EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
The group is working very hard to open a youth centre in the community, and in fact, I believe they have managed to access some funding from the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. Not only are they looking for a building but they’re also looking for ways to try to address and highlight some of the issues and challenges faced by young people in our communities today, such as healthy living, stay in school initiatives, respecting each other, sports and so on.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to commend the members for asking me to come to speak to them about some programs that are available through the government and through the group in the communities that can help them.
During that time it became very obvious to me that, at the community level, when young people want to get started, they have a hard time executing their ideas as there aren’t very many systems in place to support initiatives of the youth.  In stating that, I would like to thank the school teachers in the community who have volunteered their time after hours to support the youth in their initiatives by group of interest, and showing the leadership and interest in helping the young people.
I would also like to thank the DEA as well as the mayors for their support of the community.
It is very nice to see young people today take a proactive approach to identifying issues important to youth to be addressed by youth for youth.
And, I would encourage the young people to continue to address this and encourage more and more young people in the community to organize themselves to get their voices heard at the community level and congratulate this committee in Gjoa Haven for their efforts.
Member’s Statements. Item 4. Returns to Oral Questions.
I would like to welcome somebody who is in the Gallery who visits us, one of my constituents, Celestine Erkidjuk.
I would like him to be welcomed here in the Gallery.
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq (interpretation): I want to recognize a person from Gjoa Haven; Rebecca Ikualaaq.
She has travelled with the two pages from Gjoa Haven. I would also like to recognize Tony and Celestine.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce to the Gallery a very good friend of mine, I believe.
I’ve shared a lot of laughs and hard times with this gentleman. He is a former Member, Minister, Speaker, as well as a Commissioner, and Sergeant-at-Arms of the House. He has done every role that is possible to be done in politics at the Legislative Assembly in the North.
I know he was mentioned earlier, but I want to take this opportunity to thank him for bringing a special gift to the people of Nunavut and making that trip here on behalf of and for the Government of the Northwest Territories to us here in Nunavut.  Our good friend and colleague, the Honourable Mr. Tony Whitford.
I would like to recognize one of my constituents and my only sister in Rankin Inlet, Emiline Kowmuk.
I would also wish to recognize some people who have served Nunavut and NWT.
We don’t recognize too many people from Keewatin.
I know she was recognized already but when we were younger we were decentralized.
We were moved, often to different communities.
When we were young, we were moved under the federal government even before we were married, when we were still students.
There were three of us in Fort Churchill who were sent to work over there.
We were working in the hospital and she has helped a lot with midwifery in Fort Churchill.
Her name was Emiline Ulliak Curley and now she is Kowmuk after she was married.
There were three of us back then. That was before I got married. I was Levinia Nuqallak Ford; Jane Tupik Tagornak, now she uses the name Angangait.
I would just like to thank her. She is my friend and their son is now my son-in-law. I wish to thank her.
>>Applause  Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Member for Rankin Inlet South and Whale Cove.
Question 245 – 2(4): Job Advertisement Without Staff Housing (Tootoo)
Mr. Speaker, in the Minister of Finance’s Fiscal Update, one of the things he had pointed out that we would be looking at in the supplementary appropriation is funding “Additional resources for the Department of Community and Government Services to actively recruit four additional project officers and a quantity surveyor to enhance their technical division’s ability to assist in the planning and costing of capital projects;” which we all know has been, in light of all the carryovers that have taken place over the last number of years, an issue.
Mr. Speaker, I know that the government is looking at is an important position to try and resolve some of those issues. However, Mr. Speaker, I understand I have seen a copy of the advertisement for that division in the Globe and Mail, and it was advertised without subsidized staff housing.
So maybe I’ll just ask the minister: if this is such an important position and a priority of the government, and I understand there are a lot vacant staff housing units here in Iqaluit, why it was advertised without staff housing?
Yes, this position is very important and this will probably be the first time that we fill that position.
In fact, it was the very first time that I heard of quantity surveyor and I didn’t even know what it was. I believe it was yesterday, or the day before that question was posed.
It will be very important for the department and I believe the member is asking whether it will be provided with staff housing. I know it’s very important, I will be pushing that they get staff housing because it would be very difficult to fill that position in the first place, so we’ll have to accommodate that. So I will tell them that staff housing should be provided for that position.
I also saw the ad and I regret that I didn’t even consider about the staff housing. So it’ll probably appear that staff housing will be provided.
I wish to thank the member for pointing that out.
I thank the minister for that response. The minister indicated that they’re going to push for staff housing for that.
