EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Local Housing Associations have their own rules and regulations deciding on who has highest priorities for housing from the housing associations. They have their own set up to decide on who is going to get housing and who has the need for housing. If these rules are not compatible with what the people want, then they should be able to approach the Housing Corporation.
Thank you, minister for your response. (interpretation ends) What percent of the units in the current public housing stocks have more than two bedrooms?
Speaker (interpretation): Mr. Akesuk.  Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is not with me right now, but I can provide my colleagues with the numbers on each. I do not know if he is talking about one community or the territory as a whole, but I will certainly look into it and give him the numbers that we have in our hands with the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
Mr. Evyagotailak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, minister for your response. (interpretation ends) How does the corporation decide what size of units it will build when undertaking new construction?
We have a very young population and we use that population mark, but then again, we have other programs; the Nunavut Down Payment Assistance Program and the Material Assistance Program that we provide to our families.
So we try and do our very best to make sure that we meet both sides of the family.
Again, our units that we are building, duplexes in some communities, that’s due to the fact that we have a very young population and young families that are starting in each community.
Question 193 – 2(3): Update on Planning and Design of a Trades School (Curley)
My question is in regard to what my colleague from Cambridge Bay had asked the Minister of Education about, and his responses were very interesting, especially on trades.
Although we are very pleased about the apprenticeship training programs, we don’t have a trades school and there are many young people who are interested in the trades school.
My first question to the minister is; last fall, during the session in November, we agreed to the Nunavut Arctic College housing family units for students who study in the academic programs.
Could the minister tell me if this $460,000 is for planning and design phase? We approved the planning and design phase of that.
Could you update me on that?
The announcement for the trades school in Rankin Inlet, I think is an announcement that was well welcomed by everyone across Nunavut, and indeed, the Members in the House.
Mr. Speaker, part of the announcement for Rankin Inlet included, out of the Northern Strategy we had targeted $10 million for the trades school. The majority of that money will be used to renovate and upgrade the shop in Rankin Inlet, and we’ll make a very good facility out of that, as the member is aware.
The second component of that is to continue with the accommodations.
The member has been very vocal and strong in stating the need of family accommodation in Rankin Inlet, we recognize that.
The money that was in the budget last year will be used for the planning purposes and design of family accommodations in Rankin Inlet. I believe we are trying to accommodate 12 units with that money.
I appreciate the minister for his response.
Will the minister commit to tabling the plan for trades school accommodations for students as well as the academic side because there are, obviously, some relations with the academic and trades?
Accommodation units will have to be incorporated.
Are there some considerations that they will now be built together, as well as the academic and trades students, if and when the facilities are built in Rankin Inlet, that they will be probably a single complex?
The plan is to use an integrated model design in conjunction with the hamlet in Rankin Inlet.
Again, the majority of the money within the $10 million will be used for the school and we’ll have to access other monies through the proper procedures in the House for the extra accommodations in Rankin Inlet.
It would be asinine to move forward with planning a new trades school without having the accommodations for the students. That is the plan.
Mr. Speaker, I can update the House with those project plans in the coming days. I would hope to be able to probably get into more detail when the Department of Education budget comes up and give an overview then of what the plans are.
But again Mr. Speaker, I think the people in Rankin Inlet, and on behalf of Mr. Curley and Ms. Brown, I must say that their very good yeoman service on this file has helped bring student accommodations, family accommodations much needed, to Rankin Inlet.
Yes, it is important that the minister provide other information once the plans and progress has been made on those.
For the clarification, capital funds were approved in the fall, in the amount of $460,000, for family units mainly. I believe we approved them on the basis of the understanding of this House that they were allocated for Nunavut Arctic College academic students.
These plans will continue as well as the new accommodations for a trades school, are they separate or will they be incorporated into one plan?
In Rankin Inlet, we do have the accommodations necessary for single student accommodations. We would anticipate, with the trades school going into Rankin Inlet in 2008-09, that we’ll need additional family accommodations that we were working on.
The member is correct again; we had planned for four one-bedroom units, four two-bedroom units, and two three-bedroom units for the community.
We may have to expand that based on the current program offerings that we’ll be putting into the community because of the trades school.
That’s something that we need to get the logistics as well as the administrative side of the planning equation in place. That’s what we’re doing right now with our capital planners, and to firm up those numbers.
That’s one of the reasons why we haven’t come forward in the last 48 hours with monies because we need to be able to ascertain what those plans are.
We also have to work with the hamlet to ascertain the size of the lot we’re going to need because this will be new construction.
So I hope that clarifies the member’s question.
