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November 25, 2005

Family of Pat Lyall offers thanks to everyone

Our family would like to thank all the people and organizations who were so very kind and generous with their outpouring of love and support during a very hard and trying time, the loss of our loved one, Pat.

You will all be remembered and forever in our thoughts.

A very special thank you to the airlines who assisted in getting all to Taloyoak for the funeral: Adlair Aviation, Aklak Air, Canadian North, First Air and Kenn Borek.

Again, that you very much and God bless you all.

The Lyall Family

November 18, 2005

No empire building at Baffin hospital?

Dr. Mark Lachmann wants to increase the hospital's autonomy. (Nunatsiaq News, Oct. 21, 2005)

"We would like to see the hospital separate out from the department of health and social services so that it's not a mini-department, but an independent institution that's able to respond to its own issues" Lachmann said.

Judas Priest! Here we go again. Three weeks on the job and he's already preaching power politics and yet another administrative reorganization as the solution to all our problems.

We're a community of barely 30,000 people!

How many 'independent institutions,' each duplicating their separate administration and overhead does he think we need in a jurisdiction of this size?

The Nunavut Implementation Commission (NIC) concluded in 1998 that those aspects of human resources, legal, finance, records, facilities, purchasing, training and, yes, even governance itself, that could be shared by all of Nunavut's services, should be shared.

The former Nunavut health boards, including the Baffin Hospital, can trace most of their problems to their own petty bitter resistance to breaking down artificial bureaucratic barriers, fighting tooth-and-nail to avoid the sensible integration and savings and improved care that would come from shared integrated support functions.

Mr. Lachmann, service delivery begins with courtesy and respect for your clients and patients throughout Nunavut, including your colleagues in the so-called departments. Leave your extra-territorial preconceptions and interdepartmental feuds where you got them and start serving Nunavummiut as part of a team, not some little personal fiefdom.

We call it Pinasuaqtavut.

(Name withheld by request)
Iqaluit

November 18, 2005

Questions about HTLV-1

I am confused about HTLV-1 message. I am shocked and in fear hearing about nursing mothers. The Nunavut chief medical officer is saying to continue to breast-feed their children until government knows how many Nunavummiut are infected with HTLV-1.

It is so confusing with vague information regarding HTLV-1 for nursing mothers. Is Dr. Isaac Sobol telling healthy mothers nursing their babies are at risk of HTLV-1?

I would like more information as to how it could be transmitted by healthy mothers to their babies. I myself don’t want to wait for government for what they do not know. I would like to hear it from the Chief Medical Officer.

(Name witheld by request)
Iqaluit

Iqaluit 15 or 20 years later

I was a resident of Iqaluit from 1971 to 1979, and then intermittently while negotiating the ITC land claim, and I have always held Iqaluit close to my heart.

I seem to always gravitate to the Nunatsiaq News site to see what is happening in the most beautiful part of the world.

While I have been away for a long time, I always remember with fond memories the many close friends I made there during my time with the new hamlet, with Okota and Paton, and with the negotiating team for the ITC claim. Many names I recognize, especially those from Apex where I always lived, and I'm glad to see that Bill MacKenzie was recognized with a memorial award recently.

Names like Gord Rennie, Anne and Bob Hanson, Dick Abernethy, and Ken MacRury come to mind. Now I am living about as far away from Iqaluit as you can get, on the shores of the South China Sea, on the island of Hainan, teaching in a university, and I seem to find myself telling my students about life in Iqaluit so long ago.

I am not alone, as I have spoken with so many who spent a long time, or a relatively short time, in Iqaluit and it has been one of the highlights of their life. I only hope that the people of Iqaluit remember some of us, and that the newcomers realize that others were there before you. We got fresh food once a month, ordered our major food order once a year, and I built two houses in Apex with supplies brought up by ship on the sealift.

This has gone on much more than I expected, but it shows the intensity that many of us remember the days before Iqaluit became a much larger and more "important" place than we experienced. I am only glad that I had the chance to experience it, and have had one child born in Apex, and who incidentally is ready and willing to come back.

