EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Usually during Question Period, we try to keep our answers limited and if I wanted to go through the whole mandate and what I’m trying to accomplish as Minister of Energy, it’s pretty difficult in this type of forum.
But what I can say to the member is that through the Ikuma I and the Ikuma II Reports, as well as setting up the Qulliq Energy Corporation itself and moving forward with a sustainable home-grown Power Corporation, I guess is number one.
We have seen over the last several months that the Power Corporation has turned the corner. We are working on the regulatory processes for the provision of energy and energy-related matters.
At the same, we are exploring options for alternative energy and, as the member is aware and the Members in the House, we are looking at alternative energy, for example, we are really moving forward now on hydro.
On the conservation side of the agenda, we have opened up for the first time, the Qulliq Energy Centre, which will be focusing on energy-related matters as it works with the domestic, as well as the commercial scene in Nunavut.
We are also looking at the regulatory role of the Power Corporation and how that entails in the supply of electricity.
According to the Nunavut Gazette, you are the minister responsible for energy issues.
So in that regard, I believe the Ikuma I and II have, in a large part, been implemented. A majority of it is now maintaining of what has been implemented, and so on.
Nunavummiut are looking for energy policy and strategies. Could the minister, during this session table, at least in part, his priorities and plans for the future with respect to energy-related issues?
As the minister knows, approximately 20 percent of the budget is assigned to any energy-related issues and requirements for energy needs in Nunavut.
It’s opportune that the member raises this concern.
Over the last couple of days, we had an opportunity to discuss the Energy Secretariat, which is set up under the EIA. The reason why it’s set up under EIA is because there isn’t a line item or a department, which holds the energy field.
Although I’m the Energy Minister, in the portfolio, there’s not a budget that is debated in the House.
With the money that has been budgeted through the Energy Secretariat, we will be working on some of the directions of energy to bring us for the next five to ten years.
Part of that is hydro, part of that is the regulatory regime that’s in place, part of that is strategies to deal with energy issues as it pertains to Nunavut as a whole.
Some of those, Mr. Speaker, have to include some of the resources that we have.
Very few people in Nunavut realize and recognize that right up until 1986 we had an operating oil well near Resolute Bay. The oil went, the Bent Horn project went, actually into the power plant there and provided energy.
Under the federal government, with the subsidy program for northern resource development, we were able to do that.
Right now, 35 percent of known energy resources, oil and gas, are located within the geographic and territorial boundaries of Nunavut.
How do we move forward on that?
So as minister responsible, tomorrow, and it’s opportune that the member brings it up; tomorrow we are actually going to sit down with the standing committee and go through a whole range of energy-related areas as requested by the committee.
At that time, I will be outlining some of the processes and procedures to the committee.
I know that the Nunavummiut are grateful that the minister stands up and says how important the energy issues are for Nunavummiut, not only for Nunavummiut, but for proponents that might be interested in exploring for energy in Nunavut. As a result of that, I appreciate that the minister plans to move forward.
I would suggest to the minister that one way to move forward is to incorporate all the other departments that have energy-related issues in their division, in their department, into one department.
Will the minister commit to undertaking that he will move a recommendation to this House; that he, in fact, will actually have one ministry responsible for development strategies, including maintaining current energy needs and policies in this government?
I like the implication that the member raises and I just want to go back to his first comment and that’s on the regulatory side of things.
Right now, there has been no exploration for energy.
In the High Arctic region that we just talked about where we had 35 percent of known resources in Canada, because the federal government has allowed, under the regulations, allowed PetroCanada to hold those licenses and not exercise their option.
So, as the Minister of Energy, as an example, for the first time in the public now, I wrote the federal minister responsible in the last government suggesting that they actually release PetroCanada so that we can actually get some frontier drilling occurring in Nunavut. With some of the issues around climate change and global warming, I think that’s an opportune time to do that.
Secondly, on the second point that the member raised, one of the things that I tried to do a year ago in the House was to put forward $500,000 to start the Qulliq Fuel Corporation which will amalgamate and integrate issues around subsidies, fuel and fuel costs because the biggest driver for energy-related areas for Nunavut is the purchase of fuel. That is part of the 20 percent of our budget that the member talks about so eloquently. Unfortunately, that wasn’t approved by the House.
What I would hope to do tomorrow is outline to the standing committee the directions that I would be looking at as the Minister of Energy and with the money in the Energy Secretariat to come up with that proposal or type of plan and then bring that forward to the House, hopefully if not by the spring session, in the fall, an outline of that type of mandate.
