EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I'm aware in Kugluktuk, I've had some meetings with some of the employees in the school and they have mentioned a number of times that they require more assistants, because there are a lot of young people going to school.
They've asked many times when assistants would be available in the school so the students can learn well.
When there are too many students it becomes a difficult situation.
There are too few assistants.
Is the minister aware there are too few assistants in Kugluktuk.
Yes, I realize that there are not very many classroom assistants.
There are 42 schools in the Nunavut area and there have been a lot requests for classroom assistants.
If he's aware that assistants are very few before school begins in the fall, the assistants for Kugluktuk, will they be available before school commences in the fall.
Like I mentioned before to one of the members and to Mr. Havioyak, we usually do a survey at the beginning of the school year in September to be able to determine classroom assistants and employees needed in a school before the beginning of the school year.
That's the way we do it in each community.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): Thank you for your answer.
I want to make it very clear, if you are aware of Kugluktuk, if I heard you correctly you will make sure that the required numbers are there.
What we do is we count how many students are in the school and in the community and get classroom assistants and teachers on that basis.
That’s what we do in all the schools in Nunavut and that’s what we are doing as well in Kugluktuk.
As I mentioned Mr. Speaker, the community education authority usually has the job to determine how many students will be attending school in the fall and they send in their request for the number of teachers and assistants at that time.
Maybe I am having a difficult time understanding.
I want to ask again.
Teachers have requested assistants, I know you are aware of this.
When will you know for sure, once you receive the information from the DEAs, before school starts, when do you know how many teachers and assistants are needed in the community.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister.
I am trying to be very clear in what I am saying to the member.
Without the facts and the circumstances facing the community and what he is calling a shortage of support, it is something that I will make sure my department gets a clear understanding of to see what kind of support the DEA or the teachers are requesting.
Question 184 – 1(5): CLEY Grants to Two Communities
Mr. Speaker, in regards to the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders & Youth’s statement.
I would like to ask the minister a question.
It says in his statement that they will be providing 702 thousand for community grants and contributions and an additional 1.1 million will be provided by the federal government.
The funding that he is talking about, will it be given to the communities only if they submit a proposal.
Have only two communities made a proposal for funding.
No there haven’t just been two communities putting forward a proposal.
I only used two examples in my statement.
Is that the reason why you put it in, so that people could be proud of them.
Hon. Peter Kattuk (interpretation): No Mr. Speaker.
I was just using those two projects as examples that were approved this past year.
But I just gave an example of two community projects.
Although there's many more than two communities in Nunavut.
Will we be getting a report about those grants and contributions.
I will be able to provide some information to the House as to how the grants and contributions were given to each community.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Final supplementary.
In regards to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, it would be very good to hear which communities have been dealing with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and what kinds of healing conferences they have had in communities or in the regions.
That kind of information would be very valuable to the Members of the Legislative Assembly.
Perhaps they could table that kind of information as well.
In regards to the healing conferences that they have had in the past, if the member is talking about his community, as to how the healing conferences have gone, I don’t have it with me at this time but as soon as I get it, I will be making it available to the House.
Member for Quttiktuq.
Question 185 – 1(5): Gambling Consultations
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and welcome back to the House.
My question is directed to and I'm sure that the announcement was appreciated by the communities.
It's to the Minister of Community Government & Transportation.
So if the communities are consulted about the rules and the laws concerning gambling, after we hear from the communities, what is the Department of Community Government & Transportation going to be doing.
We all know that gambling is very destructive for some people, especially when they play cards or for people who don't have very much money for food because they go to bingo too often.
So if we find out who is gambling often in the communities, I would like to be able to get some support from the members to go to the hamlets in the communities to try and make regulations to deal with this problem of gambling.
For example in the communities, people being given Nevada tickets.
A lot of people gamble with those Nevada tickets in the communities. They don't make as much money but they put out a lot of money to purchase those Nevada tickets.
We just want to be able to find what is happening in the communities in regards to problems with gambling and I also want to get the support of each member to deal with this problem of gambling.
Question 186 - 1(5): Bingo Licences
I am very glad today that it is easier for me to ask question because we don't have to wait for a long time.
Supplementary to the question that was just posed.
If I wanted to run bingos in my community, I would need the approval of the Minister of Community Government & Transportation in order for me to get my bingo licence.
Perhaps after he gets the results in July, if any one of the communities wanted to get a bingo lottery would they be able to apply for a lottery licence.
Do they have to wait until after July or are you going to do away with lotteries or gambling in the communities.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Minister.
At this time Community Government & Transportation gives out bingo licences.
