EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Yes, I stated earlier that we can provide assistance to the local firefighting groups, either through training or by offering courses the local group wants, and occasionally there are different types of courses developed. If they want that training, then we can assist them with that training in the new courses.
Furthermore, the groups are provided with the information as part of their training exercises. They receive the information about how this government can assist their group and the different funds applicable towards firefighting. The trainers generally provide that information as part of the training.
Question 341 – 4(2): Compliance with Duty Travel Directive (Enook)
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance’s Financial Administration Manual includes a directive on duty travel, which is Directive 820-1.
This directive provides that “Air travel must be at the lowest practical fare.” That’s what it states.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister if he can clarify how the Department of Finance monitors and enforces compliance on the part of GN departments and Crown agencies with the provisions of the government’s directive on duty travel.
I think it actually says, “the lowest economical airfare.” This question came up a few years ago.
There is a contract we have with both airlines. I don’t have all the details. It’s a fairly comprehensive contract.
Our department, within the last month, I know for sure because I had a quick briefing on it, has asked all the departments to provide information on the travel that their employees are using on both airlines.
I just don’t have the information in front of me, but we are well aware of it.
I suggested to our Deputy Minister of Finance, and I know this would be very onerous on the departments, that we could request the information and break it down by employee and which airline they’re flying on, but right now, we are just asking, by airline, how much the different departments are using on each airline.
Can the minister indicate if all government departments and Crown agencies are currently in compliance with the government’s directive on duty travel?
Speaker (interpretation) Thank you. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister of Finance, Mr. Peterson.
I can’t state here definitively if they are all in compliance, but public agencies and departments are aware of the contract of duty travel.
I believe they have all received information on the codes they use when they are booking travel, so they are aware of that information. It’s not a secret; they’re aware of that information.
Question 342 – 4(2): Wellness Courts and Rehabilitation of Offenders (Angnakak)
Just raked in there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, wellness courts in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories use holistic approaches to rehabilitate offenders that suffer from mental health, addictions, and cognitive impairments.
On October 30, 2014, the minister stated that his department was looking at ways on how we can have that wellness court in Nunavut.
Can the minister provide an update on the specific actions that his department is taking to explore the possibility of implementing a wellness court in Nunavut?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Okalik.
Yes, my staff are reviewing the options on how we can develop more initiatives in this area and we continue to make progress in conducting this review today.
I look forward to hearing more on what’s going with the wellness court.
Mr. Speaker, addressing mental health, addictions, and cognitive impairments through a wellness court in Nunavut may require the department to provide specific training for court staff, caseworkers, and to collaborate with mental health professionals in the territory.
Can the minister indicate to what extent his department is working with the Department of Health, being the same hat, as it moves forward to introduce a wellness court in Nunavut?
The two departments are now working closely together to see how to develop a wellness court and we are looking at ways as to how we can provide more services to those in need.
During yesterday’s proceedings, the minister’s response to a written question concerning correctional facilities and rehabilitation plans was tabled in the House.
This response indicates that the department’s correctional division “currently does not have the capacity to evaluate” the rate at which offenders reoffend.
Can the minister indicate what specific actions are being taken to improve the department’s reporting capacity and ensure that it has the ability to comprehensively assess the effectiveness of its rehabilitation programs?
Yes, this is something we are dealing with. However, we haven’t had the chance to catch up with the volume of services for current inmates.
Now we have started to catch up with the volume with the opening of the Makigiarvik facility, particularly the cases that need to be dealt with immediately.
Once this workload has settled down, we will be able to start facing these other challenges and we expect to do that in the future.
The time for question period has expired. (interpretation ends) Item 8.
Tabled Document 094 – 4(2): Resolutions Passed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (Akoak)
I wish to table today a number of resolutions that were passed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association.
Mr. Speaker, I had the honour of attending this important meeting and I encourage all members to review these items with care.
Mr. Speaker, I will be asking some questions about these resolutions to the appropriate ministers during our winter sitting.
I also have one.
Tabled Document 095 – 4(2): 2015-2018 Business Plan of the Office of the Legislative Assembly (Speaker)
I wish to table the 2015-18 Business Plan of the Office of the Legislative Assembly. (interpretation) Thank you.
Bill 16 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016 – Notice
I give notice that on Friday, February 27, 2015, that Bill 16, Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016, be read for the first time.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Item 18. Motions.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Mr. Speaker, I request the consent of this Assembly to waive the two-day notice requirement to allow for the first reading of Bill 16, Appropriation (Operations Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) The minister is requesting to waive the two-day waiting period to allow the first reading of Bill 16.
