are you going to be reviewing this idea, is it possible to do it as soon as possible and look at the different options to make sure that these escorts are taught emergency first aid and other things they have to know?
They are very good recommendations and suggestions and I will look into that, there is no harm in promoting or advising or teaching the roles and responsibilities of escorts in providing assistance to patients and of course that role would also vary depending on the situation of the patient and the condition of the patient and so on.
I will commit to that and see what we can work with or how we can come up with working with the community on information items or some form of workshop or training for patient escorts.
I do know that the stewards and stewardesses will have to make sure that we use the appropriate regulations and rules that we have to abide by.
I want to make sure that this goes off the ground as soon as possible and also include the suggestions that the minister made.
So this individual would work from point A to point B and I would like to urge the minister to make sure that this is looked into as soon as possible because it is going to help a lot of patients, not only to the patients but also to the community and to the stewards and stewardesses that work in the airlines.
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation) I will commit myself to looking into this matter and we’ll have to look and see who will be doing the training.
I will commit to the member, and we should start from Pangnirtung.
Question 254 – 2(3): Health and Social Services Staff Concerns (Tootoo)
As I’m sure the minister will recall earlier this sitting, I asked her some questions about positions being blocked by the Department of Health for international nurses when we have Canadian nurses wishing to go into those that are being turned away.
At that time, the minister indicated that if she had more information she’d be willing to follow up on that, and I appreciate that gesture.
In the Minister’s Statement today, she indicated that she wanted to urge all Nunavummiut to support and value our frontline workers, which I would assume is our nurses included in there.
I tried to find out if those individuals would be willing to let me know what their names were or even what community they were from to be able to provide that information to the minister.
Much to my dismay they were all afraid to have their names mentioned, or even the community that they worked in mentioned for fear of reprisal from the administration within the Department of Health.
I’d like to ask the minister if her department is open to hearing concerns that her staff may have with issues that are going on in the field and if they welcome those concerns being brought forward by their staff?
I absolutely welcome any comment from citizens or any staff to come forward with concerns they may have.
I have no issues around that. I would encourage them and I would welcome that opportunity. Part of doing this job and part of trying to address how we better serve our communities is to use feedback directly from our professionals, at the same time from our communities.
Members well know in this House whenever I receive comments or issues related to constituency, I follow those up immediately and respond to the members one-on-one.
I welcome any staff, or any citizen to come forward. I’m open.
I have an open door policy on anyone who wants to come down and sit down and meet with me. I’ve never turned away individuals that have concerns related to health. I welcome the opportunity for anyone to come forward with their concerns.
I am very pleased to hear the minister’s response from that.
Obviously, that’s not the same feeling that some of her staff feel that her officials in the department have.
Would the minister commit to corresponding or informing her staff in the department that they are welcome to raise issue or concerns that they have over potential, or problems that they see in the field without worrying about their supervisors reprimanding them for doing so?
No one should be reprimanded for bringing forward any concerns they have related to how we can better improve the services and quality of service that we provide to Nunavummiut.
I have an open door policy, if there are staff out there that are afraid to come forward because they are afraid of being reprimanded, that’s unacceptable.
In my opinion, I have an open door policy and any of my staff or any citizen can come forward at any time to speak to me in regard to some concerns they have related to how we are doing and the quality of the services that we provide.
So I would encourage the members to come forward and then I will deal with those situations as they come up.
Again, I acknowledge the minister’s response and that, but as I had indicated earlier, it was felt by some of the staff in the field that their supervisors, whether they are in a community or within a regional centre, may not share the same feeling and as a result of past practices they are afraid to come forward.
Can the minister, as I asked earlier, commit to informing her staff that if individuals do come forward with concerns or raise concerns to be brought forward that they are not to be reprimanded by their supervisors.
I am not speaking particularly about the minister’s office, but just the supervisors that they deal with at the regional level.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Minister.
I can’t speak to past practices of the organization, but no one should be reprimanded for speaking to their minister in this system.
That’s unacceptable in this system if there are people that are being reprimanded for coming forward to the minister.
If there are individuals in my organization that fear that for various reasons, I will look into it. It is unacceptable that in this day and age our employees would be afraid to speak to the ministers.
I find that very disturbing.
I can’t speak to what happened in the past, but I want to reassure the member as well as this House, that I have an open door policy and I will listen to any members or any employee’s concerns and address them accordingly.
Question 255 – 2(3): Potential Mine Training Site (Barnabas)
I will direct my question to the Minster of Health, or the Minister of Education, I am sorry.
