Across the North, as powers devolve to the communities and the regions, local authorities are going to find themselves face to face with southern Canadian and foreign corporations.
These corporations will be sitting across the table negotiating contracts to turn Northern resources into money. The point of the negotiations is to see how much of that money, one way or another, stays in the North.
During the process, one bargaining chip that deserves special attention is Northern hiring.
International mining giants such as BHP have been through the process. As a result, there are hiring requirements at their Ekati mine project at Lac de Gras as well as training programs to ensure that Northerners interested in working at the mine can learn the skills they will need.
At the Nunavut Mining Symposium held in Iqaluit recently, local hiring was the focus of a session featuring the executives of mining ventures in the North.
Talk revolved around recruiting locally through community-based personnel officers. These are welcome developments.
Hiring requirements have had the effect of re-enforcing the importance of Northern hiring.
However, resource-extraction companies aren't the only ones who hire locally. The new Nunavut government has set guidelines for hiring. They have been in place in the west for a while.
As regional administrations expand their responsibilities, their need for expertise and experience will mean that they too may start looking farther afield to staff their offices.
While keeping an eye on industry's adherence to hiring requirements, local administrations are going to have to make sure that their own houses are in order.
It is going to take time to develop a Northern workforce that can meet the demands of the evolving job market. Education and training are part of the formula. Patience is another part. Realistic standards are also important. Rome wasn't built in a day.
On the eve of the official creation of Nunavut, there are still unsettled issues over land use and treaty rights.
Treaty 8 Dene are among the people who have outstanding problems with the borders of Nunavut. From DIAND comes nothing but confusion and ambiguity. Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jane Stewart volunteered to assist in talks between the Inuit and the Dene.
Previously, former DIAND minister Ron Irwin had deferred the issue to the courts. None of this bodes well for future relations. This can't be settled without DIAND's participation, but the parties involved have to be able to trust what is going on at the bargaining table.
Joint administration of the land might be a solution, but we'll never get there with the current climate of skepticism about the federal government's candour.
It makes you wonder about the future of jointly-shared responsibilities such as the Thelon Game Sanctuary.
The recent news from Statistics Canada on smoking rates in the North was certainly an eye-opener.
While statistics are disturbing they're not new and once again Northerners take top honours (three-times the national average) when it comes to smoking rates.
The GNWT's investment in a strategy aimed at getting health officials to "butt out" and be an example is a good start. But like any addiction, it's going to take a lot more effort.
It's ironic that Northerners, who live in what's probably the most pristine spot on the planet, choose instead to choke themselves silly with this filthy habit.
Here's an idea. The next time you want to reach for a cigarette, take a walk instead. You would be breathing in the freshest air in the world. That's what the tourists do.
A group of concerned people in Kimmirut are trying to stretch their kindness across the territory. Their efforts, in part, have stemmed from the need to replace the GNWT's compassionate travel program.
After the government made financial and policy changes a few years back, the group -- called Ikaargutit -- began to raise money to send community members in need to the assistance of dying and ill family members.
Several years later, they're so successful that they're trying to branch out and connect with other Nunavut communities to form a network of sorts.
It's important that communities across the territory listen to what Ikaargutit has to say. It is work like this that helps us maintain our identity as Northerners as we care for our own.
Editorial Comment
Glen Korstrum
Inuvik Drum
With thousands of CBC technicians on strike across Canada, it was with interest that I heard about the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission asking for input from Canadians on CBC programming.
The CRTC radio spots seemed to indicate something was happening in Inuvik, but when I called the toll-free number -- 1-877-249-CRTC -- the woman there assured me the only meetings would be in Vancouver.
If something is happening in town, her not knowing about it is typical of most southerners. When she gave the address in Ottawa where I could send a written submission by March 9 (Secretary General of the CRTC, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0N2) she omitted the street address and assured me it would get there anyway.
Does that mean the CRTC bureaucracy is large enough for its own postal code?
I wouldn't gasp if they were.
But back to CBC: I took a long drive on a frozen road last week and was lucky enough to have chosen the first day of the strike.
