Kativik Regional Government round-up

Tough new code of conduct for the KRPF

Members of the Kativik Regional Police Force must now follow a strict code of conduct approved at the recent Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

Any violation or breach can lead to disciplinary action, ranging from a warning to dismissal, says the 10-page document, which sets exhaustive standards of KRPF members “in an effort to ensure efficiency, quality of service and respect for authority.”

The code lists a total of more than 60 breaches in the following categories: respect for authority, performance, loyalty and proficiency, integrity, behavior, responsibility towards persons in custody, weapons and the judicial process.

Breaches of discipline include using information for personal ends or profit, destroying KRPF documents and revealing information about investigations unless authorized beforehand.

And it outlines in detail what will happen to any member of the force that doesn’t follow the code.

The new code replaces the former code of conduct from 1996, which was revised in 1997, but the KRG says was “no longer adequate.”

IT techs get hands-on local training in Nunavik

Nunavik’s internet technology troubleshooting program is a “success story,” Margaret Gauvin, the director of the Kativik Regional Government’s employment and training department, told councillors at the recent KRG meeting in Kuujjuaq.

The IT program, which trains computer repair technicians to work in Nunavik communities, shows “you don’t have be in Kuujjuaq to be successful,” Gauvin said.

More than 60 students have taken the program offered in Inuttitut throughout Nunavik.

The program includes three progressively more advanced modules over two-years. In its advanced network training module, students build a server, install a network and learn how to manage a server.

The program also includes a computer repair program that sends two or three of the best students from a training session to visit a community to repair broken computers. To date, they’ve repaired 326 computers.

So far, the program has produced nine Inuttitut-speaking instructors and technicians.

The best candidates have been encouraged to work towards taking Microsoft A+ exams, said Thomassie Mangiok of Ivujivik, an instructor in the IT training program through his company Pirnoma Technologies Inc.

New women’s org seeks members

The Saturviit Nunavik Inuit Women’s Association is looking for members to join the organization, Lisa Koperqualuk told members of the Kativik Regional Government council at their recent meeting in Kuujjuaq.

The fledgling association recently sent brochures to every household in Nunavik, inviting all Inuit women to become members, by faxing in a membership form included in the brochure.

Saturviit wants to focus its work on seven areas, including family harmony, positive parenting, education and language, healing and children’s safety, Koperqualuk said.

Saturviit’s “Stop Violence” manifesto urges Nunavimmiut to take a stand against violence towards women and children and officials to act against violence.

Koperqualuk said Saturviit also wants to encourage women to become more involved in political organizations. They have many active role models, including Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and environmental activist, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, she said.

For more information or to join Saturviit, contact Martha Annanack, KRG’s co-ordinator for women and elders, at 819-964-2961 or email her at: mannanack@krg.ca.

No regional quarantine ahead for Nunavik

Nunavik won’t have to be put under any form of regional quarantine during the swine flu pandemic, Dr. Serge Déry, Nunavik’s director of public health, and Elena Labranche, the assistant director of public health told the recent meeting of the Kativik Regional Government council in Kuujjuaq.

Although Nunavik is expecting to be affected by a second wave of the H1N1 virus that causes swine flu, so far the region has gotten off fairly lightly, Déry said.

Of the 21 lab-confirmed cases of swine flu in Nunavik, all have led to mild or moderate illness. There have been no deaths due to swine flu among Nunavimmiut.

“Everyone has completely recovered,” Déry said.

And because the H1N1 virus travels slowly, the preventive isolation plan, which calls for a ban on passenger travel in an out of the region in case of an pandemic, won’t needed in order to prevent or contain swine flu.

As for calling off community events or canceling school this autumn, they aren’t among Quebec’s current recommendations either, he said.

When asked if people should stop to shaking hands, Déry said that wouldn’t be necessary, although he did recommend that people cough into their arms, rather than their hands.

Quebec plans to start voluntary vaccinations against swine flu by mid-November. The vaccinations will be available to all Nunavimmiut.

Start picking over junk, suggests KRG councillor

If you’re tired of seeing old vehicles rusting away in your community, then see what usable parts can be recuperated and reused.

Don’t wait for the Kativik Regional Government to do the job for you.

That’s the advice from Johnny Oovaut, the mayor of Quaqtaq and a KRG regional councillor, to the recent council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

Councillors from several communities complained about the old trucks, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles, which are rusting eyesores in their communities, suggesting the KRG should buy a metal crusher to travel from one community to another.

“We can clean up our own towns,” Oovaut told the councillors.

Quaqtaq managed a pilot project in the community this summer, which saw student workers scouring old vehicles for useable parts.

The project, which received support from the KRG’s employment and training department, was a success, Oovaut said.

“If organizations expect the KRG to do all the work, it will go slowly,” he said.

Water testing falls short in some communities

If you live in or plan to visit Aupaluk, you should boil your drinking water before drinking it.

That’s because Aupaluk only sent four of the 32 water tests it was supposed to send in between January to August 2009, according to information tabled at the recent Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

If the test results are not sent in, the KRG must issue an advisory to boil water.

Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq and Kuujjuaraapik sent in every one of the water tests, while Kuujjuaq, Kangirsuk and Inujjuak sent in more than 90 per cent of the required tests to the KRG.

Faster speeds on the way for internet users

By the end of the year, internet subscribers with Nunavik’s Tamaani internet service provider will see an improvement in the speed of their internet.

