EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I would like to recognize a couple, Willie Adams and his wife Mary.
Willie has known me since I was a child when I was attending school in Churchill, Manitoba. He has lived in Rankin Inlet, so he is representing Rankin Inlet as a Senator in Ottawa.
I know his family very well and he is also a friend of my husband’s, so I’m grateful that they’re friends.
I forgot some of the names of the Senators.
I would also like to recognize them as our visitors to this House. I would also like to recognize my friend, Janet.
I welcome everyone to the Gallery.
Member for Tunnuniq... I’m sorry.
I was going to also make a Speaker’s Caution. Before we proceed with Oral Questions, I wish to remind all members of the importance of correct parliamentary form during our proceedings.
Members should refrain from the use of the word, “You.” Members should, instead, refer to “The Minister” or “The Member.”
Question 367 – 2(4): Portion of $242 Million for Community Docks (Arvaluk)
I’ll try and be very aware of your caution.
I would like to ask the Minister of Finance as per my Member’s Statement that I made earlier.
He probably recalls and knows that the Liberal Government introduced $40 million to be used for marine infrastructure in Nunavut.
However, they were defeated before that came about.
Following my Member’s Statement, I would like to ask a question. The $242 million that is being transferred from the federal government to the Government of Nunavut, is it going to be used for docks?
The question is directed to the Minister of Finance, Minister Tapardjuk.
From my understanding, are they going to use the $242 million for ports in Nunavut?
It was stated in Nunatsiaq News that the bridge at the Sylvia Grinnell River will be built this summer among other projects such as runway upgrades.
Were those written in the media without consulting with the government first?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The member asked if the $242 million was going to be used for docks and I replied that it will not.
However, it will be divided amongst different things and this will be handled by the Department Community and Government Services.
If he wants to ask questions with regards to docks, the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation is responsible for that and would be in a better position to respond.
The $242 million that he mentioned will be managed by CGS. I understand what his question is: will the $242 million be used for docks?
No. That was my response because that $242 million will not be used just for docks; it will be used for different things.
Maybe if I ask another question to the Minister of Finance.
I didn’t ask if the entire $242 million would be used for docks; I asked if part of that funding would be used. I think I have the opportunity to ask now: has the $242 million already been planned for what it will be used for?
Is it for the planning of the bridge at the Sylvia Grinnell River?
In my Budget Address, I stated that we want to work with all of the members when we are making plans because it will be handled by the Department of Community and Government Services.
With regards to the funding, we clearly identified that we will have to revisit the Five-Year Capital Plan to determine how we can better plan it.
With regards to the docks, the Minister responsible for DFO would be in a better position to respond, but as I stated earlier, we haven’t made any plans on how we will spend that funding as we will need some feedback from Members of this House.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Legislative Assembly will most likely sit in the springtime.
If we have a sitting then, will there be any planning done before springtime, with our participation, on how they will divide that funding for capital projects?
We have been dealing with the funding for docking facilities for some time now and the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation is responsible for that.
As we are in the planning stage, we will have to refer to the Five-Year Capital Plan.
We will have to consult with the departments and with our colleagues, and we will follow the usual procedure for capital projects.
We will be given an opportunity, but as it is right now, I cannot say exactly what that funding will be used for because we are still in the planning stages.
We will have to revisit the capital budget that will be approved and I know it’s going to be quite a task but we will definitely start doing that, Mr. Speaker.
Question 368 – 2(4): Residential Schools (Curley)
Mr. Speaker, a number of Nunavummiut who attended residential schools, whether they went to Iqaluit, Yellowknife, or Fort Churchill, are now facing difficulties in claiming their common experience payments because of lost or missing school records, or they can’t find their information.
That’s what the federal government is saying.
While I recognize that the Government of Nunavut does not have the jurisdictional responsibility for administering the residential school settlement process, I believe that we have a moral responsibility to do what we can to assist former students wherever possible.
Can the minister tell the House today, in detail, what steps the Department of Education is taking to work with its counterparts in the NWT, Manitoba and other provinces to help former residential school students to locate their records so that they can obtain the compensation to which they are entitled?
It’s the federal government’s responsibility on the residential school settlement program.
However, we do believe we have a role to play in Nunavut. We have been contacted through the minister’s office to provide assistance, in particular, for example, at the Churchill Vocational School, to help provide records and so on. We have done that.
