EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
From Taloyoak, Jenna Kaminnguaq.
From Kugluktuk, Mr. Speaker, Sandra Lyall and Tannis Bolt.
From Qangiqtugaapik, Vickie Hainnu, Clyde River.
Simon Hikinik from Gjoa Haven and Kevin Tungilik
From Kugaruuk, Norman Qarvik.
Mr. Speaker, from that beacon in the centre of Kivalliq, the hub of entrepreneurship, from Rankin Inlet, Kerry Tautuini and Kelly McLarty.
From Repulse, Denise Maliki
From Coral Harbour, Mira Netser and from Sanikiluaq, Johnny Mikijuk.
>>Applause  The people from the Walter Gordon Foundation, as well as some of the alumni and some of the chaperones and people who are actually in charge of the Nunavut Youth Abroad Program, Mr. Irving and the rest, would you please also stand up.
I would like recognize Dianne, who was in British Columbia with her program, and also Mary Jane Arngnaujuk,who was in Ontario with her program.
I would hope that, and encourage them to go abroad, really abroad, overseas somewhere next summer.
I would like to recognize three students from the Nattilingmiut Riding.
From Gjoa Haven, again, are Simon Hikiniq and Keven Tungiliq seated behind me, and Sandra Lyall from Taloyoak.
I’d like to correct the Minister of Education on some of the students from Kitikmeot communities.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize, Tannis Bolt, who is the great-granddaughter of Ikey Bolt who moved from Point Barrow, Alaska to Kugluktuk in the mid 1900’s, and also Jenna Kaminnguaq who is from Kugluktuk and also the great-granddaughter of well-known Peter Kaminnguaq, and Sandra from Taloyoak is also granddaughter of Peter Kaminnguaq.
Mr. Speaker, like the Minister of Education, I also would like to welcome all these young people to the Gallery.
I think they are involved in an excellent program.
Specifically, I would like to recognize a few people.
Not the youngest people here, I think a good example of the benefits of this program and what you can do to achieve as a result of going through a program like this, and that Ms. Letia Cousins who works in the Department of the Executive and Intergovernmenal Affairs, and also recognize Ms. Crystal Fuller, who I had the pleasure to work with when I worked for the Housing Corporation, and also curl with in one season.
We did very well that year.
I would like to welcome them both to the Gallery and everyone else.
Mr. Netser (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my younger brother’s daughter, Mira Netser.
I would like to recognize four individuals from Arviat, please stand up from Arviat.
Maria Ilangiajuk is David Serkoak’s niece, who is from Arviat.
The individuals that were already recognized, I would like to recognize again, the individuals from Repulse Bay, Denise Maliki and Norman Qarvik from Kugaarjuk.
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery, Mr. Curley.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the young people and I would like to tell them all that you are very important to us and I would like to keep an open door in welcoming you.
I would like to especially recognize Kerry Tattuini, Kelly McLarty, we’re proud of you.
I would like to recognize and welcome Vicky Hainnu, she is from Clyde River, and has since moved to Iqaluit.
I wish her success in this endeavor.
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery, Ms. Brown.
I would to also recognize an individual from Rankin Inlet, Kelly McLarty.
I would also like to send my regards to her parents. Also, Kerry Tattuini and we are very proud of all the young people here.
I also send my regards to their parents.
They’re all from my constituency.
I would like to welcome all the young people.
I am well aware that they will eventually take our place in the house.
Again, an individual who just walked in, Mary Finland and again sitting behind me is Sandra Lyall.
She is the child of Christine and Dennis Lyall, and the grandchild of Ernie Lyall, who went from Labrador to our area.
There are a lot of ancestors and I’m sure that I’ll be like that some time in the future.
I have 29 or 30 grandchildren now and great grandchildren and I’m also a great-great grandmother.
I would like to thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to recognize an individual from Sanikiluaq.
I’m very proud that he is participating in this program.
He contributes a lot to Sanikiluaq; his name is Johnny Mikijjuq.
You can only recognize visitors in the gallery once.
Orders of the day, Item 6, Oral questions.
Question 196 – 2(2): Crown Agency Recommendations
My question is for the minister responsible for the Crown Agency Council.
My question for the minister is that the Minister of Education had tabled a report, and one of the recommendations in there was that Nunavut Arctic College comply with the recommendations made by the Crown Agency Council.
I’m just wondering if the minister responsible could indicate exactly what directives and recommendations they gave to Nunavut Arctic College.
The Department of Finance is involved in conducting a review of Nunavut Arctic College in terms of improving its financial processes.
Through the direction of the Financial Management Board, the Department of Education had conducted that external review.
Of course, Finance participated and conducted their analysis in developing recommendations on how to improve processing of financial information in the day-to-day operations.
