EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I am not sure of that date, but I will get that information and get back to you.
Question 222 – 2(2): Polar Bear Survey Update
As members of the Legislative Assembly we have responsibilities, and I have brought up before the question of polar bears with the Minister of Environment.
The substance of the memorandum of understanding is very good and comments on the need for good nutrition for families.
I would like to ask minister, with the last question I had, to update us on the research that they are doing.
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk (interpretation): Thank you. Regarding the question you asked last week, we are currently looking into the timing of the scheduled research.
The member’s constituents have been waiting patiently, and I ask the member, ‘What else we can do?’
The government alone can’t proceed further on any work because we have to work with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board. But at this time, we are working on this.
Can the minister advise me whether the Hudson Bay polar bear survey can be done earlier than planned?
It states that it will be done in 2008, according to the statements in the agreement.
We are concerned that the families have to have the meat to live on.
There is precious little large game for my constituents, such as caribou, and for that reason I wonder if that survey can be done before that designated time. If at all possible, can he bring the date closer than it states?
As I had stated before, I can’t work on this alone; we have to work with Nunavut Wildlife Management Board. I will check to see whether we can do it sooner, because it’s quite costly to conduct wildlife studies, especially on polar bears.
At this time, I can’t give him a definite answer about whether we can complete the study sooner.
But I will do everything in my power to see if this will be possible before 2008.
I still have two names on my list.
Question 223 – 2(2): Ilitiit Society Funding Update
My question is for the homelessness minister.
Mr. Speaker, I was very relieved to hear on the radio this morning… . I would like to applaud the minister on his indication that he would work with Illitiit Society to help find a stable source of funding to run the homeless shelter here in Iqaluit, and I would assist him in that.
My question for the minister is, if he could just update the members of this House on where things are at right now with that assistance that has so kindly been offered by him and his department.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister responsible for homelessness, Mr. Picco.
The history of the homeless shelter in Iqaluit is a long process.
There is a long history on the file itself.
It goes back to the restructuring of the Oqota Shelter back in 1997-98 and the moving of the homeless into the new shelter, which is what we’re using right now, the Oqota Shelter.
Mr. Speaker, there are several issues around the Illitiit Society with regard to the funding they receive. They run two very good programs for the people of Nunavut, one being the youth cottage, which is a 24-hour, 7-day a week program.
At the same time, they run the homeless shelter.
There is a cross-pollenization between the funding that’s received by the Illitiit Society, and they’re working right now on a process to ascertain the amount of funds that they need.
Through the homeless secretariat, for me as the minister, I have had an opportunity to meet with the Illitiit Society, especially with Mr. Riddell, several times.
Mr. Riddell is an old friend of mine; I’ve known him for many years.
We’ve been trying to be proactive on their financial situation. They were short for cash and they’ve had cash flow problems several times in the last several months.
We were able to advance them their March payment for the fiscal month March 1 to March 31 of this year.
That has helped out in the short term.
In the long term, I’ve asked the Illitiit Society to put together a cash flow statement and to look at an income statement and a balance sheet to try to ascertain what they need to run and to try to diverge both programs, because the youth funding is received from a different pot of funds than the homeless shelter funding.
I know that the minister is probably doing more than they’re asking them, where he indicated they put together a cash flow statement and a balance sheet to determine what they need.  But my question was, what is the minister or his staff doing in the interim, he had indicated there are some serious cash flow problems, to try and help the Illitiit Society find other sources of income to be able to assist them in maintaining those two programs here in Iqaluit?
The youth cottage side of things is funded through the Continuum of Care program, which is administered through the city of Iqaluit.
The Illitiit Society has put together a business plan and has asked for in excess of, I believe, $200,000.
That would help them out on the youth cottage side.
On the homeless shelter side, the Illitiit Society receives a little over $100,000 from the Government of Nunavut.
On top of that, they receive about $25,000 from the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
And then on top of that, they also receive money under income support, where clients who are on income support receive a per diem amount that is payable to the homeless shelter.
Those types of funds are the current funds that are in place.
The opportunity for the Illitiit Society to access more funds under the homeless initiative is marginal at best.
One of the things that we had in this budget, as members know, that we just passed through the education budget, was actually extra funds of $100,000 that would, hopefully, be able to alleviate some of the issues that the homeless shelter has.
Those are more than just structural, those are also logistic and administrative issues with the Illitiit Society.
We are trying to work on that.
Before Christmas, I was able to intercede, on behalf the Illitiit Society, to get an audit on their books for 2003 through internal audits and through the auspices of the Department of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I have also approached the Illitiit Society again to do the same thing for 2004 so that they are compliant with the regulations and the contracts that they have signed.