That disruption in routine meant programming was all in a tizzy at the CBC and instead of being able to put out something interesting and original for listeners, they simply ran classical music.
So there I was -- winding between narrow channels rimmed with trees and guided by tranquil sounds.
I'm sure the dozens of people who can understand their usual afternoon programming (in another language) were understandably upset, but the strike meant I was listening to CBC and not my cassette deck.
The next day, regional programming returned and all seems pretty much back to normal even though some technicians in Yellowknife are striking.
Positive change dawning
Change is set to touch down on the Inuvik landscape. Grollier Hall is set for demolition imminently.
Like the razing of the old Dave Jones Arena and the conversion into a greenhouse of the old Grollier Hall arena, the removal of the big, red, now-boarded-up building, complete with its large cross, will mark the beginning of a new era in Inuvik.
Projects are starting to mushroom and sprout all over the place.
When the modern-yet-practical-looking proposed Aurora College campus takes its place on the old Grollier site, students will usher in an era where positive memories can outnumber painful ones.
Getting to swing a sledge hammer at former senior boys' supervisor Paul Leroux's office meant Lawrence Norbert's shoulder was a bit sore the next day but no doubt the smashing time he and others had will similarly usher in a new dawn for the region.
Last week, after much talk both in the xxxDrum and on the radio about sexual assault in Tuktoyaktuk, Sgt. Richard Crooks said there was little crime.
This may be an example of how discussion of wrongdoing and coverage of trials train others to behave respectably.
Grollier Hall is an ominous memory of what once was.
And the more people who speak out about sexual abuse by those in positions of authority, the less anyone will be able to claim believably, like Leroux did at his trial, that he just didn't realize at the time that what he was doing was wrong.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
When there are two parties with polar opposite outlooks on issues, the truth often lies somewhere in the middle.
The affairs at the Fort Simpson Health Centre fall under that category. Deh Cho Health and Social Services (DCHSS) management and the regional union representative for the nurses are miles apart on many issues that are affecting nurses who work at the health centre.
On the one hand, Georgina Rolt-Kaiser, UNW's Hay River region vice-president, says the nurses are being run ragged. On the other, Kathy Tsetso, chief executive officer for DCHSS, says the workload is not "overwhelming."
DCHSS provided some statistics at the village council meeting on Feb. 15 that supposedly prove the nurses are not over-burdened by patients. Rolt-Kaiser said she's doubtful those numbers include all the nurses' duties. Tsetso said the nurses were consulted when those statistics were formulated.
There's no question that nursing relief staff is hard to find in the North. According to a recent press release on behalf of the NWT Registered Nurses Association (NWTRNA), the territorial government has reported a 25 per cent vacancy rate in the NWT. Those positions aren't being filled readily. The NWTRNA includes the lack of career development and educational opportunities, decreased benefits and decreased staffing levels as some of the reasons why nurses are leaving the North. Those are issues that have to be addressed by the territorial government.
In the Deh Cho, threats to nurses working in satellite communities have become a problem. Neither the UNW nor DCHSS want that to continue. Both would like the offenders to be charged and dealt with by the penal system. Rightfully so. Nurses have enough stress to deal with, they shouldn't be subjected to threats at all. Kathy Tsetso said a meeting scheduled for next week is to include a facilitator to help address concerns over support staff and the transitional plan, which will encompass all health and social services in the Fort Simpson area (the health clinic, long-term care and social services).
"You don't add more nurses where a need for support staff, like a lab X-ray tech or a clinical (assistant), can relieve some of the duties off the nurse," she said.
Tsetso has repeatedly stated, "We're not trying to undermine the Fort Simpson Health Centre.... It takes time to make it better."
Both the UNW and DCHSS management agree that morale has lapsed at the health centre and that obviously is not a good sign. It seems apparent that there is a huge undertaking under way in the Deh Cho region as health and social services prepares for this overhaul of service delivery. It's unfortunate the nurses and support staff here have been stretched so thin over the past year while the transition was a long ways from being carried out. It appears they are going to have to hang in there a while longer while the necessary human resources are recruited and put to work. One way or another, things are supposedly going to get better soon. Let's hope for their sake, and our own, that proves to be the case.