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In the Legislative
Assembly
March 10, 2006
The GN wants employees to be happy
Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo wants the government to track the reasons why employees leave the territorial government.
This week in the legislature, Tootoo asked Olayuk Akesuk, the minister responsible for housing, whether the GN has any plans to see whether its new housing policy of withdrawing from staff housing, will drive some employees away.
Akesuk said the higher rents and new home ownership programs are supposed to encourage employees to buy homes instead of renting.
“What about the people who don’t want home ownership, that are here for a short period of time?” Tootoo asked.
Akesuk said “we want them to be happy” and agreed that it would be a good idea to track more closely why employees leave the GN.
“If it is a fact that the employees are leaving because of the high cost of housing, especially for those southern employees, yes, I do agree to keep a close watch on this,” Akesuk said.
March 10, 2006
GN “not run by employees,” Okalik says
Staff at the Baffin Correctional Centre and the Young Offenders Centre no longer have 12-hour work shifts. Instead, these shifts have been cut to eight hours, a move that is supposed to encourage more Inuit to work in the centres.
The Inuit employment numbers at the two centres are “shameful,” Justice Minister Paul Okalik told Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo.
On Monday in the legislature, Tootoo asked Okalik whether he had consulted the employees to see whether they wanted to have shorter shifts.
Okalik said the action was allowed by the collective agreement and that the move was in the public’s interest, as a way of increasing Inuit employment.
Okalik said that the GN was “not run by employees,” and, “as a public government, we are entitled to make decisions on what we feel is in the best interest.”
March 10, 2006
Forest fires no disaster for Nunavummiut
Olayuk Akesuk, the minister of environment, told Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley that he’s reviewing the rules and regulations regarding compensation for hunters and fishermen who lose equipment in natural disasters.
As it stands now, they’re only covered when they are on the ice, Akesuk said.
“When the ice floe comes off the ice and they start floating, those are the natural disasters,” Akesuk said.
Curley suggested natural disasters eligible for compensation should include ice, snow, or wind instead of forest fires.
“Could you undertake to change that one wording, really? Thank you,” Curley asked Akesuk.
Curley said there was money left over in the compensation budget, which could be used if the wording was changed and forest fires would no longer be considered as a potential natural disaster in treeless Nunavut.
March 10, 2006
MLA spotlights GN’s “shame”
Quttituk MLA Levi Barnabas deposited photos of Grise Fiord’s Government of Nunavut office building last week, after he brought up the High Arctic’s need for more infrastructure again in the legislature.
“The government offices in Grise Fiord were once condemned, but today government employees still work out of this building,” says his tabled document with photos.
The photos, Barnabas said, clearly reveal “the shameful condition” of the Grise Fiord government office.
Murmurs of “shame, shame” from sympathetic MLAs followed the tabling of the photos which showed patched walls, hanging pieces of ceiling and other construction faults.
March 10, 2006
Training school in the works for Cambay
Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson was happy when Education Minister Ed Picco said his department plans to work “very aggressively” with the school system in CamBay to prepare the population for jobs in mining.
A yet-to-be-released GN Mines Training Strategy says there are “several hundred” jobs to come in the mining sector.
“The school shop is underutilized and needs to be upgraded,” Picco told Peterson earlier during the current session.
$1 million will go towards upgrading it into a mines training facility by 2008, which, Picco said, could offer programs to prepare students for a variety of trades and skills.
A suggestion from Peterson that the GN acquire the former Lupin mine for a mines training school may not work, however, because the mine is to be bought by mining company Wolfden, which bought the Izok Lake mine.
Wolfden plans to use Lupin for the processing of ore from the Izok, Hood and Gondor deposits, and potentially from the Ulu gold deposit, where Wolfden will be performing underground drilling in 2006.
“The acquisition of Lupin provides significant infrastructure which can be used to develop the Izok Project, one of the highest grade undeveloped base metal deposits in the world” Ewan Downie, president of Wolfden, said in a press release about the acquisition on Feb. 24.
March 10, 2006
Musk ox harvest kicks off again
Last week, Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson told the legislature that the Ikaluktutiak Hunters and Trappers Organization had started their first musk ox harvest in five years.