Tamaani, which is managed by the Kativik Regional Government, is updating its equipment in all Nunavik communities, according to information from the recent KRG council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

This means Tamaani’s 2,000 residential customers will see their speed double by the end of the year.

The speed for regular customers will reach 512 kbps, which means it will take approximately 19.53 seconds to download a 10mb file.

And non-residential customers, such as the KRG, will be able to book video-conferences on the network.

Raglan tries to up Inuit employment

Only about eight per cent of full-time, regular workers at Xstrata’s Raglan mine are Inuit, according to information presented at the recent Kativik Regional government meeting in Kuujjuaq.

There are only 56 Inuit who work as regular employees at the nickel mine out of a total of 680 workers, although another 66 are with Xstrata are either temporary workers or on training programs.

When the number of these workers is included, the percentage of Inuit at Xstrata rises to 17.9 per cent.

Xstrata recognizes the number of Inuit employees hasn’t been “sufficient,” said Margaret Gauvin, the director of the KRG’s employment and training department.

She said Raglan is trying to improve numbers through the Tamatumani training program, inter-cultural workshops and career development plans for Inuit employees.

The $50-million Tamatumani program, which will run to 2013, has so far taken on 17 new Inuit workers.

Working group on justice struggles to improve judicial and correctional services

Nunavik’s working group on justice revealed what it’s been working on during the recent Kativik Regional Government meeting in Kuujjuaq

The working group, with members from Nunavik organizations and Quebec, is supposed to investigate and make recommendations to improve the access and delivery of judicial services in Nunavik.

This past year it gathered information and statistics, made posters on legal services available to Nunavimmiut, looked at how to analyze criminal files and started a pilot project in Kuujjuaq for hearing on by-law offenses via video-conferencing.

Among its goals for the coming year: to improve referrals to the Makitautik rehabilitation centre which has plagued by low occupancy and look at the possibility of contracting out guard duty in Nunavik to a with new private security company.

Cirque du monde coming to Nunavik

The Kativik Regional Government is embracing a new program called Kasisumavik, which will bring the Cirque du Monde into Nunavik communities.

Founded in 1995, the Cirque du Monde program, which used circus skills to teach life skills, operates in 50 communities around the world.

“Cirque du Monde does not claim to be a panacea for all social problems. Nor is it an entertainment designed to make young people forget the difficulties of their situation for the duration of a workshop. Cirque du Monde enables young people to achieve their full potential,” says its web site.

The Kativik School Board will support the Cirque du Monde program through its schools student counselors, Jennifer Matchett-Tassé said at the recent meeting of the KRG council in Kuujjuaq.

Money ahead for some KRG councillors

Members of the Kativik Regional Government’s regional council won’t be left high and dry if they aren’t re-elected or re-appointed as regional councillors after the Nov. 1 municipal elections in Nunavik.

They’ll receive a transition allowance that will be equal to the amount of money they receive every two months as an honorarium, multiplied by the number of years they have served on the KRG council.

The allowance is provided for in the Quebec’s act on the remuneration of elected municipal officers and the Kativik Act.

Some councillors will also receive a severance or transition allowance from their municipality if they are not re-elected or retire as mayors or councillors.

Every member of the KRG regional council receives $12,656 a year for serving on the council. The speaker receives an additional $1,840, the deputy speaker $912, while executive members receive $23,009, the chairperson $83,997 and the vice-chairperson $62,227.

Change that name

The parks section of the Kativik Regional Government is backing a request for a change to the names of lakes within the Pingualuit provincial park.

The change would see Lac Laflamme change to Manarsulik (where there is a big fish). Another nearby lake would bear the name of the late Mitiardjuk of Kangiqsujuaq who wrote the acclaimed story of Saanaaq.
The request now goes for approval to the Commission de toponymie of Québec, the public body responsible for managing Québec place names.

Councillors decry vandalism at summer games

Kativik Regional Government counsellors aren’t pleased with the behaviour of young athletes who attended the 14th Eastern Arctic summer games in Kangiqsualujjuaq from July 17 to 26.

More than 280 athletes from 11 communities participated, but some, pumped by booze and drugs, ransacked the homes they stayed in.

The purpose of this kind of sporting event is to reduce problems, but it causes problems instead, said Kangiqsualujjuaq regional counsellor Peter Morgan.

One counsellor attributed the vandalism in Kangiqsualujjuaq to being “young and reckless.”

Salluit will look to plateau for new development

Relocating Salluit to a valley or down the fiord may not be necessary after all, confirmed a report tabled at the recent Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

Measures such as new foundations and increasing housing density can make the most of Salluit’s present site, it says.

This, combined with an expansion into the southern plateau area above the present community, should open the new development area, which will needed for Salluit, population 1,200, as it grows.

The recommendation follows a study by a technical committee on climate change and soil instability in Nunavik and the Centre for northern studies who presented a report to people in Salluit this summer.

The joint committee looked at moving all or part of the community new locations because much of the land available for development in and around Salluit may undergo landslides or become unstable if warming continues at the present rate over the next 20 years.

The Kativik Regional Government council, a group comprised of representatives from every community in Nunavik, met in Kuujjuaq from Sept. 15 to 17 for discussions and decisions on a wide range of issues. The KRG is a public, non-ethnic regional government, with jurisdiction over all Quebec located north of the 55th parallel, excluding lands belonging to the Cree community of Whapmagoostui.