EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Again, there is only so much the government can afford in terms of distribution of these funds for the library services.
So it is not a question of whether the 13 thousand dollars per community is an acceptable level of funding but can we make it more relevant.
However, having said that, the Nunavut Libraries Manager in Baker Lake will be doing the co-ordination a lot cheaper and a lot more affordable in the community.
She will be able to rotate these books that some communities have and others don't have.
So when the community is finished with those books they could rotate them to another community.
That way you don't have to buy new books all the time.
There are many ways to carry on the community library service that we were not able to do before we hired that person.
I was once a student and the minister was also a student.
I think that he is probably aware that, I will use the dictionary for an example, there are certain kinds of books in schools that tend to wear out.
How are we going to be giving out worn out books to other communities for their use.
His question was more of a comment.
He is saying we are going to be giving other communities worn out books that have been used by other communities, but we will be supplying funds for them to purchase new books so that they can remain in the library for school use and for students' use.
But if there is another community that requires a certain amount of books then the closest community to that school will have the opportunity to give the books to that particular school in need.
There are many books and I know they will be worn out but I think it will be helpful for the communities if they have books to choose from.
I wasn't quite clear on some of his responses.
Is this amount of money available for the community or for the community school only.
Perhaps if we get to the page that he is on, that he is referring to.
I think we are still on the same page.
We are still under library services.
I was referring to the page we have just dealt with under grants and contributions.
It states 354, main estimates.
I am sorry Mr. Chairperson, I indicated we were under page 9 - 5, under other expenses.
Within that 273 thousand, main estimates.
Chairperson: (interpretation): Perhaps, Mr. Barnabas we have technicians upstairs that turn on our mikes and we also have a little red microphone.
Perhaps if you can start using those appropriately.
Mr. Barnabas: Minister, does the funding only apply to community libraries or does it also include school libraries.
This is only for the community libraries, not the school libraries.
If they don't have a library they can get a co-ordinator, volunteer, and order books by mail through the co-ordination of Nunavut Library services.
The next person to speak is Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Under the Department of Education and under policy and planing.
Why is this under Department of Education, the contribution of money.
Chairperson (interpretation): Mr. Iqaqrialu we are under 9-6.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): Yes I am also under 9-6.
I just want the member to know that the Department of Education deals with Library Services, Arctic College, the Science Institute, and different programs under the Department of Education and that Library Services are also under the Department of Education.
I do not have any more names.
We are under 9-6 policy and planning.
Under branch summary. 9-7.
Department of Education, corporate services.
Operations and maintenance.
Total 1 million 349 thousand dollars.
Under other expenses 797 thousand dollars.
Compensation and benefits, exactly what is this for, 797 thousand dollars.
This is for wages for the individual staff in Iqaluit and for others, 1 human resource officer and technology 2 positions there and a capital planner, this is compensation for those individuals.
Those positions are all in Iqaluit.
Under other expenses, 552 thousand dollars, what is that for.
Hon. James Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Chairperson.
Those are for other expenses particularly travel and assets purchases.
Contract services, expenses such as to hire part-time workers and technical services.
These are O&M, especially travel expenses.
That is what the 552 thousand dollars is in there for.
He mentioned about the computers.
Do they have computers in some communities, because some communities have old computers.
Some of them have last year's computers.
Some of them have really old computers.
What kind of computers do the communities have.
Chairperson: Mr. Arvaluk
I mentioned Mr. Chairman, that the positions are all based in Iqaluit.
Those are based on O&M in Iqaluit.
They do planning on the computers so those are the O&M for positions here in Iqaluit.
I have no more names.
We are still on 9-7.
Total O&M 1 million 349 thousand dollars.
Total expenditures, 16 million 674 thousand.
Total capital of 15 million 325 thousand dollars.
Where did that come from.
Why is it in there.
Chairperson (interpretation): I just want to clarify to the members that the total expenditures 16 million 674 thousand, you cannot agree to that right now because we deferred some Items from the budget for the Department of Education.
So total operations and maintenance 1 million 279 thousand is the only one that we can agree on right now.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): One million 349 thousand is what we already agreed to Mr. Chairman.
When we went to 16 thousand 674 I just wanted to ask the minister, 15 million 325 thousand, why is it there.
Under the Main Estimates.
It is headquarters 200 thousand and expansion of the school in Clyde River, Umingmak School Grise Fiord, Attagutaluk School in Igloolik, Aqsarniit School in Iqaluit and as well for the libraries, the new French School as well as expansion of Pond Inlet High School, Qamatulik School in Resolute Bay and in the Kitikmeot the new high school in Cambridge Bay.
In the middle school, Jimmy Qikkaq School for renovations in Kugluktuk, Kugaarjuk School expansion in Pelly Bay.
Also in the Kivalliq region the library relocation and Jonah Amitnaaq planning in Baker Lake.
