krg-update august vf en - Kativik Regional Government

Quarterly Update
Keeping Nunavimmiut up to date on the work of the Kativik Regional Government
Summer–Fall Construction Projects
A number of important infrastructure development projects are
being implemented this summer and fall under the Isurruutiit
Program for municipal infrastructure improvements and the
Pivaliutiit Program for community infrastructure development.
Interpretation centre and access road construction in Umiujaq for
Parc national Tursujuq is also planned, along with the installation
of mortuaries (modified refrigerated containers) in Salluit, Inukjuak,
Kangiqsualujjuaq, Tasiujaq and Aupaluk. Funding for the mortuary
project is being provided by the KRG through the Sanarrutik Agreement. Other communities will receive mortuaries in 2015.
The projects coordinated by the KRG Municipal Public Works
Department include drinking water plant upgrades and renovations
in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Aupaluk and Ivujivik; municipal landfill
construction, rehabilitation or expansion work in Kangirsuk,
Kuujjuaq, Inukjuak and Salluit; as well as wastewater lagoon
construction or improvements in Kangiqsujuaq, Salluit, Puvirnituq,
Umiujaq and Akulivik. New playgrounds are being installed in
Akulivik and Kangirsuk, a baseball field in Puvirnituq, and new
outdoor recreation equipment in some other northern villages.
KRG Council in Ivujivik
Every year, the KRG holds its regular spring sitting in a
community other than Kuujjuaq. The 2014 spring KRG Council
sitting took place in Ivujivik. Councillors were warmly welcomed by the community. The sitting was held at the Nuvvitik
School. The sitting was held at the Nuvvitik School. Communityorganized activities during the week included a candy drop.
Asphalting work in Kuujjuaq is being funded through the Québec municipal
road network improvement program.
Marine Infrastructure
Marine infrastructure maintenance work is being performed in
Tasiujaq and Kuujjuaq this summer, while bathymetric reports are
being prepared in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kuujjuaq, Quaqtaq and Salluit
for the marine infrastructure basins to permit dredging in 2015.
This work is being funded under an agreement signed with the
Québec government earlier in the year.
The KRG has also allocated funding from the Sanarrutik Agreement
to install lighting at marine infrastructure in the communities. The
project was developed by the KRG Transportation Department in
cooperation with Hydro-Québec to improve the efficiency of
sealift operations and the safety of community harvesters and sealift
workers using the marine infrastructure. Lighting will be installed
in all the communities except for Kuujjuaq and Tasiujaq because the
marine infrastructure in these two communities is far away from
Hydro-Québec power lines and would be too costly to develop.
Other solutions are being explored for these communities.
Finally, over the course of the summer, the KRG Transportation
Department coordinator for marine infrastructure and Usijiit
para- and public-transit services will be visiting all the communities.
During these visits, the coordinator will plan and supervise
regular summer marine infrastructure maintenance work and
offer assistance to each northern village for Usijiit para- and
public-transit services.
1
August 2014
Programs and Services
Nunavimmiut Busy with Summer Recreation Activities
The Nunavik Summer Camp Funding
Program targets youth by promoting
on-the-land as well as Inuit language and
cultural activities. Funding applications
were received for 2014 camps in Salluit,
Puvirnituq, Kangiqsujuaq, Tasiujaq, Aupaluk and Kangiqsualujjuaq.
Participants in regional recreation programs are also busy this summer. Four Inuit
games athletes participated in the Traditional Circumpolar Northern Games held
in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, from
July 21 to 27. Eight community instructors
under the Sustainable Martial Arts
Recreation Training (SMART) Program
participated in a summer camp organized
in Montreal in early August. And finally,
15 Cirqiniq Program junior instructors
will participate in training in Kuujjuaq from
August 17 to 23.
The fifth annual Cirqiniq summer camp was
held in Puvirnituq from July 1 to 8. The
camp brought more than 25 youth from
11 communities together for circus arts,
hip-hop dancing, throat singing, mask
making and theatre workshops.
KRG Administration
The Administration Department delivers essential services to the
entire KRG. However, except for Tamaani Internet, this support is
often invisible to the general public.
