EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
So I’ll continue to impress upon the new minister and the Prime Minister because we’ve been waiting for quite some time.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs has had an entire division dedicated for devolution for at least a year and a half.
I wonder if the Premier could give us an update on what that department is doing with respect to moving the devolution file forward in Ottawa.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) The team has made the best of the time that they’ve been waiting; they’ve been doing research on various scenarios on what has taken place, like in the Yukon, on what type of transition took place.
So they haven’t been sitting idle, and at the same time, they have been giving me updates on the progress, if any, that they have getting with their discussions with the federal government. So they haven’t been sitting idle.
They’ve been trying to make the best of it to utilize the time to prepare for negotiations. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I certainly hope that they’ve been gathering a lot of good information for future negotiations if they should occur.  Mr. Speaker, the Mayer Report on the recommendations stated that, “… if Nunavut’s Human Resource capacity cannot be satisfactorily dealt with in the right conditions, it will not be in place to transfer to federal responsibilities.”
It’s an interesting quote.
My question for the Premier: to deal with that recommendation, what is Canada doing to help Nunavut to develop programs and training for Inuit to prepare for the technical, scientific, and professional positions that would be devolved when devolution occurs?
To date, nothing has been done by the federal government to prepare Inuit to assume those responsibilities.
I impressed upon the new Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to look where we have jurisdiction. We are training our own nurses and we are training our own teachers.
That’s what we’re doing to assume more control and to allow for Inuit to benefit from the land claim agreement.
We’re still for the federal government to do their part. So I’ve asked the Minister of Indian Affairs, “Let’s work together.
Let’s get some Inuit working in these roles and responsibilities that our government will be assuming.”
So, I’m still waiting, and I know that NTI has been a very active partner and I do hope that we’ll make some progress on this file.
I thank the Premier for that answer, and I certainly hope that the federal government is listening and paying attention.
They came out with the report but they don’t actually say how they’re going to help us.
Mr. Speaker, in a recent CBC report, the Premier is quoted as saying, “Why are we not entitled to control our own resources like other Canadians?”
My question for the Premier: what are the implications for Nunavut if we cannot negotiate a devolution agreement with Canada within a reasonable time frame?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) I think that is something that we will have to discuss as Nunavummiut: why we’re being treated in this way.
It’s the same treatment that was experienced by Alberta and Saskatchewan. When they first joined confederation, they weren’t given control of their resources for 30 years. I thought that the federal government had learned from that experience.
It’s a very bitter experience, and I do hope that we don’t go down that road for the benefit of our country.
Look, let’s get done with the past, lets move on, and learn from our mistakes overall, and make real progress for all of Canada.
So I’m hopeful, with a Prime Minister from Alberta, that they want to avoid that mistake and move forward.
Member from Tunnuniq, Mr. Arvaluk.
Question 241 – 2(4): Photo Identification Problems (Arvaluk)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Photography Making.
I don’t know who that is, perhaps I’ll ask the House Leader.
Last year, or the year before, he made a statement with regards to taking photographs, and that they would be sending photography equipment to the communities to take pictures for drivers licenses, for passports, and for gun registry.
To date, the photography equipment has not arrived to communities.
I think there was one that arrived in Pond Inlet.
Can the minister update me if there is any photography equipment that was supposed to be allocated to communities to be used for identification cards?
Government House Leader, Minister Picco.
There are two processes that we put in place for the taking of pictures.
A lot controversy arose, and I want to thank the Member for the High Arctic for raising this issue several times.  There was the inability of many Nunavummiut to get their passport pictures taken, so we arranged to have people brought in from every community when NAM was meeting here in Iqaluit to do the training and take the cameras back with them to their communities.
That was a great success.
For the passport portion of the picture taking, that’s in place. The second part of this is the question concerning the IDs and so on, and I believe that’s done through the auspices of the government offices where available in given communities with drivers’ licenses, but I really can’t speak to that because that is a different department.
On the passport side of things, I can say, as the member has mentioned, that the approval was granted in the House and funding was provided, training was done and that has taken place in the community.
I haven’t received any acknowledgment or any type of query or question from any community with concerns regarding that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Arvaluk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This information comes regularly from the Government Liaison Officer, GLO, in the community.
It’s not the individual passport, or driver’s license, or gun license problem; it’s a photo ID problem.
We have not yet received proper films after you have given them a course since they went back. Up to date, there have not been any proper films sent to them in order for them to process photo IDs.
My question to the minister, again, is, or let me clarify this first.
