EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I think that such an approach would in itself help to combat the corrosive damage that is associated with the feeling of being discriminated against.
Member’s Statement 124 – 2(1): Question on Minister Responsible for Energy
I rise today for all the people who are planning to go weekend camping. I wish them a safe trip.
My son is also planning to go out camping.
No matter where you are, whether you are in Nunavik or Labrador, I wish you a safe trip.
I also would like to thank the people who pray for us.
The reason why I rise today, Mr. Speaker… . Here it states don’t worry.
It is just perfectly clear that the government’s energy policy is a perfect mess.
Let’s start by trying to figure out who is actually in charge of energy policy in this government.
I’m going to have to apologize in advance for using so many acronyms in my statement, but it seems that acronyms are what we are best at producing.
First, we have the Premier, who is the minister responsible for the Utility Rate Review Council, the URRC — just in case you forget, write it down.
Second, we have the Minister of Energy who is responsible not only for energy, but also oil, mining, and mineral exploration, and who is responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation and Nunavut Power Corporation. Together, these are the Qulliq Energy Corporation and Nunavut Power Corporation. These acronyms are QEC and NPC.
Next, we have the Minister of Community and Government Services who is the boss of PPD.
That is Community and Government Services — the Petroleum Products Division that used to fall under Public Works, for those of us who are not fluent in that unique dialect known as Government of Nunavut Speak.
Mr. Speaker, I am requesting unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
There are no nays, Mr. Curley, please proceed.
Not to be left out there, we have the Minister of Environment who gets to provide a grant to something called, in English, the Nunavut Energy Solutions Centre or the acronym NESC.
That is a majority of the cabinet right there with some kind of energy-related responsibility. But wait, I do not want to forget the Minister of Finance.
She gets to pump millions into the Territorial Power Subsidy Program or the acronym, TPSP.
Not to mention the $10 million for the Fuel Stabilization Rider.
I am frankly surprised the remaining ministers have not complained about being left out.
Mr. Speaker, I have yet to hear a convincing explanation as to why we need to move the Petroleum Products out of government.
I am concerned that the $200,000 we’re being asked to be approved for this purpose is money well spent.
As I would say, if it is not broken, why fix it?
Member’s Statement 125 – 2(1): Fishing Industry in Pangirtung
I would like to say good morning to Kevin and my family.
At this time, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the Pangnirtung fisheries.
I am well aware that the rest of the members here would like to hear good new stories about the fisheries project in Pangnirtung.
Since the 80s we have had fishermen who go turbot fishing on the ice, and they worked extremely hard to keep it a viable business.
They received subsidies from the governments and employ approximately 50 employees in the winter to do the actual turbot fishing. And again, we have that same amount of people who process the fish at the fish plant.
So, we are looking at 100 employed individuals, all from Pangnirtung, who make their money from fishing. It is something that we are very proud of.
However, Mr. Speaker, external issues are arising to affect the fisheries.
Many people in Pangnirtung have worked hard to maintain this industry and so are very concerned about some of these issues.
I rise today to inform my colleagues that I will work extremely hard to keep the fisheries project going.
It creates employment and economic development.
I rise today to voice my concerns on behalf of the people of Pangnirtung, including various businesses involved in this industry, and I would also like to thank Mr. Tootoo for Iqaluit Centre who was able to get this discussion going.
Member’s Statement 126 – 2(1): Baker Lake Dog Team Race
I would like to take this opportunity to represent the people of Baker Lake and also to congratulate them.
Just last week there was a dog team race and that was the very first time my father was the first one to come in and I congratulate him.
He is one of the elders of Baker Lake and I was able to watch the race, as I got there in time.
It was a very happy event.
This week the women got to have a two-day dog team race and my wife won the race.
It is something that I am extremely proud of even though I wasn’t able to be there.
I would like to congratulate them all and I would like to thank my two sons, Darryl and Craig, for helping their mother with the race.
Member’s Statement 127 – 2(1): Renaming of Cambridge Bay to its Original Name
Mr. Peterson: Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for being late.
I was delivering a box of turbot to the airport for some friends to take back to Cambridge Bay, courtesy of the Premier, for intersettlement trade today.
I rise today on behalf of the elders of Cambridge Bay to thank the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth for listening and acting on their concerns.
It was over 150 years ago when an explorer first arrived in Cambridge Bay and decided to name the local lake Freshwater Lake.
It was referred to by that name by southern folks for the next 90 years.
In the 1940s, an American airforce colonel decided to have the local lake named after him.