We have helped facilitate information flow between students that have contacted our office through the Department of Education and through the minister’s office, and helped them receive the information that was needed so they can actually qualify or quantify their case.
I just wanted to ask so that the information is clear that even though some information has been found, according to the federal government, the first year of their attendance is found but the second and third years are missing, but that’s a little hard to believe, Mr. Speaker.
They’re probably not willing to pay the students and so on.
My first supplementary is that it has come to my attention that a number of students who attended the Churchill Vocational Centre are facing difficulties in obtaining sufficient evidence of their attendance to claim their common experience payment. Can the minister commit to me and to this House that he will communicate this concern to his counterpart in Winnipeg and work towards addressing this issue?
The common experience payment for residential school survivors has been facilitated through the federal government.
What we have done and what the federal government has done, because of the issues raised by the member and by other people over the last several months, is that they have actually, not watered down, but they have actually made it easier to prove that you were actually a student in a school.
So for example, Mr. Speaker, if you can provide a copy of a yearbook where your picture was there, you have anecdotal information from other people that you were a student with who will attest that you were actually in the school and so on. So they have tried to move in that way.
From our office, what we have done is when requests have been made to the department and to the minister’s office, we have also contacted the other jurisdictions, in this case, the jurisdiction of Manitoba, to make sure and to ensure, where possible, we’re able to help the student provide the information that they were actually a student at the school.
Mr. Speaker, I can say with some confidence that we have not been in a position yet where we haven’t been able to provide that information and help provide that information so that a student could not get the payment that was due to them.
There are a lot of former students who need assistance and they don’t have access to libraries and such.
I believe the federal government or governments have them in archives and some of those former students cannot obtain lawyers; I think they can be helped by the minister.
Maybe if they can provide an affidavit or if my name was changed; those are the obstacles that they are facing.
Can the minister tell me what assistance is available for those, maybe along with the assistance of NTI, because they have a timeline before the expiration date?
Again, we don’t administer the program. What we’re suggesting is that if there are Nunavut residents who have had problems having facilitation put in place so that they can actually apply for the program and have been refused because they haven’t had the backup documentation proving that they were actually in the given school, then we will help and assist them to get that information where we can.
The system is not so onerous that you would have to hire a lawyer.
What the program calls for on the common experience payment is proof that you actually attended that school and they have, as I said earlier, tried to make it not as onerous so that it’s easier to facilitate and to apply.
Again, we would like to thank the member for raising the question and we can get it out in this forum that if there are individuals in Nunavut who have attended a residential school, who have had problems getting the information that they need, they can contact the Department of Education and contact the minister’s office.
We provide services in Inuktitut and English and we can help them try to secure that information so that they can actually get the payment they deserve and they’re due from our federal partner.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): I thank the minister. We understand that this is the responsibility of the federal government but they’re our constituents.
It’s true that many former residential school students have proof that they went to that residential school, whether it’s in Iqaluit or Yellowknife. (interpretation ends) There’s proof that they went there.
But the onus is on the federal government to provide that record.
The federal minister has to be told that his officials are either dictating or saying that they’re amending the record to saying, “We only found partial records that you attended one year.”
So I believe, Mr. Speaker, it’s the responsibility of the minister to communicate these problems to the federal minister and he’s in the best position to do that.
Will he do so? Thank you.
Again, I thank the member for raising the issue.
As the member knows and the members know, we do have a federal MP and this is a federal matter. So through the good auspices of Ms. Karetak-Lindell, I’m sure that that type of logistical as well as financial and administrative help that the students may need we may be able to facilitate.
On this side, from the Government of Nunavut’s side, when we have been contacted, we have been able to facilitate and help. And again, our door is open to be able to help any Nunavut resident who has a common experience payment due to them to help them get that information.
But as the member has indicated, that’s a federal responsibility.
I will take it up with my federal colleague to ensure that where there are cases that there are discrepancies, that we will try to help our residents and we have been able to do that over the last several months.
Question 369 – 2(4): Fair Fishing Quotas for Nunavut (Tootoo)
Today I would like to direct my question to the Minister responsible for Economic Development and Transportation.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s Statement today, I raised an issue of the latest federal outrage with respect to fairness of Nunavut’s fishing industry.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that the stakeholders in Nunavut met with the DFO officials on February 13 of this year.
I had been informed earlier that prior to that meeting, no transfers, etcetera, or anything would be made until discussions occurred with Nunavut stakeholders.
They were told that that was the purpose of what that meeting was going to be on the 13th.
