EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
In your opening remarks you mentioned something about the daycares because of course there are daycares in the communities and the daycares are used for little children who are just starting to talk.
What do you think about hiring childcare workers who speak Inuktitut, will there be any?
From what I hear and I can only use my community as an example, there is a day care centre in Kugaaruk and from what I hear the little children in the day care were told that they can’t speak Inuktitut just English, I found this very disturbing.
We encourage people to learn Inuktitut; will it be the same for the daycares?
Of course it hurts to hear something like that.
The daycares in Nunavut are funded by our department and it is at the discretion of the operator of the day care as to what language will be used.
We give start up grants and on-going funding but we don’t have a policy or a set of guidelines on what language the children should be using.
I think one time we said that the language in the daycares should be more prominent in Inuktitut.
It is more of a comment and not a question.
That wasn’t a question.
Your response is very understandable.
If there are no more questions we will then go to the Main Estimates. Page 9-5.
We then move on to 9-6.
I think it is better if we start on 9-5.
I am sorry Mr. Havioyak you wanted to make a comment.
Mr. Havioyak: I thought we were on 9-4, but I want to ask on 9-5.
I have a few questions that I wanted to ask on this.
We are on 9-5.
But that is the detail of expenditures.
Mr. Alakannuark wanted to make another comment.
Mr. Alakannuark (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think I was on the wrong page.
I was on the wrong page.
Chairperson (interpretation): We are on 2002/2003, Department of Education.
Detail of Expenditures. Mr. Havioyak.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): Thank you. It seems that this portion on 9-5 has been increased.
I want to ask a question about Compensation and Benefits.
It seems like this has been increased by 4 million dollars.
What is that increase for, is it for the teachers’ benefits?
This 9-5 question.
The increase under Compensation and Benefits is an increment and increasing the number of teachers.
Mr. Havioyak: I just have one more question to ask on that, but on the Contracts and Services, I guess the question would be, under this line, how many consultants does the department currently have under contract?
I don’t have the numbers in front of me and I apologize for that.
I will have to get back to you once I get the information.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s O&M budget has increased or is projected to increase I should say by slightly over 3% this year which is around 6 million dollars.
I’d like to ask the minister if he could inform this House, what specific results will be achieved by this and I’d like to ask him if he could break it down into what new things are being done with this money and any new initiatives and where’s the other, he kind of alluded to it in his Opening Comments, I think mostly everything is forced growth but I’d just like to hear him clarify exactly what specific results in those areas are going to be achieved as a result of the extra 6 million dollars.
Which page are you referring to Mr. Tootoo?
Mr. Tootoo: I’m on 9-5 Mr. Chairman.
The 2.8 million dollars will be used for teachers’ employment, 800 thousand dollars for the DEAs, 186 thousand dollars for elders’ benefits, the 740 thousand dollars is for student financial assistance, FANS, is 500 thousand, daycares it is 474 thousand, and 500 thousand dollars is for teaching materials.
That is 6 million dollars altogether.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask of those, which are brand new initiatives and which are forced growth issues.
The new items I am talking about are the funding for the DEAs, income support revisions for 740 thousand dollars, FANS program 500 thousand, daycares development 474 thousand dollars for curriculum and resource development 500 thousand.
Mr. Chairman I apologize.
I didn’t catch all of that.
I was wondering if he could repeat some of it and maybe slow down to go through the translation process, I think they may be getting confused with some of the numbers.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk: Qujannamiik, Itsivautaq.
I’ll just go over the list I gave you.
Under DEA funding there is 800 thousand dollars, income support program revisions 740 thousand dollars, FANS program 500 thousand dollars and curriculum and resource development 500 thousand dollars.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Kilabuk. Anything else?
Mr. Chairman it looks like it is really only roughly 2 and a half million dollars towards new initiatives.
Some of the FANS I will have questions on that when we get there.
But speaking of new initiatives, has the department looked at developing any type of a plan of attack or a strategy on looking at and developing and fostering some type of early childhood development program that would be implemented across Nunavut.
