Evidence of meeting #22 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was mine.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Actually, sorry, Mr. Duncan, we're a little over time there. As a matter of fact, we just got engaged here on another matter and let you go over time. I know it doesn't happen too often.
We have three more speakers left on the list. We're going to allow maybe three minutes each, and that will wrap us up close to our mark.
So let's go to Ms. Neville for three minutes, and she will be followed by Mr. Dreeshen and Monsieur Lévesque.
Ms. Neville, go ahead.
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your appearance here today.
My question is a very simple one. According to what you have said today, and what speakers who have previously come before the committee have said, unequivocally the overriding concern seems to be education and skills training for individuals in Nunavut. I wonder if each of you could comment on what you would see as the first and second priority of the federal government's engagement in education and skills training. What should they do or should the government do first, and quickly?
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
Can I start that off?
Manager, Nunavut Resources Corporation
Extend the ASEP program, the aboriginal skills and employment partnership program, for at least another five years in order to take advantage of the current mine projects that are being constructed and just being developed, including Agnico-Eagle and Hope Bay Mining Limited.
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
I would concur with that. The ASEP program is what we're starting to build from, and we should see jobs flow from that in this next three-year period. The Nunavut government always suffers from resource... We recognize education is their role. I think they need assistance in developing job strategies and in creating a strategy for how we're going to move forward. I think they're so bound by capacity problems that they aren't able to move. I think that needs someone to guide them through it and help them through it.
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
You mean with a job strategy, but how would you marry the education component to the job strategy?
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
I really believe that while education is very important, the key right now is making sure that students see a value to education. I think we will make gains in education when students realize why they're staying in school. We won't see that until we get, in the home life, the self-esteem of parents to realize there is value to that job. We have a cycle now of many generations of dependency, and I really believe we have to do something at the adult level, which will in turn then provide a value to the education. That value has to be passed on, and students have to then see why they're going and see a career path. Right now I don't think they see a way forward, so they're not motivated to go anywhere.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Thanks, Ms. Neville--right on time.
Now let's go to Mr. Dreeshen for three minutes.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
Thank you very much.
Again, just to speak of the self-esteem and the cycle of dependency and so on, I think it's so significant. We've heard a lot about the need for that type of study and that type of challenge being met.
I'd like to speak to you about the community liaison committee and how you also tie into the community. Mr. Connell, perhaps you could describe what takes place there and how you manage to interact with that particular committee.
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
We started off by having regular sessions with the hamlet council. We recognized that it was only getting us so far. So we created a community liaison committee, where we went to each group in the community--the elders, the youth, the business community, adult education, educators--and they select from among themselves who represents them at that committee. The committee meets with my management about every six weeks, and any subject related to the mine is on the table.
Initially there was a flurry of housekeeping activities, things that were very minor, but they were very important. They were seen to be an ability to actually move forward on those. That has now led to a trust between the two parties. So they now are able to engage in actually doing things like how to move adult education forward in the community to create the positions at Meadowbank. But it takes time to build trust in that kind of a committee relationship.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
If I could go into the economic impact there's going to be on the communities, in your presentation you had spoken of the Nunavut land claim agreement and how it's been able to help with the Inuit impact benefit agreement, as well as the water compensation agreement. Again, the thought is that there are going to be extra benefits that will be going to the community there. So when we talk about how the mineral royalties flow to the Inuit, I wonder if you could comment on how that's done and what we can expect for the communities.
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
The mineral royalties from Meadowbank flow to the Government of Canada in the first years, and in turn they flow back to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. The reason for that is the Meadowbank claims pre-dated the Nunavut land claim agreement. The second half of the mine life were actually on Inuit-owned lands. It would just bypass that and the royalty revenues would go straight to NTI. So NTI then has their role as to how they then return that money to do the business or services they perceive they need to do for the Inuit people. We're unsure as to how it's going to flow back to the community right now, but that's in the hands of the Inuit people to decide for themselves. And who better to have that opportunity? They will be able to do what they want with that income.
The IIBA has money that's allocated. It goes straight to the regional Inuit association with money that's there for business development, for the creation of entrepreneurs. It's there for wellness strategy, for a post-closure period, because we know that mines come to a close, and it's important that there be something left.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Thank you very much, Mr. Dreeshen.
Mr. Lévesque's question will be the last one.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
But not the least one, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Connell, how many years did you spend exploring Meadowbank before you started to work it?
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
The Meadowbank discovery was first made in about 1985, and it went back and forth, becoming a deposit. So it took in the order of almost 20 years for that deposit to be assessed and for us to realize there was a value there. Of course within that 20 years we saw great fluctuations in the price of gold. So at times it was a resource, sometimes it was not. So that took time. But typically the mining cycle is a long cycle, whether it be 10, 15, or 20 years. That's not unusual, from the first discovery to it becoming a mine.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
You have a transit facility in Val-d'Or for the material that goes to Meadowbank. There is also a stopover for those who work on the territory. I believe you make at least three trips per week to get the workers in and out. You also know the First Nations University of Canada. We changed the name to improve access for Inuit. We are calling it now the First Peoples' University.
Have you ever contacted the First Peoples' University to see if they could help you? For example, what if, every week, you were to send three, four or five Inuit for a week of study in Val-d'Or and they came home for a week, and then you sent another group? Have you considered the possibility of training people this way as part of an agreement with the university?
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development, Corporate Office, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
We actually have, although not in Val-d'Or. The problem we've run into is we have to go through Nunavut Arctic College. They have the mandate as the post-secondary school educator.
Yesterday we were at a meeting with them and McGill. We're looking at ways for partnerships between universities to actually bring the early education level up to Nunavut, rather than bringing the students down to McGill. We would have the pre-BSc courses, for example, in sciences done within the Nunavut Arctic College, in cooperation with McGill. That would then feed those students into a university system down south for the graduate degrees.
In doing that, the students would be in their home communities for a few extra years, and that's very important in Nunavut. People are very reluctant--I won't say scared, that's the wrong word--because stepping out to go to the southern world has not gone well for them, so it's not something they do lightly. People want to come back, so if we can bring that early education to them we can encourage more people to get into those programs.