EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I urge the minister to utilize the processes in Canada. Firstly, under the Endangered Species Act, there’s a Canadian Council on Endangered Species and a Conservation Council for the provinces.
Our minister ought to have tasked one of his officials to attend the meeting and I wonder why this was not the case. I would ask that you recommend Nunavut be part of that process.
In regard to COSEWIC; this entity is comprised of scientists, but I know for a fact that we have Inuit experts on polar bears and the minister should notify them of our wish to be part of that membership (interpretation ends) Thank you.
Yes, we will try that as this is a very important and serious issue and Nunavut has the largest number of polar bears in its area.
Based on this, Nunavut should have a representative and we will formally request such a representative on the council if that is indeed possible.
Mr. Curley: Thank you. (interpretation) COSEWIC started coming up north last winter and they were planning to hold their meetings but bad weather ruined those plans. The representatives from the Kivalliq were also unable to arrive due to bad weather.
The Royal Society of Canada is a member on the COSEWIC Committee.
These are scientific groups on that committee. Due to this, some Inuit in the communities do not comprehend the committee’s role in listing species.
I encourage the minister, as well as the wildlife organizations and other affected agencies to collaborate on this. You should treat them as insensitively as they treat Inuit when listing species of concern. And about animal rights activists, these delusional individuals are coming to Nunavut and have affected some of our elders with their rancor.
Yes, we can try that, I mean we can attempt to get a seat and if that person is an Inuk, more power to us. A number of organizations have seats on that committee and they are quite knowledgeable. We will try that avenue.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): In regard to my comments, it is complicated due to the laws of the United States and their influence is felt when they flex their legislative muscles throughout the world, so it seems that Canada will follow their initiative as well.
It is nigh impossible to define listings to be agreed upon, especially when trying to help them understand, but we don’t have enough staff to cover all the bases. The members here in this House would most likely support work revolving around understanding the issues and either task a staff member or submit an RFP. If you were going to initiate this, I would totally support you. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
Yes, we can attempt that tact.
Strength comes from numbers, so if the members supported this initiative, especially with a support letter from the Premier to COSEWIC, it is clear that they would pay more attention to our request from Nunavut.
Now, in the States, their legislative process is not static and the delay of three months was not unusual, but already environmentalist organizations like Greenpeace have already put up legal procedures to force their hand. There are two other activist entities that I’m not sure of who were mentioned.
As you get this information for us during the next session at the end of May or June, I know more information will surface from the litigation and we will have a better understanding.
I believe we will have a motion by way of supporting the polar bear management.
Could your department collect additional information and make a report to the proposed listing of threatened species by the United States?
Although Canada says that they’re not going to follow through with it, I’m sure Canada will follow through because the wildlife activists are getting very powerful.
Yes, perhaps we will deal with this by way of correspondence. We will be able to work on it and send it to the members prior to them coming in to Iqaluit for the spring session.
Mr. Kattuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I support my colleague’s statement because wildlife activists should not set our priorities.
In some ways, we Inuit are also protective of wildlife, especially when we watch sports fishing television programs.
I can’t seem to understand why they catch fish. They look happy to hook the fish when they reel it in, laughing as they seem to just enjoy catching the fish. I expect them to eat it because they look as if they have caught food by the way they act, but they shouldn’t be celebrating if they’re not going to eat their catch.
I know for sure that once they catch the fish, they grab it by the mouth and this is unacceptable.
They grab it on their mouths and it’s not good to see that when you fish for subsistence. They’re laughing and cracking jokes when they hook the fish.
Even before the fish actually dies, they take the lure off and put the fish in the water to send it off again.
Personally, I get angry and defensive when I see them torturing fish like that on TV.
When an individual is sports fishing, they should not play with it. If the fisherman’s head was put in the water, he would soon suffocate as we breathe air, not water.
It’s similar with their actions on the fish. That’s a mean thing to do to the fish because if our head was underwater, it would not be very pleasant.
So that’s how I feel for the fish and that’s just a comment.
I would like to ask a question to the minister, although I asked it in the House before, in regard to the Ontario Government’s survey on the polar bear population in southeastern Hudson Bay. Does the minister have the results now? What kinds of studies did they undertake in that polar bear management area?
The Ontario Government has the results from the other side, not on the Northern Quebec side but on the Ontario side.
We have heard that the results of the survey are done and are the same as the results from last survey.
Are you saying then that they haven’t done the survey around the Belcher Islands near Sanikiluaq?
No, they have not done research on those islands. However, they have done research on the Ontario side of James Bay.