You can get your bingo licences from the municipality, if he is talking about his constituency.
Either yourself or the hamlet council make the request to our department.
But the way the system is that if the community wants to initiate bingo they can discuss that matter with us in our department.
That is how we deal with things.
Your supplementary.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): You didn't answer one part of my question.
I was just wondering if you will be considering this prior to July or are you going to be devolving this responsibility to the communities.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Thank you. For example, what I think wouldn’t really matter but what we want to find out is that we want to get a better handle on gambling.
Either gambling or Nevada tickets.
We just want to find out how we can make it better whether it be the Nunavut residents or the hamlet councils.
We would like to hear from all these individuals and these entities.
That is when we can make recommendations but I would not be able to tell you ahead of time that I will allow them or I will not allow them.
But we wanted to get a further understanding of what the situation is.
We don't ask questions that we just feel about and we don't ask questions because we want to see change.
I would like to ask him why he is doing this, what his reasoning is.
You stated you are going to get assistance from the regular members.
After this survey and once we find out that this is not supported at the community level because they run bingos in order to fund raise, either for sports or any other things.
Is there a reason why he is looking into this so that he will be given more support.
I am aware that these associations or entities fund raise by bingo.
But it is becoming evident now that many communities, when you go to various communities, for example, they play five days a week literally.
Sometimes they play bingo at the community hall or through the radio or TV bingo.
We want to find out what the communities feel about this.
When they fund raise through bingo, it becomes evident that the majority in the Kivalliq region, the majority of the bingo players are the people who have low incomes or get income support.
So they end up supporting the entities that are fund raising.
So we're looking at this.
I'm not saying we're going to stop them but we know that gambling we inherited the act, the Lotteries Act from the NWT, so therefore we would like to hear from the communities what they think of the act.
That's our initial starting point.
Do you think that once you get the results of the survey, you will be giving out more additional grants and contributions.
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): As I stated before, I cannot tell you what the results will be of the survey.
If the communities of Nunavut say they don’t mind the system or the act, we might go ahead.
Or if they make recommendations to make changes, we might just do a few amendments.
We're looking at how we can give more support.
For example, the lottery tickets are run by Government of the Northwest Territories, but if we take on that responsibility, would we be making more money.
So these are aspects that we will be looking into.
We'll discuss this matter with the entities that are fund raising.
We'll get the input because we're trying to find out from Nunavummiut what they'd like to see rather than reflecting other jurisdictions.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. minister.
Question 187 – 1(5): Kitikmeot Boarding Home Contracts
I just want to give a bit of a preamble.
The people in the Kitikmeot go to the Kihima Boarding Home.
Would the boarding home have a new contract this year.
I believe there's another year on the contract for the boarding home in Yellowknife.
It was awarded just before 1999, before April 1, 1999.
There are usually three-year contracts in place.
So I believe there's another year on this but I can get the information for the member.
I want to ask another question.
That was a good response.
When you are putting out a new contract every year for the boarding homes.
When you renew the contracts every year the contract stipulates how the employees work, what the work procedures are.
When you have new contracts, it becomes difficult for the employees to do their work.
I want to ask the minister can this contract be extended instead of having it renewed every year.
Mr. Speaker, first of all the majority of our contracts as you know are with separate corporate entities.
The terms and conditions of each contract depends on the individual contract itself.
I haven't looked at the contract for the boarding home in Yellowknife.
I am sure they will extend it and so on.
What I can say and what I said here in the House in the last few weeks is that we have done a review of the boarding homes.
We have done a random client satisfaction questionnaire type of review.
We have completed that in all of our boarding homes except here in Iqaluit and down in Ottawa to date.
We are also continuing another review of the way the facilities are being run and so on.
We have standards in place Mr. Speaker, and we want to make sure they are kept up, up to date.
Specifically on the question on the terms and conditions Mr. Speaker, I am not at liberty to talk about that now because I don't know the length of the contract.
I believe it is a year.
At that time we will do the evaluation as per standing government regulations.
Once you have done the review do you keep in contact with MLAs or the communities in Nunavut as to how the boarding homes are meeting the terms on maintenance.
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just by way of the question by the member in the House, and in this public forum we are keeping the members, not only the members but the people of Nunavut up to date.
Mr. Speaker, generally people have been satisfied with the review that we have done up to date.
There were some concerns with the amount of country food for example, which came out and some people felt there wasn't enough.
I think the second thing that also came out was the upkeep of the facilities specifically that facility in Winnipeg.
I believe that is safe to say.
