EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We are expecting to have more interactions and more partnership with the Department of Finance going forward, especially in the 2017-18 year with regard to Inuit-specific initiatives.
Again, we work with all departments and agencies across the government.
I found my question on the Language Incentive Program.
The IUT’s annual report 2014-15 was tabled on October 21, 2015, which indicates that the authority has collaborated with EIA and the Pirurvik Centre on developing competency levels.
What’s the current timeline for introducing standardized Inuit language proficiency tests across government? Also with that, there are going to be three levels, if I’m not mistaken. Can the minister clarify what those three levels will be?
If I can have Mr. D’Arcy respond to that question.
We don’t have a hard timeline, but we certainly hope to introduce this initiative during the 2017-18 year. Currently the tests themselves are being versioned and being translated into five dialects to ensure that each part of the territory is able to go through the testing in an adequate way.
IUT is also determining how that testing is going to roll out.
Along with that, once we’re comfortable with what their product is, ourselves in the department of the executive will be looking at the training programs that we provide to be able to further assist people in the three areas, which are what you would expect for any language: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
With respect to the Department of Finance, they actually hold the pen on the Human Resources Manual directive for the training programs where all three entities and Culture and Heritage, representing IUT, are working together to finalize the product and, if you like, bring it out into the marketplace some time during 2017-18.
Will current employees who receive a bilingual bonus, whether they speak the Inuit language or French, be required to pass this new proficiency test in order to receive that bonus in the first, second, or third level?
In my line of questioning to the Minister of Finance I had asked about how many positions in the public sector are required to be bilingual.
He pointed to the number of people that receive a bilingual bonus, which is in the Public Service Annual Report, 2015-16.
If I recall, it was over 1,200 bilingual bonuses that were paid out.
Do you foresee looking at, in working with the Department of Finance, any thoughts of having proficiency levels identified for an X amount of public servants, if you catch my drift?
If I can, Mr. Chairman, I’ll have Mr. D’Arcy respond to that.
The language proficiency tests would not be particularly job description dependent. There are two separate things that are at play here. Individuals would be tested for their language proficiency in French, for example, but it may not necessarily be tied to the job description.
If they’re completely proficient in the French language, they would be at the high level and receive a slightly higher bit of remuneration. It goes without saying that Inuktitut would be the same thing.
With respect to how many jobs specifically need to be bilingual in the bureaucracy in the government, that’s dependent upon their job description and what they’re actually doing, and is not tied to the Language Incentive Program, although one would argue that if you needed to be bilingual for the position, you would preferably be operating at the highest level.
Thank you for that response. I misquoted myself with the bilingual numbers.
It’s 2,416 according to the same Public Service Annual Report. Given that the dream of Nunavut with Article 23, Inuit employment, we were aiming to have a reflective public service. Is that something that the department, in working with the Department of Finance, you can work towards having 85 percent of the public service be able to speak bilingually?
Hon. Peter Taptuna: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the question from the committee member.
Yes, that is our attention, to fulfill Arctic 23 where we have many programs and partnerships to try to reach that goal. There are a lot of technical things that are being done at this point. There are many meetings that take place, including with the Government of Canada.
Mr. Chairman, Ms. Mearns here participates in a number of these groups and working groups and she can explain clearly on how the processes work.
Our intention of course is to reach that goal eventually. If I can, Mr. Chairman, have Ms. Mearns elaborate more on the details.
With regard to identifying positions that require Inuktut as a part of a position within the department, it is an element within departmental Inuit employment plans that needs to be reflected. That is dependent on the composition and responsibilities of the department. This is something that we expect to have a better understanding government-wide as to which areas and which do require Inuktitut or Inuktut as a part of the jobs that are carried out.
With achieving a representative level, there is definitely the desire to have the representative level within the government and also the representative level to be able to operate bilingually with Inuktut as the other language.
That leads me to the initiatives that the government undertakes with respect to Inuit employment.
We know that under this branch, Sivumuaqatigiit, their internship Sivuliqtiksat program... .I’m quoting the Public Service Annual Report 2015-16 on page 51.
The internship was started in 2001. I had some figures on this page and page 52 that kind of don’t correspond. Since its inception, it says that 28 beneficiaries have completed the program, and then on the next page it talked about… .
There is a little chart that says, completed internships, 28 out of a total of 51, and then it says, “Of the 51 internships 84% (43 beneficiaries) still work for the GN.” Is that saying that they started the internship and didn’t complete it but they still work? Is that how I’m interpreting that?