“I would like the House to join me in congratulating the Ikaluktutiak Hunters and Trappers Organization for reviving their annual musk ox harvest and wish them continued success for all of their current and future renewable resource business ventures in Cambridge Bay.”
Peterson said the musk ox cull creates over 20 seasonal jobs, ensures a local source of meat for Kitikmeot Foods to process, and helps keep the musk ox population healthy.
March 10, 2006
Electoral Commission to review ridings
Last week in the legislature, Rankin Inlet MLA Tagak Curley spoke about the creation of an electoral boundaries commission for Nunavut.
The Nunavut Elections Act requires that such a commission be established within 24 months of the swearing-in of MLAs after the first general election after the new elections act.
Curley said the following appointments to the commission have been recommended: Justice Beverley Browne as chair and John Ningark and Bernadette Niviatsiak as members.
Starting in May, this commission will consult with Nunavut communities, particularly those that have experienced population growth — such as Arviat and Iqaluit. These communities may see the commission calling for an additional riding and MLA to represent their interests in the legislature.
March 10, 2006
Small communities’ crying need for infrastructure
Hudson Bay MLA Peter Kattuk told the legislature last week that he’s dismayed that there is no mention of his community in the GN’s 2006-2007 budget.
“It seems like my constituency doesn’t even exist. So I’m quite frustrated about that,” he said. “Our community is viewed as a non-existent community... I find the government is neglecting my community.”
A major focus of frustration for Kattuk and Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas is the poor condition and insufficient size of their community halls.
“The multi-purpose hall in my community of Arctic Bay was built 35 years ago,” Barnabas said. “The school uses this facility by day, the public uses it every night.”
Levinia Brown, the minister of Community and Government Services, admitted that “the majority of communities in Nunavut are growing in population and the community halls are filled to capacity and some community halls are deteriorating due to age.”
But Brown was unable to say when or if any expansion was planned for either Sanikiluaq or Arctic Bay.
As for Grise Fiord’s GN offices, which were condemned but are still in use, Brown only said that she would “urge the government to give adequate consideration to the needs of the residents in Nunavut’s non-decentralized communities.”
The GN plans to spend “an amount of money” on property upgrades this year, but Brown couldn’t say if Grise Fiord’s “very old” facility would be on the list.
During the session, Barnabas has continued to ask Brown for information about what upgrades and new construction of community facilities the GN will be able to afford. Barnabas spoke about the need for a youth and elders’ facility in Grise Fiord and for renovations to the site of a youth centre in Resolute.
Brown told Barnabas that bringing old buildings up to today’s safety codes is very costly — no surprise to the member from Quttiktuq who tabled a proposal his community had made to improve the Arctic Bay community hall. Only half of this proposal was approved by the GN, Barnabas said, “enough for some new chairs, plywood, and paint.”
March 10, 2006
Passing of Rankin Inlet elder recognized
Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley told the legislature about the recent death of a beloved community elder, Elisapee Karlik, on Feb. 8.
“She is the wife of Pierre Karlik, they have children, and they are a family that the people of Nunavut should envy,” Curley said.
The Karliks were greatly appreciated, Curley said, for the counsel they offered young people on family issues and marriage.
“When we lost her, the whole community of Rankin Inlet felt the loss, and not only our community of Rankin Inlet, but also the other communities,” Curley said.
March 10, 2006
Medical problems not “hiccups” — just “situations”
Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas is still concerned about how the transfer of medical travel arrangements from Iqaluit to Pangnirtung is affecting Baffin patients.
During questioning about the “hiccups” in service, which Aglukkaq had referred to last week, Aglukkaq told Barnabas on Monday that there were “some situations” causing confusion for traveling patients.
Alukkaq said one involved a new doctor who released out-of-town patients in Iqaluit right before the weekend, although they had no travel arrangements to return home.
Aglukkaq said her department plans to post information in boarding homes, the hospital and airports around the Baffin region, so patients will know who to contact in case of any problems.
On Tuesday, she tabled the numbers of the travel coordinator in the legislature.