I think the member is raising some really good issues because we need to be proactive on some of these energy concerns.
The points that you raise are important to Nunavummiut, and we need to know exactly what is going on. By having a number of departments, at least five or six departments having some energy related issues; it’s confusing to say the least.
I did not hear the minister respond to my earlier question. Will he support incorporating all the other departments’ responsibilities to one ministry under his leadership? And if he needs help, he’s welcome to request that question to this House.
Energy matters overarch, as the member indicated, across government.
Just as an example, we have the fuel purchasing, we have the Territorial Subsidy Program within the Department of Finance, we have the Qulliq Energy, which is under the Minister of Energy, we have environmental concerns with energy, and that would be Natural Resources under the Environment Minister, and so on.
So to amalgamate all of this into one is part of what we talked about in the past, that Mr. Tootoo has raised, which is the issue around the Affordable Energy Fund, the AEF, and that was to show transparently, in the House, how much money and where that money comes from, is voted for electrical issues. I don’t think that’s moved off the backburner.
Mr. Tootoo’s committee has taken the leadership role in asking the Minister of Energy, the Minister of Finance, the Power Corporation and other officials to meet with his committee tomorrow to review this. I would welcome the member to attend if he’s not on that committee and give out the direction that we’re seeking as a government. Again, it has to be overarching and encompassing.
At this point, I’m not in the position to say that I’m going to take over control over all of the issues around energy. That wouldn’t be appropriate.
What I can say is that with the help of the committee and the member, over the next couple of days, we’ll have a better idea of which direction we’re moving in. And with the money and the Energy Secretariat that has just been announced, which is a new program under the leadership of the Premier, I think we’re going to start moving in the right direction. A lot of groundwork has been done.
Now, we need to move forward with that.
Question 233 – 2(3): Bullying in the Schools – Update (Barnabas)
On March 6, during Committee of the Whole, he stated that they could not do much with the issue of bullying in the schools.
It is not only in the schools. It is also apart of the home environment and in the schools.
If you are going to deal with the issue of bullying, we have to include the parents, the leaders, and the whole community in order to combat the issue of bullying.
My question to the minister is: bullying is visible in all the Nunavut communities, what is the Department of Education doing about this problem?
Hon. Ed. Picco: Mr. Speaker, the member is correct.
Bullying is not just an issue we have seen in Nunavut. Indeed, it is a national and international concern.
I can just start off by saying that starting in October of 2005; the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education acknowledged this point and did start on a process to deal with it on a national level.
On a local level and territorially in Nunavut, we have seen incidences of bullying increase across the territory, particularly in some schools.
What we have done is bring forward a number of initiatives, including the TRIBES Program, as well as the effective behaviour support programs, and dealing with this not only on a local level, but also at a family level.
Bullying is something that occurs not only in playgrounds, but it happens in the classrooms and in the schools, and it has been raised in the past.
We have a lot of initiatives underway right now to deal with those.
We heard on the news about a month ago that some students are trying to combat the bullying issue and the other communities are trying to organize this.
Is the bullying increasing in the Nunavut schools?
I do not think, by the statistics that we see, in a conversation with schools and DEAs, that bullying is increasing.
I think we are more aware of it right now.
We are actually working on a lot of material and plans and initiatives to deal with bullying. I can give some examples. We have a pamphlet and posters are out.
They are called, “Bullying – How to recognize it,” in the classroom and in the school. We have school student support teams put in place to deal with the issue of bullying.
We have non-violent crisis intervention training, which deals specifically with bullying. We have the TRIBES and EBS that we talked about earlier that specifically deals with training under the Aulajaaqtut curriculum. We have programs there which deal with the issue of violence and the issue of bullying.
Again, it is something, as parents, that we need to do to talk to our children about issues around bullying. Sometimes our children are victims of bullying. Sometimes our children are the perpetrators of bullying.
So we need to be able to discuss it and deal with it and not only in the contexts of classrooms and school, but in the context of families at home.
Speaker (interpretation): Your second supplementary, Mr. Barnabas
Yes, this is very serious. Bullying is very serious, and, again, causes problems amongst the students’ lives as they are growing up.
And while we are Members of the Legislative Assembly here, are we doing enough to deal with bullying?
As I said earlier, there are quite a few programs and initiatives underway across Nunavut and in our schools to deal with the issue of bullying. I think, again, that the Government of Nunavut is part of the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education. We are looking at it on a national level and dealing with some national strategies.
