Thank you. Are you okay on that, Mr. Henry? Okay. Thank you. We have Mr. Picco.
Debates of Feb. 25th, 1997
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, under educational development, I see public libraries are also mentioned here. I would like to bring up the situation regarding the proposed restructuring of library funding and also the proposed elimination of the regional librarian positions. The regional librarian position trains the community librarians and also adds support to the community librarians, most of which are part-time and volunteers in the smaller communities. I wonder if the Minister could tell me who will be providing ongoing training and support to the smaller libraries outside
the regional centre, when we have no more regional librarians?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Dent.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in every region right now, other than the Keewatin and the Baffin, the responsibility for that is taken on by the regional superintendent with assistance from the libraries branch based in Hay River.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Qujannamiik. Mr. Picco.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Thank you. So, the Minister is telling me that the regional superintendent of the Baffin, for example, will fly into Pond Inlet, Clyde River, Igloolik, to train and help support the volunteer, in some cases, or part-time community librarian. Is that correct?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. The honourable Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Dent.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would expect that in face to face visits to communities, the regional superintendents would be able to assist with that. I think it is necessary to remember that a lot of the assistance can still be provided by the library technicians who will still be resident. It is also important to point out that training sessions have not been as formal as the Member might think. There were no training sessions or training seminars in 1996, for instance. Most of the assistance that is required can be provided either by telephone, fax or electronic mail. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. The honourable Member for Iqaluit. Mr. Picco.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think we are missing something here on the regional librarian positions. I think what we are missing on the regional librarian positions is the work that they have done outside of the regional centre. I know, for example, in my community, the regional librarian would go to Clyde, would go to Igloolik, to set up libraries. Then they are also flying in and out of those communities to add that support. In a lot of cases where the small community libraries have just been set up, they get their books from the regional library. The referral service helps them set up the Dewey Decimal System and so on. I am not convinced by the Minister that a library technician, who is actually based in our community library in Iqaluit, is now going to be going out to continue that type of on-site help for the community libraries. So, is the Minister telling me that the library technician, it sounds like a "yes" position, is now going to be providing part of the logistic help the regional librarian was providing? Is that correct and what percentage?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, given the fiscal situation, there is no question that travel is going to be reduced. Face to face meetings in all departments are less frequent. I would maintain that the past two years have proven that the regional superintendents have effectively taken over the duties of assisting local libraries to perform their function within the other regions and, should a major new project be undertaken, headquarters would deliver extensive on-site training. The ongoing training can be maintained by the regional library technician at the regional level. It has to be remembered that, in addition, headquarters is available to assist by telephone, fax and electronic mail. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Education development. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, a professional librarian is a person who of course has graduated from university, has the necessary training in the filing, the Dewey Decimal System we talked about before. The community librarian positions are often part-time and the person hired usually does not have much experience in working in a library. This makes the role of the regional librarian more essential to maintaining the community library services. My follow up question to the Minister on this area is: with the advent of Nunavut in April 1, 1999, one of the key areas the NIC has recommended to this government is having a library service set up. By eliminating the library position today, it means we will have to rehire and restructure that position for tomorrow. I think that is dumb planning on behalf of this government. I do not think it is strategic. I do not think it is acceptable. Mr. Todd is agreeing with me. My follow up question now to the Minister concerning the regional librarian position is: what about the Legislative Library that is currently trying to be set up in the capital of Nunavut, with all the duplicate files being sent over, who will be maintaining the system? Who will be filing the system? Who will be doing that work? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you, Mr. Picco. Mr. Todd is a very understanding man.
-- Applause
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, if money was not limited, we probably would have librarians in every community who had graduated from university and we would have large libraries in every community. In fact we do not. We have found, given the fiscal climate, we are able to deliver satisfactory service in other regions. Making the change we propose to make in Nunavut and the Keewatin is a result of the fiscal climate in which we are forced to operate these days. In response to the Member's direct question about the Legislative Library, the Legislative Library for Nunavut will still have the assistance of the Legislative Library we have here in Yellowknife. That is the proper place for the library to get its assistance right now for Nunavut. If in fact, the interim commissioner believes it is necessary to set up such a position in advance of Nunavut coming into effect, it is entirely the responsibility of the person who fills the position to set such a library up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. We are reviewing the Department of Education Culture and Employment. We have on the list, Mr. Erasmus, Mr. Ootes, and Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Erasmus.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the Minister's opening address he indicated the department is continuing to participate in the National School Achievement Indicators Program which assess the students in the areas of math, reading, writing, and science. Unfortunately, this testing does not indicate to us which students are up to the national level, and which ones are under, although it does give us an indication of an overall picture. How come the system does not allow us to find out where the successful students and the unsuccessful students are in relation to these particular tests?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 855
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is a national program which is designed to provide a Canadian wide information base to assist Departments of Education across Canada to assess the performance of their education systems relative to others. It is not intended to be a measure of individual students success or failure. Given the tests are not normed for northern populations, it would be improper to put too much weight on the results. What they do is give us an idea of how our students are performing in relation to others in Canada. From that we can determine whether or not we need to expend some energy to strengthen our curriculum in certain areas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Erasmus.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What does "not normed for northern students" mean?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Qujannamiik. Mr. Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It means it is not specifically designed for the circumstances of northern students. It does not recognize the fact many northern students have English as a second language. It does not respect the cultural background of our students.