Also the expansion of the school in Repulse Bay, that is for warranty work.
Inukplak School in Whale Cove.
In total there is 15 million 325 thousand.
Before we go back to questions, can we take a ten or fifteen minute break.
>>Committee recessed at 5.16 p.m. and resumed at 5.32 p.m.
We are on 9 – 7 under the Department of Education summary 9 – 7, are there any questions to page 9 – 7.
General question.
I have been involved with the Education Committee, especially in regards to the high school programs.
I would like to ask the Minister of Education why one community has double the money for the usage of the high school.
There is from 9.5 million to 10.5 million when they have a full sized gymnasium it seems like there is one community that has double the amount of money that they are going to be expending for the high school.
Chairperson (interpretation): I just want to let the members know that because we have deferred the capital Item for this department perhaps we can go back to it, but we are dealing with the O&M.
We are under general questions on operations and maintenance right now.
Okay, Mr. Iqaqrialu are you on 9 – 7 as well.
I think we are going to have to talk about the 15 million because right now we are dealing with O&M but I think we are going to have to get into the capital budget to and I just wanted to find out if we can do that.
Chairperson (interpretation): Because of the committee of the whole deferral of the Items on the budget, the capital budget, 1 million 349 thousand total O&M we have to agree to that. One million 349 thousand.
That 16 million 374 thousand total expenditures we can go back to that in a while.
After we have discussed every page.
In question period I wanted to find out from the members if we are going to be dealing with the Income Support and I wanted to find out from the minister just before we begin, can he respond to that one as well.
It is going to be in a couple of pages because we are going line by line at the moment.
The amount of 15 million dollars in the capital, in accordance with Mr. Iqaqrialu's question, if we go to O&M we are just getting to that question of the member, under Income Support.
It is under 9 – 13.
Page 9 – 13.
If he wants to ask that question he will be able to ask the question under 9 – 13.
Chairperson (interpretation): Okay he is a little bit ahead of everybody else.
I would like to go to 9 – 9.
Chairperson (interpretation): Okay we are on page 9 – 9, Department of Education summary, Adult Education and Post Secondary Services.
Are there any general comments from the floor on that page 9 – 9.
I am sorry but I made a mistake.
Mr. Iqaqrialu and I are on 9 – 9, Adult Education and Post Secondary Services, operations and maintenance.
We did not deal with that.
I am sorry we cannot go to 9 – 9 yet we have to deal with 9 – 8 first.
Chairperson (interpretation): I am so confused because there are three different people that want to talk on this.
Mr. Iqaqrialu wants to go to 9 – 9.
As long as the amount is not over 20 million we have to go to 9 – 9, I wanted to get to 9 – 9 right away because…
Chairperson (interpretation): Okay 9 – 9.
General comments. Branch summary.
Grants to Nunavut Arctic College. (interpretation ends) Thirteen million 268 thousand.
What specific programs does Nunavut Arctic College plan as core programs in the 2000/2001 year.
Hon. James Arvaluk: Mr. Chairman, we cannot name all the specific programs that the member is requesting from the Nunavut Arctic College, for which our contribution totalled to 13 million 268 thousand.
This is a contribution from the government and we would ask Mr. Wilman if he could do core programs then he probably could respond.
But this is a contribution that we give to Nunavut Arctic College and from there they do the details of the spending programs.
If you would allow me to have Mr. David Wilman to answer that.
We do not need a specific answer but if you could give us written details, it would help.
My next question is in regards to which communities they will be giving contributions.
Hon. James Arvaluk: Mr. Chairman, this is the same arrangement.
Sorry. (interpretation) We would have to give you the full detail and possibly what we can do is give you written material on these contributions.
There's the NTEP programs for example in different communities and there is also in Igloolik there was a graduation and there is also I believe the Nursing program.
I could give you a written submission, and possibly Mr. Wilman could give you a brief outline if you wanted oral details.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Barnabas.
If it is okay, we would like to get the written details.
What about the Early Childhood Certificate Program.
Are they going to be getting a contribution also.
Hon. James Arvaluk (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, the Early Childhood Program does not go through the college contributions.
It is on page 9 – 10.
Chairperson (interpretation): We are on page 9 – 9.
I apologize, my question has been asked already.
In the details, I have been given all the relevant information.
Why is it that the Adult Education numbers are not here.
Could you clarify that for me please.
Hon. James Arvaluk (interpretation): From what I understand if it is in reference to the Adult Education and Arctic College, it is the ABE program that is not funded by the government.
Arctic College pays for the instructor but they have to put a proposal in.
For example, there is funding from the Kivalliq Partners, or in the Baffin the Kakivak Association that funds some of these programs that go through Arctic College.
For example, some of the programs are funded, but the majority of the programs are funded by organizations outside of the Nunavut Government.
