EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
We approached NTI on how best to organize this task force and who should be on it, should it be from the government or from the Inuit.
How are we going to set up the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and what kind of Task Force we would need to work on the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
Before this Task Force is selected, we will be informed as to who will be on the Task Force.
Are they going to be selected from the government or from the public.
We are aware that NTI will also select the people that they want to see on the Task Force.
This is how it is now.
I believe I answered the question.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if I understood what the Minister said, but I believe earlier on that the departments selected some individuals to be on a Task Force and then on the end he said that they are still haven’t formed this Task Force yet.
So, maybe I’ll just ask, has this Task Force been established yet.
Mr. Speaker, we haven’t yet selected the Task Force and we will let you know. (interpretation ends) We are working on this Task Force along with NTI so we can appoint someone from the Nunavut Government, Legislative Assembly, or from the general public and also the NTI will appoint their own to the Task Force.
Right now they are still discussing it at this point.
Mr. Speaker, again my question is to the Minister responsible for Culture, Language, Elders & Youth.
If I understand him correctly, this is a joint Task Force between his department and NTI, and it has been something they have been talking about since last fall.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the Minister if he has any idea of what the mandate or timeframe of this Task Force is to be.
In regards to what the timeframe is, I will be handing this information to the Task Force, but in the meantime there is no Task Force selected.
I like the idea of the timeframe that you mentioned, I will inform you again as soon as we have set up our format for working in the future.
Maybe Mr. Speaker, my question wasn’t clear the first time.
I guess I’m confused.
Earlier the Minister indicated to the other member that he was awaiting a response from a Task Force to be able to provide him with a timeframe as to when, he said when the Task Force gives me its recommendations, to the member then he would be able to respond to the member, and now I have heard that the Task Force isn’t even formed yet.
I am just wondering, I’m confused, maybe if some clarification on that if we can check, I believe that is the understanding that I heard earlier.
So maybe some clarification there.
Before I said the Task Force is still under review right now, nobody was appointed.
I keep saying that, and also I replied that NTI and us would be working to appoint people for the Task Force.
That is what I kept saying earlier to your question, I keep answering your question.
We will be working with NTI and also the elders, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, so if we hear I will let the committee know.
Question 248 - 1(3): Insurance for Social Assistance Recipients
Mr. Speaker, I might make my question long, but I will try to keep it as brief as possible.
This question is for the Minister of Social Services.
My question is going to be coming from the understanding that I got from my community.
We have, instead of getting monthly social assistance, they are put to work.
My concern is that it might become a safety issue.
If one of these social recipients should get hurt, can you tell us what the status is today.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Minister of Education, Mr. Arvaluk.
Hon. James Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Speaker, I will take it as notice.
Question 249 - 1(3): Payment Process for Social Assistance
I would like to ask another question then to the Minister of Social Services.
Social recipients are supposed to get a cheque once a month, and they are having a hard time making ends meet when they get a cheque once a month, and it is creating a hardship among the people of Nunavut.
Is there a possibility of reviewing the whole process so that you could make it easier for the social recipients.
Could the member rephrase his question and be specific.
Could you clarify your question please, Mr. Member.
Speaker (interpretation): I’ll give you the opportunity then Mr. Iqaqrialu to rephrase your question.
Thank you Mr. Minister Arvaluk.
People who are out in the workforce get paid every two weeks.
The people who are on social assistance are paid once per month.
To make it easier on these people is it possible for them to get bi-weekly cheques.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It depends on the individual’s circumstances.
Some of the social recipients get weekly cheques if they are not managing their money properly.
Some are good and get a cheque bi-weekly, I don’t know why they don’t get them on Saturday, but they now get them on Friday, possibly because the government employees don’t work on Saturdays.
Some of the recipients get them once per month, but the majority of the people get them biweekly, and those with poor management with many children get a cheque weekly, it depends on the individual recipient.
I would like to ask my question then to the same Minister of Education.
There are some recipients who owe money to the Department of Social Services, I don’t know how, they have no idea why they owe money to Social Services.
And they’re paying for their debts.
Could you give an explanation Mr. Minister.
We are presently using the Government of the Northwest Territories policies.
If a recipient works casually, or if they have gone fishing, or if they have not reported any income, they will end up owing at the end of the year. Or if they haven’t reported any income, any income that they did get. I would like to know why the member is asking these questions, and be specific about his questions, so I would have a response.
But usually, if a recipient doesn’t report an income, then it becomes an, they’ll have to return it.
Well in my community we are not informed why we have to pay back the monies to Social Services.
