Evidence of meeting #39 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was training.
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
I know we have created 51 apprentice positions across Nunavut. As far as labourers, carpenters, plumbers, and drywallers, I don't really have the figures. But I know for sure that we have 51 apprentices who are working with the carpenters, electricians, and plumbers.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
So for every apprentice you need a journeyman, correct?
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
How many will successfully complete this program, or how many training spots are there right now? Is it basically through mentoring, or is it through full-fledged apprenticeships?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
It's through full-fledged apprenticeships, because we are working with the Department of Education, the registrar of apprenticeships. They have a headquarters office in Arviat. We work with them, so we know for sure there is at least one qualified red seal carpenter in each of the 25 communities.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
What is the square-foot cost of construction here in Nunavut per home or per unit compared to the Canadian average?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
It depends on which type of unit it is, whether it's a two-bedroom, a fiveplex, a duplex, a triplex, or a single family home.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
What is the cost per square foot compared to the Canadian cost?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
I don't have it in front of me right now. Our technical staff would have more information about that, but off the top of my head it's about $200 and something per square foot.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Brian, you were talking about the Nunavut stone carving strategy. What is the cost for transporting the raw material? Is it located close by, or does it have to come a fair distance for production?
Senior Business Advisor, Nunavut Development Corporation
Nunavut is one-fifth the size of Canada, so it's very hard to generalize east to west across the board.
In this community, as far as the carvings you might buy in town that are actually carved here--separate from carvings from other communities--the soapstone typically comes from Cape Dorset. There are a couple of guys here who have boats. They go out and quarry it. One guy has a 42-foot ex-fishing vessel that he sails down to Cape Dorset. It's fairly expensive. I believe the carvers pay around $2 a pound for the raw material.
In Taloyoak we've worked with the local community to access a quarry and bring the soapstone back by snowmobile. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it's fairly costly. Also, you can only move so much by snowmobile. They're small quarries; there's no such thing as a large quarry as you would be imagining. The quarry could be fairly close to the community--wherever Mother Nature deposited it, basically. Some of it is out of reach as far as any kind of ease of transportation to get there, unless you're talking about some exotic means like a helicopter, which would be extremely exorbitant in cost. So there's no real generalization.
Conservative
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Zawadski.
What is the average salary of those working in the public service versus that of other people?
Senior Business Advisor, Nunavut Development Corporation
I'm not a civil servant. Nunavut Development Corporation employees are specifically excluded from government public service.
It would be dangerous for me to say. According to Statistics Canada, the average income for a Nunavut resident who has employment earnings and is aged 15 or over is about $38,000. That's based on the 2005 census, I believe. You can find all that information there. It is grouped by community, but I don't think it breaks it down in terms of government employees.
At our nine companies--these are private entity corporations--the average employee makes $14 or $15 an hour in a production-type environment, whether they are sewing or working in a meat or fish plant.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Doyle, you do not receive core funding from the federal or territorial government every year? Usually, three- or five-year agreements cover that.
Chief Executive Officer, Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation
We do have core funding from both EDT and INAC, and we're grateful for that. It's typically single-year funding. We have about a $300,000 core budget for the office, and then the other moneys from infrastructure are for the program.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
So you sign those agreements every year. I thought you did it every three years. How do you manage to undertake development activities for only a year? I cannot wrap my head around that. This is the only case where the federal government signs a single-year agreement only. Usually, in the case of community development, it signs three-year agreements.
Patsy Owlijoot, are there people in the community who build their own homes?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
Why do they, or why don't they?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
Do they build their own homes? Yes, they can build their own homes in communities, but the cost of materials is so very high, it is only the people who make a lot of money who can build their own homes. We have an assistance program called the Nunavut down payment assistance program. It's a grant that we can give to new homeowners if they build their own homes or if they purchase an existing home. But the homes are very expensive and there aren't very many on the market. Very few times Nunavummiut have built their own homes. I haven't seen that happen very often.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
Does that mean that the lots are too expensive? I agree with you that the cost of shipping goods, materials and such is high. But who owns the lots? The community, the territories or the federal government?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
As we said, we have 25 communities in Nunavut, and the land in every community is different. In Iqaluit, the land will be much more expensive. As far as I know, it is controlled by the hamlet offices, or the City of Iqaluit looks after it. That's how I understand it. The City of Iqaluit and the hamlet offices across Nunavut look after the lands and the lots.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
From what I understand, all the homes you build, low-cost housing, as we call it back home, will be fully owned by the territories or the community.
We have some back home. It is the same in Quebec. There are 40-year contracts. At the end of 40 years, it goes back to the municipality. Is it the same here?
Acting President, Nunavut Housing Corporation
We have land lease agreements with the hamlets.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Mr. Gaudet, that is six minutes.
The last question goes to Mr. Duncan, who has five minutes.
Mr. Duncan.