So does that mean that that position will have subsidized staff housing; is that the intent?
It is true that I saw the advertisement in the papers that there’s no advertisement for subsidized staff housing. I saw that, too, myself.
However, these kinds of positions are highly qualified individuals. I believe that we’ve never had one that is, I’m not sure of the history from 1999, but I think because of this type of position, I think it’s only fair to provide staff housing for the individual, and I believe that it is difficult to find these kind of positions, they might be limited in Canada, and we’re trying to get one.
So to attract the individual further, I would direct the staff to provide staff housing for this position. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know that any minister is not responsible for looking at all the ads that are put out for their departments. I know that this is a specialized position that has been advertised in the Globe and Mail, which I believe is probably the most expensive paper in the country to advertise in.
I’m just wondering if the minister could look into and get back to us, if she isn’t already aware of how that could have been advertised like that without staff housing in the first place. It’s almost like wasting money putting an ad like that in the Globe and Mail.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) I guess it was over-sighted by some staff, our policy people.
I will make sure it doesn’t happen again and to examine carefully those positions; if they’re specialized and they’re hard to get, then we should try and attract them by any means. I will push that to make sure that staff housing is included.
Oral Questions. Member for Kugluktuk, Mr. Evyagotailak.
Question 246 – 2(4): Power Outages in Kugluktuk (Evyagotailak)
My question today is for the Minister of Energy.
Mr. Speaker, the minister will recall that during the Cabinet Retreat in my constituency of Kugluktuk, there was a power outage.
In fact Mr. Speaker, power outages have been occurring almost every week in Kugluktuk.
My question is this: does the minister know why so many power outages are happening in my community?
The member is correct. When we were holding a meeting in the community and I was there, the power went off.
Indeed, we went up to the plant and had an opportunity to see the plant manager working on the situation there.
It’s my understanding that the situation in Kugluktuk is a synchronization problem. And when I say a synchronization problem, I don’t want to get into all the details, but basically, it’s ensuring that the generators themselves are in sync.
With the amount of draw on the generators, being the amount of power that’s being consumed, and the amount of outage, meaning power output that the generator’s putting out, and synchronizing that amount to what is needed in the community at that given time. Basically, that’s what is happening there.
It is also my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that the corporation is following up on that situation to see how we can better synchronize the generators, the capacity in the community, so that the outages don’t continue.
And again, like I should say that it’s not like they’re going out for two or three days, it seems that its almost like a rolling brown out where you lose power for an hour or two hours and the system has to be rebooted.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister provide this House with the information on how old the engines in the power plant are in all of Nunavut communities?
I don’t have the information with me right here on how old the generators and equipment is right now in the plant in Kugluktuk, but I can try and get that information for the member.
As you know, some of my colleagues have been asking questions have been asking about the power outages in their communities also, it would be nice for all of us to know the ages of the engines in the power plants in each community.
Mr. Speaker, I seem to recall the minister recently talked about an Emergency Power Outage Plan for Iqaluit.
Does the corporation have this type of plan for all communities in Nunavut, and what is the plan for Kugluktuk?
In the event of a power outage, what happens, just very quickly for the House, if the outage is of a minor one, meaning if the power is going out for an hour or two hours, usually, the people that we have on the ground in every individual community are able to get the power up and running within a given period of time, meaning within that 24-hour period.
If the outage is something that the plant manager can’t cope with themselves, then we have regional operation staff that could fly in. So for example, if it’s in the Kitikmeot we have people on the ground in Cambridge Bay, in Rankin Inlet for the Kivalliq region, and indeed, here in Iqaluit for the Qikiqtaaluq region.
At the same time, once we send people in and it seems that there is a catastrophic problem in the community, then we also have extra resources that we bring in.
All of our plant managers, on a regular basis, are brought up to speed on plans to deal with the outages that are minor or major, and those plans are in place for every community in Nunavut, including Kugluktuk.
My constituents feel they are not being fully kept informed on what is happening with regards to those outages in my community.
Can the minister commit to keeping my constituents informed about the power outages in Kugluktuk?
The member has made an important observation and that is when outages do occur in communities.
Sometimes we hear that the residents of the communities aren’t kept up to date on what’s occurring. The Power Corporation does try, and throughout people at the community level make public announcements on the local radio and so on.
What I’ll do now after the questioning in the House Mr. Speaker, is follow up with the Power Corporation to ensure that that communication is occurring, not only in Kugluktuk but across Nunavut in our communities.