For example, if they are social service recipients, they get an allowance from that department or the Kivalliq Partners fund them.
I don't know too much about the Baffin area but they are funded by third parties.
What we are talking about here is the Adult Education that goes through Arctic College and also for the universities.
We will probably get into it on another page and it is possibly the same question that I asked earlier.
So does that mean that the communities can only receive funding if they make a proposal and are they funded only when the students go to school.
Chairperson: Minister Arvaluk.
Hon. James Arvaluk (interpretation): Looking at page 9 – 9, there's 3 million 142 thousand that is slotted for Student Financial Assistance for room and board, books, if they are going to universities or post-secondary services or Arctic College.
There are 106 Nunavut students going to post-secondary school in the south and there are 119 in Nunavut.
We set aside 3 million 142 thousand for Student Financial Assistance and through Arctic College we have 13 million 268 thousand, that was used for the June 30, 1999 students.
There were 1,011 students and again on the same item, there's 623 full time, and there are 1,479 part time students.
Also, there was a reduction in the numbers here because the Nunavut Unified Human Resource Strategy set up a program to train students on Senior Assignments, and the Federal Government funded them.
This program is now over and it did give us a new injection of money into that program.
For the NTEP program there were more Inuit who were registered within Nunavut so what we are trying to do is put additional funds into that program so that we can get more Inuit into the work force.
We have a target that is outlined in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, where we would have a target of a certain number of Inuit employed, I believe it is set for 85%.
With that in mind we put in 1 million 804 thousand dollars into the Teacher Education Strategy.
On the college contributions the government supplies or supports the core funding of 13 million 258 thousand.
How much does the College go out and raise itself through third party funding.
I don't have the annual report of the Arctic College available in front of me.
Hon. James Arvaluk (interpretation): The Arctic College raises 6 to 8 million dollars a year that we get from outside the government.
Chairperson (interpretation): I am sorry, from what I hear there is six to eight million dollars that we receive from outside.
Like I say I guess I will read the Annual Report.
On the Teacher Education Strategy, 1 million 804 thousand.
I heard your comments on employing Inuit people and training Inuit teachers which I think is working out to this point and I think it has been very successful in putting elementary teachers into programs.
Over the last 10 or 12 years I haven't seen many of them through first hand experience moving on into the secondary end of the schools and I think we need them there probably as much as we need them in the elementary end.
Also there is a frustration out there among the teachers and part of the reason we ran the NTEP course was because most of them had families and it was hard for them to relocate to southern Canada to take their teacher's certificate.
Like I say this NTEP program worked out to be very good because we delivered programs in the north and it was much easier for them to take these courses and graduate.
We probably have a very well trained group of NTEP teachers out there with ten to fifteen to twenty years experience in the schools, but they seem to be getting frustrated with the lack of opportunity to progress in their education because of the same factors that didn't allow them to go south to the southern institutions.
What I am talking about here is getting into the Master's programs and upgrading.
I think NTEP teachers have been penalised to a certain point because there may be a hesitancy out there and I can't prove it, but other government departments will not hire them because they are NTEP teachers and in most cases they have a lot of education.
Is your department committed, because I know the Human Resources Department is committed, with their Senior Assignment Program, which was very successful, is your department committed to upgrading a lot of these NTEP teachers from the elementary end if they want to, to go into the high school end and to maybe further their education into the Masters so they can get deeper into the civil service in all departments, not just the Education Department and take a leading role in the development of the Senior Assignment Programs within the Nunavut Government.
We already have two enrolled, in fact I think they completed their first year last year of the MBA program.
And we are in fact, to Mr. McLean's question, we are under discussion now with McGill University to get what they call a middle school to high school program that we have a similar arrangement with the elementary level.
We want to pursue the high school NTEP type program so that we will start getting the high school teachers from the former NTEP or new teachers that require for example, under a year of specialisation to teach in high school.
Because when you become a high school teacher you have to specialise in math or English, or social studies, science etc.
So we will be, we are in discussion right now with McGill and hopefully very soon we will be able to make that arrangement so that the students, like the NTEP students, they don't have to go down south to study there.
For other people who want to take the MBA independently to go south to get their Masters this is completely open and we already have a program in place to be enrolled in the universities and we would fund them through Student Financial Assistance.
That is already the case.
But for those high school teachers-to-be we will bring in the instructors from McGill University to do their high school certification.
In regards to the Employment Programs. (interpretation ends) Under the costs of the series of studies related to the development of school curriculum, language of instruction, capital requirements, labour market needs study, special education needs study, contributions to the Council of Disabled Persons, there was funding in the 1999/2000 contributions for 300 thousand dollars and this year there is nothing.
I would like to know why that is.
