The recent debate over smoking in Yellowknife restaurants has folks on both sides of the issue fuming.
Smokers and their supporters say town council should not have the right to legislate whether or not patrons smoke in a privately-owned restaurant.
Nor should they be legislating what that owner includes on the menu (as long as it meets health and safety standards), the choice of wallcovering, or whether the restrooms offers single or double-ply bathroom tissue.
The anti-smoking supporters have many good arguments on their side. Smoking-related illnesses are a huge drain on the health system. Second hand smoke is an unacceptable hazard for non-smokers. Adult smokers breed young smokers.
The main problem with the smoking ban approach is the fact cigarettes are legal. Every day they are legal, the Canadian people are making a conscious decision to accept the health risks and costs of smoking.
That means people are within their legal rights to smoke and restaurant owners are within their legal rights to cater to smokers -- as much as the retail outlets are to sell cigarettes. It's much the same with alcohol which is not a health food.
So no matter how sound is anti-smoker's logic or well grounded is their concern for society in general, these rights are outside of city council's control.
The real issue is the freedom to act within the law of the land -- a freedom council should not tamper with.
Anti-smoker aldermen and their supporters should take comfort that some restaurants see value in a smoke free environment. That is a movement that is sure to grow all on its own without trampling legal rights.
This Saturday workers across the city will be marching down Franklin Ave. in celebration of May Day, an event unions say will be a first for the city.
May Day offers an opportunity for workers to rejoice over the gains made by struggling unionists throughout the world.
Originating in pagan Europe as a festive holy day celebrating the first spring planting, it was modernized in 1886 with the Chicago strikes when police attacked and killed eight workers.
After the daunting year our workers have had, we can't think of a city where a day of celebrating solidarity is needed more.
First off, we have the 250 unionized workers at Giant Mine, who are in what must be a frustrating holding pattern while they await the fate of their bankrupt employer and environmentally hazardous mine.
We also have the hundred or so families of the workers at Miramar Con Mine just starting to pick up the pieces from their year-long strike.
The price of gold, meanwhile, stays at an all-time low.
This year's May Day theme, the plight of women in the workplace, is also an ideal theme when you consider the pay equity battle GNWT workers faced this year in the Northwest Territories.
The city of Yellowknife has graciously offered organized labour the use of their parking lot to hold a barbecue following the parade, where workers will grease their chins with the fat of a roasted pig.
A barbequed metaphor for management past? Perhaps, but the wafting scent of pork on a spit is sure to draw a big crowd and a few smiles from the ones who lasted one day longer.
Get out this Saturday and support the people who continue the struggle for the rights of workers present and future.
Editorial Comment
Glen Korstrum
Inuvik Drum
This is my last full newspaper as editor of the Inuvik Drum.
New editor Paula White, arrived a few days ago and we will both share work next week before she takes over the following week.
Being at the Inuvik Drum has been exciting and rewarding, but after almost one year here I feel like some new challenges.
I hope people in this community have enjoyed the newspaper the past while. Thanks to everyone who helped out with information and for accepting my many phone calls and questions.
I've shared some fun times with people here whom I will keep in touch with.
I have learned a lot about the dynamics of both how towns this size function and about how diverse a place Inuvik is.
With natural gas starting to flow, a new hospital, new young offenders' facility and a new college all set to be built, there are many projects evolving that will change the face of the town.
One constant that keeps life interesting is change.
What Inuvik has in its favour is that it has a changeless sense of community values and helping each other out that will help everyone not only adjust to but welcome what lies ahead.
Unforgettable trash
Each year as the snow melts, a winter's worth of litter becomes increasingly visible -- a sight with both pluses and minuses.
Years ago, I remember sitting on a mountain top sharing a coke with a friend. When he was finished with the cola, he tossed the pop can down the rocks.
When I told him he should not have littered, because he was making a mess of a beautiful spot, he said that the half-life of the can may well be less on the mountain than if it were in an air-tight dump.
Further, he said visible trash makes people aware of how much trash we make and it is a reminder to help the planet by using less.
Though I still favour trash bins to littering, the best solution really is to reduce product use, reuse containers and recycle whatever is left over.
In Inuvik, Northstar collects beer, wine and spirit bottles. Products such as pop cans and newspapers cost too much to ship south. For those with empties, the Cubs' bottle drive on May 1, is both convenient for drinkers and helpful to their fund-raising.
As melting snow means more litter is appearing around town, we all have ready reminders that packaging hangs around a long time. It is everybody's job to use less and keep Inuvik clean.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
I've never considered myself a political junkie. When national, provincial or territorial elections are held, I tend to make a point of catching the returns and watching the analysts put things into perspective (or put a spin on things) afterwards. Other than that, politics generally don't hold my interest.