One of the initiatives and I will ask my deputy minister to respond.
Yes we’ve had a few new initiatives but I’ll ask my deputy minister to clarify and respond.
We’ve been working with the Children’s First Secretariat which the minister has mentioned before in the legislature to look at the whole early childhood area.
In particular we’ve asked them to come up with a strategy or a plan to address early childhood issues.
Those would include not only the issues that focus specifically on programming for children but also the issues that look at parenting, because parenting is a very important part of early childhood.
The secretariat which is made up of representatives from Education, Health and Social Services, CLEY and Justice are looking at those issues now and we hope to have in the near future a report back from them with suggestions that they’ll make to the four ministers with regard to initiatives that might be undertaken in the future.
Chairperson (interpretation): I apologize; I did not pronounce your name properly.
I look forward to seeing what comes out of that report.
I said earlier in my general comments I think that’s a crucial area and I would look at it as an area where we could really make a strategic investment in our future.
I really look forward to seeing that.
Moving on to another question on there, my colleague had asked earlier on the compensation and benefits, it is increasing 4 million dollars and the minister had indicated that was for the teachers.
I’m just wondering and I know that staffing levels throughout the government overall are at 80 percent.
I’d like to ask the minister what the level is his department staffed at and if he could break it down by teachers specifically and other department staff.
Because I know that by adding teachers in there, it kind of skews the numbers and teachers have specific jobs to do in the classrooms so I’d like to know what percentage of our teaching positions are filled and what other percentage of the other departmental staff are filled.
If we look at the numbers of our staff by percentage, there are 932 positions within our department.
The positions are 92 percent of positions filled.
If it’s okay Mr. Chairman, I would like to read them.
(interpretation ends) Administrative support, the capacity is at 81 percent.
Para-professional is at 88 percent.
Professional, 96 percent.
Middle Management 92 percent.
Senior management 100 percent and executive 100 percent.
Gee, I thought he was going to say one hundred and some percent there for a second on the senior management.
I think that’s great.
The numbers are quite high which is good to see.
You can see that this is an area that deserves all the attention that it can get and more focus of staff working towards the betterment of our education system.
Out of that 932, I guess, and I would assume, and maybe I can just ask the minister to clarify, what section do the teachers fall in?
Are all our teachers, all the teaching positions in Nunavut that we staff, just with the teachers, out of all the teaching positions available in Nunavut, are they all fully staffed?
The teachers are under professional.
There are 461 positions and not all of them are teachers.
They include professionals that are not teachers, but the majority of these 461 are teachers.
I did not hear you call my name.
I was waiting for your go ahead.
We would not want to go on and ask questions without the permission of the Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, we all know that the process of program review is going on with all the government programs and services.
I would like to ask the minister, for his department, if there are any programs that they are looking at, that they may be considering changing, amending, adding, amalgamating, anything like that.
Are they at the stage yet where, I know government-wide they are at the stage of analyzing programs and services.
Has the department given any preliminary thought into how, and if it is programs and services, are doing what they need them to do any possible areas, not specific programs with changes, but areas that may need some changes?
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Yes, Mr. Chairman.
I might not be able to give you detailed information where we might be able to make some changes or if we will make changes.
My main concern is we want to get funding for all the positions.
We want to increase our capacity and our funding.
I have been requesting this constantly and I am continuing to do so.
I just wanted to explain that to the member.
Mr. Chairman, I know he is probably, and every single minister is, always looking for more money and increased funding.
But has the department given any thought into looking how it can become more streamlined and more effective in the delivery of its programs and services under its mandate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, in our department for operations and maintenance, as you are aware we have done a review, especially on the three main issues.
We are reviewing how it would be more cost effective for the benefits part. So we’ve reviewed the benefits part and also the income support has been reviewed and also the FANS funding has been reviewed.
Also I would like to be able to inform the members not too long from now about the results of the review.
The minister, we look forward to his providing us with the results and especially I’d like to see the results of the DEA funding review and I’d also like to ask the minister when they were doing that review did they consult with the DEAs on that or was that something that was done interdepartmentally.
