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The question is why?
Are the Inuvialuit, as they set the stage for the megaproject of the century, anxious to discard the Northwest Territories?
Do the Gwich'in want to take time off from getting ready for incredible new economic opportunities to debate the new name for Yellowknife's government?
Is the Sahtu so weary of fighting with the territorial government on their own self-government that they need a break to help cure the premier of NWT phobia?
Do the Dogrib hope the federal puppet with the "immature" name in Yellowknife will be anymore agreeable with a new "grown-up" name?
Are Deh Cho leaders ready to acknowledge they are a part of the misnamed NWT and pledge their allegiance to a new master?
Perhaps Akaitcho leaders will take time from pondering their historic boundaries and land negotiations to agree to a new name, so long as they choose it.
Will the Metis pause in their fight for recognition? Will the non-aboriginal tribe sit quietly in their municipalities, waiting patiently to find out the design of their new letter head?
Perhaps Kakfwi imagines he is held in such high esteem from the Beaufort Delta to the Slave River Delta he can single-handedly choose a name and make us all fall in line. Kakfwiland anyone?
Or maybe he's going to force the choice of a new name with Northwest Territories banished from the list.
Whatever our premier is doing, it has less to do with what the people of the Northwest Territories want or need. It has more to do with his secret desire to be the founding father of something.
Right now he lacks the one quality that will achieve that goal -- patience.
The top doctor in the NWT has given his diagnosis of the high rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) here: a possible connection to sexual abuse.
But the territorial government does not need to spend thousands of dollars to find out whether he is right or wrong. Spend more money educating our young population instead.
While the rest of the country handles the needs of an aging population, we have to take the opposite approach.
There are about 42,000 people in the entire NWT.
The two largest groups of residents are the 25- to 44-year-olds (14,982), and the 15- to 24-year-olds (6,499).
Our young population may be a big reason why the number of sexual assault convictions in 2000 was 36 per cent higher in the NWT than the Canadian average.
Why there was a 12 per cent increase in sexual abuse incidents in the territory in 1999? And why is the rate of sexually transmitted diseases higher than the national average?
Dr. Corriveau may want to find a way to make a connection, but that will just mean more money for studies. And studies only provide paper solutions.
We need immediate action, and more public awareness campaigns directed at youth.
Teach them the difference between good and bad sex. Provide them with easier access to birth control and information to guard against STDs.
This is national non-smoking week.
Judging from the number of people who smoke here, however, a visitor could easily mistake it for territorial smoking week.
The best way to fight major health and social problems is to break the cycle by educating young people.
And though the youth smoking rate is down since 1996, recent stats are hardly encouraging.
According to the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, almost 70 per cent of young people between the ages of 15-24 smoke.
The government has taken action. Health Minister Ed Picco launched a $1-million, large-scale anti-smoking campaign last year.
It's a start.
And Health Canada officials say plans are in the works for anti-smoking programs targeted at youth in Nunavut.
It's about time.
We all need to get behind our youth to convince them not to start smoking.
Both federal and territorial anti-smoking programs are necessary.
As well, vendors must stop selling cigarettes to children. And government should hike cigarette prices dramatically because research shows young people are "price sensitive."
In other words, they don't have much cash. They're still reluctant to spend all their disposable income on cigarettes.
But we can't look to government entirely for solutions Nunavut's smoking problem.
The dangers of cigarettes and second-hand smoke are common knowledge. It's not exactly breaking news that smoking causes a host of insidious diseases and hurts children.
Young people need to see others, especially their parents, quit.
Despite all appearances, teenagers listen most to their parents.
Why would anyone want to be president of the Qikiqtaaluk Corp.?
The business development organization of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association saw Jerry Ell resign under a cloud last September. His replacement, Abe Tagalik, quit after he was suspended by QC's board over the handling of the contract to build a new hospital in Iqaluit.
Only the board really knows what transpired in this latest case, because it all went on in private. Accusations abound. Soon, no-one will want to take the reins.
It has to stop.
QC is not a private club. Its mandate is to put beneficiaries' money to work for Baffinmiut. It is not about playing political games. Corporation directors must come out from behind their closed doors and explain to shareholders what's going on.
It's the only way the people QC is mandated to serve will know that the people in charge are doing what's right for beneficiaries.
The corporation is doing a lot of good things, from developing a fisheries industry to training Inuit. Unfortunately, continued troubles at the top will cause people to ask questions and ultimately lose faith in corporation leadership. People with the desire and skill to lead will think twice about going for the job.
An open decision-making process, where beneficiaries can see why decisions are made is necessary. It doesn't mean doing all business in public or airing dirty laundry. But it lets the shareholders know where directors stand.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
It's not as if we didn't try to get some information from the Nunavut government on what help may be available to parents in similar situations such as Leonie Aissaoui in Repulse Bay (Please see page 13 for story).
Far from it. We phoned the office of Nunavut's health minister on a number of occasions this past week, taking the time to explain the situation to secretaries and leaving messages with executive assistants.
Heck, we know Health Minister Ed Picco is a busy man. We even went out of our way to make it clear that the big guy himself didn't have to phone us with the information.
All we wanted was for any person within the department who knows what type of financial aid may be available to help those with special-needs transport equipment to give us a call.