It doesn’t seem like anybody knows why we’re paying money back, or maybe it was an error on the department’s part.
The ordinary people who don’t know anything about the polices, or why they have to return some money to the department, and I think that they should know why they are paying back money to the department.
Unless the Minister of Education would like to respond.
I didn’t hear a question, but I seem to be getting the feeling that the member is giving us direction to look into the matter.
I could look into it, possibly it would even be better that as he is a member of the Legislative Assembly, he could have investigated the matter and let me know.
I’ll get them to look into it and I’ll write him a letter, and let him know why they’re paying the money back.
We’ll take a brief twenty-minute break.
>>House recessed at 3:40 p.m. and resumed at 4:10 p.m.
Speaker (interpretation): Going back to the orders of the day, Item 7 Written questions.
Written Question 06 - 1(3): Culture, Language, Elders & Youth Funding Programs  Written Question 07 - 1(3): Department of Justice Funding Programs
Written Question 08 - 1(3): Community Government & Transportation Funding Programs
Written Question 09 - 1(3): Health & Social Services Funding Programs
Written Question 10 - 1(3): Sustainable Development Funding Programs  Written Question 11 - 1(3): Education Funding Programs
I have written questions, although the person I’m going to ask is not here.
My question is directed to the Minister of Culture, Language, Elders & Youth, in regards to community based funding programs and application processes.
With respect to the fiscal years 1997, 98, 99 and 1999-2000 to date.
What programs in the department require individual community governments or organizations to submit applications in order to be considered for funding.
Which of these programs use funding formula at the beginning of the new fiscal year, to allocate the amount of funding that each community will generally be entitled to apply for.
What were the funding allocations made for each Nunavut community at the beginning of each of the past two fiscal years and the current year for each such program.
What specific outreach efforts were made to ensure that the communities and specific organizations within the communities were made aware of the funding eligibility and how to apply.
Were application procedures and forms available in Inuktitut for each of these programs.
What specific community development efforts were made in each community so that someone personally worked with the community or groups within the community to assist in the development of funding applications under each of these programs.
How many communities submitted applications for these funding programs, but did not receive funding.
For each funding program, which communities did not submit applications.
And programs where preliminary allocations were made for each community, how many communities lapse their funding and was it reallocated to another community or purpose at the end of the fiscal year.
How much funding was given out under each of the funding programs in this department for each community in Nunavut.
I will be asking the same written questions to these ministers, Minister of Culture, Language, Elders & Youth, Minister of Community Government and Transportation, Minister for Health and Social Services, Minister for Sustainable Development and Minister for Education.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that my questions be recorded as read.
And Mr. Speaker, I ask that my written questions be responded to in a written response.
Replies to Opening Address. Mr. Tootoo.
Mr. Speaker, my reply to the opening address is a little lengthy, and I apologize for that up front.
But as regular members we don’t have, we have to take advantage of every opportunity we can to express our concerns and issues for the record.
Mr. Speaker, as I reflect on my first year in office, as MLA for Iqaluit Centre, I am pleased with many issues that have been addressed in Nunavut over the past year, but concerned that much more progress needs to be made in other areas.
When I ran for office, I committed to work hard to hold the government accountable and to pursue the key issues of housing, education and healthcare.
The commitment I made to demand more openness and accountability in government has meant that I have asked a lot of questions.
This may not have pleased everybody.
But I am getting a good response from constituents.
This is the first time that Iqaluit has been represented by more than one MLA.
My two colleagues from Iqaluit and the Legislative Assembly have demanding Cabinet portfolios.
I am pleased that I have been receiving lots of advice and requests for information and support from my constituents.
I don’t dwell on whether people live in the geographical boundaries of my constituency or not, I am open to anyone in Iqaluit.
I believe that in my fast growing community, we must all work together.
I value the times that I have been able to collaborate with Mr. Picco and Mr. Okalik on issues concerning our constituency.
This past year has been hectic.
Committee work has been demanding.
I was pleased with the rigor and openness in reviewing candidates for several statutory appointments made by the Legislative Assembly including the Languages Commissioner, the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Acting Conflict of Interest Commissioner.
I have also had the privilege of travelling around the north.
Everywhere I go I hear the same priorities and concerns.
These demands have meant that I have not had much time, as I would like to have spent in my own constituency, but I plan to spend more time there this coming year.
One of the concerns I hear everywhere is our government’s ability to do the job.
The Throne Speech describes the transition to Nunavut as astoundingly smooth and says that credit must be given for the hard work required to make this happen.