Greetings from Wuzishan, on the shores of the South China Sea to those who may remember such people as Markosie Peter, Jimmy Sheutiapik and Eeteetook.

Ross McKinnon
Qiongzhou University
Wuzishan City
Hainan Island
China
mckinnonross@gmail.com

Criminal record check did not bar daughter from nursing program

There was an article on Nunavut Arctic College (Nov. 4), where I was quoted as saying that my daughter could not make it to the nursing program due to a criminal record check.

My daughter is currently taking the Access to Health program at Nunavut Arctic College.

My presentation to the standing committee on Nunavut Arctic College was that I was shocked to find that criminal record checks were required. I mentioned that a lot of Inuit might have and do have criminal records, which are barriers.

A lot of Inuit do not realize that criminal records are permanent records that stay in the historic file of the individual and can have an effect on their future or future employment.

To them, it is gone and forgotten, but to the system, it stays as a constant reminder that such an event had taken place and now they are identified as criminals.

Now what does that have to do with education? Or trying to better your future? That was my point.

Cathy Towtongie
Rankin Inlet

Makivik clarifies its residential school lawsuit actions

Nunatsiaq News has printed several inaccurate statements concerning Makivik Corp. and the federal residential schools issue over the past weeks. It is unfortunate that Makivik was not contacted for comment prior to publication.

In May 2005, the Assembly of First Nations signed a political accord with the Government of Canada to resolve the First Nations residential school legacy. Former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci was appointed by the government as its representative to negotiate an appropriate form of compensation.

To ensure a seat in the negotiation process and to protect the interests of all Nunavik former students, Makivik Corp. had a lawsuit initiated against the Government of Canada in the summer of 2005. It was not the first federal residential school lawsuit sponsored by Makivik. Over the past years, Makivik has approved every request for financial assistance made by groups of Nunavik former students, to enable these students to initiate lawsuits for the abuse they suffered while attending federal schools and hostels. These lawsuits have all been either successfully settled or are ongoing.

It is extremely important for the Inuit organizations, which are working together and closely with the AFN, to participate in the negotiations with Mr. Iacobucci. Makivik could not have relied on the class action lawyers to promote the specific interests of Nunavik former students, since most would not have been included in the class actions. These lawsuits do not necessarily take into account the particular situation of Inuit former students, especially those who attended day schools and resided in federal hostels.

The federal government has not yet acknowledged that many of the former hostels located in Nunavik actually existed and even if their existence were acknowledged, it has not yet been confirmed that former students residing in these hostels would be eligible under the process. Makivik's main objective in this process is to ensure that all Nunavik former residential students would be eligible for whatever compensation may be offered if the process were successful.

Makivik is also working to ensure that, if the negotiations are successful and compensation is offered, legal fees be kept at a reasonable rate to maximize the benefit for the former students. Obviously, there is only one federal budget for this issue.

The federal residential schools issue is highly sensitive and complex. It should be treated with professionalism and respect and we urge Nunatsiaq News to make every effort to ensure that its reports are both balanced and accurate.

Pita Aatami
President
Makivik Corporation

GN clarifies HTLV-1 article

The article of Nov. 4, 2005 on HTLV-1 had several inaccuracies.

The article says the Japanese government dealt with an HTLV-1 outbreak by discouraging all breast-feeding. Not so. What Japan did was discourage HTLV-1 positive mothers from breast-feeding. We are doing the same in Nunavut.

Breast-feeding remains the healthy choice for baby and mother. That only changes if the mother is infected with HTLV-1.

Health Centres are now offering HTLV-1 testing as part of the pre-natal screening process.

Also, the article mixes two diseases into one.

HTLV-1 can trigger two quite separate health conditions.

One is called Tropical Spastic Paraparesis. This disease of the nervous system results in a loss of strength in the lower limbs and a loss of bladder control. Completely separate is T-cell leukemia or lymphoma ("cancers of the blood"), which does not have any preceding neurological symptoms.

I would encourage anyone with questions or concerns about HTLV-1 to visit their local health centre. Fact sheets are available. Testing is free and confidential.