Instead, DFO officials came up here and told them that they had already transferred that quota to southern interests.
I also understand, Mr. Speaker, that a memo that was sent from DFO to the affected parties was copied to the Regional Directors for DFO in Newfoundland and Labrador, and also to the Maritime region but it wasn’t even copied to the Central and Atlantic regions, which would have allowed us to be aware of this at the time it happened.
Mr. Speaker, I think down south, they’ve almost called that... I understand the Minister responsible for Fisheries and Oceans is from Newfoundland and that’s where I understand these quotas were allocated to.
Down south, I think they would call that ‘port barrelling,’ or ‘fish netting,’ but there’s definitely something fishy going on here.
Mr. Speaker, can the minister tell the House if he has picked up the phone and contacted his federal counterpart on this matter, and if not, why not?
I wrote a letter to the minister from the federal government on January 29 and expressed to him our concerns over what he wanted to do.
I had asked that we, from Nunavut, be given the first right of refusal but he did not do that.
I understand that part of the concerns that were raised is that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had told the stakeholders in Nunavut, in the fishing industry, that they would be consulted prior to any transfers taking place.
Can the minister confirm if he checked with the officials at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to see if they had in fact had those consultations prior to that decision being made, or did they just consider contacting his office or his department as sufficient?
My officials, on February 13, were in contact with the department’s officials in Ottawa and they were stressing the fact that we were very concerned over the proposed allocations.
Mr. Speaker, we were just as shocked as the industry was when we heard that they had been allocated to a different entity.
The minister and I can understand his concern on this; I guess we should be getting used to being treated like that from Ottawa.
He had indicated, I believe earlier, that he wrote to the federal minister on January 29 and a decision was made on January 30.
When did he first become aware that this transfer was going to be made?
I believe it was on February 15 that we had heard that the minister had transferred the allocation to a different company.
I’m just wondering if the minister and the department will join in with the other stakeholders in asking the federal minister to reverse his decision and consult and look at, at least, having the opportunity for the fishing industry in Nunavut to have a chance.
Hopefully, we can get our fair share of quotas without having to go through this mess.
Will he join with NTI, the Baffin Fisheries Coalition, and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, who are all upset about this, in voicing their concern and pushing his federal counterpart to reverse their erroneous decision?
Hon. Patterk Netser: Mr. Speaker, I was looking at the time, my apologies.
Mr. Speaker, I indicated that I had written a letter to the Minister of DFO on the proposed allocations and by doing that, we believe we are on the side with the affected parties.
Mr. Speaker, I expect to be meeting with the federal minister very shortly and we are working quietly behind the scenes into making our voices heard over the affected allocations.
Question 370 – 2(4): Multi-Year Funding for Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre (Peterson)
Mr. Speaker, I have risen in the House before to raise awareness of the issues affecting the Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre as well as highlight their many excellent programs and services.
Mr. Speaker, one of the greatest issues affecting the wellness centre is the lack of a secure source of multi-year funding from the Government of Nunavut.
My question for the minister: can the minister tell the House if her department has made any progress towards developing a multi-year funding instrument that can fund the wellness centre?
That’s a very good question and I am very happy he asked me the question because it gives me an opportunity to update the members where we are at with that particular file.
I have had discussions with the federal minister, Minister Clement, in regard to the federal funding that we distribute on their behalf and I am pleased to advise the Members of this House that there’s progress in that.
We are looking at using the federal funding to develop two pilot projects in Nunavut to address the multi-year funding issues of not just Cambridge Bay but also Clyde River and working to iron out some of those challenges faced by small organizations in accessing federal funding that we administer on their behalf.
So within this month, I hope to have an announcement released with the Minister of Health Canada, Minister Clement, on those initiatives. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation with the manager of the wellness centre this morning in regard to that issue and they are still on side to be involved in assisting us to streamline some of that process, and the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay is on board in working with us to address those issues.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. Your first supplementary, Mr. Peterson.
I thank the minister for that answer; that’s very good news on the federal funding front.
I know the regional Inuit associations have had multi-year agreements in place with Human Resources Development Canada for their employment training programs for Nunavut for many years.
They have also multi-year agreements with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada funding community economic development organizations.
So they have some experience in that area.
My question for the minister; you were talking about the federal sources of funding: can the minister tell the House what Government of Nunavut policies or regulations exist that prevent the use of multi-year funding agreements with Nunavut organizations which provide essential services that the Government of Nunavut cannot provide?
