The subject of "Recreation Facilities" is a sore spot with the ratepayers of this city.
Less than a year ago on April 15, a record number of them (43 per cent) voted down a plan, almost two to one, for the city to borrow $2.8 for a new $10 to $12 million twin pad arena.
This was after a very long and public debate between user groups, city council and ratepayers.
Mayor Lovell's recollection of the twin pad process came out at a "public meeting" held last week, bringing upon him a queer sensation of "deja vu." Commenting on the meagre public showing -- two members of the public showed up -- Lovell said: "Two years ago, we had the same problem with very few members of the public turning out."
This meeting is not a good yardstick because few people knew it was happening. Yellowknifer's newsroom was informally notified the day before and a small paragraph at the bottom of a city advertisement ran the day of the meeting.
Despite the poor advance notice, when the public doesn't flock to meetings, it could mean they are not interested. Council ignored that possibility last time and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars planning a facility, including expensive drawings, that did not have public support.
Now money is being spent hiring consultants to advise council on the state of all our recreation facilities, both inside and outside, sports and youth activities across the board.
It may be a worthwhile cost effective effort to maintain an acceptable quality of recreational facilities in the city. It could also be a quiet effort to get the twin pad arena plan back on the rails.
We hope the consultants are instructed to take our eroding tax base and shrinking population into account while making their assessment. The attitude of the public, clearly stated in last year's arena plebiscite, remains the same as last year -- now is not the time for major projects.
Like little schoolboys caught with their hands in the cookie jar, Treminco Resources and Ptarmigan Mines pleaded guilty to violations of the Mine Health and Safety Act.
One has to wonder why they didn't bother to play by the rules in the first place. As Judge Robert Bourassa pointed out, mines make a good deal of money in the territories, but seem to leave the clean-up for government agencies, which means we pay for it.
We detect, at the very least, a certain disdain among mining operations for the responsibility of tidying up their own mess. As well as Treminco and Ptarmigan, Giant and Colomac are facing enormous restoration projects and the company is virtually broke.
Perhaps Diavik can understand why Northerners have so many questions.
The Old Stope Society has launched a donation drive for some much-needed renovations for the Wildcat Cafe.
The Wildcat's doors first opened in the 1930s, only to become boarded up in the 50s until it was rescued in 1979 by the Old Stope Society. It's only natural the upkeep of this heritage building should be a priority.
When you think of the thousands of tourists that have gone through there in the past 20 years and the hundreds of Yellowknife families that enjoy the treat of dining in a historical landmark, the $10,000 needed for restorations seems like peanuts.
When you do the math, it certainly wouldn't take much for each of us to help them reach their goal.
Editorial Comment
Glen Korstrum
Inuvik Drum
In elder Ishmael Alunik's book Call me Ishmael, he details some accounts of hunting expeditions his grandfather, Abraham Tigikluk, had in the 1800s.
But way back in the time of Tigikluk and his hunting buddy -- as documented by Alunik -- Okruatchiak, neither hunter was much concerned that caribou calving grounds were coming under impending encroachment from oil companies.
Oil companies weren't infringing on the Alaskan coastal plain at the time and the largest concern caribou herds had was likely the pesky hunters themselves.
Alunik recounts how his grandfather would spot a single caribou lying down beneath some shelter and facing the wind to keep out of the way from mosquitoes.
Sneaking up from behind, Tigikluk would jump on top of the unsuspecting caribou with a 20-centimetre knife made out of green flint rock and stab it in the side where its heart is.
Today, hunting methods have evolved to predominantly favour the gun and, in tandem, a consciousness has evolved of what caribou need to sustain themselves as a species.
Bobbi Jo Greenland returned last week from a month of lobbying and educating people on the need to preserve the Alaskan coastal plain.
She explains the porcupine herd undergoes an arduous migration route to the Arctic coast of Alaska because that area is a perfect nursery where there are few predators such as wolves, bears or eagles.
The landscape is such that they are more able to detect bears while nature controls the mosquitoes.
Still, wildlife bills to preserve the refuge have yet to make their way through the American congress and confirmed supporters of the refuge still number in the 151 range -- a number that may not be enough to secure passage.
No one has yet gone on the record concerned that the herd is about to die out but if politicians do not consider the herd's environmental needs, area caribou could follow the example of Newfoundland cod or British Columbia salmon as they trundle off to extinction.
Biologists who work closely with the porcupine caribou herd were predicting the size of the herd would be at about 160,000 when it was counted last summer.