Health and Social Services will not at any time be changing the over-all policy of promoting breast-feeding in Nunavut The reporter appears to be confusing two interventions now being undertaken in Nunavut.

The first intervention is a territory-wide pre-natal screening program. This will allow pregnant women to find out if they are infected with HTLV-1. Anyone who tests positive will be offered individual counselling about not just breast-feeding but a range of issues associated with HTLV-1.

The second intervention is a territory-wide unlinked, anonymous seroprevalence study. The results will show us how widespread the virus is in the general population. The study may take one or two years to be complete. However, by the spring we hope to have preliminary results which will guide any future interventions.

Dr. Isaac Sobol
Chief Medical Officer of Health

No fan of RCMP dog-slaughter report

I knew the RCMP would come up with some creative reasons to kill our dogs and sure enough, they made it look like we were going to be all eaten by them. They did it to protect us? When are the taxpayers of Canada going to say that they shouldn’t investigate themselves?

Some families were stuck in places they were just visiting when their dogs were killed. I urge our people to not take this. This type of thing shouldn’t happen in Canada.

Leesee Qaqasiq
Pangnirtung

November 11, 2005

Polish man wants Nunavut postcards

My name is Jerzy Matuszczak. I am a 49-year-old man from Krakow Poland who collects blank post-cards. My collection has over 33,000 post-cards from 176 countries, but my target is to have the world’s biggest collection.

I would love to ask you to help me by please sending a few blank post-cards with views from Nunavut. If someone is looking for a friendly Polish family, I will answer all letters or e-mails.

Mailing address:

Jerzy Matuszczak
31-462 Krakow
Ul.Pilotow 22/21
POLAND

Email: pilot22-56@o2.pl

Jerzy Matuszczak
Krakow, Poland

November 4, 2005

NTI debt to Nunavut Trust a shock to beneficiaries

This letter is in regards to the Nunatsiaq News article on Oct. 7, 2005, about Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. borrowing from the Nunavut land claims fund.

The Nunavut beneficiaries’ land claim funds are being totally jolted around without input or knowledge from the official beneficiaries of Nunavut.

NTI’s borrowing has come to over $100 million and this is a shock to us beneficiaries!

Their salary wages, travel and accommodations are so impossible to believe. We have people (beneficiaries) who are on low income or who are homeless and $111.6 million is spent so carelessly.

How much of the money is spent on our economic and social programs out of the pot? Not much I suppose, as most of it is spent on salaries, travel and administration. There are too many staff in NTI that are not really necessary. There are too many chiefs running our land claims administration. This needs to be reviewed, especially travel, and staff need to be cut.

I am speaking about my own beliefs and whoever else believes this, but I know not everyone agrees or will agree with me. But things need to be said, because I am an Inuk and a full beneficiary.

I believe I have my right to say what is happening with our land claim compensation fund. Koana.

Jeannie Evalik
Cambridge Bay

November 4, 2005

Why not get an import permit?

I would like to say that it’s a good thing the authorities Duncan Cunningham speaks of are stopping the shipping of non-permitted booze into Nunavut communities where you need a special liquor permit to import alcohol.

For those of you who don’t know, in most Nunavut communities, you need a permit to import alcohol to them. So what Duncan Cunningham was doing is illegal.

These communities are dry because the people of these communities have voted to keep them, which is their right to do.

And last, I was appalled that Duncan called the liquor inspectors racist (“It’s not about the liquor inspectors, many new to the North, who sit in licensed establishments gawking at Inuit women waiting to write them up for that little-too-loud laugh, nor is it about waiters cutting off the Inuk man after two beers while ignoring the white man’s revelry,” his letter said.)

Liquor inspectors do not write up the individual who is intoxicated — they write the establishment up. That means it doesn’t matter what gender or race the individual is, it is the state of intoxication in the licensed establishment.

Let’s tell everyone how I was breaking the law for the last five years, and getting away with it, while everyone else in my community had to apply for a special permit to import liquor. Does this seem smart to you?

Why not get an import permit?

