Bankrupt boards, gambling and jails

IQALUIT — After meeting for most of the last month, the territory’s lawmakers are in the home-stretch of their grueling spring budget session.

Here’s an overview of whatministers and MLAs have been talking about over the past week:

GN hand-out boards go belly-up

MLAs want to know what happened to the Community Futures Program and its $700,000 annual budget in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions after learning that the regional boards handing out the money in these two regions are being dissolved.

This money is loaned out to new businesses to help them start up.

“In two of the three regions, the boards are not in good standing,” admitted Katherine Trumper, the deputy minister of Sustainable Development. “In fact, they haven’t met in over a year.”

Trumper said her department has been reviewing the operations of these regional boards.

“When we determined that two of the three organizations were not doing very well, we began looking at consolidation of the community futures program with the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation,” she said.

Trumper said the boards in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot will not be “reactivated.” Instead, the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation will have regional representatives from all three regions on its board.

Glenn McLean, the MLA for Baker Lake, wanted to know whether the boards’ operations were suspended because loans were not being collected or whether they were be improperly administered.

“Was … the whole operation sloppy and that was why it was hauled back?” he asked.

Trumper said it was a combination of these reasons.

“This is public money we are talking about that we as legislators have to watch when it’s transferred over to an organization. Is there going to be more accountability on this organization in the future? Because by the sounds of this coming out, there were serious problems there,” MacLean said.

MacLean has asked the department to produce more details on who received loans in the Kivalliq and whether they have been repaid.

GN to study gambling

The health and education departments want to raise public awareness about gambling, said community government minister Jack Anawak.

Anawak said there’s a growing concern over the impact of bingo and so-called “Nevada” lottery cards in Nunavut.

“A lot of people gamble with those Nevada tickets in the communities. They don’t make much money, but they put out a lot of money to purchase those Nevada tickets,” Anawak said.

“When they fund-raise through bingo, it becomes evident that the majority in the Kivalliq region, the majority of the bingo players are the people who have low incomes or get income support. So they end up supporting the entities that are fundraising.”

Anawak’s department will survey municipalities and Nunavummiut to gather opinions about current regulations on fundraising lotteries as well as concerns about gambling in Nunavut and report these back to cabinet by July 2001.

More help for telehealth

The federal government has approved up to $3.7 million for the expansion of Nunavut‘s telemedical network, the Ikajuruti Inungnik Ungasiktumi.

“This approval means that Nunavut can receive matching funds of up to $3.7 million towards our efforts to expand the IIU network across the territory,” said health minister Ed Picco.

Last summer, the department of health and social services submitted a large proposal to the Canada Health Infrastructure Partnerships Program, a $80 million federal program to support the development of telemedicine.

“With the help of these additional funds, my department will be able to take on a series of initiatives such as connecting more communities to the IIU network and developing a telehealth training program in partnership with Arctic College,” Picco said.

Repatriation review

The GN will be spending $300,000 to see what kind of facility is needed to house a large collection of museum objects and archaeological specimens from Nunavut.

These items are currently stored at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.

“The return of these items cannot be achieved until Nunavut has a facility that can maintain these materials according to professional museum standards. The cost for housing our cultural artifacts outside of Nunavut will soon approach $300,000 dollars per year,” said Olayuk Akesuk, the minister of Sustainable Development.

In order to help offset this cost, his department has indefinitely suspended the hiring of four positions.

Pen still in the works

More than a year ago Jack Anawak, who was then Nunavut’s justice minister, received 28 recommendations on how to improve correction services in Nunavut.

Among these was a call for territorial and federal governments to “design and build a new institution with spaces for 230 adult males by 2006.”

Such a super-jail, which would cost $50 million or more, may never be built, but the possible renovation and expansion of the Baffin Correctional Centre is still under discussion. This plan would see the BCC enlarged in order to accept long-term inmates who are currently in federal penitentiaries.

“We have had preliminary discussions with the federal government where perhaps we could look at a joint arrangement where it is part federal and part a territorial facility. But we haven’t had detailed discussions with the federal government yet,” said Justice Minister Paul Okalik.

Manitok, Hunter make up

Last Friday, Manitok Thompson, Nunavut’s minister of public works, made a peace offering to Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo. The two MLAs have been known to exchange barbs and complaints in both the caucus and the house.

“He constantly tested my knowledge,” Thompson said about Tootoo.

“He pushed me to work harder and he didn’t let me get away with any easy answers. If I responded with ‘where,’ he asked ‘Why?’ If I answered ‘why,’ he asked ‘When?’ If I told him ‘when,’ he asked ‘How many?’ And finally, Mr. Speaker, if I told him ‘how many,’ he would then ask ‘Where?’ or he would run out of supplementary questions.”

Thanks to Tootoo, Thompson said she now feels as comfortable talking about round rooms or square rooms as about making a parka.

Thompson presented Tootoo with a T-shirt, printed with the motto “Is that your final question?”

Ledge clerk recognized

John Quirke, clerk of the Nunavut assembly and a territorial government employee for nearly 30 years, was recently honoured with a long service award — and a special mention in the house.

“He hasn’t had a holiday in two years, he leads by example, the Legislative godfather, a constituent,” said Ed Picco. “I consider him a friend, Quirke the clerk, Mr. John Quirke, our own clerk.”

Picco recounted how over 25 years ago Quirke began his career “in the bowels of the Brown Building, and arose to stratospheric heights of the bureaucracy in Yellowknife.”

“He became part of the senior bureaucracy in Yellowknife, known with derision as the Baffin mafia,” Picco said. “The Yellowknife senior civil servants saw these government employees come from the hinterland to gain power and control of the senior functions of the GNWT civil service.”

Hall Beach needs bigger school

MLA Enoki Irqittuq said his school needs an addition, and has been promised one, but he’s worried there’s no money for it.

“In the five-year plan there is no money set aside. Exactly what is going to happen with the extension of our school?” Irqittuq asked education minister Peter Kilabuk.

“The member is right that there is nothing in the budget for that extension of the school, but with the planning that we have, at this time, in 2002-2003, if there is some money, it may be provided for the construction and completion of the extension of the school,” Kilabuk said.

Irqittuq was not satisfied by Kilabuk’s statement that “if there is any money left over or carried over it will be put in that project.”