There was no need to decrease the quota. When the Sanikiluaq residents wanted an increase in their quota, they were told to wait until the study was completed on Sanikiluaq’s polar bear.
What I would like to know is… at the time, we didn’t have to worry about it when Ontario wanted to do the research, but what I want to ask the minister as he has stated the polar bears will be surveyed on the islands is: how will they conduct the survey? Will it be led by the Nunavut Government? How are they going to do the survey on the islands?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): It hasn’t been started yet, so we are not sure.
The HTO in Sanikiluaq would have to participate and we have to get some ideas from them because they know more about the area, so we would have to work with them.
Maybe my deputy can supplement my response.
Just to supplement the minister’s response about Ontario doing the survey between 1999 and 2005, they did the research on the areas in the far north of the province of Ontario without going to the islands.
We asked why they didn’t include southern Hudson Bay.
Their response was that the helicopters used by their government do not have pontoons, so they cannot fly over water and that’s why the islands weren’t included, whereas the helicopters we use up here have pontoons and they don’t use other kinds.
For that reason, we thought that we should survey those islands.
At this time, we’re saying probable because we are unsure of the funding of the survey.
Once we start the Foxe Basin survey, perhaps our researchers or biologists can include the islands. This would depend on the time and funding resources leftover after the survey. That’s all I wanted to add.
As the minister said, we haven’t come to a final decision yet.
Mr. Kattuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Minister.
Moving on to a different topic, I often say this in the House with regards to the environment; I have spoken about the dam on the rivers. It is called Eastmain 1A.
There were some Sanikiluaq residents who went down to Montreal about two years to attend public hearings.
We have researchers from NTK who study the flow of the rivers to the ocean to determine where they abut the sea and we also brought the concerns of Sanikiluaq residents to Montreal.
The federal government is aware of this but my question is: do you have any idea of what the federal government’s Minister of Environment plans to do with the concerns of Sanikiluaq? Has the federal minister indicated to you as to exactly what they will do?
The federal government researchers haven’t really advised us as to what they have been doing, but as the Government of Nunavut, we wish to be informed and we will have to ask them what they think so that they can respond in a shorter length of time.
For the upcoming meeting in 2009, our government will have to bring the concerns of its residents to the table. We would like to be invited along with the residents of Sanikiluaq, especially where it will affect our waters.
If we were to tell the federal government that we want them to do it this way and that is what we want to hear, that what they want to do in Eastmain 1A will be done successfully.
Mr. Kattuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister for his response. I don’t have any other questions, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to welcome the minister, Mr. Lamb, and Mr. Awa to the Committee of the Whole.
I think my first question was touched on a little bit earlier, but I’m just wondering what the status is of finalizing the bilateral Species at Risk Act agreement with the federal government and what exactly the agreement will accomplish and how it will benefit Nunavummiut.
I’ll get my deputy to respond to that one.
We are getting quite close to finalizing the bilateral agreement. Also, I cannot talk about the details of the discussions yet, but I am quite positive that it will be beneficial for Nunavut. That’s all I can say at the moment but the negotiations themselves are getting pretty close.
I’m just wondering if he could indicate whether this bilateral agreement with the federal government would prevent them in trying to do what those silly people that live south of Canada in the States are trying to do with putting polar bears on the Species at Risk Act in the United States.
Would this agreement prevent the Canadian Government from doing that?
Like I said, we are hoping that the bilateral agreement will be more beneficial to Nunavummiut and more positive for Nunavummiut.
I am hoping that it will give Nunavut’s position a higher profile than what the member is saying.
I know this whole move by the Americans to put the polar bears on the Species at Risk Act... if they really cared about the polar bears, they would sign onto the Kyoto Accord or do something to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, but since they seem ignorant about that fact and don’t want to do it, then maybe we should advise them that there’s another little creature that looks very nice and cute they listed in Antarctica, it’s called a penguin. Maybe they should go and start a ‘Save the Penguin’ campaign.
If they’re truly worried about arctic animals, they should look at sub-arctic animals, too.
Mr. Chairman, I know that the funding levels for the institutions of public government were recently increased by DIAND, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and that included funds for the HTOs, and I just noted on the schedule on the back, in Grants and Contributions, there’s $317,000 for HTOs.
I’m just wondering how that’s divvied up to the HTOs.
I’ll have Mr. Awa provide a breakdown of those grants and contributions.
Each area of Nunavut is dealt with differently.
In Qikiqtaaluk, our funding of about $150,000 is given as a contribution directly to the Nunavut Inuit Wildlife Secretariat in Rankin Inlet who administers this program on behalf of the GN for Baffin.