March 10, 2006
Apprentice program a success, says Picco
Last week, Ed Picco, the education minister, told the legislature that since the creation of Nunavut, 48 apprentices have received their apprenticeship certificates, 84 apprentices or trade qualifiers have received their qualification certificates, and 31 have obtained their inter-provincial red seal.
The red seal, said Picco, is “a distinguished accomplishment, recognized across the country.”
Picco said 116 apprentices are now registered in Nunavut.
March 10, 2006
Use IQ to defend wildlife management
Last week in the legislature, North Rankin MLA Tagak Curley said Nunavut must draw on the wisdom of elders in developing wildlife management practices and in carrying out research.
”For example, I see value in the government developing a database for our historic, traditional knowledge for use in management policies,” Curley said.
Curley said he sees threats to the cultural survival of Inuit when he looks around the circumpolar world.
He cites the decision to ban the importation of sealskins into Greenland as “a recent disturbing example.”
The proposal to list polar bears as an endangered species in the United States similarly threatens Inuit culture, Curley said.
“I urge the government to rigorously defend the integrity of our harvesting practices.”
March 10, 2006
CLEY assessing GN language training
Inuktitut and Innuinaqtun, are to become the working languages of the territorial government in 2020.
And, to prepare the GN for this, Louis Tapardjuk, the minister for culture, language, elders and youth, said his department is conducting an extensive Inuktitut language training needs assessment. The assessment is aimed at improving Inuktitut language training for GN employees.
In a statement last week to the legislature, Tapardjuk said the assessment will look at employees’ current knowledge and abilities in Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun, and look at language training “gaps, interests, and barriers.”
Tapardjuk said the information gathered would remain confidential.
An Inuktitut language literacy assessment and survey has already been completed in Iqaluit, Tapardjuk said, although he didn’t share any of its findings.
Tapardjuk said that, in 2006, language assessments would continue in the three regions, and in 2007, CLEY will look at Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun second language training needs across the GN.
March 10, 2006
Severe weather in Baffin keeps Qulliq Energy crews scrambling
Last week’s high winds and rainy weather caused many weather-related incidents and outages in Nunavut, Ed Picco, the minister responsible for Nunavut’s Qulliq Power Corporation, told the legislature.
In Sanikiluaq, the extreme weather caught Qulliq’s safety officer off guard. She was stuck in a vehicle on the way to the power plant, and ended up spending the night sleeping on the floor at the airport, Picco said. The plant operator, Charlie Cookie, was stuck at the plant due to the weather.
“It was a good thing he was stuck there, Mr. Speaker, because he could look out the plant window and see a connector torn loose by the winds at over 100 km/h. Each time the torn lines slapped across one of the feeders, it caused about half the town to lose power. The operator sat by the window through the storm and he was there to re-close the feeder each time it tripped out,” Picco told the legislature.
In Grise Fiord, strong winds ripped electrical service connections away from some homes, and several houses lost power completely. In Iqaluit, wind caused two ends of a single feeder line to come into contact several times. Each contact resulted in a loud noise and “bright flashes in the sky,” Picco said.
“Line crews were sent out to find and repair the problems. They needed to wear full rubber clothes including rubber gloves with leather insets, which can withstand five thousand volts of electricity,” Picco said.
March 10, 2006
Kilabuk takes up plight and rights of the disabled
Pangirtung MLA Peter Kilabuk told the legislature last week that he is worried about some of his constituents “who do not have access to the resources that they need to be able to live reasonably independently, with dignity and self-reliance.”
“I know there are others across Nunavut with similar needs,” Kilabuk said.
Kilabuk said the Department of Health and Social Services needs to make sure that the disabled receive the help they need and assistance in qualifying for equipment for under the Non-Insured Benefits Program.
“Our constituents can no longer be denied access to these motorized wheelchairs because their arms are still working and they are told that they need to exercise or because their wife or husband is still capable of pushing them in the wheelchair,” Kilabuk said. “It is about time that these people, our fellow Nunavummiut, were treated equally and with decency.”
