EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
They don’t send out patients who could have been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
I was wondering if your Department had reviewed the situation and how we can improve these situations.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate hearing the Member’s statement earlier concerning the incorporation of Inuit traditional knowledge in healthcare and healthcare practices.
They were possible, as I said earlier in the Gallery today that we do have our Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Specialist.
I believe that the Department of Health and Social Services was the first Department to have someone appointed to that position.
We are reviewing how we can incorporate IQ within the delivery of healthcare practices, keeping in mind the regulatory, the Legislative, as well as the licensor issues that surround Healthcare.
Specifically on the Member’s question, Mr. Speaker, there are two Inuit Nurses right now that I am aware of working in the North.
We actually have one in Arviat.
There is one, I think that she just came to see me in my office last week here in Iqaluit, who just went to Yellowknife, and there is one Inuk doctor working.
We have had some conversations with that Inuk doctor about maybe helping us out logistically and administratively.
So we are in exploratory talks that way, specifically on how we deal with some of the issues around evaluation of staff.
That is done through the regular channels and processed through Human Resources as well as through the internal reviews done by the Department.
I appreciate the Member bringing the issue forward.
Maybe over the next several days, we will have an opportunity to discuss this in detail.
How we can incorporate IQ within the Healthcare system.
There are many ways of doing that.
For example, issues of mental health that the Member was talking about before, family violence issues.
Today on the radio you may have heard about the issue of sexually transmitted diseases, we are at eight times the National averages.
These are very important issues that should be discussed in a public forum like this.
This gives us an opportunity to do that.
I would like to thank the Minister for responding to my question.
I did not think that he could answer my question.
Also he did respond to part of my question in regards to recruiting nurses from outside of Canada.
Many times we have heard that we have the highest of this, or the highest rate of this or that in Canada.
Our population is 28,000 and other countries they say that the other countries have lower rates.
I don’t understand the rating of Nunavut.
It seems like they are just putting down the Inuit people.
Having to recruit nurses from outside of Canada, are they certified?
Do they have proper licensing?
As the Minister for Health, I know you received correspondence from the residents out there who are quite concerned about the health of the people.
That correspondence has been cc’d to me.
I was wondering if the nurses from outside of Canada are certified in dealing with Inuit.
For example, at my community level I go to the nursing station and at that time I should have gone to my appointment outside of my community.
So, do these nurses know when these patients need to go out?
Mr. Speaker, all health care related fields in Nunavut have to pass the licenser program.
They have to be registered; they have to be able to practise in Canada.
There are regulations and legislation and so on in place.
That is the case in Nunavut and all practising nurses, RNs, BNs and LBNs are registered and licensed to work in Nunavut and are qualified to do so.
Mr. Speaker, on the issue around the rate, I think the member has made a good point.
Mr. Tootoo, in his statement just said that Nunavut has the highest rate of donors for contributions and so on for support of volunteer organisations and donations, even though our population is small.
So how that works, Mr. Speaker, is on per capita; if I could be allowed for just a second to try to explain a ratio.
It’s like this Mr. Speaker, on the general population; they usually use figures of 100 thousand.
So, if there are ten people who have tuberculosis out of the rate of 100 thousand, you divide that.
In Nunavut’s case, we only have 29 thousand people.
If we have five people out of 29 thousand people, then that would be four times the national rate.
That’s how it works.
Not that we have more but when you compare the general population, the ratio is higher.
So the per capita amount ratio is higher.
So the per capita amount is factored in.
Just in the case as Mr. Tootoo’s statement where we have the highest rate of contributions and so on and donors.
So, I hope that helps answer the member’s two questions.
Some people who have repeatedly gone back to the health centres for their health problems are not sent out to be examined or diagnosed where they have the proper facilities in the bigger centres.
Do they have to wait that length of time before they can be sent out for observation or diagnosis?
Earlier the member had said he had provided to me several letters from constituents from Qikiqtarjuaq and Kangirtugapik and Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the member for indeed, making sure that letters from constituents are brought forward to the minister’s office.
He’s done an excellent job on that.
Mr. Speaker, health is not an exact science.
When you go to see a doctor and you have a pain in your head, or a nurse and they try figure out what the problem is.
They will give you a painkiller; they will ask what has happened in the last two weeks.
Have you struck your head?
Have you been having recurring head aches?
And by process of elimination, the medical professionals are able to deal with some of the issues surrounding the diagnosis.
So in the case, like the member was saying when you don’t send people out immediately, some times the nurses or the doctors have to make that diagnosis.
That’s made on the best information that’s been made available to them.