In fact, today there are some people complaining that they have been hunting without firearms licenses because they have expired and there’s no availability.
We try to help them through Ottawa and they’re saying, “We’re not going to answer you for the next two months because other provinces like Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan are now trying to get their firearms licenses.”
So it’s a big problem.  Can the minister tell me if that will be looked into immediately by whomever the Minister responsible for Photo IDs is?
My apologies. The Minister of Economic Development and Transportation is responsible for this. Minister Simailak.
Yes, at this time this is presently being checked into, and as soon as I get more information I will give my colleague the information as to why the films are not in the communities.
I will certainly check into this.
Question 242 – 2(4): Problems with Generators (Mapsalak)
My question is directed to the Minister of Energy.
I would like to ask the minister: in the communities when the power goes out, or if there is a problem with the generators, is the minister informed if there is an outage in the communities?
It depends on the severity of the outage and what is occurring on the files when I’m informed. So as an example, if there was a serious situation that develops in a given community where the power may be off for more than four hours in a storm or something like that, then I’m informed on a regular basis and I get these types of messages when the power goes off.
If it’s a temporary outage, every time the power goes off for an hour or two hours in a given community, then I’m not informed of that at the time.
However, during that week, or later on that day, or something within the 48-hour time frame, I would be informed of the outage and then I request information on why there was an outage and so on.  Sometimes I’m unfortunate enough to be in a community meeting with people on how good the power is and the power goes off, just like what happened when I was in Kugluktuk a couple of weeks ago that the power went off when me and the Premier were holding our meeting.
So sometimes I find out directly because I’m there and sometimes we’ll find out depending on the length of the outage that would occur.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Picco.
I think the community of Repulse Bay is one of the communities who have the most frequent outages.
We have very capable workers. Maybe one of the reasons is that there was a generator that was brought in by sealift and it can’t accommodate the whole community even with just one generator.
I’ve been told that we use two generators. If one goes down, they have frequent outages.
I wonder why the ones that were brought into the community last summer were not looked into or fixed right away.
The majority of the time, when we have power outages in a given community, it’s usually caused by what the Power Corporation calls line slap, and that’s where you have a wind and the lines hit together, and then you have a power outage and so on.  The second type of power outage that you have, and what was experienced in Repulse Bay that the member is referring to, was an issue with the generator itself, and in this case, the generator had to be taken down to have work done on it.
And because of that, then there was a situation of the other generator not being able to keep the capacity of the community up. That occurs on an infrequent basis.
In this case, at one point we thought we might need a new generator in the community, but that is not the case.
And indeed, when we had our people go in there and review it, they were able to get the generator back up, and it’s my understanding that as of right now, things are going very well in Repulse Bay.
When you look at having 25 plants in 25 communities, from time to time, you are going to have issues with outages and so on.
I hear that there is a bigger generator and that it can accommodate the whole community.
I’m wondering, once it arrived, why it wasn’t worked on right away after the new generator came in.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for Energy, Minister Picco.
I think it’s important to point out that the Power Corporation had, as of March of this year, almost 99 percent efficiency or reliability in our communities across Nunavut. And that’s based on the number of hours running on each individual diesel generator.
In this case, in Repulse Bay, as I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, it’s one of those situations that sometimes occur, and the problem with the generator was rectified. It was fixed, and at one point we thought that we would actually have to bring in a new generator and we’d have to Herc that in to the community. However, that wasn’t the case and we were able to use what we had on the ground in the community.
Anytime you restart or start a new engine for example, as the member is referring to, you have to have a work-up period, it’s called.
When the generator starts up, you have a work-up period or a shake-down period for the generator.  Sometimes, during the shake-down or work-up period, you may have instances of outages and so on to get the generator synchronized properly.
It’s my understanding that that is what occurred in this case.
Maybe the minister doesn’t understand my question. There is already a generator that has never been used.
It’s not operating; it is not being used.
I wonder why it wasn’t worked on or put into use this past summer.
I understood the question. I am trying to explain that there was no need to do that because we were able to get the generator that was on the ground in place.
In this case if the capacity of the generator that was not working had failed, the generator that was on the ground that was there would not have been able to handle the total load.
We have more than one generator in any given community.  I believe, in the member’s community, there are actually three generators on the ground there.
That’s the reason why we didn’t get the other one going. It was my understanding that it wouldn’t have been able to handle the capacity of the community.
Question 243 – 2(4): Photo ID Delay Problems (Arreak)
My question is very similar to what Mr. Arvaluk had asked, but in our community, they send maybe one or two rolls at a time and that is inadequate.