March 10, 2006
Absenteeism, not tough exams, makes kids drop-out
Last week in the legislature, Ed Picco, the minister of education, said it’s not fair to put the blame for Nunavut’s high drop-out rates on the Alberta high school leaving exams, which every student in Nunavut must pass before successfully graduating.
Picco said the Alberta exams will be “Nunavutized” in the future, but not made more simple.
Picco was defending his department’s track record against questioning from Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo and Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas.
“The success rate actually has been pretty good on the Alberta exams,” Picco said. “We endorse those exams. We want to keep that bar higher, and Mr. Speaker, we are seeing more and more of our students pass.”
Picco said the growing number of graduates is due to high schools offering Grade 12 in the communities. Yet for every 100 students entering kindergarten, only 25 graduate from Grade 12.
Regular school attendance seems to be the key reason people drop out, Picco said.
“Our students who attend on a regular basis, 80 or 90 per cent, graduate. And they write those Alberta exams...they’re passing them.”
Since 1999, there have been 960 Grade 12 graduates in Nunavut, and that 86 per cent of these graduates are Inuit.
But Tootoo pointed out that Picco’s figures still mean the majority of the non-beneficiaries who attend Nunavut schools are not graduating.
“That is the not-so-rosy side of our education system,” Tootoo said.
March 10, 2006
Wildlife officers crowd ledge
Those who have come in to watch the legislature in action over the past three weeks include youth en route to the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska, Kitikmeot Inuit Association officials and staff, and many constituents living outside Iqaluit.
But the largest group of visitors turned up last week when all of Nunavut’s wildlife officers filed in to the assembly chamber.
Environment minister Olayuk Akesuk formally recognized the following wildlife officers: Gerry Atatahak, Andrew Nakashook, Alden Williams, Allen Niptanatiak, Andrew Keim, Bob King, Chad Harden, Collin Adjun, Willamon Fiddler, Curtis Didham, Daniel Shewchuck, David White, Jacus Jisson, George Koonoo, Jeffrey Qaunaq, Joanie Kringayak, Joe Ashevak, Joe Niego, Joe Savikataaq, Joel Rose, Johnny Nowdluk, Paul Prefontaine, Ray Mercer Jr., Remi Krikort, Russell Brandon, Sakiasie Sowdluapik, Seeglook Akeeagok, Shane Sathor, Tabitha Mullin and Teema Palluq.
The legislature meets Monday to Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to about 6 p.m., and on Fri. from 10:30 a.m. on. The legislature is open to the public, although few from Iqaluit have shown up to sit in the visitors’ gallery.
The proceedings are no longer re-broadcast on the northern APTN broadcasts in the evenings, although they are broadcast on the air live in Iqaluit. The legislature continues to meet until March 18.
March 10, 2006
Keep to music, Paul
Last week, seal hunting was in the national and international news as former Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Heather, went out on the ice near Quebec’s Magdelan Islands to protest Canada’s sealing activities. The two later debated sealing on CNN’s Larry King Live with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams.
Iqaluit East MLA Ed Picco, who is originally from Newfoundland, entered the fray with a personal story, which he shared with his fellow MLAs on Friday.
In 1948, his father sailed out to the ice edge to hunt seals, Picco said, catching 18,000 seals.
“My dad received $150 for six weeks work. Six weeks of hard, cold, messy work,” Picco said. “I would suggest to Sir Paul McCartney that he should stick to writing songs, and singing his songs.”
March 10, 2006
Houses challenge elders in Sanikiluaq
Last week, Hudson Bay MLA Peter Kattuk told Olayuk Akesuk, the minister responsible for housing, about the problems elders in this community have entering social housing units.
“Are they [the housing units] built high because of requirements? What is the reason behind building these houses very high from the ground?”
Akesuk promised to look into the issue for Kattuk.
March 10, 2006
Snakes and leaders
Get rid of the snakes and bring back the regions’ divisional education boards — that’s the message Nanulik MLA Patterk Netser shared with his fellow MLAs in a member’s statement and a lengthy address in the legislature earlier during this session.
Netser said he doesn’t like the presence of two snakes at Coral Harbour’s school, which, he said, are pets belonging to a teacher.
