EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I am hoping that with the addition of new staff, and with a re-focused view, that this department will start focusing on the traditional economy, our arts and crafts people and do some kind of economic stimulus in the communities.
Our tourism industry is in collapse.
We visited half the communities in Nunavut, the people out there are wondering what's happening.
It is in our report that we will be tabling on Thursday.
The thing about tourism and I know you know, more than anybody, in the traditional economy Mr. Minister, that a carving sold in a community and I keep saying this and saying it and saying it, means more to a community than any other source of income. Because most carvers and print makers and people that derive their income from the traditional economy, those dollars are stretched through extended families in our communities.
I know that there are all kinds of policies written and all kinds of plans have been brought forward, but after two and a half years, I haven't seen much fruition in communities in regards to tourism, arts and crafts and the traditional economy.
I am wondering, are we going to do something or are we just going to talk about it and let people in communities go on the way they are.
So, those are my opening comments, there are a couple of years left in this term and I will be flogging this idea of mine until somebody in this government recognizes that there is an issue out there.
Also I would like to add in to my comments while I can, and I don't want to make it too much longer.
I think we don't focus on the importance of the private sector in this government.
I am still trying to figure out if this government recognizes the private sector.
Everywhere else in Canada the private sector produces 50% of the jobs.
Up here the private sector, and I still say it and maintain it, creates half the jobs in Nunavut.
Do we recognize that.
What I am getting to here is we have a lot of small businesses.
It’s the carvers, it’s the sewing ladies they, you know, it’s everywhere around us.
They’re trying to derive some kind of income whether it’s making ulus and selling them door to door, if it’s making wall hangings selling them door to door.
What I’m saying here is that the business community seems to be totally ignored in this government.
What I’m asking you for and I’ve asked this for two and a half years and nothing’s come of it, is we got to start looking at our regional Chambers of Commerce.
There used to be a viable, energetic Chamber of Commerce in Kitikmeot. There used to be a couple over here the Baffin Chamber and the Iqaluit Chamber.
There used to be a very strong one and it’s still surviving in spite of what’s happened in the last two and a half years from this government, is the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce.
They seem to be forgotten and I’ve asked the question in the House, I’ve had meetings with the former minister, we’ve written letters trying to give the regional Chamber of Commerce some sort of base funding so they can hire or try to find staff to help small business development in Nunavut.
I don’t think we should view Chambers of Commerce as villains and the private sector that all they’re going to do is beat up on the government.
We’ve got to look at working in conjunction with them to create economic opportunities in Nunavut and help foster an entrepreneurial spirit in Nunavut.
Because there should be only a little bit of stigma attached to being a businessman in this territory and profit is not a dirty word.
So Mr. Minister, that’s my lecture for you today and I’m hoping your new Deputy Minister who I’m very eager to work with and has a great history in the past that we’ll start moving forward in this great territory and recognizing the vast potential we have for creating our own wealth and attracting outside dollars to make us less dependant on the federal government.
Is Mr. McLean going to ask questions first.
I would like to say to the Minister of Sustainable Development that I’m happy he has a new Deputy Minister and that they have to help all the communities of Nunavut but especially the small businesses have to be assisted by the department and the local carvers and artists.
I’m hoping in the near future that Sustainable Development supports those kinds of private enterprise. I would also like to say that the larger communities and the smaller communities try their very best to make profits from what their earnings but in the smaller communities they don’t make as much money as the larger communities.
So I’m hopeful that in the future that the smaller communities should get more assistance than the larger communities.
There are private companies out there or private entrepreneurs out there that are trying to make a living and they should support the communities according to what they need.
I’m sure the Sustainable Development will do their best to help those people out that are in need.
So I would urge that the department work with the other departments to support those people.
Does Department of Sustainable Development have this responsibility or does the minister have the responsibility of meeting with the other ministers to try to support those communities that are in need.
The people in the smaller communities have a lot more problems trying to gain economic stability and to trying to find some things to start up a business.
I would also like to say that the hunters and trappers in the different communities should be assisted because they're not making that much money by selling their fur and their pelts.
They should be able to be supported by Sustainable Development and this should also be reviewed by the department so they could sell their products such as meat and fish and other animal products that they get.
I would urge the department to try and see whether they could help the hunters in the community and also the people that make their money by sewing because their traditional clothing is very important and they're a lot better than southern made clothing and they should be urged to sell those products.