Mr. Curley: Mr. Speaker, the minister indicated yesterday in his announcement that the Apprenticeship Board has been selected, and their first meeting will be held some time in 2006.
My understanding is that this particular group will also be consulting with the industry groups, sector groups of the trades, for development of the trades program in Nunavut.
Once that report is complete, will the minister commit to tabling in the House what trades that this particular group is interested in developing and providing the students of Nunavut, once the report is done.
I would like the minister to assure us that he will share that discussion paper with us.
I would be very pleased to share that information with the House and with the member.
Again, when we get to the point of doing the main estimates for the Department of Education, we have a lot of information on trades and trades training and the apprenticeship program that we’ll be able to bring forward in that venue.
Question 194 – 2(3): Update on Decentralization (Mapsalak)
My question is directed to the Premier. If it’s not the Premier, perhaps the appropriate minister can respond.
My question is in regard to decentralization.
My question is: is decentralization up to date?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are almost near the end as we are all aware. As my colleague from Pangnirtung knows, we are not completely up to date yet, but we had identified the offices.
There’s only one office that’s a little bit behind, but the other ones are way ahead and they are near completion. Decentralization is occurring.
As I always say that the smaller communities’ capital plans are always deferred, if not, the majority of the cases of their plans are deferred.
Perhaps it’s due to decentralization.
I didn’t quite understand his question: the shortage of funding from the reason what?
So if he can rephrase his question.
Speaker (interpretation): Could you rephrase your question, Mr. Mapsalak?
Perhaps decentralization is the cause of slow support provided to the smaller communities that are non-decentralized, especially on capital plans.
Our capital plans are deferred to another year and we have had plans quite a few years ago, and that plan has been deferred for a few more years. We have never seen that becoming reality in our communities.
Perhaps decentralization is the cause of the slowness of giving the funding to the communities.
It has no connection to decentralization and this has no effect on our budget.
The construction of the units has been available, but sometimes projects are delayed due to different reasons.
Some of the capital plans have to be deferred because of reasons, but they are all in the capital plan.
Mr. Mapsalak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for giving me a response.
We will be starting the 2006-07 year.
I know what my question was, but looking at 2006-07, the New Year will be starting soon.
Will the programs to the non-decentralized communities be coming into affect?
Yes, the Department of Economic Development has been fast and that $5 million has been set aside for those smaller communities and I’m quite confident that the minister will act on it as soon as possible.
Question 195 – 2(3): Criminals Not Allowed Back to Communities (Kilabuk)
Before I get into my question, yesterday, while I was asking the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, at five seconds apart, I received two notes from the colleagues or the floor saying that I have to ask him to respond yes or no between his three and a half minute responses. Without further ado, we will not go there today.
My question is for the minister responsible for Justice, Premier Okalik. I know he was looking forward to a question.
Mr. Speaker, I have constituents waiting to hear from the last few years of the running of this government and I have made the minister responsible aware a number of times of a few of my unfortunate constituents who regrettably had fallen on the wrong side of the law at different occasions. Without names or situations, I just wanted to get a better understanding of the process to relay back to my constituents.
So, Mr. Speaker, my question, at what time or at what point, is it determined that these unfortunate people who fall to the wrong side of the law get held here in the streets of Iqaluit months at a time away from their family and are not allowed to travel back to their communities. At what time is this determined?
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Okalik.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) Any person taken into custody awaiting trial they have to go through a Justice of the Peace and the JP decides on the merits of the case and to see if there is any danger posed or any further offences that may be committed.
So each case is heard by a JP or sometimes in some cases, a Justice of the Court. Each case is different and it is based on law, the criminal code. So the criminal code regulates when a person should be held in custody.
Mr. Kilabuk: Mr. Speaker, I am still not quite sure if I am clear enough to relay or communicate to my constituents who determines this and at what point.
Mr. Speaker, where are these unfortunate people kept during their stay here because I know, from experience and having dealt with a number of these, that when they are kept in Iqaluit and not allowed to travel back to their communities, they end up having no support from families or access to security and connection with their loved ones. So where are they kept while they are being held in Iqaluit?
The defence and the Crown reach agreements where the offender is held outside the community in a family’s residence.
In some cases where there is a danger posed to the larger community, the courts and the JPs decide that they should be held at the Baffin Correctional Centre Remand Facility.
So each case is reviewed and the defence and the prosecutors sometimes reach an agreement as to where the offender may be held on any given time.
Mr. Kilabuk: Mr. Speaker, the unfortunate individuals I am referring to, that I had forwarded this information to the minister’s office, were individuals that were kept within the community, allowed to roam the streets of Iqaluit to try and find comfort, to try and find shelter, to try and find clothing, and to try and find some sense of security.