I apologize, it is Friday.
Mr. Speaker, we both know that near Pond Inlet has been in the exploration stage for the last couple of years and they say that there are very good ore deposits up there at Mary River, (interpretation ends) over 1,000 people on construction and later at the mine site.
Has the Minister of Education been made aware of this training opportunity?
I am aware of the potential for the project near Mary River. I believe it is Baffinland Iron Ore and I believe Mr. Peterson had an opportunity to speak to some of the executives from that company during the trade show that he was able to attend this week.
There is a huge potential there, I have seen projections where the mine could be from 50 to 75 to 100 years in life of that mine.
There is a huge upside to the mine itself in that the iron ore grade is supposed to be very high and so on.
Once this project moves forward, we would be involved with Baffinland or whoever the proponent is, to look at opportunities for training as well as looking at whatever the conditions of an IIBA would be in place.
The people of Arctic Bay and the High Arctic communities, for example, Pond Inlet, Clyde River, Igloolik, Grise Fiord, and Resolute Bay could all benefit with this mine opening up.
Could the minister speak to the companies to make sure that they utilize the human resources that are available from these communities and also to train them?
The member makes a good point that communities adjacent to the potential mining sites should have first access to any potential opportunities that exist.
I have not spoken with any official from Baffinland Iron Ore Mining Company, but I believe, like many members, that this is a project that is really below the radar screen right now and it has the potential to be a huge employer that the member has talked about; a thousand positions.
I know that construction needs to be done to create a port facility. There’s talk about the construction site camp and so on.
So once this project moves forward, yes, we would be involved with working with the member and the communities in question to make sure that any training opportunities that are available on this huge potential project would come forward.
When the Nanisivik Mine was opened, there were less women working in that field, but the women were able to work in the offices if they were fully trained or the only jobs available for females were janitorial services and also interpreter/translator for the health centre.
Does this government, especially your department, what kind of training programs would there be made available for that?
In questioning on the Department of Education’s budget over the last couple of days, I think it has been pointed out and rightfully so that we need to be ahead of the curve as it were, especially with these types of mining developments.
So I directed the President of Nunavut Arctic College to contact Miramar as well as Jericho, where we are seeing the diamond play move forward and Miramar was very successful in the regulatory approval for their mine. To meet with these people and to start the process of training, again, they are getting ahead of that curve.
I would be very pleased to try to facilitate a meeting with the member and the Baffinland Iron Ore Company to see exactly where they are going with this type of project to see what types of training opportunities we can do, again, to get ahead of the curve.
I think in the past, we waited until mines actually started to see where the training was needed. Under the Adult Learning Strategy that we have tabled in the House, we are looking at opportunities to get ahead of that and I think the member is making a good point.
On female occupations, non-traditional occupations within the mining sector, as I said earlier in the House Mr. Speaker, mines today are not just the pick and shovel jobs that we used to envision.
They include the whole range and gamut from administration, senior positions, you have a camp site where you might have anywhere between 150 to 400 people living so you need all the types of logistics and administrative support to do that, which includes running the facility, cleaning, cooking, keeping the runway open because it’s fly-in, fly-out, roads, and heavy equipment and so on. A lot of these positions, the majority of these positions, all of these positions can be filled with women also.
And these are not traditional occupations; we need to be able to step up to the plate.
So I would make a commitment to the member to follow up on this Baffinland Iron Ore Company to see exactly what those plans are because I haven’t seen them and to see where we are to try to get ahead of that curve that we have been talking about.
I talked about Nanisivik when the mine was open for 26 years. There was an employee there who had an Inuit employee counsellor and that individual would counsel the Inuit employees between the Union and the senior staff. Also, every time this individual would look into why Inuit are not attending work.
If there was a request for such a counsellor, can your department train more than one individual who can be the Inuit employment counsellor? Since this is my last question, does the Department of Education have the capacity to train these people?
Speaker (interpretation): Two questions, Mr. Picco.
We have, as I indicated earlier, through the Mine Training Focus Group as well as the Adult Learning Strategy, have put out different plans. At the same time, we have talked about how we get ahead of that curve. Do we want to wait until the mine opens to find out how to train them or should we be going back into the process in saying you have met the regulatory requirements; you are going to be opening up in 14 months, what do you need?
That is trying to get ahead of the curve.
So, if we know what is needed by individual corporations and companies, and we have people who are willing and have the ability to have the training to do those positions, then yes, the Department of Education has the ability to train those people.