At the same time, where a diagnosis needs to be expedient, in that case, Mr. Speaker, where the illness or the circumstance may be life threatening, then all cases the hospital or the nursing station staff, the medical staff are expeditious in putting a plan in place to make sure that the patient is taken care of.
If however Mr. Speaker, the member is aware of something that has occurred, where someone was not expedient or a patient was not taken care of, if the member would make that available to me, in written form, so that I could take it forward then I would do that.
There was a person who went to our community who worked on national news and I’d like to raise another question because he mentioned that they need papers in order to work in Nunavut.
So for example, traditional medicine is not recognized as effective, it’s not recognized like having papers in order to work in the medical field because of the fact that it’s not recognized internationally or in Nunavut.
I wonder if this will be looked into so we would be able to utilize it more in the future.
Mr. Speaker, what we’ve tried to accomplish in the last 6 months is actually incorporate more traditional knowledge and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
A good example is the birthing centre in Rankin Inlet; we’re trying to bring forward traditional practices of midwifery.
Mr. Speaker, just recently, the Government of the Northwest Territories has been in the process of brining forward legislation on midwifery.
That is something we might be able to do in incorporating traditional practices.
So I would suggest to you Mr. Speaker, some of the concerns the member has raised are being addressed but at the same time the formalization of traditional knowledge, whether it be in the health field and so on, needs to be put in place by each department.
I would suggest to you Mr. Speaker, with the able ministerial leadership of Minister Anawak, he has made that a priority over the past several months in the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth and that will help facilitate the incorporation of more traditional knowledge in every department of the government including Health and Social Services.
Question 263 – 1(6): Starting Age for Children to Attend School
I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, we inherited the Education Act from NWT and we are still using that.
I’d just like an update for an example, if a child is turning six December 1, they have to go to school when they’re still 5 years old even before they turn 6.
I would like clarification how they arrived at the rule that they have to be in that school year if they turn six.
First of all, I want to be very clear on the Education Act.
I will not comment on the review that was done on the Education Act and the age, pretty soon it’ll be December, just to use it as an example, if they’re going to turn six, that year, while they are still 5 years old; they go to school in the fall.
As I said, sometimes I noticed that they go to school even at four years old.
So I want further clarification.
The question my colleague is asking in regards to pre-school or children who actually go to school.
I can only give him the same answer.
If they’re five years old turning six before December then they have to go school.
My question was, this winter when they’re four years old they have to go to pre-school?
I can only go back to the same response that I gave you.
Up to now, under that act, if they’re turning six this year, then they have to go to school in the fall.
Mr. Speaker, to clarify again, maybe on the other question that he raised, I can’t really make a comment on that at this time.
I’m not talking about reviewing the act; I’m talking about every day children who get up in the morning to go to school.
I’m wondering if the starting age is younger now.
This has always been the case.
If they’re going to turn six in that year, then they have to start school.
We don’t have any other acts that state otherwise.
I want to make it clear that in the Education Act it states that.
Question 264 – 1(6): Naujaat Challenge - Tabling of Nunavut Economic Development Strategy Report
I have a question directed to the Minister of Sustainable Development.
The Naujaat Challenge Document which was produced promised that a Nunavut Economic Development Strategy would be published this month.
Can the minister tell us whether he will be releasing this strategy on time?
I appreciate her question in regards to the Naujaat Challenge Document.
The strategy that we’re working on, at this time it’s being worked on but the document, I still have to give it to the Cabinet.
After I table it to the Cabinet then I will table it here after the Cabinet knows about it.
Speaker: Thank you. Ms. Williams.
This is very well written and it says it’ll be published or it will be released in November, when in November will it be tabled?
The document that we were working on, it requires quite a bit of work and after I table it to the cabinet it may be a little late, I can’t tell you exactly on what date it will be.
It has to be approved by the cabinet.
We have said that NTI and the Nunavut Government and Federal Government will be meeting in Rankin Inlet, called Sivumut and we will have to carefully plan this; so that was one of the drawbacks.
The Naujaat challenge, especially when our government can’t do this strategy single-handedly, we have to consider that content and we have to plan the meeting in Rankin Inlet to know how it will affect us.
So it has to go through that.
Due to his lengthy response I wasn’t too sure, but I would like to ask - because it’s already the month of November, will it be next month or could it be before March or when? Thank you
This has to be carefully written and I can say now that it can’t be done this month before we review it, study it and we don’t want to do a rush job on it, because there are still some items that have to be put in there as to what strategy we should use.
So it needs a careful planning, I can say it won’t be released in November maybe at our next meeting it will be released.
We have to be very careful and make sure that the content is thorough and correct.
And we don’t want to work on it in a rush, if we try and release in a hurry then we will definitely have mistakes in there and we don’t wish to do that.
