It would seem doubtful that anyone has written song about coroners. They are likely among the few genuinely unsung heroes.

Though the territorial government pays the 150 coroners scattered across the NWT $50 for each death they investigate, the money often comes nowhere close to compensating what are essentially volunteers for their time and effort.

Indeed, the job of a Northern coroner could be one of the least appealing around, and it's a wonder anyone is willing to do it at all.

In the NWT's smaller communities, investigating a death often means coming, quite literally, face to face with the corpse of a family member or friend. How many among us could clean the body of a loved one without a great many tears being shed? There's also the frequent problem of finding a decent place to store bodies before they're shipped south for autopsies.

And as if the near-non-existence pay and difficult working conditions weren't enough, coroners have to deal with a bureaucracy and government that behave in the most confusing ways. The last full-time chief coroner of the NWT, Jo MacQuarrie, was fired a year ago after she made some controversial and tough -- but as far as we can see -- entirely appropriate decisions.

She was soon rehired. But a few weeks ago, she resigned in circumstances so troubling that both she and the government have signed an agreement not to discuss the issue in public.

Such separation contracts are not unknown. But Northerners, and Northern coroners in particular, deserve a more open and honest accounting of what went on.

Taking care of the remains of our people is a task that we cannot afford to make any more difficult than it already is.

Once again Ottawa's mandarins have concocted a policy that demonstrates a woeful lack of understanding of the communities that they say they serve.

Transport Canada has decided airlines will need a special permit to fly both passengers and external loads.

While no one is quarrelling with the idea of making air transport safe, the ruling is simply impractical and unnecessary. Flying with a canoe strapped to the floats is a matter of course here, not an exceptional circumstance.

While it's not an election issue, such misguided policy-making underlines the need for strong representation in Ottawa.

Many Northern cross-country skiing enthusiasts are angry with the GNWT's decision to axe the $30,000 it provides for a coach and technical director, and so they should be.

The position has been a mainstay in the North for 30 years. The money involved won't affect the GNWT's bottom line, but it will affect the athletes who need proper training thoughout our long skiing season.

If our leaders can flit off to Arizona on a $28,000 fact-finding mission, then they should be able to find the money for a program that has benefited the entire NWT through the championship exploits of skiers the likes of Gordon Delorme and the Firth sisters.