EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Whereas, Ikuma 2000, recommended formation of the Nunavut Power Corporation, an evaluation of the total energy situation in Nunavut, and;
Whereas Ikuma 2 adopted in 2002, deals with significant initiatives in energy coordination, development and conservation involving electricity, fuel and energy opportunities;
Now therefore be it resolved that the Hudson’s Bay Neighbours Regional Round Table will encourage the Government of Nunavut to maintain the priority on implementing Ikuma 2, and keep the Hudson’s Bay Neighbours Regional Round Table informed of progress and opportunities.
It was carried unanimously.
Tabled Document 086 – 1(6): Aeroplan Miles
Who says good things don’t happen.
I’d like to table a document from Air Canada, in regards to a letter that a group of Members of the Legislative Assembly from the Kivalliq sent to Robert Duseinge, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aeroplan dated May 1, 2002.
In short, the letter says and I’m sure that you’re familiar with it, that we didn’t like the way that we were being treated in the Kivalliq in regards to 25 thousand points being needed to go south.
And Mr. Speaker, you’ll be glad to know, because this affects your constituency also, among the other Kivalliq constituencies.
Furthermore, upon review of our reward grid, we have decided to categorize flights between Nunavut and Manitoba as a short haul flight for redemption purposes.
This took effect last November 10, 2002.
So there’s a little bit of good news for people in the Kivalliq.
Bill 31 – Supplementary Appropriation (Capital) Act, No. 3, 2002/03 - Notice
Bill 32 – Supplementary Appropriation (O and M) Act, No. 2, 2002/03 – Notice
I give notice that on Thursday, March the 20th, 2003, that I’ll move that Bill 31, Supplementary Appropriation (Capital) Act Number 3, 2002/2003, and Bill 32, Supplementary Appropriation (O and M) Act Number 2, 2002/2003, be read for the first time.
Item 20, Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters.
Bill 22, Bill 30 and Minister’s Statement 126-1(6) with Mr. Irqittuq in the chair.
In accordance to the authority provided to me by Motion 002-1 (6), the Committee of the Whole will stay in session until it reports itself out.
Before we proceed to Committee of the Whole, we’ll take a 20 minute break.
>>House recessed at 15:10 p.m. and resumed at 15:40 p.m.
Welcome, Mr. Minister, Members.
We can now come to Committee of the Whole.
Under consideration for this afternoon, Bill 22, Bill 30 and Minister’s Statement 126-1(6).
The committee would like to continue on with the review of the Bill 30 with the Department of Education main estimates and once that is completed, we would like to go unto the review of the main estimates of the Department of Justice.
Is the committee in agreement?
Chairperson (interpretation): Perhaps if the Minister’s officials can go to the witness table.
If you could perhaps introduce your officials, Mr. Minister.
We are asked to always introduce our women first; so on my right is Kathy Okpik, my Assistant Deputy Minister.
As well on my left, who was also here yesterday, is my Deputy Minister Tom Rich.
If we can go to Department of Education, Adult Learning, under page 9-11.
Total Operations and Maintenance, 21 million 608 thousand dollars.
Prior to visiting my list of names for questions, I would like to give you some forewarning about the process.
Some people tend to sway from that page under review.
Please try to refrain from leading questions to issues outside of the page we are reviewing.
For the information of the Members, you also have to watch your time limits.
You have ten minutes to ask questions.
Mr. Chairman, in the funding for student financial assistance, in the Minister’s opening comments he indicated they had increased funding through FANS to beneficiary students.
I was wondering if there was a reason why they didn’t increase that funding to all students.
In this present year O and M appropriations budget, there was an increase to student financial assistance levels.
We could not give all students in post-secondary education an increase because of the fiscal constraints that we have presently.
I guess budget restrictions is the only reason that the Minister is indicating that he could only give beneficiaries increased funding through FANS and not non-beneficiary residents in Nunavut.
What we did was we followed the review that was done on Student Financial Assistance that the students receive.
We tried our best to try to find some funding for the other students and the only increase that we have had was for the beneficiaries.
Are there any rules or conditions attached to that additional funding that they are able to find that resulted in just going to beneficiaries?
The Financial Assistance for the beneficiaries, according to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, were given for the students who do not have to pay it back and some students are eligible for loans under this Financial Assistance.
Mr. Chairman, how many students does this funding cover and last year, it was $3.6 million.
Now, can the Minister indicate how many students took advantage of that money and could he also have indicate the break down of whether how many of them were beneficiaries and how many of them were non-beneficiaries from Nunavut?
