Recent criticisms of the Yellowknife Women's Centre for bending its rules by allowing drunk women to stay at its emergency shelter are unwarranted.

Sherry Boulet, a former employee, accused the organization of enabling women's bad habits by offering beds to women who are sometimes intoxicated.

Arlene Hache, executive director of the Franklin Avenue shelter, admitted that some women do arrive at the centre intoxicated. While the rules state no alcohol or drugs are allowed on the premises, Hache is correct to say that when someone has nowhere else but the streets to go, "we won't turn them away."

"Imagine a 60-year-old elder stripped down and left on the cement floor of the drunk tank. What good does that do?" Hache told us Wednesday.

"If women have nowhere to sleep it off they'll often end up in a hotel room, raped and in worse shape."

The bottom line is the detox centre is closed. And there is no place outside of the drunk tank for intoxicated homeless women to go.

With seven full-time workers, this shelter is, for the first time, offering round-the-clock help for homeless women, the majority of whom have fled abusive and dangerous situations.

They have an in-house addictions counsellor and programs to help these women pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. It has only seven beds, but yesterday the shelter housed 24 women. Every evening, mattresses line the kitchen floor and hallways to ensure everyone gets a decent place to sleep.

It's clear this shelter is providing a service that is desperately needed in our city and we're grateful it's there.

The need is also clear, and this case, rules have to be broken.

It is as inevitable as death and taxes: The annual call to spray the city with mosquito-controlling insecticide.

While we sympathize with those driven to the brink of bedlam by the hordes that descend upon us with alarming frequency, chemicals are not the answer.

We live on the outskirts of the Canadian Shield in the heart of prime breeding territory for a creature that plays a vital role in the ecosystem.

There are numerous, more reasonable alternatives to spraying, and we don't have to list them here. But the most useful piece of advice we can offer newcomers who haven't figured it out yet is this: It's Yellowknife. Get used to it.

Editorial Comment
Malcolm Gorrill
Inuvik Drum

The 13th annual Great Northern Arts Festival ended in fine style Sunday, complete with music and award winners, and perhaps a general reluctance among those involved that it was over. It was predicted to be quite a fabulous, eventful, exciting 10 days in July, and it was.

The artwork was superb, diverse, and a pleasure to gaze at. Any artists I met up with seemed quite friendly and open, and many remarked on the open, sharing atmosphere this festival is becoming famous for.

I spent as much time in and around the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex as I could during those days, but would have liked to have hung around even more. Lots of others likely feel the same way.

As special as this year's festival was for most, it held special meaning for organizers Tanya Van Valkenburg and Marilyn Dzaman. Both are moving to Whitehorse after putting in many long hours for the festival for many years.

Van Valkenburg and Dzaman gave emotional farewells during the closing ceremonies, revealing that organizing the festival can be both a joy and a challenge. Good luck to them, as well as to Darrin White and Gail Hodder, who are taking over as executive director and artistic director. They have big shoes to fill.

Nature's art

Most people would have missed it, but early Tuesday morning the skies above Inuvik put on a great display. As the sun rose, a raincloud floated by, dropping a light shower along the way. The result was a rainbow shaped like the side of a horseshoe, which went high into the sky. A second, weaker rainbow could also be seen.

The clouds were a multitude of colours, from pink to red and a more normal white, depending on their location in the sky. It was enough of a display for me to actually stick some colour film in my camera and go wandering about, taking photos of the sky.

The whole experience was great, except for the bugs, who were looking for an early-morning snack.

Prince Edward Island (where I come from), has its fair share of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, but I've noticed some truly spectacular sky displays here, both in summer and winter, and at day and night. Those beautiful sights also probably inspire a lot of artists, including some of those who were in town recently.

Editorial Comment
Dave Sullivan
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson

Beaufort gas won't come easily So now the tide is turning in favour of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline, as opposed to one along the Alaska Highway.

That tide could reverse again, several times even. In order to make a point, let's predict that gas prices remain low. That would keep momentum on this side of the Yukon border because the Mackenzie Valley line is supposed to be cheaper to build, being shorter.

Analysts keep saying low gas prices would mean just one pipeline for now.

If it's through the Mackenzie Valley, it would have to carry Alaska gas to be profitable in the short term.

So here's the point: there's barely been any discussion of the technical and environmental headaches posed by Alaska gas on its way to the Mackenzie Valley.

The American gas would have to be piped under the Beaufort Sea, which is covered with shifting ice much of the year.

Even if a way is suddenly discovered to push gas under that sea, it will involve unproven technology.

The wider public will have grave reservations about the risk level. The Beaufort could become ground zero for an environmental battle royale.

Depending on the state of the economy and other issues on the radar screen when the time comes, a proposed undersea pipeline has potential to become the focus of a global pro-environment campaign. It could compare in scope to worldwide reaction when China announced it would build the world's largest dam at Three Gorges, on the Yangtze River.

Perhaps pro-pipeline forces should not worry too much. Despite all the pressure on China's leaders, the dam is being built anyway.

Then again, China's government can do as it pleases because it does not have to answer to the public.

Regional health care has its problems

A search last week through Drum archives unearthed some informed opinion regarding the possibility of the territorial government eliminating regional health boards. Unfortunately, the comments made three years ago at a "minister's forum" on health and social services in Fort Simpson do not provide much ammunition to the Deh Cho Health and Social Services region.

At the time, Dr. Shane Barclay explained that regionalization had been a disaster where he had worked in British Columbia because the province downloaded responsibility without giving up control of the purse strings.

Of course the health region would argue -- and probably will in its response to a consultant's recommendation to eliminate the boards -- that the government should free up more money so the local boards can fulfil their responsibilities.

Barclay, a popular columnist in this paper, also warned at the forum three years ago that doctors and nurses must be offered better pay, especially in remote regions like the North. We should pay attention to the doctor's prescription this time.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

The water situation in Rankin Inlet is enough to bring a rational thinking human being to tears.

It reached its current level of absurdity through a combination of wishful thinking and poor negotiating by previous hamlet councils. And, while we wouldn't want to insinuate the councils of the day were taken advantage of during utilidor negotiations -- the hamlet is on the hook for a huge loan to install a utilidor system from which it earns absolutely no revenue.

Every penny in revenues generated from the utilidor goes directly to the Nunavut government. You've got to hand it to the Department of Public Works, it negotiated one honey of a deal.

Of course, it's more like one honey-pot of a deal if your future is in any way tied to that of Rankin Inlet's. It's estimated that between $800,000 and $1 million is collected annually from water usage through the utilidor system in Rankin.

Of that, about $67,000 (a conservative estimate at best) is generated from usage in Area 6. Not a bad stipend for shouldering a portion of a construction bill and then walking away and leaving the hamlet holding the proverbial money bag.

But the deal gets even better for the Nunavut government. That loud gushing sound you've been hearing lately is even more of the hamlet's cash flowing out that same utilidor back towards the Nunavut government.

To add insult to injury, as of April 1, 2001, the Nunavut government began charging the hamlet for water use. The hamlet's first water bill, covering April and May, was $5,846. You can bet your bottom dollar the hamlet's budget doesn't allow for an extra $35,076 in annual water fees.

We're the first ones to admit it's a little difficult at times to feel sorry for an administration which was providing more than 100 people with free municipal services (and not one of them a houseboat owner!).

However, in view of the hamlet's efforts in turning around its operating deficit, we are willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and believe it is working to right a badly listing ship left to them by councils past. A problem not helped by the fact when they asked for a life-jacket, the Nunavut government threw them an anchor disguised as a utilidor.