They should try and find the people who could do business in selling those clothing products from the Nunavut communities because their clothing could be promoted in Canada and the communities could make more money from selling their products if they're promoted.
We always have to order stuff from southern Canada because they don't have any place to provide those kinds of things, we have to order them from southern Canada, the clothes, even though we can sell our own by helping the women that sew clothing.
When the department is going to be providing more help for tourism there should be a good plan to assist the people that are in the tourism business and to use Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in the tourism sector in Nunavut. Because most of the people that have a tourism base are down south and the Inuit should be given priority to provide tourism in their communities so people from the south can visit Nunavut communities. The people of Nunavut know their land and they should be able to provide tourism and to operate tourism businesses.
I wanted to make those comments Mr. Chairman and I think I could go on for another few minutes to use up my ten minutes but this is my conclusion at this time Mr. Chairman.
Chairperson (interpretation): After each member makes their comment I will keep it in mind and I will write their names so they can ask questions later.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The comments that I had have been covered a bit. We have concerns in terms of IIBA's.
In terms of dealing with the tourism industry we've been trying to promote that. We haven't seen too much activity in this field in terms of attractions.
We haven't seen some of those developments for tourists that come to the north.
In terms of the IIBA's, they should be completed as soon as possible before summer so that during the spring tourism can begin to come to Nunavut.
In terms of the Coppermine River there are a number of attractions there.
There was no activity there last summer.
This should be worked on. They are falling behind because of the IIBA's holding up the process.
That is why I made this comment.
I will touch on another item.
There are some carvers that obtain their own soapstone such as kudlikchaq.
The resource is depleting and now they have to go further and further away.
Maybe this is more of an O&M item, but it should be put in the Capital Estimates so it can proceed in a big way and carvers can get the assistance they need.
The comments that I was going to make have been touched upon.
Those are the two comments that I have in mind. I will have questions to follow.
Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure if I'm going to follow the previous speaker's concerns.
I will be asking questions about the Capital Plan.
I would like to talk about Nunavut in relation to the department. I want to find out what the Department of Sustainable Development is doing with respect to contributions.
I am expecting your deputy, your finance officer and yourself to respond to our requests.
Looking at my community and my constituents, our community has not been successful in getting the support they need from your department.
People have been requesting outpost camps, four or five outpost camps have been requested from your department, but we have not received any answers.
With respect to proposals. They are always very positive and they’re always saying your proposal is very promising but this type of feedback or consultation does not help too much in the communities.
When the local residents request support they don’t just request it because they thought of it overnight.
They’ve been thinking about these things for quite some time and this is what an Inuk does.
They don’t just think of it overnight.
As well we’re trying to concentrate on providing outpost camps for inmates so they can go out on the land and not have to be shipped out of Nunavut to penitentiaries down south.
If you want to see some applications for these outpost camps and other projects, we have lots of documents.
Mr. Chairman, for these reasons I asked you about our fish plant but you were not aware of the fish plant in my community.
This is a physical established fish plant I was referring to.
If Nunavut residents and your department work closely together they would be able to re-establish the fish plant.
This is I think a lot easier today with respect to fishing.
At one time when we used to have one airplane come in maybe once a week or more.
But today we have planes going directly to Cambridge Bay and to other communities where the fish can be transported back and forth.
So because of this it shouldn’t be too hard for your department to establish funding for this fish plant so it can be re-established.
Also with respect to carvings and seamstresses doing tapestries.
In 1999 when we met about these issues we asked to have sewing centres in Nunavut because we can make crafts from wildlife, sealskin and caribou skin.
This sewing centre was requested in 1999 but it never became a reality.
As to the comment we heard from the Member for Uqqummiut, I am in support of what he said because we have to establish a garment sewing centre so the women in Nunavut can produce these garments made in Nunavut.
Also, Mr. Chairman, with respect to the smaller businesses that are trying to start up, they don’t have anyone to turn to in their communities.
They have no place to try and get information about starting a business.
We’ve received a lot of documents produced by Yellowknife consultants and these documents are usually given to the regional office and a lot of proposals and information have been collected through this process.
But in Kitikmeot the head office is not being supported and people are told that they will not succeed in their business.
So part of the reason they might not succeed is because they don’t get enough support.
I know a lot of applicants who wanted to start a business.
Mr. Chairman, I will stop at this point for now. I will have questions later.