We don’t want to see just a draft or something we are just anxious to see the strategy.
Mr. Speaker I would like to ask the minister again, up to now, how much has the Department of Sustainable Development used, how much have they used from the Nunavut Economic Development strategy up to today?
We give out different kinds of funding, there are community initiatives, BDF, and different grants and funds, that we give to the communities. Maybe I will give her the information on the breakdown of how much has been used instead of just one amount.
I will give her a breakdown of the funds that are available, that are slightly different.
So, I’ll give her that breakdown and see how much her constituency has used.
Question 265 – 1(6): Number of Hamlets in a Deficit Situation
Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Community Government & Transportation.
We’re going into our fourth anniversary of Nunavut Mr. Speaker, and things should be rolling right along.
The department recently announced training initiatives and they’ve had many meetings on how to make the hamlets operate more effectively.
Could the minister let this House know how many hamlets are currently in a deficit situation as of today.
There are quite a few hamlets that are in a deficit situation in the territory.
I couldn’t tell you what the numbers are but there are some in each region that are in a deficit situation.
I know there are probably a few and I’m sure the minister will get back to me on how many are in a deficit situation.
Under the old hamlet act, section 138 of the Hamlets Act, it states that hamlets shall not carry a deficit for more than one year.
Are there many of these hamlets that are carrying multi-year deficits?
I don’t have information in front of me right now but I will certainly get it to the member next week or as soon as possible.
I have to commend the finance minister for tabling his capital plan budget figures and you know they’re under scrutiny in the south but because believe it or not we’re the ones that have to keep the government accountable.
Like I say, I commend the minister for tabling this stuff in the house because we have to go through the business plan and budgets and things like that and as MLAs we are responsible to our constituents in our communities and each municipality gets its funding directly from the Government of Nunavut.
We hear all the time that every municipality needs more money to run their day to day operations and this new Hamlets Act coming out should help them with their day to day operations.
Does this government, does the Department of Community Government & Transportation have plans with these hamlets that are now in existing deficit situations or any kind of debt recovery plan and is the department working with them to see that they don’t run these multi-year deficits even deeper.
We are doing everything we can to assist the communities with their debt recovery plans and my staff are always available to the municipal governments in the territory. On top of that I have also asked my staff to do evaluations and monitoring and assist the hamlets that may be having problems with their operations in their offices and see where we can help them out.
So, yes, Mr. Speaker we’re doing everything we can to help the municipal governments to be financially stable.
Mr. Speaker, the minister said that she would make that information available to the members.
And it’s not something that I take lightly.
I think when a municipality goes into a deficit situation it’s a serious issue.
I know the minister has capable people in her department and she’s going to give us that information.
When she does give that information Mr. Speaker, would she provide that to the Members of the Legislative Assembly on how much each hamlet is in deficit and how much each hamlet is in a surplus situation?
Speaker: Thank you. Ms. Thompson.
Question 266 – 1(6): Promotion of Inuinnaqtun Language
My question is directed to the Minister responsible for Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.
(interpretation) As I had stated in my Member’s statement, I would like to ask the minister in terms of the Innuinaqtut language, both written and verbally, how would we be able to promote our Innuinaqtut language?
Take for example Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay; the residents would like to see more promotion.
As we all know, the people of Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay speak Innuinaqtut, the money that we want to access for Inuktitut languages, that is what we want to use the money for.
I would like to inform the member that Innuinaqtut language is very important to us as well.
As I mentioned in my minister’s statement, there’s an agreement that the Government of Nunavut has to be accountable to the people of Nunavut, whether it be in Innuinaqtut, Inuktitut or French and English.
We have wanted to have our languages promoted in Nunavut and when we talked with the people in Ottawa, we told them we wanted Inuktitut to be visible, in particular, the Innuinaqtut language.
But I would like to inform the member that we will be talking about wanting more promotion of Inuktitut for those people that speak Innuinaqtut.
That’s what we want to do.
Mr. Havioyak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Minister Anawak.
This is a need that I’ve been stressing since the first day we became MLAs.
Aside from that, I would like to also ask the minister, as you know we have a language bureau through the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth in Kugluktuk who do the translations.
Is the staff in the Language Bureau in Kugluktuk adequate?
Are there enough staff to work on these translations?
They are starting to keep up with the translations in Kugluktuk at the Language Bureau.
I would like to inform the Members of the House that we have just hired two extra translators.
I am not sure what their names are.
I am sorry that I have forgotten their names.
Perhaps I will be informing my colleagues and the Members of the Legislative Assembly that if they are going to be sending out correspondence from the Government, and from the Members that they have to be translated.
Maybe because the staff is new and they don’t realize that you cannot just send the English correspondence, it has to be translated first either in Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun.