For example, Mr. Speaker, if it was some kind of specialized heavy equipment training we would purchase seats, if we do not have it available right now in Nunavut, we would purchase seats at one of these training centers such as in Ontario or Alberta and actually have our people trained there so that we could expedite that matter.
What we are trying to do is develop that capacity in Nunavut. That is why we announced the recent trades school that the members have been very supportive of.
So, Mr. Speaker, in the short-term and in the long-term we were able to do that as long as we know what those skills sets are needed by individual Nunavummiut.
I have committed with the member to meet with the Baffinland people and I will invite the member to come with me to see what their range of progress is.
We know that it’s a huge project, some talk about over 1,000 jobs alone and it is one project, so, that is huge.
At the same time, I have instructed Mr. Clendenning, the President of the college to meet Miramar and the Jericho people, to see what type of training they need, in the next several weeks and to try again to get ahead of the curve.
The quick answer is yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question 256 – 2(3): Health Specialist Visits (Tootoo)
Mr. Speaker, I am just wondering if the minister, for clarification, for me and other individuals out there, could outline the timeframes, like for a specialist because I know that we do not have a lot of specialists up here and they come up from Ottawa to the hospital here.
Just how often do they come up?
Is it every month, every two months, or every six months because I know there is always a long waiting list for people to see specialists when they come to town.
If she could just give us an idea of how often they come up.
First of all, within the department itself, we have 11 physicians that travel to various communities throughout the Baffin region, as well as in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions. The specialists, again, come from Ottawa, Montreal, or surrounding areas.
I do not have the exact timeline and schedule for those individuals, but those are booked through the hospital and sometimes they travel to the communities as well, or provide the services here where we have the patients come down for them to see these specialists in Iqaluit.
Can the minister indicate whether or not the accreditation problem at the hospital has caused any disruption in the scheduling of specialists that come to Iqaluit?
As far as I know, that has not been a concern.
Of course, accreditation is a project with the recommendations there that there is a senior management team that is looking into all of that, but in terms of the services provided by the physicians and the specialists, those are being carried out as planned.
I was discussing a case where an individual just recently went to see a specialist and the specialist told them that they would be back to see them again in October next fall.
The individual asked why it would take until next fall before they came back and the specialist had indicated that because of some kind of confusion over the accreditation of the hospital led the officials to cancel those specialist trips that were scheduled for May.
I was just wondering if the minister could confirm whether or not this is actually what happened that specialist trips that were scheduled for May have been cancelled.
The accreditation process is a voluntary process.
It should not affect the services provided by the physicians and the specialists.
I am not aware of anything being cancelled for providing services because of the accreditation report.
As far as I know, the services have been carried out by staff at the hospital, but I will look into the member’s concerns and confirm or verify or respond back to where we are with that.
The minister is looking into that.
I understand, too, that there were some appointments, some trips scheduled for May that were cancelled for a specialist to come up.
If she is looking into that, they apparently were cancelled.
Could she inform me and the Members of this House exactly why they were cancelled?
I will commit to providing that information to the member for the May cancellation that the member refers to.
Oral Questions. Member for Cambridge Bay, Mr. Peterson.
Question 257 – 2(3): Lobbying in Nunavut (Peterson)
My question is for the Premier of Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to invite the Premier this morning to clarify to the House what he has been quoted in the media saying on the issue of lobbyist registration.
In a CBC report, he apparently said he does not think this should be a priority. A question for the Premier: would the Premier explain to the House why he does not think this should be a priority?
What I said to the media is that I don’t see a lot of lobbyists lobbying our government.
So that’s an issue of do we need it or not. I am sure that we are all bound by the conflict of interest guidelines where we can’t benefit from any activity before the government.
So those things cover us for the time being and quite frankly, I don’t see a lot of lobbyists representing their interests onto our government.
I thank the Premier for clarifying that.
To clarify my point, sometimes you do not know who the lobbyists are or whether they are paid or not, but they are out there.
My question for the Premier: would the Premier agree with me that the best way to dispel rumours and misconceptions is to have a simple publicly accessible registry so that we knew which paid lobbyists were lobbying ministers, Members of the Legislative Assembly, and senior public servants in order to achieve a benefit for the interests that they represent?
Yes, it’s okay if that was requested, but as I stated before, because we have a lot of other various issues to deal with, if this was requested by our colleagues to look into it, yes, we can try and look into it, but it will cost money, and we’ll have to look into the cost of it too, and they’ll need offices too.