Minister of Finance, please proceed.
Bill 16 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016 – First Reading
I move, seconded by the Hon. Member for Pangnirtung, that Bill 16, Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016, be read for the first time.
Bill 16 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016 – Second Reading
I move, seconded by the Hon. Member for Pangnirtung, that Bill 16, Appropriation (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of Nunavut to make operations and maintenance expenditures for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.
The motion is carried and Bill 16 is referred to the Committee of the Whole.
Bill 16 with Mr. Enook in the Chair.
>>House recessed at 15:23 and Committee resumed at 15:46
Chairman (Mr. Enook)(interpretation): Good afternoon, my colleagues. Good afternoon to the people of Nunavut who are listening to the radio broadcast and watching the televised proceedings. Welcome to your Committee of the Whole.
I would now like to call the meeting to order.
Mr. Chairman, we wish to commence with the review of the O&M Appropriation Act, 2015-16, starting with the Department of Health.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Rumbolt.
Are we in agreement that we first deal with the 2015-16 main estimates of the Department of Health?
Bill 16 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2015-2016 – Health – Consideration in Committee
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister Okalik, (interpretation) welcome.
Before we get into the opening comments, do you have any witnesses that you would like to bring to the table?
Does the committee agree to bring in Minister Okalik’s officials?
Minister Okalik, for the record, please introduce your witnesses.
With me this afternoon to my right is my Deputy Minister, Colleen Stockley, and to my left is Assistant Deputy Minister Rosemary Keenainak.
Welcome, Ms. Keenainak and Ms. Stockley.
If you have any opening comments, (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister, (interpretation) you may now proceed.
Prior to commencing my opening comments, let me start with acknowledging my predecessor, Minister Ell, for her work on this file, as she did the preparations for this submission and I am just starting to implement some of these plans.
They were quite timely as well, as she did the preparations within the fiscal year.
I want to first express my thanks to Minister Ell, who was my predecessor in the Department of Health, prior to commencing my opening comments.
I am pleased to present the Department of Health’s main estimates for fiscal year 2015-16.
I’ll be here today with my officials.
For the 2015-16 year, the Department of Health requests a budget of $317.4 million.
This represents an increase of $18.5 million, or 6.2 percent, from last year.
This will include 100 new positions.
In Sivumut Abluqta, we committed to healthy communities… . What is happening, Mr. Chairman?
Chairman: My apologies, Mr. Minister. (interpretation) Maybe we can reset and have you start over with your opening comments. Again I apologize for that.
Prior to my opening comment, first of all, I want to express my gratitude to the previous Minister of Health, Minister Ell.
She undertook all of the preparations for this appropriation and this will be quite beneficial to Nunavummiut.
As well, my officials are present with me and I thank them for their preparations for the main estimates for the Department of Health for fiscal year 2015-16.
For the 2015-16 year, the Department of Health requests a budget of $317.4 million. This represents an increase of $18.5 million, or 6.2 percent, from last year.
In Sivumut Abluqta, we committed to healthy communities and good governance, and the request before you today will allow the department to work towards specific actions of our mandate, including addressing mental illness and addictions, ensuring clinical expertise and facilities are available to Nunavummiut, and delivering our services in an effective and efficient manner.
The Department of Health sought immediate action in mental health and as a result, new services are currently being delivered.
Of today’s request, $2,825,000 will be used to make the positions permanent for 22 staff of the mental health transition home in Cambridge Bay, a wellness worker in Iqaluit, and psychiatric nurses in Qikiqtarjuaq, Kimmirut, Iqaluit, and Grise Fiord/Resolute Bay.
We will continue to rely heavily on southern mental health facilities.
For the past three years, approved budgets have only met half the need. An additional $2.3 million will bring that budget to a more realistic level and allow the department to hire a coordinator so that we can bring patients home when they are ready.
The first step in progress is understanding the current situation. I will be the first to tell you that today’s request in mental health is just the beginning.
Speaking now of ensuring clinical expertise and facilities are available to Nunavummiut, there are a number of new initiatives at Health which will improve diagnoses, access to continuous care, and bring care closer to home.
Last year, the department pilot-tested the use of a nurse practitioner in Pond Inlet, as these professionals offer an advanced scope of practice, such as prescribing medications and ordering diagnostic and lab tests.
Using a phased-in approach for $1.1 million, nurse practitioners will be placed in non-hospital communities, specifically Cape Dorset, Clyde River, Igloolik, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, and Gjoa Haven.