My question is: even though they do take pictures for photo ID processes, especially in Clyde River, they wait over two months or more for their ID cards.
I’m wondering why it takes so long to have them worked on here in Iqaluit.
We have been working on this and we have to make improvements.
Due to the fact that we are short staffed, that’s one of the reasons why it takes so long, but we are currently looking for employees who will work there because of the fact that the ID, or licenses, take too long to go back to the communities.
As I stated earlier, I will look into this and get back to him also.
I will check into this also.
Mr. Arreak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker Thank you, Minister.
He stated that they will be working on this. When can we expect to get the photo IDs into the communities sooner?
We put a rush on this.
We are trying to remedy this problem as soon as we can, but I can’t give you a definite time when it will come into effect.
We are trying to make improvements to try and make the turnaround time a bit faster. So there have been some improvements.
I don’t have a question but at this time I’m getting good responses from the ministers.
A lot of times in the communities they take a long time, but if you are in Iqaluit, they can be done within five or ten minutes. For them to be processed and then to be sent back to the communities, it takes a long time because sometimes they need escorts.
Can the department hire employees who will work on this for the communities?
I think we are talking two different things here.
Yes, we make the drivers’ licences, but with respect to the general identification pictures, they can take pictures in the communities, especially for travelling purposes and those are done in the communities.
As the member stated that sometimes they get one to two films at a time, I will certainly check into why that is the case. I will definitely inform my colleague to make the improvements on those.
Question 244 – 2(4): Contract to Provide GN Informatics (Tootoo)
Mr. Curley’s questioning earlier reminded me of something I’ve been wondering about for while. I believe the network that the government uses for its internet stuff all over the territory, I believe was a contract that was inherited prior to division, and I would imagine it’s probably about 10 to 12 years ago.
I’m just wondering if the minister can indicate if and who that contract is with to provide the network services for the GN at this time.
Minister of Community and Government Services, Levinia Brown.
[I haven’t really done any work related to computer networks but I had to learn about it. I’m not sure what he is referring to, so I would like him to clarify that for me.
There’s a network for Government of Nunavut and the other one is called the WWN Network... I would like to get some clarification as to what he is referring to so that I can try to see if I can provide him with an answer.
Mr. Tootoo, could you please clarify your question.
I was just wondering who and what type of contract is in place to operate the network that the GN uses for all informatics, internet, and all systems throughout the territory.
I know computers are something that if you turn it on and it works like it’s supposed to, that’s about the depth that I get into to it and I can appreciate the minister that computers are not the easiest things to work your way around.
If she’s checking with her staff on that, Mr. Speaker, if I could also ask her if she would look into and ask them to provide her, or so if she can provide us with information on when that initial contract, if it was a contract that was carried over from division, and what the terms and time frames were on that contract and provide that to this House.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Tootoo. (interpretation) Minister of Community and Government Services, Minister Brown.
The Question Period is over.
I will try and answer you. (interpretation ends) There is a contract for the provision of telecommunication connections across Nunavut which are billed on a monthly basis by the vendor Ardicom NorthwesTel.
The first Ardicom contract was established by the GNWT, and as is common for such contracts, they covered a period of five to seven years.
And, the new technology is now being predictable, and the GN is planning a new round of RFPs during 2008-09. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The minister indicated that it was a pre-division contract, and I think if memory serves me correctly, the deal with Ardicom is probably about 12 to 14 years old when they first got started because I remember it involved Arctic Co-operatives at the time.
I’m just wondering; she indicated that it’s usually a five- to seven-year contract, and assuming that it started close to 12 to 14 years ago, that contract has been expired for some time now.
I’m just wondering if she can give me an indication as to when that time frame of the initial five- to seven-year contract expired and what steps has the government taken to look at getting another contract in place.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Tootoo. If you want to answer either question he raised, you may do so.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) I guess a replacement was negotiated by GN at the time by Public Works and Services in 2002 for three years with the provision of a one-year extension.
In 2005, CGS extended it for another two years because of the uncertain state of telecommunications technology at the time and was expecting new technology to be placed within the next two years.
CGS did not want to go out when the technology was becoming obsolete infrastructure for an additional five to seven years with a new RFP at the time.
Is the minister aware if that contract with Ardicom NorthwesTel ever been included in the contracting reports that the GN tables on an annual basis here in the Assembly?
No, I am not aware but I certainly can find out for the member and get back to him when I do find out.
Members, Question Period is over.