In total, in the Nunavut communities, 340 people received funding and percentage-wise for the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, the beneficiaries were 76% and there were 265 and non-beneficiaries were 24% and 84 in total.
Mr. Chairman, of the $3.6 million dollars here that was allocated last year, was all of it used with those 340 students?
That $3.6 million was almost depleted, but there was a little bit left over.
Mr. Chairman, I am going to try and ask to mention it again, how much of that funding was left last year?
We do not have the information right now, but I will make sure that I get the information to the Members.
Under the Students Financial Assistance, $3 million, 642 thousand, does NTI or the Federal Government kick in any money or is that just the Territorial Government’s funding?
The Government of Nunavut is the only one that put in that money.
On that issue, does NTI contribute anything to Students Financial Assistance in Nunavut?
Only through the Inuit Organizations but the ones that we have in these figures are from the Nunavut Government.
Does NICC contribute any money to Student Financial Assistance, or is that just for their Organization?
They only go through the Organization, not through the Government of Nunavut.
As far as the Government of Nunavut is concerned, NTI does not contribute anything to Student Financial Assistance?
Yes, the only amount of money that we give out as Student Financial Assistance comes from the Nunavut Government.
We do not get any additional money from anyone else.
On the training side, do they contribute any financial resources to any of our training in the Government of Nunavut?
They help out with funding through the Inuit Organizations.
The various Inuit Organizations give out some funding under the Agreement.
For those people who are given training, they give us a contribution at times.
I know that this is a hard question probably for you to answer.
What kind of contributions do they give to the Government of Nunavut when it comes to training dollars?
Do you have any idea, roughly?
I do not need the exact figure but just for my own curiosity’s sake.
Is it in the thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or millions?
At this time I do not have the information with me, but through an agreement and according to the training we have an agreement with them for some funding, but I do not have the exact figures with me at this time.
On that issue, I am not an expert on the Land Claims, but under Article 23, the Government of Nunavut is supposed to shoot for an eighty-five percent Inuit employment target.
I know in this organization, the Government has targeted millions of dollars for training to get those staffing levels up.
Currently how much does the Department of Education have earmarked for training Inuit people under Article 23 of the Agreement?
The Department of Education does not have any funding for that, but they go through Human Resources.
It is the Department of Human Resources that gets funding.
We are on 9-11.
On your Trades Program for the development and delivery there is a drop and you explained why that reduction is.
On that point I want to ask, is there is going to be any reduction in the Trades Programs that are currently offered in the NWT, Fort Smith, or Hay River?
Are you aware of any Trades Programs that are going to be stopped in the NWT?
How would that affect us if there is going to be any program stopped?
At this time, we don’t know if any programs might be stopped in the NWT for those trades programs.
Chairperson (interpretation): Mr. Mclean.
Currently what does it cost the Government of Nunavut, how much does it cost us to send people to Fort Smith, Hay River and those other places to get their training.
Does he have a dollar figure of what it would cost the Government per year?
There are various costs such as travel, registration and the course fee.
Perhaps if we can get some information on what it costs us last year, we can give out the information.
We’re not sure at this time because we don’t have the information on hand at the moment.
On that issue, we know what programs are basically being run in Nunavut today when it comes to trades programming.
Does your department have any plans for the next few years on maybe accelerating some programs in Nunavut to offer more trades training in Nunavut?
Has your department formulated any plan at this point?
At this time, we’re now making plans for adult learning strategy.
At this time we are collecting information as to what kind of interest there is to take for trades programming.
This review, perhaps this coming fall, I’m sure we’ll be making a public announcement after the review has been done.
But it’s our plan and I’m sure that we’ll be able to make an announcement and it’s our plan to make this multi-year.
My final question here for now is, are there any plans currently in place, and we’ve talked about it for four years, to establish any kind of trades training programs outside of Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay?
In regards to his question, outside of Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay, if that is the question, yes, we do various programming for training in the smaller communities where there is no decentralization.
For example in Iqaluit we are running a carpentry certificate program and also we’re sure that some other programs can be developed.
So we have to look at the plans and review them so the only programming is Carpentry Certificate Program.
The communities do have trades training programs at the local level.
On that college contribution, I’ve asked the question I think three years in a row.
But just to reaffirm it again this year, out of the college contributions every year, how much of that comes from third party funding?
Do you have that figure this year?
From the operations and the maintenance of the Arctic College, we expect for 2003/2004 fiscal year that the projection for revenues from outside funding total of around 6 million dollars.
Our total budget is $23 thousand, I apologize, $23 million dollars and a bit over for the O and M budget.
Chairperson (interpretation): How many last questions do you require before it actually is your last?