In the Kivalliq region, the amount of $50,000 is allocated evenly to all seven communities’ HTOs.
For the Kitikmeot, it’s a little bit different. Communities or HTOs make an application to the Government of Nunavut, to the department and apply for funding.
So that’s how that $317,000 is divided.
Thank you, Mr. Awa, for that response.
You said the amount for the Baffin region gets sent down to an organization in Rankin Inlet, but do the HTOs in the Baffin get any funding from the GN?
All HTOs are provided with funding.
Maybe Simon Awa can add to that.
First of all, let me apologize to the member; I thought he was referring to the Community Harvesters Assistance Program, whereas he was talking about the funding for HTOs. I apologize.
Yes, that $317,000 is available to all HTOs in Nunavut and I was referring to the CHAP program and I apologize for that. (interpretation) Thank you.
We are on I-6.
Thanks, Mr. Awa, for clarifying that. I just noticed on there, and I’m sure that all the HTOs and all the communities are struggling to get by, and if you look at a lot of the other line items in government, things are going up because costs going up, but the amounts here remain the same.
So I’m just wondering if there’s a reason for that.
The $317,000 that is given to the HTOs is given to NWMB for them to disburse to the HTOs.
This $317,000 is the exact same amount but there’s a bit of an increase for Disaster Compensation. The reason why it’s the same is because there’s not much room within the budget to be able to allocate money into that area.
We need to review this again and not take too long because it’s still the same amount of funding.
I’ve got a little bit of understanding of how budgets are developed and the targets are given, but I think it seems unfair where the departments, not just this department but all of them throughout the government, seem to add in costs as things are going to go up.
I mean you’ve just got to go through most of the sections in the budget, like look at Wildlife Operations, it went up by about $200,000, as an example, from previous years, and in different areas in the business plans where it shows the funding for four years, there are annual increases to it.
Are we kind of setting these HTOs up to fail in their obligations by not providing them adequate funding to do what they need to do?
The HTOs are very useful in the communities, so we don’t want to see them fail. We’re not trying to set them up for failure and the funding that we allocated has not changed.
Although we want to do it and we try to do our best for the communities, we are not trying to bring them down and decrease their funding.
If we could find more funding for the HTOs… I think the federal government added a bit of funding towards the HTOs.
It seems like it’s been like that throughout the life of this government, I think since I have seen it on day one, where they seem to put very little extra resources into organizations or programs, like basically, the HTOs are on the frontline or in the trenches of doing stuff throughout the communities, and I can say the same thing with frontline employees in the government, too, there never seems to be any additional resources there for them when they play such a crucial role in whatever it is.
They’ve got no problem increasing the… when HR was in here, how significantly the senior management increases, seemed like on an annual basis, and yet, people on the ground, the organizations like the HTOs in the communities, never seem to get any increase.
Given the fact that the government hasn’t bothered to give them any additional resources, and it looks like, from what I can tell over the last two years, it’s always been the same, has the department had any requests or issues of lack of funding brought to them by any of the HTOs throughout the territory?
Like I said earlier, under the land claims agreement, the NWMB and HTOs have a partnership.
The government is not part of this agreement but we also contribute to the HTOs because we want to assist them.
We have not received any requests from the HTOs in regard to the matter the member brought up. They may have written letters to the NWMB requesting an increase and we can try to find out about this.
However, under the NLCA, the NWMB are the ones who make the main contributions to the HTOs.
I’m just switching topics here.
I think it was in June of last year, the department and the minister made a statement that indicated that the preliminary results of a survey of the Davis Strait polar bear population indicates that it appears to be thriving.
I’m just wondering if the minister could indicate when the final analysis and the report will be available.
I think the report will be completed by next year or the year after since they are still compiling all of the data.
I think it was in late 2005, NTI put out press release calling on the federal and territorial governments to halt intrusive scientific wildlife research and we have seen pictures here in the House that show the results of collaring and things like that. How is the department working with NTI on that issue?
We’re going to continue working with NTI with respect to the wildlife issues due to the importance of wildlife to our people and the wildlife research concerns, especially so that we can make improvements as required.
We will continue to work with the NWMB because these issues cannot be done by one organization. The government and NTI appoint members to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.
We continue to work together on many wildlife issues here in Nunavut with government and NTI collaboration.
I’m glad to hear the minister state he’s still working on it.
Mr. Chairman, another thing in the priorities for 2008-09 in the business plan, they indicate that they want to ensure that the Climate Change Centre is operational.
Can the minister indicate where the new Climate Change Centre will be located and when do they anticipate having it operational and its website being ready to access?