But my question leading to this is: as the result of the lengthy times they are made, Mr. Speaker, they are made to stay in the streets of Iqaluit, do they lose their benefits under the Income Support Program eligibility requirements or the housing eligibility requirements because of the lengthy periods they are forced to stay or kept here in Iqaluit?
I cannot respond to that at this time because I don’t run those programs.
So the appropriate ministers would have to respond to those questions.
Mr. Peter Kilabuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I guess for my benefit and the benefit of my constituents, I want to ask the minister if he will commit to reviewing the eligibility requirements that, at the best of times, there are 30-day requirements for our Nunavummiut to stay eligible to receive the programs or services.
So will the minister commit to reviewing these requirements with the appropriate departments to make sure that they can remain either eligible or make changes to the programs?
I’ll advise the ministers. The ministers are aware of it and I’ll see what we can do.
Question 196 – 2(3): Devolution Negotiations (Peterson)
My question is for the Premier. On Tuesday, the Premier mentioned that he had discussed devolution with the Prime Minister over the weekend.
Last week in the Government of Nunavut’s Budget Address, on page 12, the Minister of Finance hinted that the federal government isn’t ready to begin devolution negotiations.
I’ll just quote here, “We are ready to begin negotiations immediately.” And, “We are counting on the federal government to take similar steps so negotiations can begin with a clear understanding of our respective goals and expectations.”
Then he says, “…our hope is that devolution negotiations will begin this spring and be concluded by the end of 2008.”
My question for the Premier: can the Premier tell the House when he realistically expects the Government of Nunavut to begin negotiations with the federal government?
I can’t answer that. To negotiate any agreement there needs to be another party.
We’re one of three. Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. will be a party to these discussions and negotiations. And I’ve conveyed my expectations of the federal government, and communicated with the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister advised that he’ll be waiting for his Minister of Indian Affairs to come forward with a request for a mandate to cabinet, and I told the Minister of Indian Affairs that I expect that to happen as soon as possible.
So I’m hopeful that we’ll start negotiations as early as the spring as my Minister of Finance advised.
Mr. Speaker, Premier Fentie, from the Yukon recently stated that the Yukon deserves more money for its resources. They said that if Nunavut gets a better deal from devolution, he wants a new one for his territory, because theirs is “flawed and inadequate.”
In the budget address, the Minister of Finance said that we’re ready to negotiate; we’re ready to begin negotiations immediately. My question for the Premier: can the Premier tell the House what the Government of Nunavut’s negotiating position is on devolution to ensure that we get fair deal and a better deal than the Yukon, and to help our colleagues in the Yukon, so Premier Fentie can negotiate a new one with the government?
It’s nice to put out a nice strong position in the outset and that’s what we’ll do but, as per particulars, I don’t believe in negotiating in public.
So I’d rather that we negotiate as much, the best deal that we can, and do it at the negotiating table.
So I think it requires two parties to negotiate an agreement and that’s what we’ll wait for. As the chief negotiator, we’ll be lobbying hard to get the best mandate for the federal negotiator in the next few months, before the federal cabinet reviews the mandate for the negotiations on devolution for Nunavut.
I thank the Premier for that response. My question for the Premier: will the Premier commit to briefing regular members before and during devolution negotiations?
Yes, negotiations are usually held in confidence and that’s what I anticipate over the course of the next few months to a few years that will require updates to regular members during our Caucus meetings, or what have you, and update the members and see where we are going.
I thank the Premier for that commitment. The Auditor General’s Report, tabled last week, is very critical of the Government of Nunavut’s inability to manage our finances.
My question for the Premier: will the Premier tell the House if the Government of Nunavut expects the Auditor General’s Report to be an obstacle if the federal government tells the Government of Nunavut negotiators that the Government of Nunavut will not be able to handle the financial windfall from our resources?
I think my Minister of Finance responded that we will take corrective action in the coming months to make sure that the next Auditor General’s Report shows a lot of improvement on our management of finances.  So I don’t see that as an obstacle.
We already committed to making the appropriate changes to what the Auditor General has outlined. So I don’t see any potential for any real problems in our situation.
Question 197 – 2(3): Update on Regulations for the Wildlife Act (Arreak)
We are still waiting to hear the regulations for the Wildlife Act. He said they were in the process of negotiating. Is this negotiating process or consultation with the NTI and with Nunavut Wildlife Management Board completed?
We are currently working on the regulations for the Wildlife Act. We will be meeting with NTI and NWMB during the month of April and May on what other improvements we can make to those regulations.