I absolutely agree that our public servants have worked very hard to ensure that core programs and services are being delivered.
But at every turn I hear that we as a government lack the capacity.
While I agree that not having a fully staffed government presents tremendous challenges, we cannot allow ourselves to rely on this as an excuse.
In housing Mr. Speaker, I look at housing as an area of top priority for our government.
I have watched the capital and O&M budgets for housing being reduced to roughly half of their former levels at the very time when it has been identified as one of the two core priorities.
Right now the Baffin District Office of the Housing Corporation is at roughly half of its regular capacity and that has been the case for some time.
It seems that many very important housing programs have been reduced and starved.
Routine maintenance budgets are down and the money to undertake major preventative maintenance for our ageing housing stock is no longer there.
When I look at the journey taken by many of these employees through the transition to Nunavut, I can see why we have lost capacity and good staff.
First there was the well-intended move to achieve greater efficiency by integrating housing with the Department of Community Government & Transportation.
A lot of key people and positions were lost in this transition.
Then in another well-intentioned effort to refocus resources, certain responsibilities were shifted to Public Works, Telecommunications & Technical Services.
I think it would be fair to say that the results were chaotic.
As I said in my reply to the budget address last May, I was concerned that we would have fragmented delivery of housing programs when Community Government & Transportation was responsible for certain aspects but Public Works, Telecommunications & Technical Services was responsible for another part of it, Human Resources for the staff housing issue, and Finance yet another.
Housing programs are simply not functioning.
We examined these problems openly, candidly and in detail in the committee of the whole for several days last year.
I expressed my view that there was historically a good reason for establishing a separate housing capacity in government in the early 1970’s.
At the time housing programs were fragmented and dysfunctional.
When buried in a larger department, housing tends to take a back seat.
Now there are indications of a stand alone Nunavut Housing Corporation that will be created.
A new President has been hired.
I believe that with the priority we have all placed on housing in our government, public housing, homeownership programs and technical support services for the communities should all be under one roof.
I would like to commend the regular members of this Assembly for not losing sight of the priority of housing.
I am happy that the Standing Committee called a special meeting last fall and agreed that it was critical that the new housing units should be built using this year’s anticipated surplus.
One of the consequences of the priorities placed by regular members on housing was the creation of the Minister’s Task Force on Housing.
I am pleased to be a member of that Task Force.
The Task Force has worked hard to submit its interim report before Christmas.
The report made one basic recommendation that time is short, build 100 public housing units this coming summer.
The Task Force made recommendations on the size of units, two bedroom units, based on what we knew of community needs.
We also recommended allocations based on the needs information that was available.
I believe the clear theme of the interim report of the Task Force was urgency.
As we said in December, in the Task Force interim report, the Hon. Manitok Thompson, Minister of Public Works and Housing has made a commitment to build new public housing in the summer of 2000.
In order to build those units, decisions need to be taken now regarding what and where to build to ensure that lot preparations, and the ordering of materials and the actual building of new units occurs in time for this coming summer.
I say let’s get on with it.
I quite frankly I can’t understand why the government is not coming forward with plans to build these houses now using our budget surplus if necessary.
I expected something would show up in the supplementary estimates that were recently approved.
Why do we have to wait for the budget session.
We have all agreed that housing is a key priority.
It’s in the Bathurst Mandate.
The NWT Housing Corporation had a two year budget cycle for planning and building new social housing and homeownership units, which worked well in Nunavut with the sealift schedule.
Now we have a very short window of time to get things happening before sealift.
Planning, tendering, site preparation and selection and construction.
I am getting very worried that we are running out of time.
If we do run out of time before the new building season, then let’s at least do something.
Let’s provide our communities more support for housing through our local housing authorities and associations.
We know they are seriously underfunded.
There are other areas of housing which need attention.
For example, we need a comprehensive housing community needs assessment.
The last survey was done in 1996 and there have been questions asked about whether it was done properly.
I am sure that if an idea like this were to come forward in a supplementary estimate it would be welcomed and I think the time for talk is over.
Let’s do something.
The importance of education, Mr. Speaker.
Education is a huge department.
Education is a key to achieving life long opportunities.
I believe the earlier we teach our children the better.
What it means for our society is that many of the problems that we are facing can be avoided if we provide critical learning and life skills to our children in their early years.
I believe these are fundamental questions we must address in Nunavut.
How can we enhance our Early Childhood Education programs.
How can we better support and enhance child care programs as quality programs that will assist in the development of our young children.
