Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, there is no budget established for disasters being unplanned events. We do not keep a budget line for this. It is done through Cabinet. So it would either be special warrant, extraordinary funding or a supp if there would be adequate time to do that. Thank you.
Debates of Feb. 6th, 1998
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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Ballantyne
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Henry
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Finally, on this, does the department have any rough numbers in the use of this particular program or funds in the last few years? Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ballantyne
Madam Chairperson, in the two years that I have been with MACA, we have not disbursed any funds under this policy. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Henry
If I may, Madam Chairperson, Ms. Ballantyne had mentioned that if disasters occur and they are covered by insurance, the department may provide some assistance over and above that. What would happen in the event of a disaster where someone did not have any insurance at all? Would someone be eligible for access to this program?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ballantyne
Madam Chairperson, on that point, I would prefer to check the policy to be able to answer the Member's question accurately. So perhaps we could undertake to get that information to Mr. Henry. 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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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Henry
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I would appreciate that information. We have had some disasters for individuals or business, particularly in a fire situation, here in Yellowknife. I would certainly be interested in finding out if there was any access for individuals who were not covered by insurance, some access to this program and what their relationship is to items that they may have paid out. I know there has been nothing in the past two years. I would be interested in knowing what was paid out in the communities. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
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 Jane Groenewegen
No question, just a comment. Next on the list, I have Mr. Steen. We are on page 4-8, emergency services, Municipal and Community Affairs, operations and maintenance. Mr. Evaloarjuk.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Mark Evaloarjuk Amittuq
(Translation) Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Under emergency services, I would like to ask a question. There is a situation probably about once a month. I know that the communities themselves deal with these emergency situations, but sometimes, if they have to hire a plane to look for an individual, and although there are RCMP that can assist with the search and rescue as well as the army, I think there is a policy that there are so many hours, I think it is 24 hours after the person is reported missing, before they can finally go and find the individual who is lost. Is this 24 hours in effect or can individuals or search and rescue go search before the 24 hours is up? Thank you. (Translation ends)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
(Translation) Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Yes, the Member's question is very important and I thank the Member for asking the question. The RCMP has a policy, but we do not have the policy of the RCMP with us at this time. The policy talks about how many hours they wait before they search for the people who are lost. I will get back to the Minister after I get information from the RCMP. Thank you. (Translation ends)
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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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
February 5th, 1998
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Mark Evaloarjuk Amittuq
(Translation) Yes, I thank the Minister for the response because quite a few times the community members themselves or the hamlet do not have a plane to search for people who are lost. I wanted to tell the Minister so that she can encourage the people who are doing the search and rescue with planes, to do it as soon as possible. Thank you. (Translation ends)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
(Translation) Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I will look into this and get back to the Member before the end of the session. I will get it from the RCMP. Thank you. (Translation ends)
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, Mr. Evaloarjuk's question is part of the reason I was asking the Minister yesterday as to the department's involvement now in search and rescue. As Mr. Evaloarjuk was trying to point out, the RCMP have a 24-hour waiting period in place before they will send any of their aircraft up, or at their expense. I think what he was trying to find out was whether or not MACA or whoever is running this search and rescue program would have a different policy whereby aircraft would be able to be sent out right away. My point here is that this is to some degree causing a lot of confusion in the communities as to who is responsible any more for what.
I do not understand why all of a sudden, MACA pondered that they had to take over search and rescue programs. They were being run by the hunters and trappers. They were being implemented through the Rangers. I do not understand why MACA now sees it as they have to have it under their mandate. Obviously, at some point in time, somebody is going to ask MACA to pay the costs because they implemented the program and therefore, they should bear the cost. We all know that search and rescue does not necessarily apply just to the communities. Search and Rescue involves tourists and everybody else who gets lost.
This whole concept of search and rescue under MACA mandate, I question that because I always understood MACA's responsibility was within the municipal boundaries. I think we are overloading MACA with all this stuff. My own personal opinion is that, I do not know, even if MACA says we take on the responsibility and we are just hoping by doing this we establish that the hamlet would put together the program of search and rescue. Then we have to take into consideration that the hamlets are already getting overworked with programs as well, whether they have adequate staff to put all these plans together.
I believe the emergency response plan, as such, was strictly applicable to municipal boundaries. I do not understand. Perhaps the Minister could give me some clarification how this responsibility ever got passed on to them how is it affecting them and where did it come from? Whose responsibility was it before? Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The responsibility came from the regional directors. It used to be the responsibility of the regional directors and somebody had to do it. That is how it came under MACA. I realize that MACA's roles and responsibilities for search and rescue are not always understood. MACA's role is to support the training and establishment of local search teams and work with communities to establish search and rescue as a component of the local emergency response plan. I truly understand where the Member is coming from and I
thank him for his observation. It came from the regional directors position. Thank you Madam Chairperson.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, is the Minister then suggesting that although they organize the response, and it is part of the emergency measures plan for the community, implementation of the plan is what I am getting at here, the decisions to implement a search, it still lies with the hunters, trappers and rangers? For instance, where to look in the first place? I am not suggesting hamlet councils may not know where to look for this person, but it would seem to be more appropriate that this type of decision would be made by people who are involved in the overall knowledge about the overall area. That is what I am getting at, Madam Chairperson, if the Minister could explain that.