The DEAs were involved during the review.
I’d like to take a step back, I guess and go broader as far as structure and then that goes at looking at reviewing.
I know that, as a result of the dissolution of the divisional boards there’s no longer a field operation section or division within the department that looks after those areas.
I’m going to go back to my comments earlier on the fact that what the DEAs were told when the department was lobbying for their support behind the dissolution of the boards was that it would enable, it would allow for an, the whole idea was to empower the DEAs and let the DEAs have more autonomy and control and authority over the education in their communities.
I heard lots of, probably every member in this House and every community knows what’s best for itself.
No one knows better than the community and the people that are involved in education in that community.
Has the department looked at following through with what they were told, following through with that commitment to making and looking at changes in the way that the department is structured to allow for more autonomy, more control, and more authority to be devolved to the DEAs instead of the Department of Education handling everything.
Have they looked at devolution of that responsibility, authority, power and control to the DEAs in communities?
Looking at the time, you have one more question.
After your one question, I will allow other members to ask questions Mr. Tootoo just for your information.
Since the time when the boards were dissolved we had to make quite a few changes and we had to transfer the responsibilities from the boards to the Department of Education and we work with the DEAs
In order for the department and the DEAs to work together closely we have an agreement on what responsibilities the department will take on and the DEAs will take on.
And that is how it has happened after dissolving the divisional boards.
Mr. Chairman, I think the department has more than an agreement, it has a piece of legislation and regulations that outline exactly the powers and control and authority and who is responsible for what as far as the DEAs in delivery of education in a community.
And also when we passed the Bill to dissolve the divisional boards, I am pretty sure and members could correct me, that there was something in that Bill that indicated that all the current things the DEAs had responsibilities for would remain the same.
And also for DEAs who wanted to assume more responsibilities that the department would assist and be willing to do that.
I just would like to remind the minister of that.
He had indicated that they had transferred the responsibilities from the divisional boards to the department and I think a lot of people were under the assumption that a lot of those things would go to the DEAs.
I am sure that they would like to find when some of those things will be coming back.
Looking at that and looking at the numbers from this year and last year department wide.
Can the minister inform us whether, aside from teachers, whether the PYs have increased or decreased since the dissolution of the boards and the amount?
I was trying to get that information out.
Some of the changes to date in our department; there have been six staff that were transferred to our department.
Although I want you to make you comments Mr. Tootoo your time is up.
I have to follow the rules.
Each member has 10 minutes to ask questions but I will allow you to ask more questions after other members have asked their questions.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Mr. Chairman I wanted to say in the beginning.
I thought you said we will skip 9-5 and go right to 9-6 and once we finished that we’ll go to the other pages.
Maybe I misunderstood you Mr. Chairman.
Chairperson (interpretation): No you did not misunderstand.
I’ve just allowed the members to go ahead because this is 9-5 and 9-6 is a continuation of 9-5.
After Mr. Tootoo’s questioning we’ll deal with 9.5, 9.6.
At this time I don’t think there are any other general comments.
Mr. Tootoo: Mr. Chairman, I don’t mind and I know I have ten minutes, and I was looking around and no one else was putting their hand up so I kept going.
I could keep going for ever I suppose.
But I won’t.
My last question, Mr. Chairman, I asked the minister how many PYs his department had as a result of the dissolution of the boards.
I was wondering how many, other than teachers, are the total number of PYs for his department.
Whether it went up or down since the dissolution of the boards.
That’s what I was looking at.
He just told me that there were six positions transferred over.
I guess those were six positions that were transferred over from the divisional board.
But I guess what I’m looking at is what’s the total PYs for his department pre, like this year, last year that’s compared to last year.
How that compares to the total number of PYs prior to the dissolution of the divisional boards.
I don’t have that information at hand, I’ll have to look into it and then I’ll have to give you the figures.
I don’t have that detailed information with me, but I’ll be able to provide it to you.