An emergency mission to rescue six soldiers allowed him to convince the government official in Ottawa to name the local lake after him.
That’s how it became Grenier Lake.
Almost another 60 years passed before the elders of Cambridge Bay had a chance to convince Government of Nunavut officials that the lake should be named Ekaloktotiak.
Mr. Speaker, I had a meeting in which nearly every elder in Cambridge Bay was in attendance.
The elders at the hamlet council wrote a letter to the Government of Nunavut on their behalf to express their wish for the lake to be officially known by its traditional name.
During that meeting the elders told us that they were tired of people from other places naming their local lakes and geographic features after themselves.
The support of the minister and the Government of Nunavut for the elders of Cambridge Bay… . Yesterday’s good news and announcement is a great way to end the week to show that the voice of the people can be heard, despite red tape and bureaucratic hurdles.
The renaming of the lake to Ekaloktotiak is an achievement in perseverance of the elders.
And, in keeping with the spirit of Bathurst Mandate, the people come first.
Mr. Alagalak (interpretation): Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the individuals over there from Arviat.
They both work for Housing Corporation and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome to the gallery Abraham Tagalik, we just call him DJ, from Arviat.
Question 129 – 2(1): Summer Student Hiring Delays
I know that the ministers and members will recall earlier in this session I was asking the minister about the summer student hiring program and he had indicated that it would take some non-beneficiary students a little more time to get hired for positions.
I would just like to ask the minister… . I was talking to one student yesterday and he had indicated that he has been phoning every day for over a month now. I am just wondering if that is a normal practice, that a student has been asking over a month to get a job in the staff, and what the delays are in being able to find employment for the students.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister of Human Resources. Mr. Tapardjuk.
In regards to the questions that are posed by the member in regards to the summer student program, we have made a request to the regions and asked if they would have summer students employed in their businesses.
After the approval of the cabinet this program is ongoing, and in some of the regions and under Article 23, they are still waiting for employment.
If that is the case, we know that there are many non-beneficiaries in Nunavut who are seeking summer employment, and because of that we are currently working on a program or an opportunity for the non-beneficiaries to be in employment. We will be putting this out as a pilot project, following the same guidelines.
Nunavut beneficiaries were given a priority, and then we will include the non-beneficiaries as a second priority. I would like to say that in the very near future, we will be dealing with this matter, and we will be asking the regional governments how many positions they have.
To date, Mr. Speaker, we are currently working on this issue and we do have a slight delay, but we are working on rectifying the problem.
I will be making an announcement in the near future about this program and give you an update this coming month.
We will give you the number, and if all of the positions will be manned, or if we will fill the positions.
I acknowledge the minister’s comments that this is something that wasn’t thought of and that they are trying to rectify it.
Given that with the current program, that students sometime only have a few months in order to try and earn some money to help put them through the following year of their continuing education.
There’s the case I mentioned about a student that had to wait a month, and they are coming up with another program to try and address that issue.
If there is something that can be done in the meantime… .
How many summer student jobs does the government have?
And how many of them are filled by beneficiaries? If they know how many they are going to have they can say OK, a certain percentage are going to go to beneficiaries and we have x number of positions that are open to anyone, non-beneficiaries, and that can help and put people in these positions as soon as possible and not waiting around for a month trying to find work.
I’d like to ask the ministers how many summer student positions has the government allocated for this summer?
To date we’ll have 27 positions currently identified in the regions, and we still have 7. I’m not quite sure yet, but I will give you an update on it later on today.
I would also like to say that this has been approved and it is pending at the end of August.
In September, we will know how the program runs and what types of problems we’ve had over the summer and how we can make changes to it in order to have it run smoother the following year.
Of course, like everything new, there are glitches, and I would like to assure the member that I will give you an update on how the program went in the fall.
Second supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
I appreciate the willingness of the minister to look into it and try and address some of the issues.
The 27 positions that the minister has stated are available for summer students, roughly 8 of them would then be open to non-beneficiary students. I’d just like to ask the minister: do they have those eight positions filled by non-beneficiaries if they have enough applicants to fill those positions? And if so, where are they?
Hon. Louis Tapardjuk (interpretation): I’m not really sure.
We have a number in place. There would have to be 85 percent for beneficiary employment.
But, for the summer student positions I cannot really state at this time how many we would have open for non-beneficiaries and beneficiaries.
Last year it was 70 percent beneficiaries and 30 percent non-beneficiaries that were included for summer employment.
I don’t think at this time that it is appropriate for me to put in a figure, because the departments of government, or the regional offices will have to look into how many applicants are beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.
I will get back to the member after I consult with my department.