“For some reason this particular teacher does not want to keep his pet snakes at home, instead the snakes are kept in the school,” Netser said. “Parents have told me that these snakes have a strong odour and attract flies.”
And he said the community doesn’t like the children being asked to catch lemmings and snow buntings to feed the snakes.
“It is not an animal that is found in our land,” he said.
Following a public meeting of Coral Harbour’s District Education Authority, where a motion was passed asking that the snakes be removed from the school, Netser sent a letter to the school.
“The next day, without informing the DEA, the principal called a staff meeting to discuss the DEA recommendations. He then said that the concern was expressed by one man; that no parents had complained and there was no health concern. The principal then informed his staff that the DEA motion would be disregarded and the snakes would remain in the school.”
Netser said: “I am not just one man; I am an elected representative of Coral Harbour, and I have a mandate to represent the views of my community.”
In his member’s statement, Netser questioned whether a school principal, who has been the education leader in Coral Harbour for less than one year, should have “the idea that his authority and opinion about even something as minor as whether a snake should be in our school,” is more important than the “respectfully expressed concerns of the elected members of the District Education Authority.”
Netser said he’s now more concerned about who is in charge of local schools than he is about snakes.
“As we develop a new Education Act for Nunavut, I will be looking for real authority to be given to the communities and regions to oversee education programs in our schools.”
In a lengthy address to the legislature on Feb. 24, Netser called for the re-instituting of the three divisional education boards in the Kitikmeot, Kivalliq and Baffin regions, which were absorbed into the GN’s education department in 1999.
“We should turn the administration of the schools back to the communities,” Netser said. “Without the backup of divisional boards, it seems like the school principals are the authorities in our communities, which is not right.”
March 3, 2006
Netser joins cabinet
Nanulik MLA Patterk Netser was elected into cabinet this past Monday, when members of the legislative assembly held a vote to replace Peter Kilabuk.
Netser was chosen over Uqqummiut MLA James Arreak, the only other nominee for the job.
In his five-minute speech to members right before the vote, Netser, who represents Coral Harbour and Chesterfield Inlet, said he wished to represent the non-decentralized communities in cabinet, as well as single parents who need jobs.
He said the government should “not be afraid” to look at a decentralized trades school or Heritage Centre, and said that small communities needed more support for sports hunting and commercial fishing opportunities.
He also mentioned that he and his wife had celebrated their 28th anniversary just the day before.
Netser is scheduled to be sworn in today. After that, which portfolio he gets, or whether he even gets one before the end of this sitting, is up to Premier Paul Okalik.
March 3, 2006
Kelowna all the time
Premier Paul Okalik told the legislature on Tuesday that he was “very pleased” with last weekend’s meetings in Ottawa with the new Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Okalik said the many promises made last year in Kelowna, B.C., by the former Liberal government was the “primary focus” of the talks between Harper and the three territorial leaders.
Okalik said he heard some “very promising words,” but he didn’t know the outcome of the weekend’s discussions or the former government’s promises for more housing, among other things.
Devolution and Arctic sovereignty were also brought up at the weekend meeting with Harper, Okalik said.
March 3, 2006
Don’t wait for the trees to fight climate change
Pangnirtung MLA Peter Kilabuk told the legislature this week how recent high winds and unusually high temperatures are causing damage and distress in his community.
To bring home the impact, Kilabuk tabled photographs of a two-bay garage, which was completely destroyed, and of open water on the Pangnirtung fiord.
“As well, our only bridge in Pangnirtung to access our water reservoir and dump [was affected]...for that reason, there has already been an accident occurring by an individual on a snowmobile, and we regret that,” Kilabuk said.
Kilabuk also told the MLAs that frozen meat stored outside in shacks was melting in the unseasonal above-zero temperatures.
“With the temperatures we’re having, it will be hard to go out hunting,” he said.
Kilabuk called for Nunavut to work on providing more assistance to Nunavummiut affected by climate change and damage from extreme weather.
“There are a lot of hunters and fishers that don’t want to wait until they get forests” before they get reimbursed for losses, Kilabuk said.