More specifically, the 18 employees of the Building Maintenance
and Asset Management Section are responsible for 66 public
buildings and 70 vehicles throughout the region, as well as
152 housing units in nine villages. With its seven full-time staff, the
main role of the Communications Section is to coordinate the flow
and quality of information disseminated by the organization, while
the Information Technology Section (nine staff) is responsible for
the upkeep of all the computer equipment and software used by the
organization’s 400 employees. The seven full-time staff of the
Procurement and Travel Section, for their part, coordinate
goods and service purchases, which totalled $54 million in 2013.
The Section also handled 12,000 travel requests. And finally,
Tamaani Internet has 39 positions, including two agents in
every community.
School Perseverance
Further to a call for projects conducted this past winter, Esuma
received over ten proposals involving almost all the communities.
The innovative proposals cover literacy, Inuktitut book-making
and a performing arts project, among many other great ideas.
Implementation of some of the projects began this summer.
Esuma is about community-based activities to promote
perseverance at school. Active participation in the Esuma initiative
includes more than ten regional organizations and two active
mining companies.
Programs for KRG Staff
Staff of the KRG Administration Department
are responsible for delivering a variety
of essential services.
The KRG has begun implementing its succession management plan.
The plan will increase the expertise of selected Inuit management
personnel to make them better qualified to hold more senior
management positions in the future. The plan focuses on
employee retention, as well as increasing motivation, satisfaction
and performance at work.
The KRG is also committed to the professional development of
all its employees. Over the past year, more than eight group training
sessions have been delivered and investments directed to more than
15 individual training projects.
Finally, the KRG offers an Employee and Family Assistance Program
to assist its employees and their immediate family members in
assessing and resolving work, health and life issues. Personal
challenges are a normal part of life and, from time to time, everyone
can benefit from independent, expert assistance and counselling.
2
August 2014
Around Nunavik
Parnasimautik Process
The KRG Opens Its Doors
The Parnasimautik core group has been working hard throughout
the summer to shape the vision for the region’s future, expressed
during 2013 community workshops, into a report that can soon be
shared with Nunavimmiut. The core group is made up of the leaders
of the Makivik Corporation, the KRG, the Nunavik Regional Board of
Health and Social Services, the Kativik School Board, the Nunavik
Landholding Corporations Association, the Avataq Cultural Institute
and the Saputiit Youth Association.
Housing Construction
At its May sitting, the KRG Council approved housing construction
projects in 2015 for six villages. In fact, fewer units are so far slated
for construction in 2015 than have been constructed in any year
since 2011.
Currently, funding is only available under the Plan Nord for
the construction of 300 social units, 150 private units and
50 cooperative units between 2012 and 2016. The negotiation of
the 2015–2020 Canada–Québec–Nunavik housing agreement
has so far not progressed with the federal government. The agreement remains essential to maintain the recent pace of social
housing construction.
Between 2000 and 2005, 227 social units were constructed in
Nunavik communities; between 2005 and 2010, 308 units were
built; and between 2010 and the end of the current construction
season, 337 units will have been built.
Airport observer-communicator Jimmy Angnatuk at an open
house activity in Kangiqsualujjuaq on June 4 and 5 organized in
cooperation with the Ulluriaq School. In addition to visiting
KRG workplaces, youth visitors were told about the requirements and types of training needed to deliver KRG programs
and services. Open house activities are planned for young
Nunavimmiut in other communities this coming fall.
A New Youth Forum
Five youth representatives from different communities have been
working closely with the Saputiit Youth Association, the Makivik
Corporation and the Kativik Regional Government to create a new
functional forum for Nunavik’s youth. The new forum will provide
a stable setting for youth to advocate for their concerns in the
region and in Québec, and give elected youth leaders a place
to learn to govern.