(Name withheld by request)
Iqaluit

November 4, 2005

Violence happens inside the home

Qujannamik, mat’na, koana, thank you, merci, for speaking out on this issue of “Take Back the Night” (Nunatsiaq News, Oct. 21).

For years now I had a feeling we were targeting the wrong idea, which started in England.

You are correct in saying that violence happens almost all the time behind closed doors and not on the street. We might see arguments or people who are intoxicated out on the streets, but the abuse happens inside the homes.

Before, when we lived as family units in camps, the people knew what was happening and would intervene. Now we live in individual houses and do not visit or spend that much time with our families and loved ones. There is no one to be accountable to, and the punching, hitting, and hurtful words are exchanged. While this is happening, the children are listening and witnessing all of this happening in their homes as they grow up, and do the same things that their parents did (even after vowing never to be the same), with their parent’s jealousy, keeping an eye on each other, calling to ensure they are still at that place, accusing, no money, pattik, bingo, drugs, alcohol, and so on.

We need to work as a community, not so much as individuals, but a whole whack of different people coming together and not just once a year — it has to be continuous.

We need someone like a check-up person, we need families involved in talking and coming up with solutions — do not leave them out. This confidentiality issue is not working in our system — it is just making it harder.

Sometimes the families aren’t even notified when their loved ones are flown away to a different community, and they aren’t given the opportunity to speak. We need more Inuit intervention, not the GN system coming in to “solve” it for a little while and not even following-up or calling the family.

And I’m really disappointed in our Elders. They are not speaking out or coming up with solutions. They wait for things to “calm down” but sometimes it just gets worse when we are shutting it out.

We’ve lost too many people because we cannot even speak up anymore. I wish we could help each other out more and not be afraid. This is Canada, not Iran.

Madeleine Qumuatuq
Pangnirtung

November 4, 2005

Thanks from CBC’s unionized workers

We’re writing on behalf of the members of the Iqaluit local of the Canadian Media Guild, which represents the workers who were locked out by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. for eight weeks.

We’re very pleased to be back at work, but we also know that this dispute would not have reached a successful conclusion without the kindness of countless people whose generosity and support helped us during a very difficult time.

Thank you to our listeners and the many people of Nunavut and Nunavik who wrote to their MPs and signed petitions and cards in support of the CBC workers.

And many thanks to those of you who helped out with food, money, moral support, loud honks and encouraging smiles. We’re not able to name you all, due to space constraints in the paper, but your thoughtfulness helped us make it through, and we appreciate all you’ve done for us.

Nakurmiik, Thank you, Merci.

Fiona Christensen
President, Iqaluit Local, Canadian Media Guild

Joanna Awa
Vice President, Iqaluit Local, Canadian Media Guild

November 4, 2005

Thomas Berger deserves admiration

Anybody who can move forward the stalled implementation provisions in Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement deserves our full admiration and appreciation.

In addition to the lack of monetary allocations by the federal government, there is also another underlying barrier to progress, that of the administrative and bureaucratic resistance.

Raymond Kaslak
Sachs Harbour

November 4, 2005

Two early Frobisher Bay residents pass away

Bob Green, the former superintendent of the Rehabilitation Centre in Apex from 1956 to 1961, has died.

Bob was 81. He was affectionately known as “Ujaujaq.” Bob and his wife, Phillipa, spent four years in Apex and raised some of their children there.

The rehab centre provided Inuit returning to the North from sanatoria in the South with on-the-job training programs. They ran the laundry, a bakery and the Aurora Theatre. The centre provided housing and home care for residents of the centre.

Mrs. Green and family reside in British Columbia and wish to be remembered to all their old friends.

Dr. Brian Brett, M.D., who ran the Frobisher Bay Hospital during the years 1962 through 1965, has also passed away, after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife and four daughters.

After his tenure in the North, Dr. Brett went on to serve with the federal government in several branches, including the Canadian Overseas Medical Service. Dr. Bret was 78.

Both of these men made a substantial contribution to this community in its early days of development. Dr. Brett helped bring a lot of current residents into the world working under pretty primitive conditions at that time.