The report was completed and drafted.
I don’t have a copy of that particular report in front of me, the reporting through the recommendations by Finance, and that was received by the Department of Education.
So, that’s where that’s at, but I don’t have the actual copy in front of me to outline what the specific recommendations were.
I would like to ask the minister, is the minister aware if the college has complied with those recommendations.
I know in the report that was dated October 28, it was recommended that they comply with those recommendations.
So, I would just like to ask the minister if she is aware if they have as yet or not.
The Department of Education minister would be in a better position to actually respond to which of those recommendations are actually done.
But, the assessments that we have done is basically to assess the functional capacity of the financial positions in Nunavut Arctic College, at the headquarters operations, and to highlight human resources and training needs.
The Department of Finance provides support to every single department, not just the Crown Agency Councils, including services or training, and that’s an ongoing effort all the time with how we manage our finances.
So, it’s not just the college that we do this with.
We do that with Qulliq Energy Corporation, we do that with a number of departments.
So, it’s not over and above what our mandate is, but rather an ongoing assistance that we provide to the college.
We also provide assistance in doing periodic audits of departments and to try and be proactive in improving services.
So, as far as I know, the report has been received by the college and, of course, it’s in their interest to follow through with those recommendations.
My question is, once the Crown Agency Council issues some recommendations to any of the Crown agencies of the government, how do they monitor whether those recommendations are followed up on; is there a report back to the council that yes, these are done, these ones aren’t done, and this is where we are at on it.
Can the minister try and give us a bit of an understanding on how those recommendations are monitored to ensure that they are followed through?
As I mentioned earlier, the Department of Finance provides support on a regular basis to any department, follows through with the departments; they work with the financial audit bureau or whichever division of the department.
The external review, Finance was a part of that; that was not through the Crown Agency Council.
The Crown Agency Council reviews overall initiatives that are happening across the board, but the involvement of Finance was, again I said, to assess the functional capacity of the Nunavut Arctic College.
This is an ongoing initiative that we provide as Department of Finance in our role; not everything goes through the Crown Agency Council and is directed; a lot of this stuff is day-to-day administrative processes or support we provide to the department, and whatever recommendations we come up with to improve services or training, that information goes through Education or the college or power corporation or whichever department that is involved.
So, it’s basically an ongoing role that we provide to departments on a regular basis.
It seems like the minister is indicating that there really is no follow-up to ensure that those recommendations are done, that they are just passed down and left like that.
Given that, Mr. Speaker, would the minister be willing to commit to tabling, or providing to members, copies of those recommendations that the Crown Agency Council did make specifically to Nunavut Arctic College?
On a regular basis, we follow up on activities; we don’t produce a report and then stop processes from there.
On a regular basis, the Department of Finance works with every department on any issues related to improving the management of financial issues, including training and support through audit and whatnot, and that’s on an ongoing basis.
We follow up on a regular basis through audit bureaus or through the Auditor General’s reports.
Those are on-going initiatives.
We don’t drop the work and efforts just because a report has been produced.
I think it is important to state that work will always continue and try and improve on a regular basis.
In the review, we had the involvement of the internal audit and we always try and improve how we manage our finances.
The other thing that is important is, the direction did not come from the Crown Agency Council.
It came from the Department of Finance as part of their on-going role to do internal audits.
Member for Hudson Bay Mr. Kattuk.
Question 197 – 2(2): Inuktitut Translation of Power Bills
Although I had asked this question, I think it was last year or last fall during the session, I will direct my question to the minister responsible for the energy corporation.
Although we were told the bills which would be translated into Inuktitut, to date the bill that I have has no Inuktitut.
Perhaps the minister can commit to me that the government will deal with the translation of the bills.
When do you expect to have this completed.
Minister responsible for energy corporation, Mr. Picco.
The bills that the member is referring to, at the beginning of the bill there are codes, and in the back of the bill, it indicates what the codes are in Inuktitut.
What we have done is to revamp the bill itself, as the member indicated, and the billing cycle starting April 1st in three weeks, all those will have Inuktitut in the front of the bills and in a better format. So, the short answer to the member’s question, starting in three weeks on April 1st, the new billing cycle will be in Inuktitut on the bill itself.
I am very proud the minister responded to me about the fact that the bills will be changed on April 1st, with Inuktitut on it.
Perhaps, during the spring session, if the billings are not translated in Inuktitut, I will be asking questions at that spring session.
I have a concern because a lot of the unilingual speaking elders who live alone and don’t have someone living there with them who is bilingual, they don’t even know what the bill is about.
Therefore, it will be a lot easier for the unilingual speaking people, on April 1st, during the upcoming spring session, if I don’t see the translation on the billing of documents, I will be asking you the same questions.