So what do we deduce from the fact nobody from the Nunavut government called?
Well, we could come to the conclusion nobody in the department actually knows what policies are in effect to deal with that type of situation.
If that's the case, we agree that it is better for them to say nothing at all than to give the wrong answer, especially when dealing with such a delicate matter.
Or we could share the mother's viewpoint and conclude nobody outside the community gives a darn about a 12-year-old Repulse Bay boy confined to a wheelchair with muscular dystrophy.
Why should any of the poor, overworked folks at the Department of Health take the time to explain to the local media what options are available to the parents of handicapped kids in our region?
So what if this particular boy's mom is a teacher who has spent eight years in the community?
Getting good, qualified teachers to hang around the same community for more than a year or two is the Department of Education's problem, right?
And, what if this particular mom has also done so much for the cadet program on the Bay?
Bad communication or not, a physically challenged young boy waiting so long for repairs to be done to his wheelchair is simply not acceptable.
Neither is the length of time it often takes to get any information from a number of departments within the Nunavut bureaucracy.
We can only wish the best to the Repulse teacher and her son and try to assure them both that there are people outside of their community who care -- not only about Yohan, but all our region's physically and mentally challenged residents.
We only wish more of that caring would come from the top.
Editorial Comment
Malcolm Gorrill
Inuvik Drum
There's a couple of new developments on the music front in the Delta. Students are jamming on a weekly basis at Samuel Hearne Thursdays after school. No one who shows up is allowed to be a spectator, but those who take part have a great chance to play with fellow musicians and learn a few new tunes along the way.
As well, a co-founder of the Strings Across the Sky Foundation is coming to Inuvik and several other NWT communities soon. Andrea Hansen will not come empty handed, of course. She has plenty of donated fiddles to hand out to young people, and will provide introductory lessons as well.
It is to be hoped that children who receive some of those fiddles will continue practising after Hansen leaves and the hoopla caused by her visit dies down.
Music is in many ways the universal language, as listening to a song can make people laugh or cry or contemplative, even if they do not understand the words because they're in a foreign language.
Being able to play a tune, whether via a fiddle or guitar or some other instrument, is a valuable talent that can bring a lot of joy to a musician over the years -- even if they never cut an album or reach the top of the music charts.
'Joy rides' cause grief for many
The Town of Inuvik, acting on a request by the RCMP, is studying the idea of requiring owners to lock up their snowmobiles to deter would be thieves.
This comes in the wake of an increase in the number of snowmobiles stolen in the community. RCMP explain that many of the machines are found before long, and that many of the thefts apparently result from people deciding to add a little excitement to their lives.
Unfortunately, what these thieves do not seem to realize is that joy rides may be fun for them, but are anything but that for the owners. At the very least owners encounter inconvenience, not to mention a sense of violation, and probably repair bills and higher insurance costs.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson
In Fort Simpson last week, Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault emphatically stated on two occasions that he will not discuss Deh Cho negotiations in the media. Yet what he did say publicly was rather inflammatory. His contention that a Mackenzie Valley pipeline could proceed across Deh Cho territory with aboriginal consultation but without consent is something that the courts may have to ultimately decide. Hopefully self-government negotiations proceed smoothly enough so the matter doesn't have to be dragged into the courts.
Nault's assertion that the outcome of the Deh Cho Process would be "very similar" to other settled land claims in the NWT certainly isn't what the Deh Cho First Nations were hoping to hear. To date, their self-government negotiations have already broken ground. No other land claimant group has had an Interim Measures Agreement or worked towards an Interim Resource Development Agreement.
With the exception of Fort Liard, there is to be no land selection in the Deh Cho, a key component of other land claims settlements. Federal negotiators have acknowledged that.
So while the minister keeps talking tough, the Deh Cho keep making advances. It's headway that hasn't required the federal government to make unreasonable concessions or even threaten to shut down negotiations. As long as that continues, things should progress just fine.
Fortunately, Nault was not affected by Tuesday's extensive federal cabinet shuffle. A new minister always brings setbacks in scheduling. That definitely would have been the case if Nault were moved as he committed to meet with the Deh Cho in Ottawa by mid-February.
Uphill battle
Beaver Enterprises' decision to hire a drug and alcohol counsellor for its troubled employees is one step in the right direction. With the company owned by band members, it is up to them to decide how the situation should be handled in the long run. Stringent measures such as pre-employment testing would help eliminate the problem at work sites, but not necessarily in the community. It would also leave a significant number of people without a job.
Let's not forget, there are some top-notch, substance-free workers in Fort Liard. The question is how to deal with the ones who are not.
Mercury rising
Residents of Wrigley are being asked to pay 90.5 cents per litre for home heating fuel? Ouch!
It's probably safe to assume there's a lot of firewood being cut in the community in order to avoid such an outrageous expense.
With home heating fuel selling for less than half that price in Fort Simpson, 220 kilometres away, wouldn't there be a profitable way for a private agent to supply Wrigley with heating fuel at a lower price?
The story headlined "The return of Bob" in the Jan. 16 Yellowknifer contained an error. Ndilo Chief Peter Liske's choice for a new name for the western territory is Denendeh. Yellowknifer apologizes for any confusion or embarrassment the error may have caused.