Thirty of our elders are waiting for long-term residential care.
Many of those in care are located far from their home communities or in southern institutions.
We request $2 million to repurpose eight unused acute care beds in the Kitikmeot Regional Health Centre and recruit 18 staff to provide care and support for elders and other adults who are chronically ill, disabled, or frail.
Tuberculosis continues to infect Nunavummiut, with dire consequences to individual and community health.
In order to get ahead of the disease, the department requests $1.5 million to introduce an awareness campaign; hire an educator to visit communities; hire indeterminate nurses in Clyde River, Pangnirtung, Qikiqtarjuaq, and Pond Inlet; hire a term nurse in Pond Inlet to address the several new active cases; hire a term, mobile nurse in the Kivalliq; hire a laboratory technician and supplies to expand the use of the GeneXpert test; and hire a term epidemiology program officer to track diagnoses.
Early diagnoses of conditions like tuberculosis, diabetes, sexually transmitted infections, and cancer greatly improve the chances of a positive outcome through early treatment.
The Qikiqtani General Hospital Laboratory provides service for the hospital, Baffin, and most of the Kivalliq communities.
The department requests $634,000 for four new laboratory technologists and two laboratory assistants to handle increased volumes and support new and enhanced technologies.
Another tool in the diagnoses of conditions is the CT scanner with which patients have had access to better care closer to home.
In the past, more than 460 patients were sent south.
This year, the department expects to complete 1,300 scans, which are available to physicians as early as the same day.
With this success comes the need for a scheduler, two assistants, and a clerk interpreter for a cost of $372,000.
To adequately staff 11 positions in health records and clinics, the department requests $850,000.
The use of these services for Iqaluit and the Qikiqtani region has grown over the years and with the move to electronic records and reduced wait times, more staff are required to deal with the growing demand.
I turn now to good governance. The largest request today, $5,560,000, is for 24/7 staffing. Our facilities are open as needed, all day, every day, yet our budget is based on most facilities being open on a 7.5-hour work day.
Year after year, the department has relied on agency, casual, and overtime to address callouts, sickness, statutory holidays, professional development leave, and vacancies. It is time we build the cost of 24/7 staffing into our budget and reduce our reliance on supplementary appropriations for normal work.
In many of our communities, the frontline staff, our clerk interpreters, have been dedicated in their service to our communities without the benefit of a permanent job.
The department has used casuals, overtime, and pulled senior employees from their regular duties to offer health care in our official languages.
Today, I ask that you approve $1.6 million to make 16 clerk interpreter positions indeterminate in Clyde River, Kimmirut, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Qikiqtarjuaq, Arviat, Chesterfield Inlet, Repulse Bay, Sanikiluaq, Whale Cove, Gjoa Haven, Kugaaruk, Kugluktuk, Taloyoak, and two in Baker Lake.
In times of disaster, the Department of Health must be able to respond.
To develop disaster plans and procedures, the department requests $245 million…$245,000. Sorry I almost increased it thousand-fold.
I wasn’t trying to increase it. It is for the hiring of a senior health emergency planner and program budget.
Finally, the department would like to better coordinate its workplace health and safety programs, as health care professionals have one of the highest rates of injury. We spend too much to recruit nurses to lose them because of unsafe working conditions.
The department seeks $140,000 to create a territorial infection control practitioner who will be responsible for developing standards and procedures to provide a safe level of care for health care workers and patients when dealing with infectious disease issues.
This role will liaise with a newly created occupational health and safety nurse position to ensure that health care providers are working in the safest environment possible by fulfilling Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission orders, preventing injury and providing training.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my opening comments. I know that, obviously, there will be many questions from my colleagues.
Thank you. Have a good afternoon.
Chairman: Qujannamiik, Hon. Minister. (interpretation) Also, you already know that there will be some questions coming up. Thank you.
Moving on, does the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Wellness have any opening comments?
Members of the Standing Committee on Social Wellness have reviewed the 2015-16 main estimates and business plan of the Department of Health.
The standing committee notes that the 2015-16 operations and maintenance budget for the Department of Health is over $317 million, which, at 21 percent, is the largest share of the government’s total operations and maintenance budget for 2015-16.
While the proposed 2015-16 budget for the Department of Health represents an increase of approximately $18.5 million from 2014-15, members are aware that costs for health care service delivery will likely continue to exceed approved allocations as supplementary appropriations for additional funding for the department are brought forward consistently from year to year.
