Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 24th, 2009

[Daniel Vandermeulen]

Thank you.

Yes, we do have funded, through the knowledge infrastructure program, the cyber infrastructure project. We have about $4.9 million through it. It's aimed at improving bandwidth and connectivity in all of our communities. It's essential, as we try to embed more training programs in the communities, that we have that kind of bandwidth so that we can do more online learning and, as you mentioned, university programming along with that.

The other program that is unique to the north is the Arctic Research Infrastructure Fund. From that we got $11 million. We're replacing the 30-year-old headquarters of the Nunavut Research Institute. Nunavut Arctic College and all the northern colleges are quite unique, different from the southern colleges, because embedded in us are research institutes.

So we've had those two federal sources of funding, and we're grateful for them, of course.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you very much, Mr. Dreeshen.

It is now Mr. Gaudet's turn for five minutes.

Mr. Gaudet.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

If I have time left, my colleague will ask the last question. My question is for the president of Nunavut Arctic College.

I have been in all three territories, and everyone has talked to us about training. Today, we heard about training, and even this evening, we are hearing about it.

Earlier, you said that you did not have enough money. One person came here this afternoon—I cannot remember their name, but I have it in my papers—and said that 1,537 families were on a waiting list for housing.

In your college, are you missing spots for students? Do people have to wait before they can enrol in your college? You want money so you can build, but are there students waiting to justify that request?

[Daniel Vandermeulen]

Thank you.

The housing issue particularly affects the programs on the three campuses, and that's where most of our career and professional education is--here in Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, and Rankin Inlet. That's why we're trying to embed more programs into the communities. Yes, housing is a major barrier to the growth of adult learning in this territory.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

You are not answering my question. You say that you need housing in order to have students. Is that the issue, or is it that you do not have enough spots for the students? If that is the case, then that's another story.

Are students waiting to enrol in college because they do not have housing? That is what I want to know. You should not get ahead of yourself. You can cross that bridge when you come to it; you will have problems, otherwise.

[Daniel Vandermeulen]

That's a fair question.

I mentioned housing as constraining enrolment on the three campuses. But in the 25 community learning centres, housing is not the constraint. There, it's opportunity.

In a community such as Arviat, where we only have enough funding for one adult educator and can probably handle at most 20 students a year, we often have 100 to 150 applications. Sir, we're not short of applicants. We're short of funding, particularly in terms of preparing Nunavummiuts to have some equivalency of high school completion before they go on to their careers or professional training at the campuses.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Lévesque.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Okay.

Mr. Lévesque, go ahead.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I am the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou. Mr. Vandermeulen enrolled in college here, in Frobisher Bay, as it was known at the time. When he enrolled for college, I was loading All Air Service's DC-3, which delivered goods here every day.

I have another question to ask Mrs. Dupuis. But I will use this time to ask you another question, if you have time to answer. I would like to know why you mentioned the Indian residential schools. If you have time after Ms. Dupuis, you can answer that.

Mrs. Dupuis, I have a very simple question that needs a quick answer. You talked about the translation of forms into Inuktitut. In Nunavik, I had forms translated into Inuktitut, but there are two different dialects, which caused a problem. People preferred to have them in English and French, instead of a dialect of Inuktitut that some may not understand. Is the same dialect spoken throughout this territory?

[Colleen Dupuis]

It was Rowena who mentioned that, but we have the same problem, so I will answer.

There are several Inuktitut dialects, but there is an accepted one, the South Baffin dialect. When something is translated into this dialect, most people can pick out enough to be able to use it. So while there are different dialects, it can be workable.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Go ahead, Mr. West.

[Chris West]

Mr. Chair, if I may, I don't think the dialects in Newfoundland are any different from the dialects that Mr. Russell would have and I would have, coming from Newfoundland.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

You haven't heard Fabian Manning on the floor.

[Chris West]

When you go to a community like Kimmirut, you may find a different dialect there, and it's probably all because of the upbringing.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you.

Does Mr. Vandermeulen want to answer my question about the Indian residential schools?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Go ahead with a brief answer, please.

[Daniel Vandermeulen]

I didn't catch all of it because of the translation. I missed part of it.

The history here of basic education is it's originally a residential school system, and the introduction of community-based schools and particularly community-based high schools is relatively recent. When you're looking at the age group I am responsible for—25 to 64 years—first, of the 45- to 64-year-olds, most were born on the land and most were born at a time when only the residential school system was available to them. It's only for the younger ones that they have an opportunity to go to school in their own community.

That's a quick précis of the history.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mr. Vandermeulen and Messieurs Lévesque and Gaudet.

Now the last question will go to Mr. Payne for five minutes.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to thank all the witnesses for coming today. It's been a bit of a long day for everybody, and I certainly appreciate your attendance here.

My first question would be for Mr. Vandermeulen.

I was listening with quite some intent in terms of your training, particularly for mining, and you did talk about safety, which is certainly, I believe, the highest priority that people can have, particularly when they're going to work. You did talk about some cooperation. Or is it more of a development process with the mines and/or the other industry to develop these particular programs, particularly around safety?

[Daniel Vandermeulen]

Thank you.

A lot of our mine training before we're able to get into the trades like millwright and welder is very much done in cooperation with the mining industry itself.

For instance, at Baker Lake we have a memorandum of understanding that we're party to with the regional Inuit association, the Kivalliq Inuit Association, and Agnico-Eagle, for example. There we're just training people to work in mines, and nine of the modules, I believe, are safety-oriented. But if you're asking for the relationships, most of the introductory mine training is very much a partnership with the industry.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

That's really good to hear, because I come from a background where safety was certainly a high priority.

I have another question, and maybe you can share that, Ms. Sikma, from the co-operative... You talked about education and development of people there. I'm just wondering whether you are working with the local college. From your point of view, how are you trying to develop the training that is needed to get the skills for the management supervisors and other Inuit staff?

[Nicole Sikma]

I'm going to let my colleague answer parts of that.

We apply for funding with the aboriginal training fund, which is not always available, which is with the economic development source. So we can train our staff either to become the manager of the co-ops or in small-engine repair, which is snowmobiles that we sell or ATVs. That would be field delivery. To produce these, it's quite a challenge for either distant or small groups in each community--again the expense of it. To produce in each community that would have one or two potential trainees and to deal with other co-ops in other communities, that can be an expense in itself. Applying for funding is not always available.

I think my colleague could probably elaborate a little bit more than I can.

[Stéphane Daigle]

We do a lot of training in-house within our own company, but there would definitely be an opportunity in a partnership role to work with their colleges to further this, there's no doubt about that.

[Daniel Vandermeulen]

But when applying for those funds that they're talking about... For instance, we do things like two-year management studies at Rankin Inlet and a number of office administration programs in the communities, but when applying for those funds, again, we're talking about very different economies of scale.

You're talking about having to pull together either very small numbers in a community, two or three people, or if the funder wants to have a larger group, then you're talking about the enormous cost of drawing them together into one of the regional centres. The economies of scale that a lot of the programs are based on simply don't recognize the economies here in Nunavut.