The Department of Health and Social Services provides essential services as per its mandate and those are described through the business plan and main estimates process of this government.
In terms of other initiatives that are community based, those programs are currently funded through what we call Vote 4 Funding. The $14 million that we administer on behalf of Health Canada goes to various communities based on proposals. This is an area where the pilots come in.
What we’re trying to do is there are about 15 programs that total about $14 million that we administer on behalf of the federal government that we’re trying to channel to various communities to address their program needs based on community issues.
The pilot projects that we’re working on will be to try and assist those communities in the pilots that will be used to assist other communities in the development of their own wellness plans as per our Public Health Strategy.
Yes, various organizations receive base multi-year funding. What we’re talking about is that the territorial government receives those but how can we better distribute that funding to community based organizations that do not have the capacity to, on an annual basis, write proposals?
So this is a pilot that we’re working on to address, and hopefully, through the work and in partnership with the Municipality of Cambridge Bay, we’ll be able to address and assist other hamlets.
Mr. Speaker, I have met with the wellness centre directors over the years, and formerly, when I was a mayor, I was quite familiar with all of the problems of keeping a wellness centre operational. We know that they contribute to vital services to our communities.
When you have your staff writing 15 to 18 proposals a year and doing all of the accounting for all of the various organizations, it becomes quite a stressful situation. Of course, they probably don’t know from one year to the next if they’re going to remain employed if proposals aren’t written, and if they aren’t approved, and if they aren’t accounted for.
So I certainly hope the minister is successful with the pilot projects.
Mr. Speaker, the wellness centres, where they exist and I think there are only four or five in Nunavut, play a vital role in helping people with their problems.
My question for the minister: can the minister commit to using this information for the pilot projects and other information they have gathered; can she commit to developing a Wellness Centre Strategy that would guide the development and funding of wellness centres in all Nunavut communities that require one?
That’s exactly why we have initiated this whole pilot project piece. As well, the Health Integration Initiative recommendations are just that, and one of the pieces in the health integration recommendations is to streamline how we deliver programs at the community level that are funded through NTI, the territorial government, or community based organizations.
One of the challenges we are tasked with trying to address, as per those recommendations, is the funding issue.
That’s one small piece, but in addition to that, I tabled in this House the first ever Nunavut Public Health Strategy that would be used to develop community based ‘Keeping People Well’ initiatives and the funding is part of that but the two initiatives are parallel. Once we have that information, we will be able to help other communities put forth their funding piece.
So the two communities that have been discussed in regard to the site of the pilot projects have been Cambridge Bay, and that one functions under the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay, and the Clyde River project functions through a society.
So using those two models, we hope to iron out some of the funding application process and guidelines that are a challenge to them in the hopes that we can use that for other communities in the development of their wellness plan.
I certainly wish the minister a lot of success with that pilot project; I think it could have tremendous benefits for Nunavut if it succeeds.
Mr. Speaker, last September, the Cabinet announced that they directed staff to plan for an alcohol abuse treatment facility. The Hamlet of Cambridge Bay expressed their interest last October about expanding their wellness centre to become a centre of excellence, including an alcohol treatment centre for Nunavut offering their treatment programs and services to all Nunavummiut.
My question for the minister: the Department of Health and Social Services, I understand, is the lead department on that proposal or initiative; can she tell me if the department is reviewing the hamlet’s offers, and if so, when might they receive a Government of Nunavut decision?
I received a copy of that letter from the Mayor of Cambridge Bay and we are reviewing that.
I think the member will also be pleased to see that one of the priorities of the Department of Health’s Business Plan is to develop a made-in-Nunavut addictions treatment centre or program.
One of the things that we have to do in Nunavut to get that process rolling is to examine the types of programs and facilities that can be used to deliver the program, and that’s being initiated as we speak.
Yes, we have received the interest from the Municipality of Cambridge Bay to deliver such programs for consideration.
Question 371 – 2(4): Kugluktuk High School Repairs (Evyagotailak)
Mr. Speaker, I am sure that the minister has had time to have a good look at the photographs that I tabled on October 30, 2007 showing the poor conditions at the school in Kugluktuk and to review the situation.
Mr. Speaker, my question for the minister: can the minister provide an update on what has been done to date to address the problems at the Kugluktuk high school?
First of all, I want to thank the member for providing the information on the situation in the school in Kugluktuk, and as the member knows, I have had an opportunity to be in the school several times.