In 2001, since it started, 51 total internships.
It’s quite low in uptake from what I see.
I know there are some challenges. Maybe he can say what the main challenges have been with this program.
If I can have Ms. Mearns respond to that question.
Up to today we’ve had a total of 29 interns complete the internship program. There have been instances in the past where Inuit have started the internship program and were not able to complete it for a combination of reasons. That may be the reason why there are conflicting numbers.
Right now we have 16 intern positions all together, all of which are essentially spoken for by departments across the Government of Nunavut. In addition to that, we currently have a wait-list of departments that are interested in taking intern positions as soon as graduates complete their internships in their respective departments.
Can you clarify how many are on the wait-list?
I’ll have Ms. Mearns respond to that question.
Currently we have seven departments that are on the wait-list to have interns.
Aside from Sivuliqtiksat we know the newer program, Hivuliqtikhanut, was recently in the last couple of years. It has 24 spots and, if I have my research correct, there were 19 that completed so far.
Currently there are 34 that completed. Out of those 19 are Inuit that have completed that program. Currently there are 47 students who were employees under that, 27 of which are Inuit.
If I calculate all those together, there are 29 interns in the Sivuliqtiksat, and then 19 and 27 for Hivuliqtikhanut.
That’s less than 100, I would say, and that’s over a number of years.
However, quoting back to the Public Service Annual Report on page 8, it shows a breakdown of GN public service. I note the Inuit population that’s noted for 2014-15 is 84 percent and in the 2015-16 year it’s 84 percent, which we know we’re striving for 85 percent, but this report is saying 84 percent Inuit population.
Using those figures, I’m looking at also the TRPS report, the most recent one, 2016 December 31. I’m going to share some numbers here if you allow me to, but I’ll have a question for the minister after because I’m just trying to paint the picture of what the public service is like and what we’re trying to aim for to me.
Using 84 percent on page 3 of the TRPS report, it shows the employment summary by government, all departments in different categories.
Let’s start at the bottom; 1,337 admin. positions total, 320 vacant, 859 of which are Inuit.
However, 85 percent of the total, 1,337, your 84 percent is 1,123. That’s the target, I think, just for the admin. category.
There’s a gap of 264 Inuit positions that we need to fill. And then in the paraprofessional category, 1,012 paraprofessional positions, of which 421 are Inuit.
Vacancy is 296, but out of the 1,012 positions, 84 percent of that is 815, which means there’s a gap of 429. In the next one up, professional, 1,750 positions, 351 of which are Inuit. 85 percent of 1,750 is 1,470, so there’s a gap of 1,119.
If you go up to the executive, all together 84 percent is 2,247 of a gap.
When we’re talking about the Hivuliqtikhanut program, there are how many other Inuit employment initiatives or programs?
That’s barely scratching the surface.
It’s peanuts; half a peanut of 2,247. Let me bring up the Makigiaqta training corporation. There’s $50 million set aside for governments.
Where do you see the government maybe potentially using that fund to closing that gap of 2,247 positions that need to be filled by Inuit to reach an 84 percent level of representation?
Mr. Chairman, that’s our goal. We intend to train Inuit to fill in these positions. It’s going to take a while.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, we have many other organizations and entities that do hire Inuit. In fact in some cases the LHOs and municipalities in some communities are 100 percent Inuit, and we can’t force our Inuit to work for the government.
At this point I’m very pleased that we do have funding that’s designated for Inuit specific training.
We’ve never had that before in the past where the federal government gave us $10,000 specifically for Inuit training. Now we have $40 million. The member quoted $50 million; the other $10 million is specific to the Government of Canada.
With that, we can make long-term training programs unlike in the past, where most of the training programs were just focused on one-year annual funding. Mr. Chairman, that’s our intention. Makigiaqta has $175 million and we intend to work closely with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated to make sure that the Inuit get the best specific training.
We’re not just talking about training for regular operators or even services; we’re looking for paraprofessionals and professionals at this point. We’re rolling out three new programs this year. I know there are a lot of numbers there, the new government-wide numbers that were quoted there.
Mr. Chairman, if I can, I would let Ms. Mearns explain in detail some of these initiatives that are taking place already.
We know it’s going to take a bit of time to reach that 85 percent of Inuit content within the government. Also we know for a fact that just in Baker Lake alone, at the Meadowbank site there are over 400 Inuit working there.
It’s something that’s very positive. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Inuit are unemployed because we don’t have the 85 percent number within the government.
If I can, Mr. Chairman, I’ll have Ms. Mearns go into a little more detail of the numbers that the committee member quoted.
