Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Qujannamiik. Good afternoon, honourable chair, members of the standing committee, Inuit elders and youth, and all attendees. My name is Maatalii Okalik, and I testify today as the president of the National Inuit Youth Council within Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, representing Inuit

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. Thank you for that question. With respect to children in care, I require clarification. Is it for children who have been apprehended and are in the care system?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question and clarification. We definitely identify children in care as being extremely problematic for Inuit in Canada. Many say that children in care is the new residential school experience by virtue of the sheer numbers, comparing the percentage of Inuit in C

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll quickly close. Decolonization within our population by strengthening our language and culture and celebrating our practices would continue to instill pride as identified to address the identity crisis as we become parents, so that we can create healthy environments for our

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Qujannamiik. I'll rush this answer. If you can't move back and can't move forward, where is it that you go? That might be the reason why suicide is so prevalent, because there is nowhere else to go. I can confidently say the interest of youth is to continue to become more proud

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My answer will require a few minutes, and I seek consent to go beyond the time allotted to answer this question.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Qujannamiik. Thank you for honouring my request. It's really in the interest of the listening youth and attendees, as well as for your report. Qujannamiik for asking that question. I think it's really important that we continue to identify best practices and highlight role mod

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I definitely recognize that when we're talking about suicide prevention, that has to be an interdisciplinary and holistic approach. I see one of the strengths as prioritizing this and eliminating those social inequities so that we are raising happy and healthy children who go on

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Qujannamiik, honourable member, for that question. There is not one issue that could be tackled stand-alone. I have been saying over and over that social and economic inequities that Inuit face in Canada must be eliminated, based on statistics as well as other things I've indic

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Qujannamiik. I would be remiss if I didn't make a correction to the answer that I provided to the honourable member from Scarborough following the testimony that I made earlier today. When asked what current programs are working well in our communities, I made a mistake in my

Electoral Reform committee  Qujannamiik. Merci. Thank you to all of you for giving us and the people who are here with me, my colleagues, an opportunity to speak in front of you. What I’m going to basically talk about are the things you’re going to consider. I will probably talk more in Inuktituk and I

Electoral Reform committee  The consensus model is a carry-over from the NWT, which we are a part of. There are 22 ridings, and each individual runs on their own platform and gets elected. From there, there is a formal leadership forum where candidates for premier and ministers are vetted and chosen by all

Electoral Reform committee  In our current system, you can't really promise anything, because you don't know if you will be part of the government at any point in time. You can't really promise results. Therefore, you have to do your part in trying to deliver as much as you can for your riding. It's somet

Electoral Reform committee  We go through a mid-term review. We had one halfway through this current mandate. The members assessed the progress and the work produced by the various cabinet ministers. One minister fell, was voted out. It's a system of checks and balances on how the government is doing. After

Electoral Reform committee  Yes. The members elect all the cabinet ministers, and then the premier assigns the portfolios from there. The only real authority of the leader in our territory is to assign portfolios, and they also used to be able to appoint deputy ministers. I don't know what the practice is t