I would welcome the member’s question.
What I will commit to do right now in the House is, next week I will table sample copies of the new bill and the new billing format in Inuktitut, not only for just for the member, but for all Members in the House.
I’ve had a chance to review it, it’s gone through four or five reviews in the last several weeks.
It is the initiative that Minister Simailak had put in place several months ago, and we will hopefully be in a position on April 1st to have that in place.
And I will table a sample copy of the bill for the members next week.
Second supplementary, Mr. Kattuk.
Also on the billing, we are informed that it is not identified on the bill that if customers don’t pay their bills in 90 days or 30 days, that their power will be cut off.
There is only the 48-hour notice given separately. Where does it appear, is it 90 days, 60 days.... . They usually have notice of a cut-off date.
But there is only a 48-hour notice on the billing form. When do you see the 30, 60, or 90 days’ notice before your power is going to be cut off?
On the billing format that has been in place: that is in place and will be in place, allows for the customer, when they receive a bill and they haven’t paid their previous bill or they have an outstanding balance, the bill does indicate, will indicate, and is indicating that there is an arrears on the bill.
Then there is a timeframe, 30, 60, 90, as the member spoke about just now, that acknowledges that if you don’t pay your bill within a certain period of time, that indeed you will be cut off.
It’s no different than the phone company does, for example; Bell Canada does, as a phone company.
What happens, during winter months, for example, power is not actually cut off on people’s houses.
What’s put in place is a load limiter.
A load limiter regulates the power so that the boiler will come on; you’ll have running water and heat and so on and so forth.
If the customer goes to the power corporation and says, “Look, I haven’t been able to pay the bill over the last 30, 60, 90 days,” and then the arrangements are made where the person can pay X number of dollars a month, whether that be $50 a month extra or something, to pay the bill.
In that case again, the power is not cut off.
The power is only disconnected during the summer months and, again, after all those other avenues that we just spoke about have not been met.
Speaker (interpretation): Your final supplementary, Mr. Kattuk.
To my knowledge, we’ve been told that there would be a 90-day notice, 60-day notice, but in the billing statement here, there is no figure.
It is 90, 60 or 30?
Where is that figure hiding?
Is it hiding somewhere?
Is it behind the billing statement, or is it just a verbal figure that we hear from the corporation?
What happens on the bill is if I’ve been paying my bill on a regular basis and I owe $100, and they say a cheque was received for $100, and it will say the previous balance is zero.
When you receive a bill and you have got a previous balance, and now it’s $100, and then they add the new charge for that month, $30, now your new balance is $130.
The next month you get a bill.
Now the outstanding bill is $130 and you still haven’t paid it.
So, then you have your new bill added again, $50 plus the $130 outstanding and that’s $180.
During the next billing cycle, that will now be 90 days.
That’s when it kicks in.
They have a note on there saying you’re subject to disconnection unless you come in.
So that’s how the process works.
Arrears are indicated on the bills.
Arrears are monies that have not been paid.
Again, the corporation has made it very vocal that if the bill has not been paid, if the person would go into the power corporation, in every community, and say, “Look, I can’t pay this amount; however, if you put me on a payment plan I will be able to address the issue of the arrears.”
Therefore the power corporation takes that and begins to pay down the bill.
So, the disconnection is really a last resort thing.
There are numerous steps, including the amount of the arrears on the bill, the notification of such on the bill that says “subject to disconnect”.
So those types of things are put in place to give the customer a timeframe to be able to come in and either pay off the bill or make arrangements to be able to pay down the bill.
Question 198 – 2(2): Staff Housing for Teachers
As you know, we hire teachers from the South, and we welcome them when they arrive in Chesterfield Inlet and Coral Harbour, there is often no housing for them and they end up having to look for housing on their own.
What is the department doing to provide accommodations for those teachers coming from southern Canada?
All staff housing now is coordinated through the Nunavut Housing Corporation, with Minister Kilabuk.
We have been addressing the issue quite aggressively over the last several weeks.
I’ve had an opportunity to visit with many communities, including Hall Beach, for example, where there are issues with housing, in Coral Harbour, there were some issues, in Whale Cove, Mr. Speaker.
The staff house issue, especially for health centre employees and school and teacher employees, is still an ongoing issue.
The housing corporation has been working, where possible, leasing units in a community when we don’t have staff housing available and looking at other options that may be available to them through the housing corporation.
Question 199 – 2(2): Bad Gasoline Issue
I would like to direct my question to the minister responsible for the Petroleum Product Division of Community and Government Services.
During yesterday’s deliberation in the Committee of the Whole review, we talked about how much more work needs to be done in order to fully address the concerns of our constituents and communities with respect to this year’s bad gasoline situation.
My own office has been swamped with complaints.