This is my last question and it affects your community also, my colleague beside me and I are always talking about it, which is training in the mining industry and how much is in the college budget this year that is designated for pre-mine training?
Although his question is a relevant one and although I wish to provide a good response, it’s going to depend on the kind of training programs the mining sector will provide to the adjacent community.
It is very hard to estimate this need at this time, until we actually review the results of the previous year’s funding for the program and I’d be able to tell you later on how much money we expended for mining sector training.
I would remind you not to state it is your last question so that you can ask many more questions during the 10 minutes allotted per Member.
Partly, first of all, I would like to ask how many students from Nunavut attend trades school in Fort Smith?
As to how many students there are in Fort Smith, I don’t know the number because we have only a few days left from the fiscal year end and perhaps afterwards I’ll be able to give you a concrete figure.
Too bad, I wanted to know the figures.
It’s almost the end of the fiscal year.
Perhaps he could say there are 10 or more students in Fort Smith.
Yes, perhaps to elaborate a bit.
For apprenticeship program students, the apprentices only go to Fort Smith for part of the year, for a partial course and they do the rest of their training in the home community.
In some areas like carpentry for example, they could be in Fort Smith for 8 weeks because they require specialized training.
I think there are more than 10 students attending courses in Fort Smith.
In one of the communities of my riding, Randy Nungak of Resolute Bay, who took that training program graduated.
He was on the news media that he had graduated from that program so therefore I would like to ask again, how much funding do we expend annually for the Fort Smith courses?
I’m not talking about the transportation or tuition costs we are paying, I’m just asking about how much money is given to the Northwest Territories Government from Nunavut?
For tuition fees for each student and for accommodation, those are the areas that we provide funding for students whogo over there.
Ms. Williams: I will ask this in English to see if I could be more clear.
How much do we pay the Government of the Northwest Territories because they are providing the training for our students from Nunavut?
I am not asking about the costs for a student to be there, but my question is how much do we contribute to the school in Fort Smith?
The Member is asking if we pay a fee to send our students over.
There is no such charge.
The only thing that the students pay for is what I just mentioned, that their tuition and their room and board.
We are on Page 9-11 and 9-12.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total Operations and Maintenance, $21 million, 608 thousand.
Turn the Page to School and Early Childhood Services on Page 9-14.
Total Operations and Maintenance, $36 million, 642 thousand.
On that page, I think, you can correct me on this one.
Before we get to the numbers, I just wanted to ask you about the Training on the Job Program which you have in your Business Plan.
At what level do you have people training on the job?
Senior management, or skilled workers, or somewhere, I am just trying to get a feel as to where you are putting these training on the job positions.
I just want some information on that.
Perhaps in order for me to be clear, they use it for various things, and also they use it to enhance their career.
It is used for various things.
I am just trying to see the scale.
For example, you have some management, senior management, and so on.
Do you have many people going on the Senior Management training on the job in this area to date?
In regards to his question, there is none.
Mr. Havioyak: Can you give me some examples then, where you have these training on the job positions?
For example, if you have to do an upgrade it would be included in here and if you’re going to take math or computer skills, upgrading or carpentry skills, it would be used for upgrading.  Reading and writing.
This line item is more geared towards those types.
When I look at this title, Career Development, as soon as I look at that title I see in my mind that you can’t get the senior management position open to Nunavummiut.
That’s where I feel that we’re lacking, more senior management Nunavummiut working at that level.
Where can we see training on job in those senior management positions?
I’ll have my deputy minister respond to that question in regards to career and early childhood development.
And I would also like to apologize to the Member because we might be misunderstanding each other.
The training on the job funds are primarily used to support the wage subsidy program to support the private sector and community Government in particular to train for a whole range of jobs that might be an outside worker, it might be someone who is working in an office, in all different levels.
They could be someone who is a financial person in a community government; it could be someone who is going to be an office manager in a private business or a truck driver in a private business.
They apply for the funding and through that we provide it.
So it’s not primarily aimed at senior management training, particularly for Government workers, that training, if we look at the FANS training that provide universities, which is particularly what we want when they come into senior management and government to have is university training.
And the Department of Human Resources has some specific programs to support people for management level jobs in Government and you’ll talk about those as well with the Department of HR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You mentioned that we have an apprenticeship program that they can go on to so and so, and we have an adult in training education, that we can hire more people to do carpentry and so on.
Training on the job to me, I understand how it works, but trying to get more people in senior management, that is what I was trying to get at.
Not only in your department, but overall in the Government of Nunavut.
That’s what I was trying to get at here.
I understand you don’t have it here, but will you have something in there soon, in place to have this kind of program?