I am informing my Cabinet colleagues and the Government that Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun has to be written in the correspondence of the Government.
That will be our priority.
I know that the Language Bureau is a little bit behind on their work and they will be able to pretty soon do more translation to catch up.
I also want to find out, just to use this for an example, the Education Act which has not been agreed to yet, the Education Act, has this document been translated?
If it has, how much further work does this document need to be translated?
Hon. Jack Anawak (interpretation): Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am not really sure how far they have gone so far in the translation of the Education Act into Inuinnaqtun and I will find out for the Member.
I will tell them to give it a priority.
I will make sure that as soon as we take a break that I will inform them to make sure that they make the Education Act translation into Inuinnaqtun a priority.
I will make sure that everything that has to be translated into Inuinnaqtun is done at the appropriate time.
Perhaps because we were short staffed, we were not able to do that.
Just on that I will raise another question in terms of the documents that came from the Federal Government, the Nunavut Government, as well as from the Hamlets.
My question is in regards to our Member of Parliament.
Have you been actively working with our Member of Parliament in regards to the Inuinnaqtun promotion of our language?
When the Government of Nunavut has to send a document or correspondence, we want it written in Innuinaqtut and Inuktitut.
In regards to the Member of Parliament in Ottawa, she has her own mandate although we can encourage her to have those documents that are sent to make sure that they’re translated to Innuinaqtut and Inuktitut.
We also include Sheila Copps and Nancy Karetak-Lindell when we want Inuktitut and Innuinaqtut to be promoted.
There’s also a living dictionary that is in Inuktitut and Innuinaqtut.
We have promoted that literature as well.
We will have it advertised in Innuinaqtut and Inuktitut.
What we have said to the Government of Nunavut is if you’re going to send correspondence to the Kitikmeot Region, either Kugluktuk or Cambridge Bay, that it has to be translated into Innuinaqtut and it has to be in English, but translated as well.
Tabled Documents.
Tabled Document 049 – 1(6): Anti-Tobacco Calendars that Feature Student Artwork
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to table today the Multilingual Smoking Calendar that Patricia Desousa from Nunatsiaq News and Carlene Arreak from CBC have been waiting for a long time.
Mr. Speaker, as Mr. Havioyak has mentioned, this calendar is trilingual, in Inuktitut, English and Inuinnaqtun.
I think that’s a very good asset for us in our schools.
With the support of Minister Kilabuk, we’d like to table this today and if anyone needs a copy, contact the Minister’s office here in Iqaluit.
Bill 22 – An Act to Amend the Securities Act – Notice
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 25, 2002; I shall move that Bill 22, An Act to Amend the Securities Act, be read for the first time.
Bill 21 – An Act to Amend the Labour Standards Act – First Reading
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Rankin Inlet North, that Bill 21, Amendment to the Labour Standards Act, be read for the first time.
The motion is carried and Bill 21 has had first reading.
Item 19. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters.
Minister’s Statement 072-1 (6) and Bill 18, with Mr. Irqittuq in the chair.
Before we proceed to the Committee of the Whole, we’ll take a break.
>>House recessed at 3.35 p.m. and resumed at 4.00 p.m.
We can start our Committee of the Whole meeting.
During our Committee of the Whole we’ll deal with Bill 18 and Minister’s Statement 072-1(6).
We would like to start off with the review of Bill 18 today for the Department of Education.
Chairperson (interpretation): We’ll still deal with Bill 18.
Are there introductory comments?
I’m very pleased to be here today to discuss the 2003, 2004 budget of the Department of Education for Capital Projects.
As is stated in the Bathurst Mandate and as this budget emphasizes, education is a priority of our government.
Mr. Chairman, the continued focus on education for Nunavut students of all ages is a major key to success for Nunavut.
The Department of Education’s Capital Budget for 2003/2004 is a strong budget with total expenditures of $23 million 985 thousand dollars.
This budget will allow the department to take on 18 projects, which includes four new projects at the planning or design stage.
Over the past three years my department has developed and refined a comprehensive data base on our school facilities.
This data base allows my department to set the priority for each project based on rankings of the current facilities, condition, utilization, and program requirements.
My department has also gathered information from hamlets, district education authorities, school operations, and Nunavut Arctic College staff and staff within the Department of Public Works and Services as a fundamental part of developing, managing and refining our Capital Plan.
Mr. Chairman, this department is moving forward.
This proposed Capital plan includes new schools and new additions, new Arctic College facilities and a territorial library facility.
This plan will ensure that the residents of Nunavut have the best available educational facilities that this government is able to provide.
Mr. Chairman, the Capital Budget of the Department of Education has expanded significantly since the creation of Nunavut.