We’re under the capital plan.
If you just keep your comments general that would be fine with me.
Mr. Alakannuark will have his ten minutes at this time.
I have a short comment because other members have already mentioned my concerns.
We are trying to promote Inuit traditional skills and we’re trying to promote and support more businesses in the smaller communities because there is lack of economic activities in the smaller communities.
A lot of times the problem is there is no community freezer for someone who might want to use it for storing wildlife.
As well with respect to garment making this can also be a good business for the smaller communities.
There are lots of qualified seamstresses who can create these garments out of wildlife, sealskin and caribou.
With respect to carvers who try to get carving stone they have a difficult time getting the resources so because there is no soapstone they often end up not carving.
This is the concern I wanted to bring up, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Williams is going to make her opening comments.
Mr. Chairman, I just have a very brief comment. I’ll try to keep in line with the capital estimates.
From the minister’s speaking notes perhaps you might want to change your year to 2000, so we’re not a year behind or something.
The first thing I want to talk about is Grise Fiord, fixing up the old office up there.
I don’t know if any of you have seen that office.
You want to upgrade that old office and I think these trailers were moved from one of the other communities and they’re sort of slapped together.
Those are the old government offices where the sustainable development officer is now.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen them minister or your staff, but I think you need to look at them.
I think it’s very, very expensive to keep that thing running and if you’re going to be upgrading it I think the community would rather have a new one altogether instead of just upgrading the old thing.
That’s one thing that I want to mention.
Another one I want to speak about is in the business part of your department.
All of my communities are small communities and the people that are working there, they call them community economic planners, they seem to concentrate a lot on cruise ships that are coming in instead of the selling of carvings and the little things in the community which are good things.
I think they need to refocus and start to think about what they can do for the whole community instead of just one individual.
Something like, let's look at for example a co-op.
It employs people, people are members of the co-op, so it is a collective thing.
I think for smaller communities that's what you need to look at for business. Also still support the individuals that want a small business and I think that needs to be looked at better.
I do agree with the people that are speaking about sewing, arts and crafts.
That needs to be more supported in the community because that's what the communities know how to do.
They know that, they can sew, and it's something that they can do, they don't need to take training for it. (interpretation) So that's all I have to say for now Mr. Chairman, I will have questions later.
The last speaker is Mr. Nutarak.
I have a brief statement to share with you.
With respect to the smaller communities people were talking about the smaller communities.
But I want to talk about Nunavut in general.
There is a lack of employment opportunities in Nunavut and we have to look at it as a whole, not just the smaller communities.
As more economic issues arise in the communities, I would like opportunities to be established not only in the smaller communities, but in Nunavut as a whole as well.
The Minister of Sustainable Development the Ministers for other departments may be able to work together and come up with a plan for economic activities and being more supportive in the smaller communities and Nunavut communities overall.
With respect to hunters and trappers, I think it can be dealt with through his department, to provide support for them.
I want more support for unemployed hunters, there should be ways to support them more.
Also with respect to new businesses, if it is possible, if they think they could be successful they should receive more support so economic activity can be increased in Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, I don't have too many comments for the minister and his staff.
I think one thing that I can't stress enough is I know and my colleagues have mentioned it as well, the importance of developing the infrastructure necessary to take advantage of the, as I say, the untapped potential of tourism in Nunavut.
With our parks and the wilderness, the untapped wilderness is out there, and I think the department needs to really focus and look at developing infrastructure to make those places accessible, all throughout Nunavut.
When you look at, there are times over this past summer, we heard of some of the areas where parks were closed because of high water conditions and things like that, but I think I would like to see an emphasis put on infrastructure for territorial and national parks so that we can access, as much as possible.
Everyone that comes up here and goes to one of those parks, there is additional money and dollars that they spend in Nunavut.
So I think that it's crucial that we tap into that, it’s a renewable resource so I think that again is something that we need to take a look at as a way of something that will always be there.
A lot of the traditional economy in all the communities, that's something that my colleagues mentioned as well.
That's just a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Once that has been completed we'll go on to page 11-6.
Keep on topic when you are asking your questions.
We're dealing with the capital estimates for Sustainable Development.
My question is regarding the equipment that was brought up during the general comments. They're all items that need money in the capital estimates.
Can the minister and his staff review the capital estimates and see if they could put the items that were just brought up in the capital estimates in the near future.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Mr. Chairman. I am not too sure about what items he is referring to.