Summer–Fall 2014 construction (underway)
Community
1 bedroom
2 bedrooms
4 bedrooms
Total units
Ivujivik
8
12
-
20
Kangiqsujuaq
28
-
12
40
Kuujjuarapik
8
10
-
18
Puvirnituq
28
-
8
36
Quaqtaq
8
10
-
18
Salluit
12
-
6
18
2014 total
150
Community Childcare Centres
Childcare centres are non-profit organizations operated by parent
users and locally elected boards of directors. Each local board of
directors is responsible for hiring qualified staff and for making
sure that facilities are properly maintained. In 2014, the 19 facilities
across the region employ 249 full-time workers and 56 part-time
workers, and offer a total of 1009 childcare places.
The construction of a new 45-place centre is underway in
Kangiqsualujjuaq. New centres were constructed by the Québec
government in Salluit, Puvirnituq and Inukjuak in 2013. The KRG is
continuing to lobby for more childcare places for other communities.
Summer–Fall 2015 construction (planned)
Community
1 bedroom
2 bedrooms
4 bedrooms
Total units
Kangiqsujuaq
12
-
-
12
Kangirsuk
4
-
6
10
Kuujjuaq
16
-
8
24
Kuujjuarapik
8
-
-
8
Puvirnituq
20
-
-
20
Quaqtaq
4
2
-
6
2015 total
80
Amaarvik Childcare Centre in Ivujivik.
3
August 2014
New Developments
Protected Area Expansion
Elders’ Communications Units
On June 18, a temporary suspension was placed by the Québec
government on mining claims in the Kovik River watershed. This
result was achieved by the working group created last fall by the Québec government with the participation of the KRG and the Makivik
Corporation to follow up on the 2013 report entitled Protected Area
Planning in Nunavik. The suspension will remain in effect until the
completion of studies on the creation of a permanent protected area.
Leading up to the report, community consultations were carried
out in 2011 and 2012 and an all-community meeting was held in
February 2013. The report also concludes that Nunavimmiut
support the expansion of the region’s protected area network, as
well as achieving balance between future development needs and
the protection of wildlife, the environment, as well as Inuit culture
and subsistence harvesting practices.
Technical and financial support is being provided by the KRG
Regional and Local Development Department for a communications
project for elders. The aim is to provide elders with Internet access
that will allow them to use Skype to stay in touch with their friends
and family members living in different communities.
Ipads have so far been made available in Inukjuak and Kangiqsualujjuaq, as well as at the Northern Module in Montreal. Three more
communities will be added to the project before the end of the year.
The Avataq Cultural Institute is responsible for the coordination of
the project with the support of the Nunavik Elders’ Committee.
Siasie Mangiuk at the KRG Council sitting in Ivujivik communicates with
Annie Kokkiapik in Inukjuak.
Cost of Living Measures
Elders’ Assistance
Protection of the Kovic River watershed from industrial development was the first priority identified in the report on Protected Area Planning in Nunavik. Shown: Akulivik
consultation.
Search and Rescue
The Northern Search and Rescue Roundtable met in Kuujjuaq on
June 12. A main topic of the meeting was Nunavik’s marine search
and rescue capabilities and inter-operability with the Canadian
Coast Guard Auxiliary.
At the beginning of July, the KRG distributed cheques to elders in
Nunavik under the Elders’ Assistance Program. A total of 682 elders
across the region received $750 each. This is the first time Elders’
Assistance has been paid in the summer.
This important change doubles to $1500 the assistance to be paid to
elders every fiscal year. Elders’ Assistance will now be paid in two
instalments: in July and in January.
Food and Other Essentials
On April 1 of this year, over 300 food and non-food items were added
to the Food and Other Essentials Program. It was also planned that the
list of eligible items would be updated regularly with new items.
Effective July 1, some of the changes under the Program are:
•New items: coffee, aluminium paper, canned soup and shampoo.
•Increased coverage: all rice.
•Increased coverage and discount (from 20% to 30%):
all diapers, all canned fruit and all canned vegetables.
* Details on the Elders’ Assistance Program may be obtained
from Alec Clunas and on the Food and Other Essentials Program
from Annie-Claude Houle at the KRG Finance Department
(Tel. 1-877-964-2961). Complete information on all six Nunavik
cost-of-living measures can be found at www.krg.ca.
Kativik Regional Government
P.O. Box 9
Kuujjuaq QC J0M 1C0
819-964-2961
www.krg.ca
Quarterly Update

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