Mr. Speaker, this review as I said in the House is continuing.
I would like to move forward asking the ministers to be able to do a more comprehensive review.
As you know, we have four different facilities in four different jurisdictions including the Northwest Territories, here in Iqaluit, Manitoba, and Churchill and Winnipeg.
We want to make sure that at the end of the day our people in Nunavut are getting the best care possible when they are away from home.
Once the review in done will the contracts be extended, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the review that we are doing as I said we are trying to be comprehensive.
We're doing a review on customer satisfaction.
We're reviewing facilities themselves to see if they're meeting the expectations not only of the Department of Health & Social Services, but also of the clients.
We're also looking at the contracts themselves.
At any given time a contract may come up for extension depending on the date of the contract signing.
When you sign a contract to operate one of the boarding homes, it could be for a three-year duration or a four-year duration.
Specifically, with Yellowknife, what I remember is it was awarded just prior to April 1, 1999 and I believe it was a three-year contract.
So just before that comes up, we would look to see what the needs are, are they the same as the needs that we had three years ago.
Then would look at again, the contracting guidelines of the government to see if this contract would be extended or if there are other enhancements that could be made to the contract to better serve the clientele, our patients that go to those facilities.
Member for Qamanittuaq.
Question 188 – 1(5): Dental Visits To Baker Lake
My question today is to the Minister of Health & Social Services.
I'd like to thank him for his speedy response on my written question on dental services in the Kivalliq.
The response that he gave me and my first question today is how did they come to Baker Lake, 85 dental visits a year.
Could the minister explain to me how they got that number.
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it could have been by osmosis.
That's probably how we came up with the number.
It could have been using a ouija board.
But Mr. Speaker, the reality of course, the number of visits are recorded through the regional visits, the regional operations that the facility sent us in Rankin Inlet.
The number of visits by the dental services in the Keewatin and indeed in Baker Lake, which was specifically the member’s question, was given based on the number of visits as recorded by the regional office in Rankin Inlet according to the contract that we had.
I should point out Mr. Speaker, that we still have some concerns now being raised by the Nunavut and NWT dental association.
I just received another letter from the head of that association that they are not getting the support from the federal government on the negotiations for the fee schedule.
That has caused us some concern because the fee schedule for Nunavut is the lowest in the country when you compare the other jurisdictions.
For example, the Yukon gets quite a bit more and that's something that we need to be able to address.
I thought maybe the honourable member was talking to Nostradamas again.
But, Mr. Speaker, the reason I ask that question again is that I've received many calls from my constituents saying that the dental visits compared to what we had before Nunavut is not up to par.
I don't know who's advising them in the regional office but the information he's getting is incorrect.
I wonder if the minister would commit to increasing the dental visits to Baker Lake because there's not enough right now and people are being wait-listed too long.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. McLean. Minister Picco.
First of all Mr. Speaker, let's be clear.
The member has received a written response to his written question.
I'm not going to question the veracity of the comments there with that answer.
The member says that prior to April 1 1999, there were more visits. Mr. Speaker, I can't comment on how many visits were there before April 1, 1999, I was not the health minister before April 1, 1999.
Indeed there may be some corporate knowledge in this House with that information but I don’t have that.
What I can say, Mr. Speaker, is that we are trying to increase all dental services in Nunavut and one of those keys Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the member knows that it's public knowledge, is the fee schedule that is in place.
That is a concern by the dental association.
We cannot attract dentists because those contracts, those salaries, those fees are paid directly through an agreement with negotiations with the federal government through NIHB program.
Now what we have been able to do Mr. Speaker, in negotiations is get about another million dollars on travel which we haven't had before, paid for by NIHB, for out of territory travel.
Mr. Speaker, as you may have noted, I think my answer is now down to 53 seconds.
Mr. McLean: I'm the MLA in Baker Lake and when my constituents come to me and say the services we are getting now are not as good as what it was then, that's why I ask written questions in the House because this is the kind of rambling I get from the minister when I stand up and ask an oral question.
Will the minister commit to revisiting the dental visits to Baker Lake and I know what I'm talking about because if you send a dentist in every second week rather than send them in for a month at a time they may be able to do their work better.
I'm trying to be as up front with the member as I can.
The member knows that the dental services are under contract with the federal government.
That's why I keep saying to the member that those negotiations with the federal government through the Nunavut and NWT Association of Dentistry, that contract goes directly to them.
Mr. Speaker, I'm not, the Government of Nunavut we don't go out and hire 15 dentists just to bring them to Baker Lake.
That's out contracted still with the NIC, what I can do Mr. Speaker, is I will look into the contract services.