The labour market development lead negotiator is not a study it was payments to a negotiator to work with the Government of Canada on our behalf to negotiate a new agreement.
We are waiting the final determination from Canada.
So there is no report per se but the agreement we believe the minister will be able to make an announcement on that very soon.
On the language of instruction, that study started in the last fiscal year and there is work ongoing and the balance of that we are going to fund out of the general expenses of the policy secretariat and when that study is done it will be a public document.
So it will be done soon in the new fiscal year.
The labour market needs analysis study is almost done, we don't have a final report yet, so again most of that was paid for last year.
When that final report, which we hope will be soon, once again a copy will be made available and it will be a public document.
Page 9 – 9. Branch summary.
I do not believe there are any further general comments. Mr. Iqaqrialu.
The 13 million, I believe we understand where the 13 million dollars is coming from.
Maybe we can proceed.
If there are no more general questions or comments.
We can then go on to 9 – 8.
I thought we were going to be moving to another line but I do have another question regarding the disabled persons.
The 300 thousand dollars set aside for disabled persons. My question is in regards to the disabled. I do believe that they really do want to continue their education.
They are just as able as we are mentally, why is it that you just have 300 thousand dollars set aside when our communities are few and far between and it is very expensive.
Chairperson (interpretation): Mr. Iqaqrialu are you on 9 – 9.
Mr. Iqaqrialu (interpretation): The reason why I asked this, as you know there is nothing set aside for the year 2000/2001.
We have to have money for the disabled persons also, why is it that there is no money set aside for this year.
Perhaps Mr. Iqaqrialu did not hear when Connie responded earlier to Mr. Akesuk's question about what this 300 thousand was for.
Connie made a reply that this was gone for a labour market needs study and other studies and perhaps the Human Resources Minister, Ms. Jane Stewart will be coming in May to make another distribution agreement with our government.
This is not for operations and maintenance of disabled persons, it was just money set aside to have some studies done on them.
But I want to make it clear that people with disabilities will be looked after under the Culture, Language, Elders & Youth department through contributions to the communities.
Like we indicated earlier this was just an amount that was expended to make studies and we have completed the studies so we do not need any more money.
Looking at some of the responses that have been made to my previous questions under Adult Education and Post Secondary, there are many differences between contributions to communities.
I know that we are not on that particular page so perhaps when we get to the appropriate page under income support maybe I will raise my question then.
Chairperson (interpretation): That was more of a comment, not a question.
We are still under 9 – 9.
If we are not going to extend our sitting hours, I think it is pretty close to having to report progress.
Chairperson (interpretation): I think it was this morning or last week, we all received a meeting schedule from the Clerk's Office and from the Speaker.
Starting today I think it stated that we could go beyond six o'clock if we have to deal with our Items today.
However, as long as nobody makes a motion to report progress, I think we can continue with our discussion. As long as nobody raises a motion to report progress then we will continue even past six o'clock.
I want to continue with our discussions so perhaps we could take a five-minute break, then we can continue.
Chairperson (interpretation): Does the committee agree.
The Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Health has to have a meeting tonight so therefore I would put a motion on the floor to report progress.
Chairperson (interpretation): There is a motion on the floor and the motion is not debatable.
So I will ask the Speaker to come back into the House.
My apologies, there is a motion on the floor.
Just hang on a second please.
There is a motion on the floor to report progress, if you could raise your hands if you are in favour of the motion.
Okay if there are no more questions under page 9 – 9 we will go back to 9 – 8 under Department of Education.
Branch summary, Adult Education and Post-Secondary Services, operations and maintenance.
Total operations and maintenance, 20 million 189 thousand.
Some of these funds are under capital Items so I am wondering if we could defer this amount of money as well.
Chairperson (interpretation): Just to clarify to the member, this amount of 20 million 189 thousand is not in the capital budget so therefore we cannot defer it.
Okay that's it for me. I quit.
Chairperson (interpretation): Okay total operations and maintenance, 20 million 189 thousand.
Total expenditures 20 million 189 thousand.
On to page 9 – 11 and 9 – 12. Information Items.
Under Department of Education branch summary, Early Childhood Education and School Services.
This 1 million 398 thousand under 2001 Main Estimates under contributions to Aboriginal Language and Cultural Programs.
This is for a cultural program initiative for kindergarten to grade 12.
I just want clarification on this, I really like the idea though, of what is in there.
This is a contribution to Nunavut wide Aboriginal Language and Cultural Programs in all of Nunavut.
We contribute some money to District Education Councils.
This was previously known as Divisional Boards of Education. These were the responsibilities that were held by Education Boards but the Department has taken over that responsibility and that is why the amount is in there.
Yes, just for further clarification.
If we can look at Iqaluit, the amount of money that is provided to Iqaluit I do not think Apex is included in here.
Maybe it is but it sounds like Apex is not under that same responsibility.