When the count arrived it was only 129,000 animals. Now many are saying the four per cent decline from the 152,000 animals counted in 1994 is to be expected and is well within the normal range for barren-ground herds.
How the herd's numbers evolve could be said to be in the hands of American legislators but it is also in the hands of the Gwich'in who care about the herd's survival as part of their traditional culture.
Greenland says one recurring sentiment she heard in many of the Alaskan and Yukon communities she visited was the lack of communication between the Gwich'in in Yukon, Alaska and the Beaufort Delta.
Elders in small Alaskan villages spoke of how fast change has come. This is the same message elders in Inuvik pass on.
What is for sure is that if steps are not taken to preserve the porcupine caribou herd's calving grounds, epochal change is guaranteed for Gwich'in as the herd will get smaller and smaller.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
There's no question that mayor Norm Prevost's remarks about the education system made last week have shaken things up in Fort Simpson.
The real question is why he made them. Due to the reality of deadlines, this editorial is being written before the District Education Authority (DEA) meeting on Tuesday evening. At some point during that meeting, Prevost said some of the underlying issues would come to the fore.
Complaints about the education system aren't rare. It's a complex entity. As such, it's easy to attack components of it. Yet many of Prevost's concerns have been sweeping, yet vague. He must have good reason to be so firmly entrenched in the position he's taken. Opinionated or not, it has to be said that he's an intelligent man. He's also serving his second term as mayor, so he's been able to keep the majority of the people in his corner, at least up until this point. Whether that will remain to be the case, it's too early to say. It's clear that this issue has become quite divisive within the community. It's not healthy and it needs to be dealt with conclusively.
Prevost has said that his criticism of the education system really lies in the operations of the DEA. It shouldn't be taken as a slight against local teachers -- at no point did he name names. However, when it comes to the alleged lack of respect in the schools, he made reference to Thomas Simpson school and the vandalism that occurs there. When he mentioned that he's never seen a teacher at a constituency meeting, the finger pointing swung in the direction of local educators. How else could that statement be taken? The comments he made about parents fearful of speaking out because of the repercussions their children face in school, those are very serious allegations. I would hate to think that there is a single teacher who could be so vindictive.
I have encountered a number of teachers who are irate over the comments that have been made by Fort Simpson's mayor. They say they can't help but feel as if they are on the receiving end of the criticism being levelled. Sure, there could be flaws in the education system, as there is in almost any system. But if they exist to the extent that Prevost implies, that's essentially an insult to their intelligence and professionalism. How could they be so oblivious to such faults when they work within that system on a daily basis? Remember, many of them are parents as well as teachers.
It's hard to imagine how much wrongdoing must really exist if Prevost is on the mark. It's also hard to imagine that he could be foolish enough to jeopardize his political career and his reputation if he wasn't absolutely confident in what he is saying. The fallout from this issue is far from over.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The ideal of always giving someone a second chance, no matter what their standing in society, sounds good in theory, but can often be difficult moral ground to maintain.
That being said, it is interesting to note there are those who were more than a little surprised with Coral Harbour MLA James Arvaluk's election win and rise to the cabinet position of minister of education.
This could prove itself to be a huge gamble on the part of Nunavut's first elected representatives.
Yes, there can be no denying Arvaluk's many contributions to the Northern political landscape during the past few decades. And, being a democracy, one also has to respect the voice of his constituents who felt he was still the best choice to represent them in Nunavut's first legislative assembly.
It is also quite obvious Arvaluk's fellow politicians had enough faith in the man and his political experience and expertise to elect him to a cabinet position. Such an endorsement of confidence in Arvaluk's abilities coming from the people we've chosen to lead our new government carries a great deal of weight.
And, there are many who say Arvaluk is his own harshest critic, that he's learned his lesson and deserves a second chance.
But there are also many in the educational field who wonder how those who must work under the new minister will feel about taking direction from someone who did not have to pass the same stringent screening tests as they and would not have been approved to hold their positions if he had been subjected to the same procedures.
There is no choice but to wait and see how what some people perceive to be Premier-elect Paul Okalik and the legislative assembly's first major gamble will play out.
However, there are voices in the Keewatin not entirely comfortable with the scenario of Arvaluk as education minister.
While many people still want to hold on to the traditional values of forgiveness and second chances, some people also believe change has to come in certain areas to ensure a brighter future for their youth. They are not convinced Arvaluk's appointment was a step in the right direction.
Hopefully, Arvaluk's appointment will prove itself to be a good one. But, there are those who will question the overall value of such a gamble and view the move as setting a dangerous precedent in what our new government views as socially acceptable.