Anything else Mr. Tootoo?
I don’t want him to just give it to me, I’d like him to provide it to this House and Committee of the Whole prior to us finishing with this department if that’s possible.
Yes. I know that it’s going to be a challenge to work on this but I will provide the information for the pre and post dissolution.
I will try and get the information ready but I don’t have the information in front of me right now.
Do you want to continue or do you have anything else?
I don’t think there are any further comments.
We’ll start from 9-6 and we’ll go back to 9-5 afterwards.
To page 9-6, any comments?
On the directorate you have some of the, for example, capital planning and budget coordination.
The District Education Authority in my community, I’ll use that as an example, has identified the need to do some planning in the very near future where you have more and more children going into kindergarten or elementary schools than coming out from the high schools.
But they’re saying no, that is not the case.
We’re getting more and more students each year and they’re saying we do need maybe a new additional school to what we have, you know more schools there because of the growth.
Is that when you say Capital planning or is it for when the community identifies say we need more schools, is this where we can say to plan it for.
Because they are saying you are going to need a new school let’s say 2-3 years down the road because there is going to be no room in the two schools that we have.
I guess this is where we are saying are these types of planning taking place in this area when we look at that, when you are looking at the new schools?
Under 9-6 for the Directorate my deputy minister is responsible for the management of personnel and you all probably know Mr. Lorne Levy who is the capital projects officer.
With the planning there is money that is outside of this Directorate and this is only for management and for planning, development of legislation, planning and legislation coordination.
I had wanted to remind the members here that we are not working on Capital.
This is not a Capital debate we are concentrating on the programs under the Department of Education.
That is for the information of all members.
I just wanted to find out about the Directorate.
I am not referring to the capital budget here I just wanted to find out about the directorate.
The schools are staying the same but we are getting more and more students.
Is that referred to the Directorate here?
Have I made it clear?
(interpretation ends) For the planning for each community where they are saying 5 years down the road you are going to have no more room for the students.
I know it is in the capital and we are not talking about capital projects, I am talking about the planning itself.
If you are going to respond I would like to make a few comments afterwards.
We have ongoing planning in our department and we also factor in the increasing number of students and the number of classrooms, the usages of the schools and we also look at the increases and what other classrooms can be used as alternates should we run out of classroom space.
We look at all those during our planning stages and when we are planning for capital projects. This is an ongoing planning cycle and through this planning process we know which school needs the most and we also include the safety, the health, and the condition of the schools.
We don’t only look at the number of students; we look at the big picture during the planning process.
Chairperson (interpretation): I will give Mr. Nutarak an opportunity.
Chairperson (interpretation): There is a motion on the floor to report progress and it’s non-debatable, and it’s six o’clock.
We can call in the Speaker and we will resume tomorrow with the Department of Education of the next sitting day.
Mr. Minister I give you an opportunity just to say thank you.
We still have your department to deal with tomorrow.
Once we resume with our department tomorrow I’ll look forward to it.
We can call in the speaker.
Your committee has been considering Bill 6 and the Main Estimates and would like to report progress.
Meeting tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock, meeting of the Regular Caucus in the Natsiq boardroom.
Orders of the Day for Thursday May 2nd, 2002.
Bill 9  Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bill 6  Report of Committee of the Whole
This House stands adjourned until Thursday May 2nd, at 1:30 p.m. Sergeant-at-Arms.