That's changing though. Local politics can seem tedious at times, but the issues affect the people you meet in the street every day. Since starting this job, I've come to realize that there are a number of political topics that can really light a fire under some people here in the Deh Cho. Alcohol rationing is one of them. An alternate island access was another in its day. The shoddy condition of the roads is yet another.
This week's Drum was put together a day in advance so I could get to Fort Liard for the Deh Cho Territorial Leadership Meetings. At one time it would have seemed like a real chore to have to sit in on such meetings. But now, after having learned who the local players are and what's at stake, I've been just itching to get there.
I requested an agenda last week and reviewed it ardently. There were a few items that immediately caught my eye. On Wednesday, the issue of a block land transfer for Fort Simpson was to be discussed. This initiative came out of the NWT Association of Municipality meetings in Cambridge Bay last month, and is intended to give the village control of municipal lands rather than the territorial government. If and when the DCFN -- the Liidlii Kue First Nation in particular in this case -- formally gain control of the land through self-government negotiations, will they be willing to settle for assuming jurisdiction over their traditional lands except within municipal limits? Their consent would be required in order for the municipality to receive a block land transfer. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.
Another matter that's on the agenda is the Deh Cho Process, which relates to formal self-government negotiations with the federal government. Preparations will continue this week in forming a committee to select the negotiations team. The planning committee and executive committee will also be addressed.
The very fact that the meetings are being hosted in Fort Liard raises another question. The Acho Dene Koe and the DCFN have had a tense relationship over the past few years. Only a few months ago, the Acho Dene Koe, who have opened their lands to oil and gas development despite a DCFN land moratorium, passed a motion seeking their own land claim, officially separating them from the DCFN's agenda. Just two weeks before this leadership conference was to be held, chief Harry Deneron said he was not aware of the meetings or that Fort Liard would be playing host. Yet things have gone ahead. Is this indicative of some sort of detente between the Acho Dene Koe and the DCFN? Or will Deneron have something definitive to say about future affairs between the two parties?
There are also a number of other community concerns that will be broached, such as the hunting corridor in the Deh Cho, electoral boundaries, a potential alternate energy source for Fort Simpson, the Deh Cho Language Strategy Report and the status of the West Point First Nations, near Hay River.
Although there are those who scoff at local leaders and attempt to dismiss them as essentially being powerless, these meetings will likely result in some momentous decisions being made. At the very least, some issues that will affect everyone in the region, in one way or another, will be debated. It's something that should be of interest to us all.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The first thing that comes to mind when sitting down to write about a personality such as Wayne Gretzky, is what can you possibly write that hasn't already been written before?
From the hockey perspective, absolutely nothing. Just about everyone, hockey fan or not, has one special Gretzky moment forever emblazoned in their memory. Such was the man's impact upon the game and the country that loves it, that he managed to transcend the simple plane of whether one was a sports fan.
In a nutshell, the man was a class act and one of the best ambassadors this country has ever been represented by.
The captain of the Rankin Inlet Old-timers hockey club, Joe Kaludjak, said in an interview this past week that although The Great One was never here and, in fact, might not even know anything about Nunavut, many people in Canada's newest territory were deeply saddened by his retirement from hockey.
That, valued readers, speaks volumes about the enormous impact this fine athlete and true gentleman has hade on our country -- regardless of culture, creed, race, social standing or language spoken, everyone understood Gretzky was The Great One.
With Gretzky's retirement, an era has come to an end in the NHL. One can only hope the greatest hockey player to have ever lived will decide to stay in the game in one avenue or another. The game still needs him and, perhaps, more importantly, our country still needs him.
Gretzky was a human adhesive with the ability to bond people together and focus them on a common theme or goal. He made people feel good about themselves, their national pastime and their country.
In a time most professional athletes are grossly overpaid and known more for their endeavours off their various playing fields than on, Gretzky remained the consummate professional and role model for more than two decades.
He was a hero appreciated by father and son, mother and daughter. He was a personality parents encouraged their kids to emulate and one who produced countless smiles upon the faces of countless people in countless locales around the globe.
Perhaps the NHL as a business will suffer with the retirement of Gretzky, but not the game of hockey itself. His contributions were too immense, his legacy too storied and his effect on the game too profound.
As long as the world's greatest game is played across our nation -- from the wheat fields of the Prairies, to the frozen tundra of Nunavut to the jagged shorelines of the East Coast -- The Great One's name will always be echoed by our youth.
...over to Gretzky, he shoots, he scores.