Bryan Pearson
Iqaluit

November 4, 2005

Watch out for dog molesters

I just wanted to respond to the story about the dog molester (Nunatsiaq News, Oct. 7).

I can’t believe what I read in the paper about this guy being acquitted for sexually abusing a dog.

People may say it isn’t sexual abuse, but in my eyes it is. Just because it’s not a human it doesn’t mean he didn’t abuse the poor dog. The dog was helpless and defenseless, so how in the hell would they drop the charges on him?

Is the court system saying it’s okay to have sex with an animal and then kill the animal after having sex with it?

We’ve all heard about the dog molesters, but they have never been charged as they were never caught, I guess, by their wives, etc.

But now the guy got caught and got away with it, so now the other sick people out there who are animal abusers are going to think it’s okay to do that to a poor animal that’s defenseless.

Don’t forget that it says in the paper that he has previous charges like sexual assault and so on, so if he is a sexual abuser, he will always be one.

This last advice I’d like to give to the people who have dogs. Watch your dog and don’t let it loose, as now we all know for a fact that there are sick people out there that even fall in love sexually with a dog.

(Name withheld by request)
Iqaluit

November 4, 2005

NTI: We ain’t guilty of no lawyer-talk

Re: “Berger chides both sides in land claims dispute,” October 21, 2005.

Before taking up my current position as chief executive officer for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., I served for four years as NTI’s chief negotiator in negotiations to update the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement implementation contract. I also served as one of NTI’s representatives on the Nunavut Implementation Panel.

NTI welcomes your newspaper’s long standing interest in NLCA implementation problems, and we share your expectation that the conciliation project now being conducted by Thomas Berger will provide key guidance in how best to achieve the objectives of the NLCA in the coming years. Mr. Berger’s interim report is valuable in itself. His final report, at the end of the year, will demand frank and far-ranging responses and commitments.

I reject however, your suggestion that NTI reduces everything in the NLCA to what you call “lawyer-talk.”

In the four years of negotiations to update the NLCA implementation contract, NTI consistently took the position that an updated contract would not deliver a perfect world, but would make tangible and measurable progress against fundamental objectives. We not only talked the talk, we walked the walk. Our willingness to put aside disputes over the precise meaning of particular sections of the NLCA to come up with reasonable steps was demonstrated in a number of ways.

We invited federal negotiators to bring relevant expertise from federal departments and agencies (Human Resources Canada, Public Service Commission, etc.) to address better ways of making progress on Article 23 (Inuit public sector employment) in the future, perhaps taking advantage of the federal government’s experience in recruiting francophones at the national level. This invitation was never taken up.

NTI and the Government of Nunavut shared the $200,000 cost of relevant economic research by Pricewaterhouse Coopers into the costs to Inuit and government of failing to bring about a representative government work force in Nunavut (approximately 85 per cent Inuit).

This economic research formed part of a broader report prepared by GN and NTI, entitled the Annaumaniiq Report. This report was devoted to the political and policy commitments made by successive federal prime ministers, ministers, and other officials to re-design government in Nunavut to reflect the 85 per cent Inuit majority in Nunavut.

NTI attempted to persuade federal negotiators to bring federal heritage officials to participate in negotiations to find new ways to combine public sector and private sector funding to launch the construction of a new museum and heritage conservation facility in Nunavut as contemplated by the NLCA. Our efforts were rejected.

In arguments for the need for additional wildlife harvest studies and adequate funding for hunters and trappers organizations through an updated implementation contract, NTI relied on the advice of expert wildlife managers and experienced Inuit hunters. Federal negotiators never agreed to send federal experts from the Departments of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment to the negotiating table.

In none of these negotiating efforts did NTI confine its arguments and suggestions to legal points. On numerous occasions, NTI suggested that instead of exchanging conflicting interpretations of the NLCA, the parties should seek understanding based on more constructive reference points: reasonable expectations of the parties, plausible interpretations, reliance on the spirit of the NLCA and its articles, etc. None of these suggestions were embraced, nor was the suggestion that we use the arbitration provisions of the NLCA to come up with reasonable results.