We did answer the written question by the member and it was a good written question. I believe the answer was quite good too.
But, Mr. Speaker, we will look at the number of visits by the dentists into Baker Lake not only Baker Lake Mr. Speaker, but in that region to make sure that they are up to par.
And we will try to see what the numbers were beforehand so that the member's question is answered.
Question 189 - 1(5): Federal Government Funding for Telehealth
The funds that have been raised to be used in Nunavut.
You mentioned 3.7 million and the one after that is 80 million.
I want a clarification on this 80 million.
The cost shared federal programs, I want a clarification as to which community these funds will be allocated to.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, that's an excellent question from the member. I should point out that the 80 million dollars mentioned in the numbers from the minister's statement, the 80 million dollars is for the total allowance by the federal government under the Canadian Health Infrastructure Program or CHIP program.
Mr. Speaker, the amount of money that's been allocated, and this is an excellent and a good news story, of 3.7 million dollars is a considerable amount of money for us.
It triples the amounts of money we had budgeted, almost quadruples the amounts of money we had budgeted in our budget for telehealth.
So it goes a long way.
Mr. Speaker, what we would like to do with that money and we have a plan of course, before we get the money from the federal government we had to give them a proposal.
In our proposal we're asking and we're saying that with this extra money we'll be able to connect more communities to the IIU network as well as developing the telehealth strategy and training program in partnership with our good colleague Minister Kilabuk and Arctic College on training as well as allowing for that under the IIU network.
So I hope that helps clarify the member’s question.
It is much clearer now, but it also states here that in Nunavut there will be telehealth technology.
Will some of the funds go towards that.
Now in different communities, there's telehealth in Pond Inlet and Cape Dorset and somewhere else in the Kitikmeot perhaps maybe in Gjoa Haven.
In the smaller communities will telehealth be installed and will the installation of telehealth programs be taken from the funds allocated by the federal government.
Out of the 80 million dollars originally in our proposals I believe it was in May when we put that first proposal forward, we had asked for about 6.7 million dollars.
My understanding is per capita, Nunavut is indeed the largest portion of the total dollars available.
So that is quite good news.
The planning as I said Mr. Speaker, is to access more of the IIU network into the smaller communities as the member has said.
Specially what communities that is, depends on and we talked about it a little bit before and Mr. Speaker, I don't want to get too technical.
But it depends on the bandwidth that is available and depends on the Internet resources, the online resources that we actually have at the community level.
So the plan would be, the member is correct, to hook up more communities whether that be Clyde or so on depending on where they are right now with their infrastructure and then they will be able to move forward to broaden that infrastructure.
If you have Internet access, yes then telehealth will be available.
But perhaps out of these funds more people will be trained in Nunavut so they will have a clear understanding of this benefit or privilege.
The member is correct again.
One of the main components of this funding that we were able to access is the training component.
I mentioned earlier that with the co-operation of our good friend Minister Kilabuk and the Department of Education with Arctic College, we hope to be able to use that money.
That was part of our original proposal to the federal government.
So that is what we intended.
Oral Questions. Question period is up.
Item 9. Returns to Opening Address. Returns to Opening Address.
Item 11. Reports of Standing and Special Committees. Reports of Standing and Special Committees.
Report 003 – 1(5): Bill 4 – An Act to Amend the Interpretation Act, Time Zones – Committee Report
Mr. Speaker, I wish to report that Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Interpretation Act, Time Zones has been reviewed by the Standing Committee on Government Operations & Services and that the bill is ready for consideration in committee of the whole.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to waive rule 68 (5), and have bill 4 moved to committee of the whole for today.
Speaker (interpretation): The member is seeking unanimous consent to waive rule 68(5) and have bill 4 moved to committee of the whole today.
Bill 4, will be tabled in committee of the whole.
Item 17, I'm sorry.
Bill 6 – Nunavut Power Corporation Utilities Assets Transfer Confirmation Act – First Reading
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin Inlet South, that Bill 6, the Nunavut Power Corporation Utilities Assets Transfer Confirmation Act, be read for the first time.
Bill 6, has been read for the first time.
Mr. Speaker, I request consent of this Assembly to give second reading to Bill 6, Nunavut Power Corporation Utilities Assets Transfer Confirmation Act.
The motion is on order.
Bill 6 – Nunavut Power Corporation Utilities Assets Transfer Confirmation Act – Second Reading
Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the Honourable Member for Baffin South that Bill 6, Nunavut Power Corporation Utilities Assets Transfer Confirmation Act be read for the second time.