What I would like to do is start off with some clarification about the Hivuliqtikhanut leadership program. This program is a three-stream program made available to all Government of Nunavut employees.
We have the emerging managers’ stream for those that are interested in pursuing the opportunity to become a manager within the Government of Nunavut. We have the supervisors’ series, which is targeted towards those that are currently supervisors within the Government of Nunavut.
We completed the first supervisors’ series last year, June of 2016, where we graduated 19 individuals. We also recently graduated 15 participants in our senior managers’ stream.
That was just this past month. We currently are in the midst of delivering our first emerging managers’ series, which is going to continue with implementation plans up until the end of the contract period, which is 2023. We are just starting our second round of the supervisors’ series, which will continue on for six modules.
With regard to accessing funding from the $50 million implementation funds, we have successfully put forward two proposals to the Government of Canada where in which, as I mentioned earlier, we’re able to continue delivering the emerging managers’ series up until 2023.
In addition to that, we put forward four initiatives for consideration, which include a policy development program, training travel allowance to enable departments to ensure that their employees are able to travel to where training is offered, especially for those that are in smaller communities where travel costs become inhibitive.
We also have a career broadening program that we will be delivering, which will allow for Inuit employees to gain experience, upwards of three different position, ranging anywhere from 12 months to three years.
Those are items that are coming forward and will be made available in addition to the current programming that we have available to our employees.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Sivumuaqatigiit. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $2,723,000.
Chairman: Thank you. Onto page B-10.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Public Service Training. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $5,112,000.
Onto page B-11.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Devolution Secretariat. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $2,358,000.
Back to page B-3.
Department Summary. Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be Voted. $27,886,000.
Closing comments, Hon. Premier of Nunavut, Mr. Taptuna.
I appreciate the questions from committee members. We take the questions and comments very seriously.
We intend to make sure that we try to improve wherever we can to make things more effective, efficient, and this is for providing services and programs to our people of Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my deputies here, including our director of policy, and the staff and officials that put a lot of work into this from all departments.
Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day we are all sitting here to try to make sure that we serve our people the best way possible. With our power and means of resources, we intend to make sure that we make our programs fit Nunavummiut.
As long as we all do our best, it’s going to be a challenge at times, but we do appreciate the participation of the committee and everybody that sits in this House.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the Premier’s officials out.
We will take a five-minute break to set up for the next department. Thank you.
>>Committee recessed at 18:56 and resumed at 19:00
Bill 34 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2017-2018 – Environment – Consideration in Committee
In Committee of the Whole I would now like to ask the Minister of Environment if he has officials that he would like to appear before the committee.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Does the committee agree to let the minister’s officials enter into the witness table?
To my left is the DM, Mr. David Akeeagok, and to my right is the ADM, Mr. Steve Pinksen.
I am pleased to have this opportunity to present my department’s business plan and main estimates for the year 2017-18.
The Department of Environment’s proposed budget for 2017-18 is $27,742,000.
There has been no increase from the 2016-17 budget. However, $697,000 was reallocated from the Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s Energy Secretariat to the new Climate Change Secretariat.
Climate change is an increasingly important issue in Nunavut, and in the coming year my department will work with the Government of Canada to begin implementation of the new Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.
By partnering with other organizations whenever possible, the Department of Environment continues to be successful in maximizing the impacts of our funds.
In the 2016-17 fiscal year we were able to leverage over $4.6 million from outside sources for various projects and we expect to be equally successful in the 2017-18 year.
This year my department will develop an environmental protection strategic plan to assist in the development of strong strategies and objectives for working as an intergovernmental team. We will also develop a strategy for dealing with contaminated soil and offer consistent spill training to stakeholders in order to prevent spills and promote best practices in spill response.
My department has also introduced the Waste Reduction and Diversion Act.
The careful and effective co-management of wildlife continues to be a main focus of my department. As a result of extensive public participation last year, a total allowable harvest has been set for the Bluenose East caribou herd and management actions are being finalized for the Bathurst and Baffin Island herds.
On Devon Island we are recommending an increase in the total allowable harvest for muskox, a measure which would greatly benefit the communities of Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay, Arctic Bay, and Pond Inlet, and also provide an alternative source of country food for Baffin Island, which is still facing a scarcity of caribou.
Wildlife harvesting plays a vital role in the economic, cultural and physical health of our communities.
Indeed we will continue our programs of developing educational resources aimed at promoting safe and responsible hunting practices in the territory.