We don’t have very much left to do, but we are deliberately trying to work really hard because we wanted it to be the best. So we are currently working with NWMB and NTI.
Yes, I’m sure the communities are consulted and the communities know that there will be regulations made.
At this time, they must be getting confused that they presently have an Act and they are still awaiting more regulations that will be required for wildlife.
Once they start again in April, when is the anticipation date that he will bring them out?
At this time, we are not certain as to exactly when it will be completed, but we will be meeting with NTI and NWMB.
As soon as that consultation is done and once we have completed it, the NTI and NWMB have represented us quite well and the Inuit of Nunavut. We wanted to be able to make a difference for the residents.
So I cannot tell you, at this time, exactly when it will be concluded, but we will have a better idea once we have met with those two organizations in regard to the regulations of the Wildlife Act.
Yes, he mentioned that they were meeting with those organizations and they were consulting with the communities, but they managed to visit only the bigger communities.
They neglected the smaller communities or have they gone to the smaller communities?
What we did was we met with the HTO chair people or the members and that is how we worked.
We would invite those people from the smaller communities to go to the other communities and they would meet with the HTOs. We would advise them as to exactly what is going on now with the process. We invited their concerns and comments to us.
What we did was we met in one of the bigger communities.
Question 198 – 2(3): Construction of Houses (Kattuk)
I was given a question that I was directed to bring to the House. This question is for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation.
The people in my community are concerned about the houses that have been built in their communities. The problem with the elders is that the houses are built too high and they are having a hard time getting into the buildings.
Are they built high because of requirements?
What is the reason behind building these houses very high from the ground?
There is little bit of a dialect difference in here so I am sorry I didn’t understand it first of all.
We try to build the houses as conveniently as possible, but if the houses are built too high, then when they are being renovated I think that we should talk to the people first to see which they would prefer.
I do not know why the units are built so high, but I will look into it and find out the reasoning behind it.
The minister stated that he would look into the issue.
Is it possible to set aside some funds that would be used to lower these houses?
I will look into the issue because we have to provide proper housing for the elders.
We will look into it as it’s a concern in Sanikiluaq and probably in all of the Nunavut communities.
If we are going to make any adjustments, we will try to make sure that the houses are built to the convenience of the elders and we will do that in the upcoming months.
The minister stated that he would look into the issue in the upcoming months. How many months is he looking at?
I can’t say exactly how many months, but we will look into it over the upcoming months, over the winter.
I would like to go back to Item 5, Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery.
There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Netser.
Some people from Coral Harbour just arrived and I would like to welcome the two individuals from my community.
You probably heard that there were people relocated from Tujjaat to Coral Harbour. I was just a little kid then, but one of our elders in our community was one of the ones who got relocated.
I have known him since I was little; he was a very good boxer. At times, I thought that I would beat him, but he would always beat me up again.
I would like to welcome Johnny Nakoolak. And another Coral Harbour resident, my cousin, Mark Paniaq.
I would like to welcome three former colleagues, who work at the Kitikmeot Corporation, to the House.
The first individual is Mr. Charlie Lyall. He is the President/Chief Executive Officer for the Kitikmeot Corporation.
We are not quite sure if he’s from Taloyoak or Cambridge Bay, but we will share him.
Mr. Speaker, Charlie has been the leader for the Kitikmeot Corporation for I don’t know, 15 years.
He has been all over the world, Tokyo, London. I was on some of those trips and to southern Canada.
He’s one of Nunavut’s strongest promoters.
I think that we talked about once that we should have copyrighted the phrase ‘Open for business’ because it has been used so often.
The individual sitting next to him is Mr. Clare Basler. Clare is the Chief Operating Officer. Clare has been working for the Kitikmeot Corporation for 15 years.
I don’t want to date these guys, but it has been a long, long time.
I recognized Mr. General the other day.
Mr. David General, he’s the project manager of the Kitikmeot Corporation.
Just to give the House an idea of how busy they are: one of their companies, Nuna Logistics helped build diamond mines, the Ekati, Tahera, BHP.
They are involved with Diamonds International Canada, Bathurst Inlet Road and Port, the Kitikmeot Cementation.
In their spare time, they do some community work: ‘Say No to Drugs’ tour in the Kitikmeot and they provide some underground mine training for individuals who are taking it.
So welcome to the House.
I would also like to welcome some people that are originally from Baker Lake, Pamela Niego and her mother works at the Legislative Assembly office. Darlene Nukik, who used to live in Yellowknife, but now living in Iqaluit, she is the manager of Baffin Optical.
Right beside them there is Kaluk and Shane Niego who just came in from Ottawa. They are on their way to Alaska to participate in the Arctic Winter Games.