March 3, 2006
Sealskin debate continues
In the wake of last January’s controversial ban on Canadian sealskins imposed by Greenland, Uqqummiut MLA James Arreak asked Olayuk Akesuk, the environment minister, if Nunavut officials have persuaded Greenland to lift its restrictions.
Akesuk said Greenland and Nunavut had “started meeting on strategizing” and agreed “to work together as to how we can provide support to each other,” referring, apparently, to a Greenland-Nunavut “working group” created after a team of Nunavut officials flew to Greenland in late January.
But Akesuk apparently didn’t know that the controversy in Greenland over Canadian sealskins is far from over.
Last week, the chief executive officer of Great Greenland, Michael Køllgaard Nielsen, was fired after “reliable information” alleging the fraudulent use of public funds. In a recent interview with Greenland’s KNR radio, Ellen Kristoffersen, the chairman of the Greenlandic parliament’s finance committee, said she had received reliable information about fraud within Great Greenland.
According to Kristoffersen, an informant said Greenlandic sealskins were exchanged for Canadian sealskins. The Greenlandic government now wants a full investigation into the transactions at Great Greenland.
Akesuk made a safe promise to Arreak when he said that the GN would continue trying to sell sealskins to countries willing to buy them.
March 3, 2006
Promises for winter trails, improved medical travel and school bus
Promises from cabinet ministers helped to quell persistent questions from MLAs on several issues in the legislative assembly.
“I will see what I can do on this issue of building a more permanent trail or road in between communities... we’ll look into it and see what we can do to make it a reality,” Environment minister Olayuk Akesuk told Arviat MLA David Alagalak, who wants to see better winter ice roads in the Kivalliq.
Akesuk, who is also the minister responsible for transportation, told Hudson Bay MLA Peter Kattuk that he would look into alleged breaches of security in medical travel from Sanikiluaq on Kivalliq Air flights to Winnipeg.
“I will be writing to the airlines that operate in Nunavut asking them to make sure that they are following the rules and procedures, also to get an explanation as to why they do that, and reinforce that they follow the rules,” Akesuk promised Kattuk. “If my staff is listening, then I’m asking them to start writing the letter. So I will try and do that immediately.”
And Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq promised Kattuk she would make sure all medical flights from Sanikiluaq to Winnipeg are equipped with a bathroom.
Kattuk also wrested a promise from Ed Picco, the education minister, to look for money for a new school bus in Sanikiluaq. The community now has only an aging bus capable of seating about 20 kids.
“I would agree with the member that there is a need for a new bus in Sanikiluaq,” Picco told him.
Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley got Picco, as minister responsible for Nunavut’s power corporation, to review the senior’s fuel subsidy for homeowners over 65.
“What I will do... as per the member’s question, is to review the senior’s fuel subsidy and other programs this government has in place, to make sure that, in cases where there is hardship, that our elders are taken care of.”
March 3, 2006
Igloolik stand-off a wake-up call
Louis Tapardjuk, who represents Igloolik in the Nunavut legislature, told his fellow MLAs he was happy that the four-day armed stand-off in his home community ended peacefully.
“It seemed as if the whole community was held in hostage,” Tapardjuk said in a member’s statement.
Tapardjuk attributed this week’s upheaval to changes in the Inuit lifestyle as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
“We have to bring up our children properly so they will have a healthier adult lifestyle.”
Tapardjuk deplored the bad relations between many in his community and those who work for health and social services or the RCMP.
The situation will improve only when Inuit take back “ownership” of these services.
“We can’t just follow non-beneficiaries advice,” Tapardjuk said.
March 3, 2006
Tracking system being tested
Levinia Brown, the minister of community government, responded to a question raised by Arviat MLA David Alagalak about new technology which could be used for tracking hunters out on the land.
Brown told him that the Nunavut Emergency Management is conducting testing on two systems that might be able to offer “real-time location information” when people are traveling or hunting outside of the communities.
But she said the tracking technology is expensive.
“One system was first tested in winter 2004-05, but due to serviceability issues, required further testing this winter. The second system was purchased in winter 2005, however, due to technical issues with the system, testing was unable to commence until this January,” Brown said.