It’s for the employers out there.
It’s not specifically for the Government departments; it’s for the private business out there who we provide subsidies for.
Mr. Havioyak: I’m just saying with the apprenticeship program, is that the same way that it works when you say training on the job.
And then you go through the apprenticeship program, there are two differences but do they work the same way?
When I say that, I mean, is the apprenticeship program open to the business people when they have a company, for example?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. .
I’ll have my ADM respond to you question.
Chairperson (interpretation): Ms. Okpik.
There are two types of programs available.
There are two types of certification programs, one for journeymen certification and also the apprenticeship program where they work 80 percent of the time in their field and possibly two classes in a school environment which takes up the other twenty percent.
But through our office, we will keep their names and hours so that they can obtain their certificates or diploma or whatever they require and this is where this is different.
What is similar is that we provide subsidies to the employers who have these apprentices.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 9-14 and 9-15.
I have a question on 9-15.
In regards to this literacy program with 75 thousand dollars allocated in the line item, I would like to know exactly what literacy entails in this case as literacy covers all grade levels.
Chairperson (interpretation): Let me read it for you.
This program is for the community proposals for literacy programs from the community.
Have there been requests for funding for these literacy programs and which language does that cover?
Is it Inuktitut literacy, French or English literacy funding?
Mr. Chairman, the requests for funding can be made for any language.
I can use an example of communities who have made requests for the following; for children and adults literacy classes or for blind people who would like to learn Braille.
So there are different types of literacy programs that can be used at the community level and you can access funds through this specific program.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): How many communities accessed funds through this limited literacy program?
Not all communities have accessed these funds but approximately half of the communities throughout Nunavut have accessed these funds for literacy initiatives in their communities.
Going on to the next line item early childhood programs and daycare grants.
Does the Department of Education have a policy where the clients of these daycares are required to attend classes?
Mr. Chairman, in regards to daycares, it is the starting point that I’m sure that every Member knows that when children are together in the same setting, that’s where they start the early education.
This program goes up to age 6.
These funds are accessible or available for the operations of the daycares.
I’m sure that there are a lot of children with working parents in these daycares and if we’re talking about early childhood education for pre-schoolers, what happens to the children who are being babysat at home or who have parents who aren’t working?
What happens to the children who are at home?
Is it being fair to the children in the daycares and some who are at home like our colleagues from Nanulik stated.
There is a big difference between what the children in these daycares have learned and what is not being taught to the children at home.
It’s going to put a different level on a child depending on whether they are at the daycare or not.
Mr. Chairman, to make it clearer, the daycare operators decide what will be taught in the daycare environment.
For those of us from the Department of Education, we don’t make any specific guidelines for rules on what happens there.
It’s up to the daycare operator to decide what they’ll be doing in that environment.
If that’s the case, usually a child enters the formal school environment when they’re age 5.
So, this child who is at the daycare has an advantage over the child who stayed at home.
Do you see the difference between the two children?
In some of the communities there are daycare centres that encourage the parents of children to bring them to the daycare possibly in the afternoon to participate in some of the activities that are provided there.
The parents are encouraged to bring their children and we do provide pamphlets on programs that are made available at the daycare centre.
I have noticed that if you’re going to bring your child to the day care centre, you pay a fee.
Yes they do pay fees to the daycare if they have children in there.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): You stated that you encourage the parents to bring their children to the daycare possibly in the afternoon to participate in the activities provided.
But do they have to pay a fee if their child is not enrolled in the daycare?
Chairperson (interpretation): For you information, we are talking about the O and M that we are providing daycare so that the parents can go out there and participate in the work environment.
The programs that are made available in the afternoon are open to the children and the parents.
This is outside of the activities that are provided out of the daycare and it’s free to the parents.
Going on, on the same page, early childhood programs, healthy children initiatives.
It’s $1.533 million.
What does healthy children initiative mean?
Is that geared to the children who are at the daycares or are these funds available to the communities as a grant or contribution?
In order to provide a safer environment and healthy children, we do know that children are our first priority.
You can access these funds going through contributions through the healthy children initiative.
If we go back overall on 9-14, there’s an increase in compensation and benefits from the previous year and I’m just wondering if that’s a direct result of collective bargaining increases or is there an increased PYs there?
The increase is for the income support office here in Iqaluit.
The interpreter never heard the Minister.
If he could repeat it, because I didn’t hear it because she didn’t hear it.
Hon. Peter Kilabuk: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The increase was for a receptionist for the income support office here in Iqaluit.
So there is an increase in the PY. Was there not a receptionist there before?
I am just wondering surely you think that an office would have a receptionist.