Madam Chair, the prospector grubstake grants will be available and will be advertised across the Territories to all regions. There may be some notification about that in newspapers this week and the applications are approved on the basis of the applications themselves and the content of the application. There isn't a regional allocation as such. The level of prospector interest varies a great deal form region to region. Right now, there is a tremendous interest from communities in the Keewatin in accessing prospectors' grubstake assistance, as an example. The primary areas of interest are in the Baffin, the Keewatin and the North Slave. There is no predetermined regional allocation. It is based on the applications that come forward across the Territories.
Debates of May 14th, 1996
This is page numbers 331 - 362 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.
Topics
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Nicholls
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Vince Steen Nunakput
Madam Chair, I noticed the witness left out Paulatuk and Holman Island in the mining industry. I hope he keeps those communities in mind when he makes available this information. Who makes the decisions on the applications? Is it one or two members of the department? Who makes the decisions?
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Nicholls
Madam Chair, the decisions are made by members of my department, primarily the community minerals advisor, following the same procedures under which these decisions were made when this particular program was funded under the economic development agreement. It is based on the completeness of the application, the quality of the application. In most cases, when applications come forward and the information is there, the individual receives the assistance. The individual also receives follow-up assistance from the community minerals advisor, of a professional and technical nature, in the conduct of their prospecting program.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chair. Is the witness suggesting that anyone applying in my region would, therefore, have to apply to Yellowknife to his department and it is a deputy minister decision on which applications are approved?
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Nicholls
Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not see the applications myself. They are handled by technical staff. It is on the basis of the completeness of the application. We also work with economic development officers in the communities as our points of contact, so they don't have to come to Yellowknife. It is just that the staff are located in Yellowknife who handle this. We encourage people to put forward these applications, but it is important to note that, in order to be qualified, one must normally have completed a prospecting course. That is another element of our program; to provide prospector training through Arctic College, so the people have the necessary skills to actually do prospecting on the land. If there is an interest in communities in your region in having prospector training courses, this is probably a good opportunity because of some emerging activity in that area. That is something we would like to take a look at, so we can encourage people in that area to become engaged in prospecting on an ongoing basis.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chair. I wonder what cost is associated with administering this program; administrative costs.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 359
Nicholls
Madam Chair, the direct cost of administering the grants themselves is very minimal. It is a matter of a few weeks' work by a few individuals; more the
actual work that is involved is in terms of the time spent by our community minerals advisor and other people on staff in providing some assistance on an as-needed basis to prospectors. For example, if they wish to stake a claim and sometimes there are some technicalities that aren't properly followed through with, so staff are available to try to provide some assistance in conducting that. I would certainly emphasize that the administrative cost of this program is quite minimal.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Vince Steen Nunakput
Madam Chair, the comparison the Minister made of this program between grubstaking and trappers isn't a very good comparison. I say this because the chances of a trapper becoming a millionaire is pretty slim. One of these guys could easily strike it rich and be millionaires, but there is no incentive for them to pay their money back. I would suggest that the department consider making this a forgivable loan program. If one of these guys does make it, he should pay us back whatever we gave him. A grubstake is a grubstake. If you do good, you pay me back. In the future, we should look at changing this program to a forgivable loan, so there is some incentive for them to pay us back if they get rich.
How do we know the results of this? Did these people report as to how successful they were? I presume most of them say they never found anything so, therefore, they never have to pay it back. How do we get a report back?
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Madam Chair, I understand that the prospectors go out and check out certain areas. They report the exact locations of an area and they take ore samples and these are brought in as part of their reports. If anyone is interested in pursuing it, then they deal with the prospector on it. The findings of the prospectors are filed and made available. Potential buyers would look at them. That is how I understand it. I am not sure how we would get prospectors to pay back grubstakes, but we can look at it and see if there is any merit in it. We thought it would just encourage people to go out and do work who would ordinarily have difficulty doing it on their own. Thank you.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Vince Steen Nunakput
We encourage our kids to pay back the loans we give them for education. I think it is only fair to encourage the prospectors to pay us back if they make money.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you. Mr. O'Brien.
MR, O'BRIEN: Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to throw my support behind this program. I think it is an excellent program and it benefits a lot of the small Inuit prospectors in my region, particularly in Arviat and Baker Lake. Without it, they wouldn't be able to survive. They wouldn't be able to do the prospecting that they do. I think Vince's comment isn't a bad idea. You can put that in as a qualifier, but I sure wouldn't want these guys being hounded or harassed to pay this money back unless they come into a big find, like Vince states. I don't see it happening. These guys are struggling trying to make their way along. Those are my comments. Thank you.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. I not would like to limit the comments here, but remind the Members that we're fast approaching 6:00. If you would like to finish Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources today, just keep the time in mind. Mr. O'Brien, did you want a response from the Minister on your comment?
--- Interjection
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Mr. Picco, would you like to speak?
Motion To Extend Sitting Hours,
Carried
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Madam Chair, I move that we extend the sitting hours to conclude consideration of this department.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you. The motion is in order, it is not debatable. All those in favour of the motion? Opposed? The motion is carried.
--- Carried
Back to page 12, contributions, $265,000, total department, $265,000.
Bill 11: Appropriation Act, 1996-97
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 360
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed