EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
In her opening message, the chair of the Human Rights Tribunal writes, and I quote, “The Tribunal is extremely concerned that the services that are provided are being underutilized by the public.”
Does the government share this concern?
We do share that concern.
There have been questions in the House referring to that before about the Department of Justice making the [Nunavut] Human Rights Tribunal and the process that the complaints are to be stated to the tribunal.
We need to work harder and provide more information to all communities in Nunavut that we have.
Yes, we are concerned about that, but we also have plans to do more information providing to the communities through our general liaison officers that we will establish in the communities, but we will try and get more information out there with our present system.
Question 459 – 3(3): Funding for Safe Shelter in Kugaaruk (Ningark)
In my Member’s Statement earlier, I stated that the Hamlet of Kugaaruk has made an application to the Department of Health and Social Services for the operational funding of the proposed safe shelter.
I am pleased to note that a building has been secured for that purpose in Kugaaruk.
When the community receives the proposed allocation for operational funding, it will be able to get $150,000 from Service Canada. That’s what the Hamlet of Kugaaruk tells me in their correspondence.
My question to the hon. minister is: has the Department of Health and Social Services received the application from the Hamlet of Kugaaruk for the proposed safe shelter?
I thank Mr. Ningark for the question. I know he works very hard on behalf of his community and this issue has come up in the past.
If we’re thinking about the same facility, it’s my understanding that the hamlet has submitted a proposal to the Department of Health and the proposal is currently under evaluation.
Recognizing the application has been received and is under consideration, the point is if the Hamlet of Kugaaruk does not receive their proposed operational funding in time, then that community stands to lose $150,000 for the furniture from Service Canada.
Will the hon. minister endeavour to speed up the process?
I thank Mr. Ningark for this question.
I understand the urgency in his question.
I don’t know what level of evaluation the proposal is receiving.
My officials are listening right now and I’m sure, as we speak, they’re probably looking for that proposal to see what the status is.
If it meets the criteria and if there is any additional information requested, they will, I’m sure, be in touch with the hamlet.
Will the hon. minister tell me about the status of the application by tomorrow?
I’ll ask my officials to give me an update and I’ll provide that to Mr. Ningark tomorrow morning.
Question 460 – 3(3): Plans for Government Restructuring (Oshutapik)
I would like to direct my questions to the Premier.
In July of this year, the Premier announced that the government will be restructured and that a new Department of Family Services will be created.
This new department will include services and offices from five different departments, including Education and Health and Social Services.
Can the Premier indicate which minister is currently responsible for managing this transition?
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the previous work where they started the restructuring of the departments, as the member stated, some of the positions within the Department of Education, similar to the positions within the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, within the (interpretation ends) Anti-Poverty Secretariat (interpretation) and other positions are related to (interpretation ends) family services. (interpretation) These positions will be transferred to this division.
All positions related to social services will be put under one department.
Currently, health and social services are still under one department. Once the department has been restructured, there will be a department focusing on family services. The Deputy Minister of the Department of Family Services will be Aluki Rojas.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in English, so I will read them in English.
(interpretation ends) Uqaqtittijii, a number of the positions that will be affected by the government’s proposed departmental restructuring are located in the community of Pangnirtung.
Can the minister confirm that no current positions in Pangnirtung will be lost as a result of the restructuring of government departments?
I also would like to thank the member for his question.
Various positions will be moved or transferred. The member asked to make sure that no jobs are lost in Pangnirtung and no jobs will be lost in Pangnirtung.
I would like to thank the Premier for her answer, and I’m glad that no positions will be moved outside of Pangnirtung.
(interpretation ends) Can the Premier provide an update on which positions in Pangnirtung will be transferred to the new Department of Family Services?
The officials are working very hard to separate health and social services and they’re working very hard.
It’s under the responsibility of my colleague and he has more detailed information.
At this time, I cannot respond to that question.
Mr. Oshutapik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (interpretation ends) Will the minister commit to ensuring that GN employees in Pangnirtung are provided with clear information concerning the restructuring before the end of this month?
Since it is very important to provide clear information in regard to the employees that will be in practice, also the deputy ministers in each department are aware there’s a working group that has been meeting regularly.
The information will be given by EIA.
Question 461 – 3(3): Report of the Integrity Commissioner (Curley)
Good afternoon to the people of Rankin Inlet. (interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier.
On March 11, the Premier issued a news release in which she stated that, and I quote, “I have recently been informed by Government of Nunavut officials that Mr. Schell has acted in conflict of interest and abused his authority as Minister.”
However, Mr. Speaker, this week’s report of the Integrity Commissioner indicated that he did not receive the cabinet secretary’s letter, affidavit, and supporting documents until April 23.
Can the Premier confirm that one of the reasons why it took over 40 days to prepare this information was that the cabinet secretary was on vacation for a significant portion of this time?
For various reasons, it took many days to do the research on the affidavit and they had to work on those.
That’s why it took a long time.
The Premier made the announcement that the minister in question was being stripped of his portfolios.
Can the Premier explain why she did not take the responsibility of signing her own name to the formal complaint to the Integrity Commissioner?
If I understand the question, why I did not sign my name to the formal complaint to the Integrity Commissioner, are we talking about a correspondence letter?
Can the member explain further what he is taking about?
Mr. Curley, could you clarify your question for the Premier, please.
Mr. Curley: Yes, I did, I think twice. She announced on March 11 that she had received information that Mr. Schell had acted in conflict of interest, assuming that it had already been established and, if so, my question then is: after she had stripped the cabinet minister of his portfolio, why did she not sign the document?
After all, the Premier is responsible for removing the minister from his job.
The Premier can strip a minister’s portfolio, but the Premier cannot remove the minister.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, the question was simple, why she did not sign the complaint that the Premier’s Office sent to the Integrity Commissioner.
Mr. Speaker, the report of the Integrity Commissioner indicated that a subpoena had to be issued to one of her senior staff to appear at the Integrity Commissioner’s hearing.
Can the Premier clearly explain why she did not simply instruct her principal secretary to appear before the hearing on a voluntary basis?
At that time, I did not know about when the hearing would take place and as to who would appear before a hearing.
I did not know that the principal secretary was subpoenaed and I don’t even know what date it was or if it was during the weekend.
I wouldn’t have known if the subpoena was issued, but the person who receives the subpoena is the only one who can respond to the subpoena.
It really is quite clear that the Premier has not been served properly by her senior officials.
By not appearing before the Integrity Commissioner’s hearing until the principal secretary was served with a subpoena, I believe that the Premier’s principal secretary showed disrespect for the processes of the legislation itself.
Why does the Premier tolerate this attitude on the part of her senior appointees?
When they were dealing with this issue, I don’t know the reasoning.
Perhaps at the time of the investigation, if I say it in English, (interpretation ends) I have no way of knowing the rationale behind that particular time.
Perhaps there were some discussions going on between the officials, the lawyers, and so on about that. I don’t know.
I’m sorry I cannot provide you with that information.
Question 462 – 3(3): School Community Counsellor Training (Enook)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Education, Minister Aariak, in regard to her Minister’s Statement about school community counsellor training.
Mr. Speaker, in Nunavut schools, there are community counsellors and we are very proud of them. We appreciate the government for providing the schools with counsellors because the students require assistance in every aspect of their lives.
Mr. Speaker, I would like ask a question. There was a school community counsellor training program from October 15 to 25, which I am very happy to hear.
My question is: why were unilingual Inuktitut-speaking people not invited to the school community counsellor training program?
I have not heard that unilingual Inuktitut-speaking people are not allowed to go there. (interpretation ends) I’ll take that as notice. (interpretation) Thank you.
Question 463 – 3(3): Process for Dealing with Issues between Teachers and Students (Tapardjuk)
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Education since we now are using the new Education Act that was made in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask about the district education authorities. What authority do they have to deal with school problems when there is an issue between the teacher and the student?
What does the DEA have to do, Mr. Speaker?
If such a problem arises in the school, they can inform the DEAs because they take part in the discussions on various issues in the school. This also can be discussed if they need to make a decision.
They would be informed through the school principals or whoever found out about the issue first.
The question that I want to ask is if a teacher who is teaching a student was ever to be charged by the RCMP, the student might be charged as well. What do you have to prevent that student from being charged by the RCMP?
I don’t have any information on the RCMP inside the school concerning teachers. I don’t have that information. Once I receive it, I will be able to speak to it.
Mr. Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask this also.
The DEA just got a rule under the Education Act.
Can the minister tell me, when they elect DEAs, do the DEAs receive workshops on the kinds of powers they have within the school?
Yes, when the DEAs first get elected, they are given a workshop and orientation in every community.
The reason why I want to get some clarification is the DEAs are not always the same individuals because they hold their elections annually.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister agree that one of her staff go to Hall Beach to give them a workshop or orientation, or does the community have to request for whether they can ask for somebody to come and give the orientation in regard to the Education Act? Can the minister’s department send those officials to Hall Beach herself?
DEAs have to be given information in regard to the Education Act and they have to know their authority.
The Department of Education sends someone over there to do an orientation. If it has to be that they bring them over to Hall Beach, we will do so.
Question 464 – 3(3): Status of Changes to Mental Health Act (Elliott)
One of the minister’s department’s priorities for 2012-13 is to review and make changes to the territorial Mental Health Act.
My question for the minister is: what work has the Department of Health and Social Services completed to date on this priority?
It’s hard to recognize him over there.
A new look there.
Mr. Speaker, the department is conducting an internal review of the Mental Health Act to see what areas we have to look at for changes. That’s currently underway.
What key findings has the department determined for change?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, it’s an internal review. There have been no key findings yet.
The legislation is a little dated. I believe they’re doing a jurisdictional scan to see how our Mental Health Act compares to other provinces and territories.
At some point, they will be providing me with that information and then we will be going forward from there.
Has it been determined whether this will be a new Act or will it just be a few amendments made to the current Act?
The current Act was inherited from the Northwest Territories in 1999.
Once the internal review is complete, we will be making a determination of whether we develop our own Act or make some changes.
As we have been doing for several years, we have been updating all of our legislation and putting new legislation in place in all the departments to more accurately reflect Nunavut’s interests.
It seems like more and more, it’s harder to get any detailed information from questions.
In terms of changes to the legislation, I do agree that changes need to be made. In speaking to some mental health workers, social workers, and some of the frontline workers, they definitely see that there are changes that need to be made.
I guess my final question would be: will the review, changes, and a new piece of legislation or amendments to the legislation be introduced in the life of this Assembly?
Again, Mr. Speaker, it’s premature for me to speculate on where the legislation will go. As I said, it’s an internal review. There will be ongoing consultations with departments and other folks in Nunavut to see what changes should be made, if any, indeed, need to be made.
I can’t tell the member at this point where we will end up with that internal review and possible legislation.
Question 465 – 3(3): Use of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in GN’s Mandate and Services (Tapardjuk)
I would like to direct this question to the Minister of Culture and Heritage.
I wish to ask about the contents of his Minister’s Statement.
Let me quote the actual wording. “Mr. Speaker, the Department of Culture and Heritage takes the Government of Nunavut’s commitment to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit very seriously.” I want to speak to the wording used here, “very seriously.”
It states that it is taken seriously.
Mr. Speaker, what I want to ask the minister is this: how much of the government’s mandate and services they offer now use Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit as their foundation?
I thank my Annuraaqatik for his very good question.
With respect to my statement, it was mainly about appointments to the IQ committee, as the term for the third committee has expired, and we are looking for members to sit on this fourth edition. When I referred to this part, I was asking for names for the committee.
However, we consider it a priority to incorporate Inuit cultural practices. We are starting to incorporate them into government operations. When the government makes plans, it includes that statement about the importance of this issue.
Further, if we look at the principles outlined in Tamapta, this outlines that these principles will be implemented. This is still ongoing and we are implementing this to this day.
Additionally, this IQ committee I referred to will be utilized, as we submit requests for their review. This includes their recommendations and advice to the government departments. They generally highlight how certain aspects of Inuit practices can be incorporated.
When speaking to the incorporation of Inuit principles, I can’t really make a statement that we are in this category or indicate that this is where we are at in terms of the implementation of Inuit principles within operations.
However, this is our goal which the government first outlined back in 1999. We are still reaching for this goal to incorporate more Inuit principles within the government operations and to repatriate Inuit practices into the government.
The reason why I asked the question is to find out how much they’re including Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit within the government operations as they have stated that it would form their foundation.
Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the week, I asked the Minister of Health and Social Services that if the social workers were to incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into their practices, they would try their utmost not to get to the apprehension stage.
However, their position is that the government practices are to comply with legislation. Their first thought is to apprehend the child first, and only later, they finally try to resolve the family problems. This contradiction doesn’t show that the government is incorporating Inuit principles into their operations.
Does the minister agree with my assessment or does he disagree?
Minister of Culture and Heritage, Minister Arreak.
Indeed, when the government is announcing its directives and legislation, it incorporates Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into these pieces of legislation.
Further, this will continue to be incorporated and the advice we receive from the public about including Inuit societal values within government operations. At this time, we are starting to incorporate these values and principles into our bills and government is consulting with more organizations as to how best to incorporate these values.
These are being incorporated into all future legislation that the government is enacting.
The Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Committee has been meeting in the past to make recommendations to the government.
Mr. Speaker, members know and those Nunavummiut elders who attended those meetings know that the government’s legislation like the Child and Family Services Act is contradictory to Inuit societal values. The IQ committee met to review the draft legislation.
Their statements are that the legislation, currently as worded, drives families apart since the social workers don’t even discuss the issues with the family when they are informed there may be issues.
Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the minister this question. The current government programs related to social services have received recommendations to incorporate Inuit societal values from the IQ committee.
Will you be implementing these recommendations or will you inform these elders that their advice was irrelevant and that they shouldn’t serve on this committee since the recommendations cannot be implemented by this government?
I also want thank my Annuraaqatik.
I would never make that statement to elders since I was raised by elders and one of the principles was that you never disrespect your elders.
I also believe in the wording contained in the statement I made. As a government, we believe in this principle and in the incorporation of Inuit values.
I will never state that the advice provided by the elders is irrelevant nor their recommendations to the government. Let me rephrase that.
All advice from the public, as well as my colleagues in the executive and regular members and as part of the government… . We are trying to implement certain improvements and we can provide directives to incorporate them.
Further, as per my previous response, the government is undertaking more consultations from the community, not just in the legislature, about ways and means to improve the legislation we are currently drafting up for Nunavut.
I have also heard from my community that the Child and Family Services Act needs to be amended.
Since we grandfathered it from the GNWT, it’s not adequate for Inuit.
We are trying to amend the legislation to better fit our Nunavut territory and to be more Inuit-centric.
That is what we are trying to accomplish.
I think we have all heard that position stated. Further, in the Tamapta Mandate, it is clearly pontificated that the legislation you referred to would be amended.
However, it seems that the government isn’t committed to this principle as they seem reluctant to incorporate that into the legislation.
The minister just stated that, Mr. Speaker, they have heard from the general public that the legislation on family services needs to be amended due to these issues.
Mr. Speaker, I want to direct this question to the minister. The minister is already aware that these problems exist today and prior to the legislation being amended, it will continue to pose problems.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister tell Nunavummiut that he will deliberate with the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services to try to resolve this conflict prior to the legislation being amended to accommodate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and social values?
As per my previous response, I stated that the IQ committee is an important sounding board as they provide assistance to the government.
They also provide support and recommendations to the government.
They can directly provide recommendations to me personally, as well as to my officials. We can review these recommendations; both my officials and I review these recommendations prior to the legislation being amended or enacted by this House.
We can all provide our comments to any legislation currently under review, and I can do that as well with the draft legislation being reviewed.
I request unanimous consent to return to Item 5 in the Orders of the Day.
The member is seeking unanimous consent to return to Item 5, Recognition of Visitors in Gallery, in the Orders of the Day.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome two gentlemen from my riding in Cambridge Bay and they’re well-known men in the Kitikmeot and across Nunavut.
The first individual is Dr. Charlie Evalik.
I always have a hard time calling him Dr. Charlie Evalik because I’m used to calling him Charlie.
He has his Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Alberta, my alma mater. He is also the president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and also the president of the Nunavut Resources Corporation.
The other individual I have known for many years as well is Mr. Wilf Wilcox. He’s the president of the Kitikmeot Corporation and the president of Nunasi Corporation, both two very well-known organizations that invest money for the folks in the Kitikmeot and in Nunavut.
I would like to welcome them to the Gallery. Welcome, Wilf and Charlie.
Welcome to the gentlemen to the Gallery.
We will go back to our orders of the day.
Tabled Document 271 – 3(3): Nunavut Emergency Management Annual Report 2011-2012 (Kusugak)
Hon. Lorne Kusugak: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to table the Nunavut Emergency Management Annual Report for 2011-12.
Tabled Document 272 – 3(3): Photograph of Arctic Bay Equipment Shelter (Elliott)
Tabled Document 273 – 3(3): HungerCount 2012: A Comprehensive Report on Hunger and Food Bank Use in Canada and Recommendations for Change (Elliott)
I wish to table today a photograph of the Arctic Bay Airport Equipment Shelter. A number of my colleagues have been raising concerns about the issue of design and construction of airport equipment shelters in their communities. As the minister will recall, I had sent him information on this issue in August of this year and I look forward to an update from him.
The second item, Mr. Speaker, I wish to table today a copy of a recent publication by Food Banks Canada titled “HungerCount 2012: A Comprehensive Report on Hunger and Food Bank Use in Canada and Recommendations for Change.”