As I said, I recognize the fact that government wants to try and meet its Article 23 obligations and have 85 percent Inuit employment.
I would like to commend the department for having 70 percent Inuit employment last year.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, it is much higher than a lot of the departments have right now.
I would just like to commend them on that.
The minister stated earlier that this is a new program.
My understanding is that this summer student program is something that has been going on for some time now.
Every year you will recall it happening — last year and the year before.
I am just wondering if you can explain why all of a sudden it is a new program, and basically by stating that, is he stating that non-beneficiary students this year are just going to have to wait until next year when things get ironed out, that they are able to get employment.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister Tapardjuk.
What we are doing at this time… . There was an agreement made in March 2003 by the cabinet on summer student employment.
Summer employment for students in Nunavut… . I think that in 2002 it was started, but for this year we had an agreement in March, and that is what we are following.
We will continue on with that, and in the fall we will find out how to make improvements on it.
We will try to make improvements each year, depending on the information that we get in the fall, to hire summer students in the departments of the government.
I feel that we would like to continue on with this, this hiring students.
So the agreement that we have in place, right now, is from March 2004.
Question 130 – 2(1): Housing Shortage
In my member’s statement earlier, I said that I would ask a question to the minister of housing.
We all have heard about the 126 people on the waiting list in Arviat.
There is going to be a fourplex built, but it has already been filled even before the building is complete.
One hundred and twenty-two are still going to be on the waiting list, possibly more, because the population in Arviat is growing very rapidly.
I would like to say that decentralization is part of the problem of population growth.
So, when the government sees a number of people on the waiting list for housing, do you make any consideration as to what steps you are going to be doing?
Speaker (interpretation): The minister responsible for housing, Minister Kilabuk.
I would like to let the member know that as government, we are very concerned about the people on the waiting list for housing.
What we hear about is how many people are on the waiting list and then we don’t really get the full information.
Because of the lack of housing in the communities some of them do not even want to put their names on the list, since they know that they will be waiting for a long time.
I would like to assure the member that we have tried every avenue to help the people who do not have a job.
I think there are about three thousand people that need housing in various communities.
So, if they were to give us three thousand houses, then we would be caught up.
Looking at the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation and Housing Corporation, what we did was we planned to work together to make sure that we build more housing.
As well, NTI will be involved in helping us or working with it.
We will work along with NTI and to talk with the federal government to stress the lack of housing. Again, we would also like to work with the Inuit secretariat, which was announced recently, to bring about more housing for Nunavut communities.
And Mr. Speaker, lastly, we are doing our very best to try and get more housing for the people of Nunavut in communities. We will be building 88 new housing units this year.
Yes, it is very good to hear that there are going to be 88 new units, but if it is just going to go to all of the communities, not just to Arviat… .
I want to say, in the smaller communities, a lot of people look for employment and they are not given work when there is contract work given out in the communities.
I would like to ask the minister if they had considered taking more out of a smaller community to a larger community, even though you are not going to do it yearly, to consider planning to put more houses in where they are most needed and take them from the smaller communities to larger communities.
Has that been considered by the department?
Yes, there are a lot of things that I have considered, or that we have considered as a department, and I have talked to my officials on those.
Perhaps the smaller communities that do not need housing as much as the larger communities… . I recently found out that Clyde River has a very good plan in place, and being a non-decentralized community and for the… . We will recognize that there has to be some training in place for employment.
Sanikiluaq has requested that training for employment.
Mr. Speaker, those are all the types of things that we looked at as a department and we will inform the members as we make improvements on them.
Question 131 – 2(1): Plans to Expand Kugluktuk Police Detachment
The police detachment in Kugluktuk is very small.
I have been asked a number of times about when is the building going to expanded, are there any plans for the detachment, because there are about five police officers.
Whenever there are people put into a drunk tank… . That drunk tank is not very, very big.
I have worked in there a few times and it is not very comfortable.
I am just wondering if these is any plan in the future to expand the police detachment and the very small office.
When there are people put into jail, it is not very safe in there.
I have seen fights going on right in the cell there.
So, what if there is a death in the jail because the jail is very small in there.
That is why I am asking the Minister of Justice if he had any plans, and if there is going to be some expansion in that regard to the police detachment, and the jail, and the office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Speaker (interpretation): The Minister of Justice. Mr. Okalik.
We have been working on this file for a while.
When I heard about this issue, I wrote a letter to the federal government expressing our request to try and get the detachment increased in capacity.
We remain very supportive of the community in trying to get this detachment expanded to meet community needs.