NTI is not alone in thinking that the major obstacle to implementing the Nunavut and other land claims agreements is the federal government’s desire to do only what a judge might order it to do in the event of a court challenge. This is reaffirmed in what the Auditor General of Canada has said in recent years. It is not NTI’s policy, but the federal government’s policy of reducing land claims agreements from instruments of sharing to pared down lists of bare legal obligations that promote “lawyer talk.”

Fortunately, the appointment of Mr. Berger indicates that there is some openness within the federal government to a new approach. Let us hope that once we have Mr. Berger’s final report at hand, a new approach will take shape and momentum.

Joe Kunuk, chief executive officer
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

November 4, 2005

Don’t sell drugs

I am not speaking on behalf of any organization, nor am I getting paid by anyone for speaking out on something, which I feel is damaging our Inuit children. It goes back to: “Children learn what they live.”

As an adult, if you are part of transporting or sending drugs in any form, I hope you will stop and think before you do it again.

Or is your worth in terms of money much more important than the innocent lives you are helping to destroy?

If you say that you are helping the people of Canada’s North in your job, don’t supply drugs in a way that you think “people will never find out.”

Martha Peet
Winnipeg

November 4, 2005

Nunavik homeownership program difficult to work with

As stated in the Oct. 7 Nunatsiaq News article, home ownership programs have not worked in Nunavik.

I am currently building a house in the community of Kuujjuaq. I have been working in collaboration with the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau on my project for approximately two years now, and I agree that the homeownership program is not working well.

In addition to the high construction costs, obtaining insurance, the high cost of utilities and competition from staff housing, the program itself holds several flaws that cause the program to be unsuccessful.

First, I believe the KMHB is not only difficult to work with, but I have had first-hand experience to say that they have discouraged me and almost prevented me from building my own house under the homeownership program.

Second, I believe that I am lucky to have been able to complete my project, since I really did not get much assistance when it came down to finding the resources and getting advice on the procedures for planning the project.

For example, I was told that it would cost me approximately $300 per square foot to build my house, when in fact it will only cost me a small fraction of that amount.

Third, in my opinion, the monetary aspect of the program still needs to be reviewed for a few reasons. One of those reasons being that as a 23-year-old future homeowner, I normally would only be permitted to build a one-bedroom home for eligibility reasons.

I do not have kids at the moment, but I am planning on having kids in the future. My main reason for building a house at my age is so that I will be prepared for the day I do get a wife and children. Therefore, this discourages young Nunavimmiut from wanting to build their own houses since they cannot take their future into consideration.

Another reason why I believe that the program discourages Nunavimmiut from building is that the allowable grant that is given is restricted to 85 per cent until the completion of the project. Not only is the KMHB grant restricted, but the bank also restricts the mortgage in a similar way.

Most of the expenses that are incurred during the construction of a house are done prior to the commencement of the construction. Therefore, this leaves the future homeowner with several thousands of dollars missing that must be spent in order to complete the project.

I do not agree with Mr. Fournier, when he mentions in the article that people always want to build houses larger than they need. Most households in Nunavik, whether they be social or private units, are overcrowded.

Housing remains and will remain a problems for several years to come, and I believe that it will not change until the KMHB’s management start making adjustments to the program.

Jonathan Grenier
Kuujjuaq

November 4, 2005

Le Nunavik: le temps presse

Nous lisions dans l’hebdomadaire Nunatsiaq News du 23 septembre et le quotidien le Soleil du 4 octobre, qu’un rapport de la commission des droit de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, toujours confidentiel, démontrait le bien fondé des plaintes qui lui avaient été adressées en 2002, concernant les mauvais traitements dont avaient été victimes un certain nombre d’enfants.

Selon ces deux journaux, le rapport démontre que la négligence, les mauvais traitements, les abus physiques et sexuels représentent un phénomène non généralisé mais important au Nunavik ; plus encore les services de la direction de la protection de la jeunesse ne remplissent pas adéquatement les rôles qui leur sont dévolus par la loi pour les contrer.