We are trying to address the issues of polar bear abundance around the communities in western Hudson Bay through deterrent actions and implementation of the Wildlife Damage and Compensation Program.
In the coming year we will also begin co-management discussions with the affected communities based on the results of the recent aerial survey and on the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit shared with us by people in the region. In addition we will carry out surveys of the Gulf of Boothia and Davis Strait polar bear populations.
In the 2017-18 fiscal year our Territorial Parks and Special Places Division will be finalizing master plans and mineral assessments for the new proposed parks in Arviat and Sanikiluaq, and we will complete a management plan for the existing park in Kugluktuk. In keeping with our obligations under the territorial Inuit impact and benefit agreement, we will also establish co-management committees in Arviat, Kimmirut, and Iqaluit.
My department continues to deliver the Nunavut Costal Resource Inventory project, recording Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit that will inform resource management and sustainable development activities.
We are also continuing to deliver the Nunavut Community Aquatic Monitoring Program.
We did provide training to a group of Iqalummiut and have been following up with the other communities that have received training to ensure that their fisheries are proceeding successfully.
Fisheries development in all regions will be guided by the renewed Nunavut Fisheries Strategy.
We are continuing to with the Government of Canada to [minimize] barriers to the trade in sealskin products by Inuit.
My department is [seeing] strong growth in Nunavut of this traditional economy and we want to keep our doors open to the international trade in Inuit-made products while also supporting a vibrant local market for sealskin products.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Environment’s 2017-18 main estimates and business plan will bring real benefits to the people and wildlife who call Nunavut home.
Thank you for this opportunity to share our plans with you. I will be pleased to take any questions you may have.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Does the chair of the standing committee have opening comments? Mr. Rumbolt.
Good evening, members.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Standing Committee on Government Estimates and Operations on its review of the proposed 2017-18 main estimates and 2017-2020 business plan of the Department of Environment.
The standing committee notes that the department’s proposed 2017-18 operations and maintenance budget of $27,742,000 has increased by 2.6 percent since the introduction of the department’s 2016-17 main estimates.
The number of positions in the department is 138.5.
This is an increase of five positions from the 2016-17 main estimates, which the department is proposing to include in the recently established Climate Change Secretariat.
On November 8 of 2016 Supplementary Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act, No. 2 2016-2017 received assent.
This bill provided for the transfer of funding and positions from the Economic Development and Transportation’s Energy Secretariat to the Department of Environment’s Climate Change Secretariat.
The change took effect on November 30 of 2016.
The department’s proposed 2017-2020 business plan indicates that the Climate Change Secretariat will be responsible for implementing the government’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, the Pan-Territorial Adaptation Strategy, and the clean energy-related aspects of the government’s Energy Strategy.
The standing committee encourages the minister to table each of these strategies in the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity.
Mr. Chairman, the department is responsible for the administration of the government’s Grants and Contributions in Support of Harvesters Policy, which includes provisions for the department’s Fur Pricing Program, Hunters and Trappers Disaster Compensation Program, and Community Harvesters Assistance Program.
During the minister’s recent appearance, members raised a number of questions concerning the department’s plans to introduce new harvester support programs.
Members noted with concern that the department does not include plans to introduce any new harvester support programs in its proposed 2017-2020 business plan.
The standing committee emphasizes the importance of updating these programs to ensure that the government’s policies and funding levels remain relevant and adequate to meet the needs of Nunavut’s harvesters.
Mr. Chairman, the department is responsible for the administration of the Wildlife Act and is responsible for fulfilling the government’s responsibilities concerning wildlife management as mandated under federal legislation, national and international agreements and conventions, and the co-management of wildlife as required under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
On September 4 of 2015 the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board issued a notice stating that it would be conducting a written public hearing to consider the Department of Environment’s proposed Nunavut Polar Bear Co-Management Plan, which was developed in cooperation with co-management partners, including Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, regional wildlife offices, and hunters and trappers organizations.
Once it has received final approval, the standing committee encourages the minister to table this management plan in the Legislative Assembly.
The Department of Environment’s draft 2017-2020 business plan indicates that it intends to develop and implement a number of wildlife management initiatives over the next three fiscal years, including a number of population estimates for various polar bear and caribou subpopulations, such as the western Hudson Bay and southern Hudson Bay polar bear populations.
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Legislative Assembly have spoken on a number of occasions in the Legislative Assembly about the importance of using non-invasive wildlife research methods.
During the minister’s recent appearance, members raised a number of concerns regarding the use of collaring when conducting surveys on wildlife in Nunavut.