>>House adjourned at 6:01 p.m.  Nunavut Canada
Thursday May 2, 2002
Pages 269 - 343
Opening Prayer 269
Ministers’ Statements 269
Members’ Statements 271
Oral Questions 278
Tabling of Documents 297
Revert to Item 5: Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery 297
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters 298
Report of Committee of the Whole 342
Orders of the Day 342
Thursday May 2, 2002 269
017 – 1(6): Baker Lake Elders Group Facility Now Open (Picco) 269
018 – 1(6): Elders and Youth Conference and Drum Dance Festival (Anawak) 270
019 – 1(6): Nunavut Sivuniksavut – Naming Project (Anawak) 270
070 – 1(6): Community Churches (Havioyak) 271
071 – 1(6): Unmarked Graves in Churchill (McLean) 272
072 – 1(6): Compensation for Hunting Mishaps (Alakannuark) 273
073 – 1(6): Aqsarniit School Walk-A-Thon to Raise Money for the Women’s Shelter (Picco) 273
074 – 1(6): Cape Dorset Graduation Ceremony (Akesuk) 273
075 – 1(6): Taxes to Meet the Needs of Nunavummiut (Tootoo) 274
076 – 1(6): Nunavut a Consensus Government (Anawak) 275
077 – 1(6): Taxes – Garnishees (Iqaqrialu) 276
078 – 1(6): Absence from House (Havioyak) 277
079 – 1(6): Commissioner’s Award – Mathew Nungaq (Williams) 277
076 – 1(6): Incident in Chesterfield Inlet – No RCMP Available (Arvaluk) 278
077 – 1(6): Income Taxes Reduced – Owing More to Revenue Canada (Iqaqrialu) 279
078 – 1(6): Compensation for Repulse Bay Hunter (Alakannuark) 280
079 – 1(6): Kivalliq Boarding Home Contract (McLean) 282
080 – 1(6): Financial Assistance to the Organizers of Dog Team Races (Nutarak) 284
081 – 1(6): Fur Price Increase (Williams) 286
082 – 1(6): Potential Federal Repercussions Due to Tax Cuts (Tootoo) 288
083 – 1(6): Update on Problem Grizzly Bears (McLean) 290
084 – 1(6): Chesterfield Inlet Fish Plant – Date of Operation (Arvaluk) 292
085 – 1(6): Call Iqaluit for Police Emergencies – Relay System (Iqaqrialu) 294
086 – 1(6): Clarify Budget Address – 2.8 Million for New Teaching Positions (Tootoo) 295
012 – 1(6): Names of Persons with Unmarked Graves in Churchill (McLean) 297  F.
Bill 6 – Appropriation Act No. 2, 2002-2003 – Consideration in Committee 298  Thursday May 2, 2002
Honourable Olayuk Akesuk, Mr. Ovide Alakannuark, Honourable Jack Anawak, Mr. James Arvaluk, Mr. Donald Havioyak, Mr. David Iqaqrialu, Honourable Peter Kattuk, Honourable Peter Kilabuk, Mr. Jobie Nutarak, Mr. Glenn McLean, Honourable Kelvin Ng, Honourable Kevin O’Brien, Honourable Paul Okalik, Honourable Ed Picco, Mr. Hunter Tootoo, Ms. Rebekah Williams.
Speaker: Mr. Alakannuark could you say the opening prayer?
Speaker: Ulluukkut.
Minister’s Statement 017 – 1(6): Baker Lake Elders Group Facility Now Open
I am very pleased today Mr. Speaker, to announce that after extensive renovations, the Baker Lake Elderly Group Living Environment Facility is now up and running and serving the needs of Baker Lake and the surrounding area.
Mr. Speaker, the first of the residents have moved into the facility and more are expected to join them over the next month.
Mr. Speaker, the Hospice Society in Baker Lake will run the facility under a contractual agreement with my department.
It will be run as an integrated service which includes the Hospice as well as, Mr. Speaker, the Home and Community Care Programs.
Mr. Speaker, the facility is being staffed in part by residents of Baker Lake who have been hired and are being trained as we speak, to work with our elders.
Minister’s Statement 018 – 1(6): Elders and Youth Conference and Drum Dance Festival
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly. The weekend of April 12th 2002, I had an opportunity to attend an Elders and Youth Conference and Traditional Drum Dancing clinic hosted by the Repulse Bay Elders’ Society.
Over seven communities representing a mix of elders and youth gathered together to discuss a wide range of issues affecting the elders and youth today, including working together to preserve and promote Inuit culture.
One highlight was an interactive approach to the teaching of the Pisiqs and the Inuit Traditional Drum Dance.