Like I said earlier, I acknowledge and appreciate, and I am sure that Mr. Riddell and the rest of the members of the Illitiit Society as well as the clients of the shelters, appreciate the efforts that the minister has made in the past and is currently making.
I am just wondering, is there someone, if we approve the money for a homeless secretariat, if the minister is committed to assisting them in finding alternative sources of funding to help alleviate the problem that they have… . You know the current funding sources are inadequate for them to run their programs, but does he have any specific position in mind or any areas in which to go and try and assist them in doing that?
The Illitiit Society is a volunteer organization; the committee, the members are all volunteers.
Mr. Riddell has been the chairperson for many years and has done yeoman service on behalf and for homelessness and other issues in the community of Iqaluit and Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, the issue here is more than just of the homeless shelter.
As I said earlier, it has to do with the way the funding arrangements have been under the youth cottage and the homeless shelter.
When the draw down of funds is not sufficient for the youth centre, then they have to tap into some of the other revenue streams that they have, which is the homeless shelter.
In the past, there really hasn’t been a tremendous uptake on issues around financing under the homeless shelter; however, when the youth centre came on stream, then there was a bigger demand.
Again, as I said earlier, that’s a 24-7 operation.
I have had some discussions with Mr. Riddell.
The Illitiit Society is meeting on Thursday; they are going to review some of the options that they have, and I would expect, very shortly after their Thursday meeting, that I would meet with Mr. Riddell again to see what options the Illitiit Society would like to bring forward, and then I can review that with them proactively.
I appreciate that and I understand that the Illitiit Society’s board, for the Thursday meeting, invited the minister to attend.
And I would urge him, if at all possible, if he would be able to attend that meeting to hear first-hand and deal with the issues not only from Mr. Riddell, but from the rest of the board members.
Mr. Speaker, the minister has raised the issue of the youth cottage and the homeless shelter and one is drawing funds away from the other one because the resources are not available.
My question is: as I alluded earlier to the Minister of Justice, and I am sure the minister of homelessness is aware, they are seeking to finalize a new funding arrangement for the provision of those services for the Community Justice Division of the Department of Justice.
Will he assist them and meet with his colleague, the Minister of Justice, to try and help alleviate some of those problems and expedite the process?
All through this process with the Illitiit Society, it has been going on for several months, moving forward in trying to review what the issues are and so on.
I can tell you that the homeless shelter is located in the Minister of Justice’s constituency and he takes a keen interest in the activities at that homeless shelter, and indeed, I have had an opportunity to brief the minister and the Premier and the Member for Iqaluit West on a regular basis on the issues around the homeless shelters.
He is copied on much of the correspondence that goes between myself and the Illitiit Society.
We really want to work proactively with Mr. Riddell and his group.
As I said earlier, there are some issues on how the operation of one has been bleeding the other operation.
That cross-pollenization, as I said earlier, is the fundamental issue with the funding that is available.
If the funding comes through under the Continuum of Care Program that the Illitiit Society has asked for, and there is a proposition right now before corrections services to look at some of those extra cost contingencies, then Mr. Riddell and his group feel that the youth out there will be well taken care of.
The options that they discussed on Thursday night, and I have told Mr. Riddell that the House is sitting and, depending on what the issue is and how we finish the House, then I would try to make the meeting.
Again, that’s tentative.
In any regard, I just spoke to Mr. Riddell yesterday afternoon; he was in my office here late last week, and I sent him an e-mail again this morning and spoke to him.
I am in contact with him quite a bit and I would hope that after the Thursday meeting, then we could ascertain what the next steps are to make sure that indeed the homeless shelter continues to operate and that the good service that Illitiit has been providing continues.
What form that takes?
It would depend on the society, it would depend on the meeting on Thursday evening.
The Member for High Arctic, Mr. Barnabas.
Question 224 – 2(2): Passport Photo Address To the Federal Government
When we first started the session, I rose to make my member’s statement in regards to the passport issue.
I was asking the minister about that, and today we still need to make those improvements.
I would like to direct my question to the minister responsible for passports. We still are experiencing problems today in Nunavut with regard to obtaining passports.
My question to the minister is: (interpretation ends) will he commit to addressing this issue over photos with the federal minister?
Speaker (interpretation): The minister responsible for immigration, Minister Picco.
After the member raised the issue of the problems with passports, I went on to explain that there are a lot of issues, including residents who are actually born outside the territory because of the issue with our healthcare.
Then, there are issues of trying to get those birth certificates.
The second issue that the member has raised was the issue around the photographs themselves.
We have heard, for example, there has been serious concern since 9/11 across the country, nationally and internationally.
Indeed, when you are traveling, you need to have some type of photo ID; in many places now they actually request a passport.
I will be addressing this issue in a formal letter to the federal minister, and I would hopefully be in the position then to update the members in the House after that correspondence is taken care of.
We are all aware that federal government legislation has an impact on Nunavut. (interpretation ends) My second question is, will the minister ask the federal minister to contact a local certified photographer to travel to the communities that I represent, Arctic Bay, Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord, and your community, Mr. Speaker, Pond Inlet, to take the photos?
First of all, in the conversation that I will have with the federal minister, and I have met the federal minister a few times, I can safely say that we are on a first name basis, I will address the issue around is there an opportunity to contract a local photographer.
I know, for example, Mr. Lowe, here in Iqaluit, is certified and does passport photos. Is there an opportunity to contract someone like that and actually facilitate the photographs? Maybe that is an option that we could look at in this case.
I would raise that with the federal minister.
However, I can’t make any commitment on what the answer would be from our federal friends.
Passports are the responsibility of the federal government, however in this case, because of the issue being around northern, rural, and remote areas of Canada, maybe the opportunity here is that the federal government should intercede, probably in a more progressive, other than a passive, way.
I would broach the minister with that.
Yes, this is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and I believe they are responsible for funding this kind of program.
I believe the Government of Nunavut’s resources are limited.
My question is, when will the minister meet with the federal minister?
I was supposed to be in Ottawa this week with the federal ministers of education meeting, but the House was ongoing and we weren’t able to participate because of the budget debate.
I would hope that some time in early April, when the House and the budget is complete, I would be able to arrange a meeting with the federal minister responsible and follow up on the issue around passports and the passport photos.
Prior to you meeting with the federal minister, perhaps you could inform the regular members to make sure that you get their input and also that you have a regular MLA attend the meeting with you.
Usually when you are meeting with federal ministers, you do that one on one, as as a minister.
However, as the minister of homelessness, as an example, I did actually have some members come with me to a federal meeting with the federal minister in Ottawa a couple of years ago and we used that precedent.
In this case, if the member is requesting that he attend the meeting with me with our federal counterpart, if we can arrange a meeting in early April and the member would be paying his own way, through his constituency budget, then I would try to facilitate the member being with me to meet with the federal minister.
Question 225 – 2(2): Status of Bad Gasoline
We met with the officials from Shell Canada and they stated that there was a buildup on the spark plugs.
Those aren’t the only problems that we’re encountering.
The outboard motors are breaking, not just the snowmobiles; it’s not just the spark plugs that are the reason.
The government knows that the quality of fuel is not good, even though the communities have been requesting the government and their officials to tour the communities and consult with the community.
I would like to ask the minister, what is that status of this now?Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The commitment that I made is to consult with the communities to see how and what kind of impact it has had in the communities this year.
Just yesterday, with my officials, we looked into this.
Our office in Rankin Inlet was closed due to the blizzard, so due to closure of the offices, we were unable to get more information, but to date they have listed all the questions.
Perhaps, later on today or tomorrow, they will be able to distribute this information to the communities.
We do want to find out what the root of the problem is, here in the legislature, and have been updated in and outside of the House that they are experiencing problems not just with the spark plugs. We will be able to distribute the questionnaires to the communities now.
Mr. Netser (interpretation) Thank you, and I would like to thank the minister for his response.
Is it possible for your staff to go to the communities to look into the problem?
If everything works well, the questionnaires for the documents will be made available at hamlet offices.
We are reviewing the problem and we have not finalized whether the staff is going to be going to the communities. But, the questionnaires will be made available at the hamlet offices and we will give an update to the members once things develop.
Mr. Netser (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As Nunavut is very new, we used to obtain petroleum products from Churchill, and after that was changed to Montreal we were told that it would be cheaper to get fuel in the Keewatin area.
Now that we have changed where we get our supply from, is it cheaper for us to buy gasoline and other goods?
When we were implementing that change to get a lower price for the gasoline that we buy, since then, the transportation of fuel and goods to the communities has allowed us to reduce the costs that we used to incur in the past.
Speaker (interpretation): Your last supplementary, Mr. Netser.
Mr. Netser: So, is it cheaper then for us?
It was a lot cheaper when we brought them out of Churchill than from Montreal, so I do not see where we are saving costs.
What I’m trying to say is, compared to what it used to cost in transporting fuel products into the Kivalliq in the past, what it costs us now is significantly lower.
It has resulted in the government spending much less than before, and that is what I was trying to say.