We have seen a lot of instances, especially reported in the national media, about bullying, and to some degree hazing at our schools.
I think we are addressing them quite proactively as a government, but again, it is very important that families deal with the issue also in collaboration with the schools and with the support staff at the school.
The students in the schools have counsellors and I believe all the schools have counsellors.
Is it more serious in the high schools or in the elementary schools? Does the Department of Education know about this?
We are aware of issues and incidents that occur at the high school as well as the elementary school level and again, as a group, as the department, in consultation with DEAs and so on, it is something that we are trying to address. I went out and explained some of the initiatives that we have put in place, and I have talked about the importance of having cooperation between families and so on.
The school counsellor positions in our schools play a major role, again, when students that are identified as victims of bullying, then the counsellor has an opportunity to bring forward a resolution plan with that student that is being bullied and the parents with the perpetrators.
Now, Mr. Speaker, if the bullying turns to a more violent nature or where a student can be at risk, then there may be legal implications where the law may be involved.
So it depends on the severity of the issue, and it depends on the incident itself.
Question 234 – 2(3): Update – Polar Bear Management Zones (Kattuk)
I believe I raised this last year and I would like to raise it again to the Minister responsible for Environment.
This was a concern of my constituents in regard to polar bear management zones.
Are they finalizing this now?
No, we have not finalized it yet because research in each different section takes so much time.
Our researchers, which we are short of, want to be able to have all the data completed for each study and our goal for completing the Davis Strait Study is 2008 or 2009.
I cannot remember which year we plan to start a study for the southern Hudson Bay.
And it is still like that because we are short of polar bear biologists. Before we do get to Sanikiluaq, we will finalize this.
Mr. Kattuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This was brought up by the HTO to see if they can do the survey earlier and to see at what stage they are at right now.
I will advise the HTO if we cannot conduct the survey earlier, but only after consulting with the Davis Strait Polar Bear Management Team.
We know that the polar bear biologists sometime interfere with the other wildlife. Does the government have a policy for the polar bear biologists to follow once they are doing the study?
Yes, we do have regulations, but we want to put more emphasis on the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and that’s what we are trying to work on. We always try and look at different ways of how it can be best used but we are currently trying to use Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit when we are doing researches on polar bears.
We are trying to find some ways of how it can be easier to manage and we will to look into those always.
As the minister stated earlier, they are doing a study on Davis Strait. I wonder if the researchers; are there Inuit people involved in that study?
Before we start studies, we consult with the communities, especially with the HTOs and we try and include Inuit as much as we can because we want to make it known around the world as to how we conduct studies, especially with polar bears.
Yes, we will include the Inuit and I believe there are about three or four communities that are involved during this study.
Question 235 – 2(3): Prescription Drug Medication Supplies (Peterson)
Constituents have told me that on occasion, their drug prescriptions run out and they are without their medicines for several days or longer. People with heart conditions or diabetes problems are at high risk. There are other people as well that are at lower risk, but they require their prescriptions.
A question for the minister: can the minister describe or clarify the process that the Kitikmeot Health and Social Service Department uses to order prescription drugs for their patients?
From what I understand of the process, the health centre nurses or physicians provide the prescriptions. In some cases, the medications are stored in the health centres, in other cases, those medications are sent up from the drugstore in Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, and then from Cambridge Bay Health Centre are distributed to the patients.
In the smaller communities, all of the prescriptions are currently sent to the health centres in each community.
I thank the minister for the answer. My question for the minister: can the health centres have a backup supply of prescription drugs for specific patients who they know are at high risk if their supply runs out?
From what I understand of the services that are arranged through the drug stores in Yellowknife, or Rankin Inlet, or here, if there is an ongoing need of prescription medication for patients, there is a system in place with each drug store to send out refills on an inventory basis, I suppose so, to each centre. From each centre, they’re given out to the patient.
In some cases, there are more commonly used medications that are stockpiled in each of the health centres. From the procedure that I understand, the drug stores resend the refills on a regular basis to the health centres for distribution to the patient.
I thank the minister for that response. I’m not sure I understood the minister.
Is the minister saying the health centres have a patient tracking system that flags when prescription drugs should be supplied, when they will run out for patients, like specific dates, for long term prescriptions?
When that happens, when they flag it in advance, are those prescription drugs sent out to health centres, and then the patients are asked to come in for a check-up, and then they have their prescriptions refilled?
That is how I understand the procedure to be.
The prescription medications are sent on a regular basis from the drugstore to the health centre. Using this example, to Cambridge Bay, and then the nurse and the staff there would then contact the patient to provide that medication. That’s the procedure in place as far as I understand.
Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that there is the potential for breakdowns in the system. They may not order the supplies, planes may not bring the supplies, or the drug stores may not fill the prescription by the time that they are required. So we have patients at risk.
My question for the minister: the Kitikmeot Regional Health Facility, the new facility that opened last October, has a pharmacy section built in that we thought would be a pharmacy that offers prescription drugs for Kitikmeot patients.
Can the minister update the House and me specifically as to when that pharmacy would open to serve Kitikmeot patients?
We sent out an RFP for those services for the Kitikmeot region.
From what I understand, that RFP will be closing some time this month at which time we will review the submissions. At the same time, an RFP was also sent out for the Kivalliq area.
So eventually, once that process works it’s way through the system, then we hope to open that service in the Kitikmeot in the new facility in Cambridge Bay, but right now, the RFP process is ongoing and eventually maybe by the summer, we hope to have that contract awarded and start the process of setting up shop in Cambridge Bay for the Kitikmeot region.
Question 236 – 2(3): Availability of Social Workers (Alagalak)
I have a question directed to the Minister responsible for Social Services.
I’ll do a short, brief preamble so that it will be clear.
Many young people or even young adults, just this winter, even though they wanted to resolve their problems in their lives, because they hold on to their old issues for so long, they are getting lost in their lives. I heard last winter that young people hold their problems for six to seven years and even though they want to do good in their lives, then they have no place to turn to.
For that reason, the Nunavut Government I know has provided social workers to the communities to help people in the community but the community residents don’t know who they really are.
They know that the social workers do apprehend kids and they are the ones that help the family out with the kids.
That’s the only way that they know social workers.
My question to the minister is: why are these social workers not connected to the individuals who are willing to...(interpretation ends)...why are they so difficult to reach when you are in need of counselling?
(interpretation) That is my question Mr. Speaker.
In the communities, we have social workers, mental health workers, and alcohol and drug counsellors in most communities. In some cases, those positions are transferred to the municipality. In some cases, they are under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Social Services.
If the individuals are not responding to specific issues, I would like to hear about that, but their primary responsibility is to provide services to individuals in need of counselling and whatnot. The social workers also have a relationship with staff at the school, student counsellors, and so on, as well as the committees, mental health workers, and nurses.
So if they are not providing a level of service, I would like to hear about that; but their primary role in the community is to provide services to individuals in need through mental health workers or through the social workers.
Yes, that’s what we hear in the communities. They hear that we have social workers; we do know that we do have social workers in our communities, but it’s impossible to reach them.
I think the main reason, according to what I hear, is that they are usually situated in public places. For example, they are in the nursing station where the public is constantly going through that facility and they are supposed to be talking about confidential matters. They are to counsel the individual confidentially and because it’s a public place, they can’t even disclose their feelings any more.
I would like to ask another question. It has been known for quite some time by the ministers and also the directors are aware of that we have been aware for quite some time and we have been a government for quite some time and it’s not new.
What has the minister done to make sure that there are these kinds of information provided to the community and to make sure you get the names of the social workers and state the location of their office? So provide that kind of information to the communities so that the communities would at least know what to do.
Could the minister assure me that she has been working on this issue?
Last week, I have been speaking to some of the initiatives that the department is looking to do this coming fiscal year as it relates to social workers as an example.
We are examining the roles of each social worker in each community and the type of work that each social worker is carrying out, to also examine the workload of each social worker based on population, growth, and so on. If there is a need for more positions in communities that are larger centres, then we will look into that.
The other area we are also looking at is the support systems of each social worker and to look at really what the caseload work is for each of those positions. At the same time, we are looking at examining what positions we have in the community for how we can better integrate the services.
Having said that, I’m meeting with the Mayor of Arviat sometime this week to discuss the specific issues related to Arviat; from what I understand, she will be arriving here this week to hear firsthand some of those concerns and try and address the concerns of that community.
If it means to remove the staff from and to another facility, and again, that is something that we can discuss, but this is the first time that I heard there are concerns related to the staff being at the health center.
So that is an issue that I’d like an opportunity, with the member as well as the Mayor of Arviat, to discuss that to come up with solutions that are suitable for every community.
The member also asked to do more promotion on the availability of the social workers and the mental health workers in the community, hours of work, telephone numbers, and contact. I can commit to doing that more for the community.
Yes, it is true and I believe what you are stating, but it’s because of funding and they go to income support just to get some funding.