They have been conveying their problems to the CBC.
Shell Canada claims that the people have been having problems only with their spark plugs.
Mr. Speaker, when the last major gasoline-related situation hit Nunavut, the Government of Nunavut established a clear system for people to report their problems directly to the government.
Can the minister designate an official that can receive those complaints?
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, thank you.
I believe the discussion that we had in Committee of the Whole yesterday was very useful and enlightening.
At this time, what we are doing, right now, is my department officials are receiving complaints from the people related to bad gasoline.
With respect to the concerns that we heard yesterday about the problems from the public and from Shell, my officials are now putting together a document on the process for receiving complaints as well as information.
That is what we’re trying to do right now.
Speaker (interpretation): First supplementary, Mr. Curley.
People out there really want to find out who the contact person is that will be in his department.
We have heard from many people that it’s not just the spark plugs but also pistons and engine seizures, not just with two-stroke engines but with ATVs as well.
Yesterday we heard from Shell Canada, and I would like to ask the minister if he was 100 percent satisfied with the testimony provided by the witnesses from Shell Canada and if not, why not.
I just want to assure the member that what I heard during the testimony from the Shell Canada representatives, the questions posed to them and the responses that they provided, was adequate.
Because there could be a lot of questions, when previously there could never be a total, complete response. There are no complete answers to the questions as yet.
So, I feel that the answers from Shell Canada were adequate, because I wanted to hear more about the bad gas in Nunavut.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Mr. Speaker, I just want the minister to know that my constituents feel differently.
Shell Canada said the gas has got good specifications, but Shell Canada people are not the consumers of the gas that they have delivered to Nunavut.
I would like to ask the minister again: in January of this year, 2005, Shell Canada reported record earnings in 2004 of over $1 billion.
In the minister’s view, who is responsible for compensating victims of bad gasoline in Nunavut?
I would like to assure the members of this House and to respond to them in the most positive way as to where the compensation would be coming from, but I have not been able to do that to date because we have not fully reviewed these bad gasoline complaints.
What we are going to do is ask the public out there how much damage has been done to their machinery, and that way we will be able to find out what we would be able to do or who would be compensating the victims of bad gasoline.
I would like to thank the minister for working on this.
Because there are a lot of people expecting to hear from the Government of Nunavut or whomever.
(interpretation ends) I realize that it is difficult to accept responsibility, for the minister, because it could be that there might be some liability involved.But, someone has to be accountable for the bad mistake that has been made. So, that is the point that I am trying to get clarification on.
The question is in view of the fact that Shell Canada has the largest earnings this year, in excess of $1 billion.
My final question is, who, in your view, should be responsible for compensating, for bad gasoline, those who have experienced the actual damage to their outboard marine engines as well as snowmobiles.
I guess that in doing the tests and the investigations, the findings will inevitably draw attention to who is liable for what and who has responsibility for what.
I will advise my colleague that I am fully determined to come to the root cause of the problem.
Once we get there I will be committed to providing that information outside of or during regular session hours.
Question 200 – 2(2): Update on Federal Consultations
My question is directed to the minister responsible for transportation.
There were community consultations done by federal and Nunavut government officials about the docking facilities in the communities.
We met with the people who are responsible for docking facilities, and they stated that they were going to give priority to communities that have no docking facilities.
But then communities that already had them had theirs renovated.
What is happening with these consultations and what are the answers?
As far as I know, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and our staff went to the communities last summer. I have not seen any documents that may have been produced as a result of those visits, so I am not sure exactly what the member is referring to.
Those people, such as Inuk Pauloosie, were involved with the consultations in regard to docking facilities, but even though we had a meeting with those officials, we heard that some communities without docking facilities such as Grise Fiord were not included.
Hon. David Simailak (interpretation): As I said earlier, after the community consultations by the federal department last summer, I have not seen the report from those officials as to what their recommendations might be.
So, I can’t really respond to the member right now without having seen the report they did.
Mr. Barnabas (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for his response.
After the minister reviews the report by the federal government, will he consider those communities without docking facilities?
There were quite a number of communities that were consulted across Nunavut, and I am not exactly sure which communities they considered as a priority.
I have not seen the report to date.
So, I am not really sure of what kinds of recommendations that they have made. That’s the way it is right now.
Question 201 – 2(2): Nunavut Arctic College Report and Recommendations
My question is, again, for the minister responsible for the Crown Agency Council.
I appreciate her explanations on the topic of the Department of Finance.
One of its roles is to assist other departments and agencies and corporations.
If memory serves me correctly, it was on one of the recommendations of the Auditor General that the Crown Agency Council be set up. In response to one of her recommendations, this council was set up to deal specifically with Crown corporations and the agencies of government like Nunavut Arctic College.