Tabled Document 119 – 2(4): Letters to the Member for Uqqummiut from Students of Inuksuit School in Qikiqtarjuaq re. Renovation to School and New Playground (Arreak)
I wish to table a series of letters that I have received from the students of the Inuksuit School in Qikiqtarjuaq about repairs that they feel are needed at their school and what they would like to see in Qikiqtarjuaq’s new school.
Mr. Speaker, I sincerely hope that the Minister of Education and his departmental officials will read through these letters at the earliest opportunity.
Tabled Document 120 – 2(4): Arctic Bay Inuujaq School – Photographs of Deteriorating Condition (Barnabas)
I think we have the similar ideas.
I’m not going to be tabling letters but I’m going to be tabling pictures.
Mr. Speaker, (interpretation ends) I wish to table a collection of photographs that clearly reveal the poor condition of Arctic Bay’s Inuujaq School and the urgent need for repairs.
Please bring me the pictures to the front, to the Clerks.
Notices of Motions and First Reading of Bills.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole, Bills and Other Matters.
We’ll have a break for 20 minutes.
>>House recessed at 14:57 and Committee resumed at 15:25
Chairman (Mr. Arreak)(interpretation): I would like to call the committee meeting to order.
In Committee of the Whole we have the following item to deal with: Bill 16. (interpretation ends) What is the wish of the committee?
We wish to continue with Bill 16 and the review of the Capital Estimates for the Department of Education.
If time permits, we would then proceed to review the Capital Estimates for the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
Does the committee agree to continue with the Capital Estimates for the Department of Education?
Minister of Education, do you have witnesses that you would like to bring to the table?
Chairman: Thank you. Does the committee agree that he brings his witnesses to the table?
Chairman (interpretation): Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses in.
(interpretation ends) Thank you, Minister.
Good afternoon, I am very pleased to be with you again today. With me, Mr. Chairman, on my immediate left is Ms. Kathy Okpik, who is the Deputy Minister of the Department of Education.
On my immediate right is Mr. Murray Horn, who is the Director of Corporate Services for the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Education.  I also want to mention, at this time, Mr. Chairman, in the Gallery we also have the new President of the Nunavut Arctic College, Mr. Dan Vandermeulen.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Vandermeulen to the committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  >>Applause
Chairman: Thank you, Minister. (interpretation)Welcome. (interpretation ends) Yesterday we were on page G-6 and G-7. Qikiqtaaluk Region.
Are there any more questions from the committee?
Mr. Arvaluk: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick one, Mr. Chairman.
In regard to the Community Learning Centre Capital Plan, for example, in Pond Inlet, I’ve learned from visiting Nuluujaat, Baffinland, several times in several occasions that they actually have heavy equipment operator type of course by volunteers using simulators.
I think that virtual reality type simulators are now quite widely available to consumers.
Considering that the Arctic College’s main task in Pond Inlet will be to train the potential employees of Baffinland, will they be provided with those kind of simulators relevant to the mines, or would that not just be a part of the capital plan?
I don’t want to get into a big discussion today on training because that, as the member has indicated, is under the O&M budget of the department. What I can say very quickly is that he is correct on the simulator.
We have a simulator right now, purchased in cooperation with the KIA. For example, that’s in place.
The plan is for the centre in Pond Inlet to be up and running, and to deal with a lot of the training issues outside of and not just a hands-on on-the-job training, for example, on heavy equipment operating, but to look at, for example, the academics that will be needed so that people can go into apprenticeship programs to look at some of the other training programs that may be required by the mine.
We know right now that mining is more than just a pick and shovel. Today there are all kinds of skilled trades that are associated with a mine, and that’s the idea of the facilitation of the new learning centre in Pond Inlet.
Mr. Arvaluk: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for the answer.
I just assumed that the design of the community learning centre for that particular community would have, the design itself, consideration for the preparation for the type of course that will be required, by considering that it will be in close proximity to the mine itself.
So that was my reasoning for that kind of question.
I guess the question would be: would the design of the CLC have that kind of consideration?
From the discussions that we’ve had to date on some of the design plans that we are working on, we want to model the facility similar to the one we built in Baker Lake, which is being used right now, as part of the mine training process there.
We all know about the exploration as well as the road that’s being built there and so on.
So that new facility in Pond Inlet will lend itself very well to a multi-faceted approach for training, which would be inclusive of not only the academic but the vocational training that would be needed by that mine, in this case, we’re talking about the Mary River Mine in the North Baffin.
You might have a business plan then on how you want to run this CLC.