The standing committee recognizes that the department is making significant investments in key areas, such as mental health, additional staffing, and adjustments to the way health care services are to be delivered at the community and regional health centres.
The Standing Committee on Social Wellness has continually encouraged the department to focus on the recruitment, training, and retention of health workers at both the community level and in the regional health centres.
While members acknowledge the department’s efforts to address key service needs with the addition of 100 new person years for positions in mental health, nurse practitioners, full-time clerk interpreters, laboratory workers, administrative coordinators, planners, and others, the concern remains that the department has consistently been unable to fill all of its allocated positions to date.
With the department’s new CT scanner being used on an increasing basis at the Qikiqtani General Hospital, members look forward to reviewing reports demonstrating the system’s effectiveness in improving the level of diagnostic service closer to home and reducing medical travel costs.
Members fully support the department’s proposed initiatives to ensure improved quality of care at all community health centres.
Concerns have been raised about staff availability after regular working hours for emergencies and other urgent needs.
The proposed 24/7 staffing approach at the community level will not only reduce costs related to callouts and overtime as well as minimizing the personal cost of work-related illness and burnout, but will also bring some relief to the minds of community residents.
Members applaud the department’s efforts to strengthen infection control policies at health care service locations.
Members note further that public health concerns frequently arise with respect to infectious or communicable diseases in our communities. Outbreaks of any nature put heavy demands on our resources and personnel as well as on individuals and families.
The standing committee fully supports the department in its efforts to address these issues in a timely manner while ensuring ongoing public communication and awareness.
Mr. Chairman, health-related work at the community level extends beyond the community health centres with the contributions that can be made by Health Committees of Council. Members note that some health committees are more effective than others, although funding allocations remain equal and unchanged across all communities.
The standing committee encourages the minister in his efforts to provide more support to Health Committees of Council which have struggled to become effective and to consider increases in funding support for those health committees which undertake many important initiatives to promote the health and well-being of their communities.
Mr. Chairman, Nunavut faces unique challenges in delivering health services across the territory.
In recent years, the federal government has recognized the financial impacts related to delivering specific health programs and has provided additional funding through such programs as the Territorial Health Investment Fund.
The standing committee encourages the minister to work with his territorial counterparts to continue to lobby the federal government for increased funding to address all aspects of health care and medical service needs across the northern territories.
The committee further encourages the minister to work with his federal counterparts to seek support for increases to funding allocations under the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program, especially for costs relating to travel, food, and accommodation for medical clients who are required to travel away from home to receive medical treatment and care.
Mr. Chairman, the standing committee fully supports the department’s initiatives in the areas of long-term care and support for elders and individuals with chronic illnesses.
Members have noted that initiatives are underway in the Kitikmeot region to provide additional long-term residential care.
Members are pleased that this will enable those requiring it to receive the necessary care within Nunavut and strongly urge the department to consider similar opportunities in the Kivalliq region as well.
Committee members look forward to receiving information on the revised benefits that will be provided under the recently reviewed Extended Health Benefits Program and encourage departmental officials to ensure that clients who may be entitled to benefits under this program are informed and aware.
Mr. Chairman, the issue of food security is an ongoing and public concern across Nunavut.
During the minister’s appearance before the committee to discuss his department’s draft budget for 2015-16, members were given to understand that the Department of Family Services had been designated to take the lead on the government’s Food Security Action Plan. However, this was not confirmed during the appearance of the Minister of Family Services before the committee.
The standing committee encourages the minister to work closely with his cabinet counterparts to ensure that this critical initiative does not falter through a lack of coordination and leadership at the ministerial level.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Joanasie. (interpretation ends) Well read. (interpretation) We will now proceed and, as we move along, are there any general comments from the regular members?
If there are none, as we move to the Committee of the Whole, and since we haven’t held one for several months, I wish to remind members, including our newest member, who will hear these rules for the first time that we follow in the Committee of the Whole, let me remind you of the following: according to Rule 77(1), every member has 10 minutes to speak, and according to Rule 77(2), subject to the discretion of the Chair, a member may speak more than once to a matter under discussion but not until every member wishing to speak has spoken.
Due to these rules, which we will try to follow and I will try to have them followed, as we proceed with this review, I wish to remind members that prior to moving on to the page-by-page review, we have two additional documents pertaining to this review. They are the main estimates and the business plan for the department.
It is obvious that members will have questions on the details contained in any of the documents and for the benefit of the Chair and the minister, I would suggest that you identify the page number and document you are referring to or are questioning in order to have this meeting run smoothly.