Perhaps if he could clarify what he was just talking about.
It’s about getting a sewing centre, a tourist centre or a visitor's centre.
Some communities are also looking at getting meat plants.
So those are things that were brought up during the general comments and if we were to set them up in the communities we would need them in the capital estimates.
That's what I was talking about.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Those are areas that we are looking at or concerned about as to what more we could out into the communities, what is needed.
The general comments that were brought up are all good comments.
The items that need to be put in the communities are what we can look at and how we could find Capital funds to establish them in the communities.
Mr. Chairman, during my general comments, under 1,2,3 during the minister's opening comments, he stated the capital expenditures are divided into three categories, buildings and works, equipment acquisition and contributions.
Could he explain this further.
There are buildings and works that we need to work on and deal with in the communities.
For instance, Renewable Resources office buildings.
We need to upgrade some buildings and number two, equipment acquisition, things such as snowmobiles, sleds, and so on.
Under contributions we give contributions to communities for assistance and things that the communities might need.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Alakannuark are you done.
Do you want to go page by page.
Mr. Chairman, as I had indicated in my opening comments, I talked about developing infrastructure for parks and I would like to ask if the department has some kind of a master plan for looking at developing the parks within Nunavut.
We are putting together a master plan for parks and this is a slow process because there are areas that we need to look at because of the parks agreements with the Federal Government.
We expect that in December, this would be completed.
We will be able to have a master plan available.
I look forward to seeing that plan Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I would just like to ask the minister in general on the money that has been allocated towards the development of infrastructure in the parks in the past.
I know every year there is money put in there and allocated towards projects and parks.
I am just wondering if all of that money gets spent or are there some projects that weren't completed for some reason and are they still on the books to be completed and where the money went for them.
The funds that are allocated for parks, when the money is not spent it is brought back and rolled over to the new fiscal year.
We put the money into items that need to be completed.
Mr. Chairman, I am wondering if the minister could tell us how much money was lapsed and carried over or was put into other projects that weren't completed last year and what projects didn't get done.
Chairperson: Minister Akesuk.
The money that was not spent was 1.5 million.
Mr. Chairman, that is quite a substantial amount of money that we approved here in the House to go towards projects in various parks throughout Nunavut.
Can the minister indicate as to the reason why we have this much money that has been lapsed from those projects and why those projects didn't go ahead.
It is due to the IIBA negotiations that have been going on for the last couple of years.
Once that is done, hopefully this year, we will have more capital projects done this coming year.
Mr. Chairman, I think I asked what projects weren't completed.
Does the minister have a list of projects that weren't completed that were approved in the past.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: I have the projects that didn't go on this year.
I could provide it once I get the information.
I look forward to seeing that and can the minister commit that if there are projects that didn't go ahead, that were approved in the past, that as he had indicated, if it is the result of an IIBA not being negotiated or for whatever reason that those projects that were identified and approved in the past, that they will go ahead and that they will be put back into the plan somewhere.
I don't know, if we have approved them and I don't see them back in here in the five year plan, so I assume that they are done.
I wouldn't mind getting that list and seeing when and where they are going to go back into the capital plan.
We will do that.
I will look into that for the member.
Just to be clear, can the minister actually indicate when we can expect to see that information.
I will be able to provide that information tomorrow.
Chairperson (interpretation): I now have Ms. Williams on my list.
Getting back to the IIBA issues.
What is the status of this now.
I would defer that to Mr. Campbell.
Chairperson: Mr. Campbell.
Mr. Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Over the past three and a half weeks, the Government of Nunavut has been negotiating with NTI to try and get an agreement on the IIBAs.
Hopefully before the end of December we will have at least an agreement in principle negotiated with NTI.
A lot of these capital projects that have been deferred as a result of the negotiations not being finalized, will be phased over to the next capital process to make sure that these projects, that were missed in this exercise are included in there as well.
So the question is are the IIBA negotiations close to being completed.
They are 99 percent at this point and we are really pushing our negotiating team from the Government of Nunavut to get results, because there's a lot of money here that needs to be used, capital dollars.
Chairperson: (interpretation): Do you want to continue. Ms. Williams.
Ms. Williams: (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Also in the minister's opening comments he listed the three capital expenditures.
He talked about the capital plan and that the Department of Sustainable Development has focused on three strategic areas.
So how did you identify this.