Ce rapport devait être disponible en juin 2004. Il n’est pas encore déposé. Qui empêche sa diffusion et pourquoi ? La question mérite d’être posée ?

Combien faudra-t-il de viols de plus, de mauvais traitements, de suicides et de meurtres, d’actes de violence faits aux femmes, et même de mutilations, avant que le gouvernement, la régie régionale, les établissements et les autorités inuits agissent de concert pour s’attaquer à ces problèmes?

Le peuple inuit est très jeune et le taux de natalité très élevé. L’augmentation de cette population crée déjà de très grosses pressions sur le logement. Les personnes âgées ne sont plus abandonnées dans les igloo à la fin de l’hiver pour y mourir de faim ou autrement. Elles doivent demeurer avec leurs enfants, dans des logements déjà occupés à 300 % et 400 %.

Il n’existe aucun programme en santé mentale, les intervenants sociaux inuits et non inuits travaillent avec un minimum d’encadrement à distance, isolés dans les 14 villages du Nunavik.

Aucun programme intégré famille enfance jeunesse n’est en place, supporté par un leadership fort de la part de la régie régionale et de l’équipe de santé publique, ce qui n’empêche pas les intervenants d’entreprendre des actions isolées ; comme on dit là-bas, « we do our best ».

Les supports informatiques en télécommunications sont très inadéquats, alors que les visio-conférences efficaces pourraient être un excellent moyen d’assurer un minimum d’encadrement aux intervenants de ces 14 points de services étalés sur le littoral de la baie d’Ungava, du détroit et de la baie d’Hudson. Les médecins de ces points de services devraient aussi pouvoir compter sur la télé-médecine.

Nous savons de plus qu’un plan stratégique devait être déposé aux autorités inuits et au ministère en mai 2005. Ce plan propose très certainement des pistes de solutions pertinentes. Ce rapport n’est pas encore rendu publique.

Pour ma part, après avoir passé trois mois dans le grand nord, dans une fonction d’adjoint au d.g d’un centre de santé, j’ai pu constater la très grande faiblesse des équipes de direction supérieure, soit que les postes n’étaient pas comblés, soit que les cadres supérieurs passaient une grande partie de leur temps au sud, pour assister à différentes réunions du réseau de la santé. J’ai pu constater de plus le besoin des cadres intermédiaires, des médecins et des employés autant inuits que non-inuits, d’avoir un support administratif et clinique appropriés. J’ai pu constaté aussi combien les femmes inuits travaillaient fort pour améliorer le sort des leurs.

Monsieur le ministre, vous vous êtes engagé très rapidement et publiquement lorsque vous avez été informé des abus dont étaient victimes quelques bénéficiaires du centre St-Charles-Borromée ; vous avez jugé qu’il pouvait s’agir là de la pointe de l’iceberg de telle sorte que tous les centres d’hébergement pouvaient faire l’objet d’une visite surprise de la part d’une équipe tactique du ministère. Je crois que le grand nord québécois mérite une intervention aussi musclée de votre part.

Je suis d’avis que le territoire du Nunavik devienne progressivement un territoire capable de prendre en main sa destinée. Je crois de plus qu’un plan d’action très bien structuré et un accompagnement sur place, formellement établi, soient convenus entre les parties pour que ce transfert de responsabilités se fasse dans l’harmonie , le respect et la dignité des personnes sans défense, dont les enfants, les femmes et les vieillards.

Il y a déjà plusieurs personnes compétentes qui sont impliquées au nord, il s’y dépense quelque $80,000,000 par année dans le réseau de la santé pour desservir quelque 11,000 personnes. Ce qu’il faut de plus, c’est un leadership fort, imputable et présent au nord, qui s’engage sur la voie du transfert des responsabilités aux autorités inuits, tout en négociant des conditions avec celles-ci pour assurer des services de qualité au peuple inuit en fonction de résultats pré-établis, devant faire l’objet d’un suivi normal et d’une reddition de compte auprès du ministre lui-même.

Je vous remercie de votre attention..

Jean Lavigne
Sociologue
Sherbrook

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