Question 226 – 2(2): Shell Canada $5,000 Donation
Mr. Curley (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to direct my question to the minister of petroleum products.
During Shell’s appearance in the House they stated that the contributions they make to the communities, for example to the hockey arena in Rankin Inlet, are donations and not related at all to the general negative image of Shell.
If so, we would like to thank the Shell representatives for their contribution.
Is it possible for the minister to talk to Shell about making further contributions to the Nunavut communities and to the hockey teams?
We would like to trust Shell, but on the $5,000 that was given, I want to ask the minister, why is it that your staff participated when the $5,000 was being presented to the mayor of Rankin Inlet?
Minister of Community and Government Services, Mr. Kilabuk.
In regard to that $5,000 donation that was made by Shell, the contribution was made prior to the concerns over the gasoline. That contribution was made to Rankin Inlet, but I don’t know how involved my staff were in this contribution.
We don’t want to keep referring to this and its connection to bad gasoline, but when you look at the newspapers, there is a picture here of Todd McKay, an employee of PPD, making this presentation of the $5,000 cheque to the mayor.
Do you have a policy or a regulation not to conduct in this kind of manner?
I don’t know of any policy or regulation, and I don’t want to make any guesses. But I can tell the member that my staff is not instructed to just be robotic and passive, and I often encourage them to be volunteers in any way that they can.
That is probably the capacity in which this took place.
I would like to thank the minister, but why is it that the $5,000 had to go through your department when this contribution is only for one community?
I think that you should change your policy where your staff, if they are going to be involved in any contribution workings, do so on a volunteer basis.
Would you be willing to change the policy so that your staff will be doing it as volunteer work if they are going to be participating in such matters like with Shell?
In regard to the Petroleum Products Division policy, I will look into whether we have such a policy, but I would like to tell the member and the House that if my staff want to do volunteer work, they can continue to do so.
If there’s a concern, we could look into the policy and see what’s in there.
Question 227 – 2(2): Access Housing Causing Hardship
My question is for the Minister Responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, and it concerns Access housing.
Just a little bit of background: probably about 10- to 15 years ago, the government of the Northwest Territories had a program called the Access Program, and there was condition in there that you repaid your loan over 15 years.
It was a good idea at the time, but it’s causing hardship for people now because they can’t cover their operating expenses for their houses.
I am wondering, can the minister tell us what assistance the housing corporation provides to people who can’t afford to pay their operating expenses on their Access homes today?
To date, there’s no program set for Access home owners who can’t repay their mortgage.
We do, however, exchange information on existing programs.
In Cambridge Bay, we have many elders who are retired, we have one lady, a widow, who are owners of these houses.
They’re telling me that now that they are retired or widowed and they receive much less monthly income to cover their operating expenses than they did when they were younger or working.
My question for the minister is, does the Nunavut Housing Corporation permit elders who can’t afford to maintain their houses or pay for repairs to sell them without penalty?
Well, I certainly hope and know that the homeowners have the option of selling their unit after a certain period of time.
Mr. Speaker, I regret to inform my colleague that I do not have in front of me the specific case, and also the number of years required to have been in the mortgage to have the option of selling their units.
As I understand, it’s a 15-year forgivable loan and it made sense at the time when people were working, but it’s not making sense now for some of the elders who have these houses.
So, I’m wondering if the minister can tell me if an elder sells us their home because they can’t afford the upkeep, would the elder be disqualified in applying for social or public housing.
I am aware that this has been an issue and also a problem that people have run into.
I regret to take the question as notice. But because I do not have the necessary information in front of me to be able to respond to his specific question, I’ll have to take his question as notice, which I really didn’t want to do.
Question 228 – 2(2): Inform Nunavutmiut on Protection Against Ozone
I’m not exactly sure which minister I should be directing my question to, whether it’s the Minister of Environment or Health and Social Services.
We didn’t have this concern before, but the burning of our skin from the sun is a concern now.
We used to worry about getting snow blind, but with the hole in the ozone layer, in the atmosphere, we now have to worry about the protection of our skin, especially our faces.
I just want the people of Nunavut be informed about what kind of protection we should use, especially with spring nearly upon us.
There should be some information given out to Nunavutmiut in regard to what kinds of protection they can apply to their skin for protection from sun burns.
Can the minister inform us of what kinds of protection exist for the people of Nunavut.
Hon. Levinia Brown (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the member for his very good question.
I know that this information has to be given out to the public in Nunavut.
I had not even thought about it, and a light just popped in my head hearing the member mention it, so I would like to thank the member for bringing up that danger.