Question 247 – 2(4): Program to Provide Traditional Food (Barnabas)
Mr. Speaker, in the communities that I represent, there is a high cost of living in the communities, especially for a large family that receive income support, and also some elders that don’t eat store bought food all the time, they eat mainly country food.
So therefore, I would like to ask the minister responsible, because in the High Arctic where I represent, they are prohibited from hunting caribou, and some of my constituencies and communities have no more caribou near their community.
Could the minister establish a program, or if there is an existing program, could he table that in the House on how the communities can obtain country food?
Our department has funds for the communities if they wanted to obtain meat, whether it is caribou meat or other traditional food, we do have a funding program towards that.
If the community applies... The HTOs themselves last year were able to obtain caribou meat with their own funds that they raised and they asked the Repulse Bay hunters to get caribou meat from there.
This program has a cap of $10,000 per community.
As I stated before, everything costs more in the High Arctic that this $10,000 is insufficient for the communities that would like to get caribou or any other meat.
Could the minister seek additional funds so that the High Arctic communities can obtain meat?
We have set aside $45,000 and none of the communities have applied for that program from the HTOs. They can work with the HTOs and apply for funding from this program.
Question 248 – 2(4): Municipal Vehicle Use Policy (Curley)
I would like to ask my question to the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes we are concerned in regard to the vehicles that are used in the communities.
In Keewatin we have found out that there were two accidents that occurred where a young boy was hit by an employee of the municipality with a municipal vehicle and broke the bones of this young child.
It was a serious injury.
Last summer, we heard and had seen an individual who passed away after an accident, still using the municipal vehicle.
We need to protect our people and the vehicles have to be used properly.
Could the minister communicate to the municipalities that they not use the municipal vehicles after hours and that they not use the municipal vehicles in the evening or in middle of the night?
Yes, I think we are all aware of the problems that occur in the communities, but the municipal hamlets have their own councillors and they operate their community.
If we are requested for support, I have to review this very carefully at first.
I think the minister has the authority to advise or make a condition that when the funding is allocated to purchase a vehicle, if you allocate the funding, then it can be used.
What I am trying to say is that you can make a condition and you can control the municipality, or you can ask the Municipal Training Organization.
We want Nunavummiut to be in a safe place and they need some rules, whether it is a by-law or a policy, if you can perhaps, correspond in that matter.
We don’t need to see accidental deaths. Those accidental deaths could have been prevented if that vehicle was not used in the middle of the night.
So I believe that you need to set up a clear policy to be used for municipalities, if you could do that.
I will deal with those after reviewing very carefully, and also, they have community by-laws and they need to be strengthened, too.
If I can give direct steps, I will do so, and I know that we need to use the municipal vehicles properly and some of these vehicles have been used.
I believe that the RCMP has the responsibility as well to monitor the community, and to monitor the individuals that don’t listen to the rules.
If I have the jurisdiction, then I will work on it after reviewing it first.
Question 249 – 2(4): Vacant Wildlife Officer Position (Kattuk)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Environment and it’s with regard to a renewable resource officer who left on August 1.
That position is still vacant and we have not had a replacement yet.
The hunters have to sell their furs and sealskins.
Can the minister tell me when this position will be filled?
When renewable resources officers leave to another community, or when they leave, it’s kind of difficult to find a replacement.
We are working on that, Mr. Speaker, but I cannot tell the member when this position will be filled. Although we’re looking for a replacement, I can’t tell you when the replacement will be hired but we’re working on it.
The minister made a statement, but I would also like to ask him about the replacement that he is looking for.
When does the minister figure on filling the position?
I will have to look into the issue and find out when the competition is going to be closed, and I’ll inform the member personally.
Question 250 – 2(4): Monitoring of Kitikmeot Boarding Home (Peterson)
Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents over the years have regularly come to me with their concerns about the boarding home in Yellowknife. It came up again last week at the Kitikmeot Inuit Association AGM.
Their concerns range from problems with the menus, unfriendly atmosphere, and problems with the building.
They say the building is not suitable for their elders and their disabled, and their families who are staying with patients to accompany the folks down to Yellowknife.
My question for the minister: can the minister tell me how the Department of Health and Social Services monitors the operations of this facility to ensure that Kitikmeot residents receive a high standard of quality and care when they stay at the boarding home?
The member is correct. The concerns regarding the Yellowknife Boarding Home for the Kitikmeot patients have been an ongoing challenge for us.
In terms of how we monitor the complaints that are coming forth from clients who stay at the boarding home, the practice is that the executive director in the region would follow up with the contractor to try and address the issues that are being raised by our clients that are staying there.