I’m going to give Mr. Lamb his first opportunity to answer questions in Committee of the Whole, so I’ll pass it over to John Lamb.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Akesuk. Mr. Lamb.
Mr. Lamb: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
The Climate Change Centre isn’t going to actually exist physically in a particular location. It’s going to be done through a website, so it will be a virtual centre. It’s being developed right now and will provide information to people in Nunavut and elsewhere with information about climate change, how it’s affecting Nunavut, adaptation plans, programs, and so on.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Lamb.
So it’s going to be virtually there.
I’m just wondering if he could indicate when they plan on having that website up and running.
I believe the website will be ready by next year.
I think it was this past fall that the department and the minister made a statement that the department was working to establish a successful recycling program for Nunavut.
I’m just wondering what the status of that is and when we can expect to see a successful recycling program in Nunavut.
I will have Mr. Lamb respond to that.
Mr. Lamb.
Mr. Lamb: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The department has been working on recycling for quite a while and what it has been confronting is: how do you run a recycling program that will be sustainable over time and cost-effective?
So we have been studying how recycling is done in other jurisdictions and I guess last fall, we contracted a consulting company to look at options for us, and that study will be done by the end of this month.
In the meantime, the department went ahead and ran two pilot projects in Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.
Those pilot projects are being extended and the plan is to add a Kitikmeot pilot project in the coming fiscal year.
In addition, as the minister announced the other day, we’re taking a number of steps to basically build stronger foundations for recycling, and that includes establishing an interdepartmental committee to make sure that the GN’s efforts are coordinated, establishing a Recycling Advisory Committee of citizens and stakeholders, and initiating a project specifically focusing on the problems created by plastic bags.
One of the other things that are in your priorities for 2008-09 is to establish a fuel tank inspection program.
I’m just wondering if you can you give us an indication of the main elements of that program and what it’s intended to accomplish.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): We will have to do a study on the fuel tank farms to make sure there’s no spillage or anything of concern. We have to review that and to make sure the regulations are being adhered to. We will continue working on that.
I know of a couple of places in Iqaluit for sure that people’s own fuel tanks in their homes have been buying out which leads to and has lead to, in some cases, thousands and thousands of dollars of environmental damage because of fuel leakage.
Is there any information that the department has that can be provided through the Housing Corporation to homeowners on what to look for in their fuel tanks so they make sure that they don’t run into a problem with causing an oil spill in their backyard?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Tootoo. (interpretation ends) Your time is up.
I’ll get Mr. Lamb to answer that question.
The minister recently announced that the department has put out an ‘Illustrated Homeowner’s Guide to Heating Oil Tank Inspections’ and this document is very useful for citizens and regulators alike. It provides detailed tips on maintenance, information about environmental legislation, national standards, and so on. It’s a resource that’s available in English and Inuktitut, and it’s also on the department’s website.
I just have one last question.
I’m just wondering if the department has received a response from the previous minister’s letter to the federal Environment Minister, John Baird, concerning the federal environmental regulations that would allow the Navy to dump pollution into our arctic waters.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Tootoo. (interpretation ends) I will use my last discretion; that’s your last question.
We have not received a response to that letter to date.
We will be writing another letter indicating that we expect to get a response on this issue. I brought this issue up when my federal counterpart was up here but we still haven’t received a response.
Mr. Curley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to report progress, but I do have a number of questions on Environment.
Those in favour of the motion, please raise your hand.
No, sorry, the motion is defeated. (interpretation) I apologize.
(interpretation ends) We’re on Branch Summary.
Mr. Curley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation) First of all, I would like to ask a question under Wildlife Management.
It seems like we’re hearing less and less about wildlife patrols. Could the minister or his officials explain why it seems as though the wildlife regulations and the Wildlife Act aren’t really being enforced? We believe the reason they’re not being enforced is because we’re seeing less and less wildlife officers, and it seems as though the Act and the regulations were being followed a lot more when there were wildlife patrols.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Curley. (interpretation ends) I have exercised my discretion and allowed you to ask additional questions.
We hope that our conservation officers are doing a good job. We have annual meetings and we try to improve our programs. There are patrols that are happening in some of the communities and we want to make sure that our conservation officers are ensuring that our laws are being adhered to.
I have told them that it’s best if they do their job the best that they can and that was at the last Iqaluit meeting.
If any community has a concern with regards to their conservation officers, it would be good if they informed our department.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, in our community, they get direction or orders sometimes in the spring to look at the nets that are stuck to the ice.
Some of the lakes are very large in the Keewatin region and usually, if there are any nets stuck onto the ice, the HTOs are directed to go look into that because the DFO is not around, and some of them are big nets that are stuck.