I know the Minister of Education has been occupied on the issue of internal restructuring, which has resulted from the dissolution of the Divisional Boards of Education.
As I said in the budget session last year, I don’t believe that many of our constituents are overly concerned with this organizational issue.
What they want to know is how the education system will improve and become more efficient and effective in Nunavut.
They want to know how soon one of the Bathurst Inlet Mandate goals, namely improving the student teacher ratios, will be achieved.
They want to know when we will have a trade school in Nunavut so our apprentices won’t have to go so far away for training. They want to know how we can strengthen our academic programs, reduce our drop out rate.
They want to know when we can provide meaningful, effective training to many of our citizens who want to grow personally and become self-sufficient.
They need to know that funding arrangements for the schools will be changed so that these types of trades programs will be provide on an ongoing, predictable basis.
So Mr. Speaker, now that the transition away from the Divisional Boards is about to conclude, I would challenge the Minster to develop a plan and a timetable for how our education system can be strengthened.
I know that the Minister has developed short term amendments to the Education Act and is working in consultation with many stakeholders on fundamental changes to the Education Act for Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to say amending the Education Act is unimportant, I know that amending the Act is significant and we’ll want to make sure that we have a full opportunity to carefully study the proposed amendments as will the Nunavut Social Development Council.
However, with all respect to lawyers and policy makers, Mr. Speaker, amending the Education Act does not mean that things will get better.
It takes more than amending the Act to ensure that Inuktitut become integrated into the classroom and the curriculum.
It will take more than changing the law to deal effectively with the issues that are everyone’s concern, such as class sizes, improving academic success and reducing teacher turnover.
I think this is at the root of the concerns of the Nunavut Social Development Council, being left out of what they consider a process of meaningful consultation on the new Education Act.
The Nunavut Social Development Council has a mandate under the Land Claim Agreement, to participate in the design of new programs affecting people.
As I said in my member’s statement earlier in this session, the Nunavut Social Development Council wants to participate in considering the fundamentals of our approach to Education, not just being given a chance to review clauses and sections of the Act.
We need more than structural change and even amended legislation to make a difference.
Let us look at reform of programs or creating new programs.
Let us not be afraid to do things differently.
For example, if in these times of capital dollar shortages we are looking for places to offer Early Childhood Education programs or child care programs, maybe we can appropriately place some of those programs in our schools.
So much of our future depends on how we provide support and inspiration to our children in their formative years.
Yet the child care policy inherited from the GNWT and applied in Nunavut seems to be starving the few child care centres which are operational in Nunavut and making it difficult for desperately needed new ones to come into being, given that we are decentralizing many positions and families to our smaller communities and given the demographic realities of Nunavut.
This is a critical issue.
As I said in my member’s statement last week, looking at the pressures on every childcare centre in Iqaluit, let’s make sure these very important programs succeed.
Let’s take immediate steps to provide more support for Early Childhood Education.
We need to begin training northern residents to become childcare workers.
We need to overhaul and enhance our policies for grants and contributions for non-profit child care societies.
The good news is that our legislature and our government have signalled that education will be one of the two core priorities of our new government.
Now we need to figure out how we can make a difference, now we have to figure out how we can make it better and this work is urgent.
I will not offer a detailed prescription for our ailing education system today, Mr. Speaker, however I would urge the Minister to make changes happen.
I wish him to be bold and I wish him to be creative.
He must not be afraid to do things differently.
I am confident that the support will be there from our legislature if the Minister can develop new and better programs aimed at improving our education system in Nunavut.
My constituents tell me that is something that has to change.
Improving Health & Social Services Mr. Speaker.
I am encouraged that we have made some progress in Health & Social Services.
The Nunavut Nursing Program has started and new financial incentives are in place to attract and retain nurses.
The Minister of Finance told us earlier in this session that even as we speak, service agreements are being negotiated and finalized which will allow further work to continue on our planned new Baffin Regional Hospital.
Our region has been waiting for this facility since before the health transfer in 1988.
The present facility is now becoming acutely overcrowded and the regional hospital is unable to deal with a number of important and growing medical needs ranging from safe protective custody for mental patients who might be in danger to themselves, to isolation wards for those with contagious illnesses, to proper space for physical therapy and other rehabilitation.
A new hospital should allow more procedures to happen closer to home in our region rather than sending people south on expensive medical travel.
We have to make sure this one is done right because it is going to have to last a long time.
We have to make sure we continue to make progress with the new hospital.
We spend 20 million dollars a year on medical travel.
We have to find ways to reduce this onerous expense.