The other way we’re looking at improving and monitoring on a regular basis, and not on a complaint basis, is to ensure that we evaluate regularly these standards that they are to meet in delivering boarding home client services.
I appreciate the minister has a couple of systems in place to raise concerns.
I guess the other method is to call to contact their MLA. I have sort of become the ‘Divisional Board of Health’ in Cambridge Bay; I hear all the concerns. The boarding home is one of my top ones.
I would like to ask the minister if the minister could explain how patients, who have experienced difficult stays at the facility, can raise their concerns with the executive director, or other Health and Social Services officials in such a way that Health and Social Services will take action and respond in a timely manner.
I, too, receive complaints related to boarding home and I am sure that many Members in the House have as well in the past.
I guess the overall goal would be to ensure our service providers are providing adequate service. That would be the ultimate goal that we have in the contracts that we have in place to run our boarding homes, and to have a relationship with those organizations to monitor how they do on a regular basis and avoid complaints from our clients.
Having said that, over the last year and a half, we’ve been working really hard to put the systems in place to have Nunavummiut file concerns related to their travel and the boarding home to the client service coordinator. That position has been established and we’re in the process of recruiting a position for that. We were not successful the first time but the competition is out again.
In the interim, we have Andrew Tagak Sr. working in Iqaluit to get the process in place so that constituents and Nunavummiut have a person that they can contact and a system for us to evaluate those complaints by region as well.
Last June, Mr. Speaker, when I was going through Yellowknife, I dropped by the boarding home to talk to some of the patients down there.
And as luck would have it, I didn’t have any constituents from my riding there but I talked to seven constituents from the minister’s own riding. We had a little gathering in the main room there.
By the time I left an hour later, my head was spinning with all the issues and concerns that they brought up with me, some of which I’ve passed onto the minister.
Mr. Speaker, the boarding home facility is nearly 20 years old and is deficient in many of the amenities that patients find in more modern facilities, such as the Larga Home in Edmonton.
I hear quite a few comparisons to Larga Homes, and people are asking why we don’t have one in Yellowknife.
My question for the minister: would the minister explain to the House if Health and Social Services are planning to replace this facility when the current 20 year lease expires?
Before we proceed, I will correct myself and say that that was your second supplementary. (interpretation) Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister Aglukkaq.
The plan in place now is to put a request for proposal for the Yellowknife facility for the actual building as well as for the O&M contract. So that’s out now, I believe, and we will take it from there.
Mr. Speaker, with all the concerns we have had with leases over the last couple of years, we have been bringing this particular lease up as well.
I would like the minister to give me her assurance and commitment that the Government of Nunavut will initiate an RFP process to replace the Lena Pederson Boarding Home with a modern facility that is suited for elders, the disabled, long-term family visitors, and all other patients from the Kitikmeot.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Peterson. Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister Aglukkaq.
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The RFP process will invite organizations to put forth proposals for the facility as well as for the operations, and once the ad is out, anyone out there is welcome to ask for the packages for that submission to address some of those issues the member has raised.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6. Oral Questions.
Question 251 – 2(4): Lack of Translated RCMP Documents (Barnabas)
Mr. Barnabas (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, when I was touring the communities in the High Arctic, I was told on more than one occasion that the RCMP require interpreters, and the communities that I represent are 95 percent populated by Inuit and are unilingual, especially the elders.
As that’s the case, could the minister go to the RCMP Commission and make sure that the documents are translated so that our elders can understand what’s happening?
As this question was directed to me, I would like the member to tell me which documents he is referring to.  There are documents that are translated, so I would like the member to identify which documents he is referring to, and then I can respond to his question appropriately.
Member for Quttiktuq, Mr. Barnabas
To rephrase it, the community RCMP, especially in the case where there are no Inuit RCMP, they have to utilize interpreters in order to do their work.
There have been some cases where I have to help the elders when I do get called.
What I’m trying to say is that if the communities are 95 percent populated by Inuit and when you don’t have any Inuit RCMP, there are a lot of problems.
For example, if you’re trying to obtain an ID, or utilize the services, then the elder will have to find somebody who is bilingual to help him/her fill out the documents or the forms and such.
For the communities that are 95 percent populated by Inuit, is it possible to get Inuit RCMP stationed there?
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t deal with just the courts.
I do agree with the member completely; we do need more Inuit RCMP. The RCMP that are going to the communities... We do urge more people to apply to become an RCMP.
We are going to try and fill positions so that the RCMP will have help from officers who can speak in Inuktitut.
Again, under the same subject, there has been no change to the phone system that the people who require help use.