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Nunavut legislature’s 6th session so far

While awaiting Finance Minister Kelvin Ng’s budget speech, MLAs and ministers busy themselves with unfinished business

Nunatsiaq News

New grading system for sealskins

Nunavut seal hunters will soon get as much as $60 a pelt for sealskins under a new grading system that the department of sustainable development will introduce this year.

Olayuk Akesuk, the minister of sustainable development, made the announcement in the legislative assembly last week.

Akesuk said that, under the new system, seal hunters will get $60 for the highest quality skins, and $25 for the lowest quality skins.

"The prices are based on current market demand and will be renewed annually to reflect market changes," Akesuk said.

Later, during question period, he said prices will be tied to the quality of skins according to a sliding scale.

He said officials in his department have produced a grading manual and a video to help carry out the new system.

Akesuk also said demand for sealskins has increased by 100 per cent in the past two years.

Late budget holds up DEA funding

The effects of the Government of Nunavut’s late 2002 budget had implications outside the GN. District Education Authorities, for instance, have been forced to set their budgets after the school year has begun.

"I’d just like to remind the minister that the DEAs used to get the numbers that they had to work with the following year as early as March," Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo told Education Minister Peter Kilabuk last week.

"Last year it wasn’t until after the next school year started that they got that information," Tootoo said.

"They need to know what they have to work with in their communities. Here in Iqaluit, they are going to need to know the number of staff that they are going to have, the number of teaching positions. It applies to everything that they are going to have to work with on the plan for next year," he told the House.

"The money is only given to the communities after it has been approved by the Legislative Assembly," Kilabuk said. "So it can only be brought forward to the District Education Authorities after it has been approved."

Kilabuk also noted that his department is considering changes to the funding formula that is used to allocate funds to communities. "We are currently looking at changing the funding formula for the schools and the funding that’s provided to the authorities," he said.

"Only if our budget is approved can we finally tell you what kinds of changes we’d like to see and what plans we’d like to use."

Boy hero nominated for bravery award

Kugluktuk MLA Donald Havioyak told MLAs last week that he’s nominated 12-year-old Byron Alonak for the Commissioner’s Award for bravery.

Last month, Nunavummiut were transfixed by the story of how Alonak saved the life of Buster Kailek, 91, during a hunting trip that went awry.

After getting caught in a blizzard, their snowmobile hit a rock, forcing them to fend off the cold in a makeshift tent.

After waiting for a while, they started walking to a cabin. The boy kept the old man alive by talking to him and urging him not to fall asleep. Alonak dragged Kailek the last few hundred yards to the cabin.

"Byron Alonak acted with courage and bravery beyond his years when he struggled to get Kailek to shelter," Havioyak told his fellow MLAs.

Kilabuk stumped by question

Nunavut’s minister of education, Peter Kilabuk, couldn’t answer questions last week about why many teachers in Nunavut send their children to the South for schooling.

Quttiktuq MLA Rebecca Williams first asked Kilabuk if he had any figures on how many Nunavut students have been sent south.

Kilabuk responded by saying that he doesn’t know how many Nunavut students are in the South, or how many are getting home-schooling.

Williams then asked Kilabuk if he knew "why teachers end up sending their children south for schooling when there are schools in the communities?"

Williams suggested that it’s likely such teachers believe that Nunavut’s school system is inferior to others in the country.

But Kilabuk couldn’t answer that one either.

"Regarding the parents, I am not able to state why they send their children off to southern schools. I am not sure if they think the level of education is too low here. I am not able to respond to that question. I don’t have the answer," Kilabuk said.

After another question from Williams, Kilabuk said he’ll try to get the information, but he’s not sure when.

Nunavut man in Princess Pat’s is praised

Kugluktuk MLA Donald Havioyak rose in the assembly to recognize Private Tommy Evikhoak Harvey, a constituent of his now serving in Afghanistan with the third battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

Harvey was not injured by the American F-16 pilot who mistakenly dropped a bomb that killed four of his comrades.

Havioyak said that Tommy’s father, Dan Harvey, will send a Nunavut flag to his son so that it can fly alongside the flags of the home provinces of each Canadian soldier there.

"Mr. Speaker, today Dan will be sending a Nunavut flag to fly in Afghanistan. When I spoke with Dan Harvey he made clear that the thoughts of all Nunavummiut were with him and his family as the Canadian deaths were reported," Havioyak said.

Mike Ferris honoured

Iqaluit East MLA Ed Picco told his fellow MLAs about a gathering April 18 in Iqaluit’s parish hall to mark the retirement of one of the territorial government’s best-respected civil servants, Mike Ferris.

Ferris, whose areas of expertise were municipal affairs and emergency planning, served in the governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories for 24 years.

He recently resigned as deputy minister of the department of community government and transportation.

"I would like to take this opportunity to wish Reverend Mike and Rhonda Ferris the very best in their retirement and we look forward to seeing them back here in Iqaluit and Nunavut in the very not too distant future," Picco said.

Stranded in Rankin

Baker Lake MLA Glenn McLean peppered Health Minister Ed Picco last week with complaints about patients and medical escorts who get stranded in Rankin Inlet while passing through for medical travel.

"Over the last year I’ve had a large number of complaints from constituents in my community when they are coming back from Churchill from medical appointments or if they are down in Rankin for the day for medical appointments and x-rays. There doesn’t seem to be any coordinated approach for what they have to do," McLean said.

He said these patients often have to wander around Rankin Inlet looking for accommodation on their own.

Picco responded by saying that his department would follow up on the complaints to see if policies and procedures are being applied.

High Arctic higher education?

Uqqummiut MLA David Iqaqrialu inquired about future uses for Nanisivik mine, and asked Premier Paul Okalik whether it could one day be the site of a university. "When the mine is closed, would they be able to use that location for a university or college? I think it could be done very easily," he said.

"We will consider all of the suggestions," Okalik said. "If we are going to make it into a university or a National Defence location, we have to make sure that it is cleaned up and not risky for activities to happen there."

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