So we are working with the federal government. We are trying to push them to expand this facility to the community requirements as this matter is a federal matter — all detachments are funded by the federal government.
We remain very committed in trying to help Kugluktuk on this issue.
Up to today I would like to hear from the minister: is he going to be pushing for the expansion to the police detachment?
Are you going to try and make it a priority, because we badly are in need of expansion.
This concern is going to keep coming up from my community, so I would like to know from the minister if he has any plans to expand the police detachment in Kugluktuk.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister Okalik.
I wrote a letter to the minister responsible for the federal government, Ms. Anne McLellan.
I haven’t received a response on this issue yet.
We are all aware that the federal government is in the midst of an election.
It might be a while before the election is over, the end of June.
So, it is difficult for me to commit.
I will continue to press this matter with the national government, but we all are aware that the election tends to slow down responses from the federal government.
Question 132 – 2(1): Update on Airport Safety Issues
My question is for the minister responsible for transportation and airports.
The minister will recall earlier this session I asked about some of the decaying conditions of our airport here in Iqaluit.
As I recall, about three years ago there was a study done that identified some changes that would be required to be made because of new federal regulations; it also identified some safety concern and issues of the existing airport facility here in Iqaluit.
Last year I asked the government when we would see some changes happen to address some of those issues, and they indicated that it was going to be put on the table with the federal government under the funding for that.
I ask the minister today where things are at with that and when can we expect to see some of these issues and concerns addressed.
Yes, the repairs will be made this coming spring. The airport in Iqaluit needs to be fixed and so it will be fixed and expanded this coming spring, with room for equipment such as navigational equipment.
We will be provided funding from the federal government for that.
It’s good to hear that after three years, finally the federal government is coming up with some money for addressing some of those issues.
I believe the issue that the minister talked about deals strictly more with regulatory changes and that.
I also understand there were some safety concerns with the location of the terminal building, and the size of the apron, and the approach.
Everyone knows the airport here is one of the busiest ones in Canada, if you look at the number of flights that come through here.
I’d just like to ask the minister, is any of this stuff going to be looked at as well with the federal funding that’s going to come forward this spring?
The work I mentioned earlier is going to address the Canadian Air Transport Authority security requirements.
That work is being done this summer as I mentioned.
Moving the location to apron 1, as was recommended in the Iqaluit airport master plan…. The feasibility that was done on that, the estimated cost on all of that, is about forty million dollars.
Funding is not currently identified in the Government of Nunavut capital plan.
But, this project has been identified as the number one priority in the airports for Nunavummiut and Their Economy, an airport investment strategy for Nunavut.
That was done in 2003.
We are still working with the federal government to see if we can find the necessary funding to do all of this work at the Iqaluit airport.
I acknowledge the cost factor involved on such an undertaking and also acknowledge the limited resources that the territory has to address our capital issues.
I think that we know airports are a federal responsibility, as the minister indicated.
But, does he have any indication as to whether the federal government is going to be looking at putting this as a priority on their funding dollars, for these types of projects to go ahead as soon as possible?
Are there any talks underway between his officials and their counterparts in the federal government?
My officials and their federal government counterparts have been working together and discussing this matter continually as to how there will be provided additional funding.
If I can include in the argument to federal government that has been raised that there are safety concerns and I think that we can’t afford to wait until an accident happens before fixing something.
I know that there has been a number of close calls at the airport over the last couple of years and we certainly don’t want to wait until a disaster happens before anything is done.
So, would the minister be willing to commit to corresponding this very quickly to his federal counterparts or their officials, as the Premier indicated about elections going on.
So, we have to deal with the bureaucrats in Ottawa, instead of political leaders, to try and address these issues as quickly as possible before a disaster does happen.
As I mentioned, my officials are in constant contact with officials in Ottawa.
This is a top priority.
But, yes, I will commit to pursuing that even harder.
Question 133 – 2(1): Power Bills in Inuktitut
I would like to direct my question to the Minister for Nunavut Power Corporation, although this question was previously asked, in regards to monthly bills.
Currently the monthly bills for power continue to be written only in English.
It’s been I don’t know how many years that the Nunavut government owns that NPC.
Its been too long now that these power bills have been given out to the clients only in English.
When do you plan to see them in Inuktitut?
In April, we started using the new computer program at NPC, and they can now provide Inuktitut in their computer. This coming spring we expect to see the power bills in Inuktitut, English, and French.
It should be starting this coming spring.
Question 134 – 2(1): Arctic Bay Proposed Hotel
I would like to direct my question to the same minister, Mr. Simailak.