Brown said a detailed report on each of these systems should be ready in June 2006.
March 3, 2006
New all-male liquor board
On Feb. 23 in the legislature, David Simailak, the minister of finance, announced the appointment of eight new board members of the Nunavut Liquor Licensing Board:
- David Wilman, Iqaluit (Chairperson)
- Hamish Tatty, Rankin Inlet
- Stu Kennedy, Iqaluit
- John Ningark, Kugaaruk
- Peter Peetooloot, Taloyoak
- Percy Kabloona, Whale Cove
- Ronald Tologanak, Kugluktuk
- Joshua Curley, Arviat
The members of the board will hold office for a period of two years.
The board controls the conduct of licence holders, the management and equipment of licenced premises and the conditions under which liquor is sold or consumed on licenced premises. The board also issues, renews, transfers, suspends or cancels licences, and will advise Simailak on all matters of policy and legislation relating to the sale and consumption of liquor.
“As Nunavut grows in population and sophistication, liquor issues will become more complex and I have complete trust that the new liquor board will meet the future challenges in a fair and unbiased manner,” Simailak said in his minister’s statement. “The new board is a mix of people from all walks of life, from hunters to business people to academics.”
However, the new board does not include any female members.
March 3, 2006
Peterson fears transport deficits will hurt region
Last week Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson said he fears the lack of transportation infrastructure in the Kitikmeot will be a barrier to the region’s development.
Peterson said Cambay is counting on receiving at least some of the $4.9 million earmarked by the GN for airport improvements over the next five years.
The community’s runway needs to be lengthened so airplanes can operate with their full payload weight and new jets can land.
This week, Olayuk Akesuk, the minister responsible for transportation, told Peterson, that communities with jet traffic would receive “priority.”
March 3, 2006
Remember Nanisivik
Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas asked Ed Picco, the minister responsible for education, if he would mention the former mine site of Nanisivik as a possible military training site or base for the Canadian Armed Forces.
Picco said that Nanisivik, unlike Cambridge Bay or Iqaluit, hadn’t been mentioned as a possible site for boosted military presence in Nunavut.
“Nanisivik would be a site I would suggest to you, that myself or the Premier or any member of the House would probably recommend because of the infrastructure, the logistics, as well as the administrative abilities of Nanisivik, to be an Armed Forces training site,” Picco told Barnabas.
Picco said he had requested a meeting with the new ministers of national defence and human resources to discuss training issues.
“I would make a commitment to the member to see if there are opportunities for outside training interests in Nunavut with our Armed Forces,” Picco said.
Picco also promised Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo that he would discuss the training possibilities attached to the proposed deep port facility in Iqaluit.
March 3, 2006
Wanted: ice making machine for Kugluktuk
Kugluktuk’s ice rink was built five years ago, and pipes were laid under the arena for an ice-making machine, but the hamlet hasn’t been able afford one.
Now, the pipes act as a heat conductor, drawing warmth from other parts of the building, and the ice, Kugluktuk MLA Joe Allen Evyagotailak told the legislature, is more like slush.
Evyagotailuk said an ice making machine for the rink would cost $320,000 — and he’s hoping mining companies in the Kitikmeot will make sizeable donations towards its purchase. After the legislature’s sitting, he plans to travel by snowmobile from Yellowknife to Kugluktuk, stopping off at mine sites along the way.
“I hope those community-minded corporations will assist me in promoting support in my communities through donations towards getting artificial ice in our arena.”
March 3, 2006
Barnabas decries child care underfunding
Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas says the underfunding of child care in Nunavut means child care centres face a daily struggle just to keep their facilities open.
“Due to mismanagement, or improper budgeting, [some] have run out of funds to heat the buildings,” he said in the legislature last week.
Education Minister Ed Picco reminded the legislature that every new school in Nunavut is supposed to be built with a child care centre or space reserved for child care.
The department plans to spread $600,000 of federal money around Nunavut’s 39 child care centres and seven Aboriginal Head Start programs — but that could be the last chunk of money if Stephen Harper’s plan to give money directly to parents for child care goes through.
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