Across Canada, debate rages over how to reform the health-care system. Meanwhile, Nunavut's women can't even get a mammogram.

Last week, Roy Romanow's Health Care Commission heard government and Inuit officials recite a horrendous list of health problems in Nunavut. The appalling statistics no longer shock us. But one brave woman got up and told Romanow a personal story about Nunavut's dysfunctional health-care system.

Her husband stumbled on a pebble while carrying a caribou home from a hunting trip with their children. What followed was a nightmare of misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis. Eventually, on his second trip to Ottawa, doctors correctly diagnosed him with a spinal condition. But her story didn't stop there.

She didn't blame doctors in Iqaluit, who don't have the proper tools to give proper diagnosis. She's right. Medical staff here do their best. And credit goes to our health minister, Ed Picco, for introducing telehealth, home-care and anti-smoking programs. But the woman's story illustrates how our lack of services affect real people's lives every day.

Romanow was clearly moved by what he heard and saw during his stay in Nunavut. He promised to come up with a set of recommendations so strong that even Ottawa can't say no.

We believe he'll try. We're not convinced the Canadian government will act, though. Many reports by Inuit groups calling for exactly the same changes Romanow is likely to recommend are gathering proverbial dust. Many bureaucrats in Ottawa don't even know about promises in the land claim.

Will the government follow through on Romanow's recommendations? We hope so.

But even if it does, what kind of message does it send to Inuit? Why does the federal government need a Southern voice to tell it there are terrible problems here? Why can't they just listen to Nunavummiut?

It's good to see Robert Nault has volunteered to sit down and help resolve the long standing boundary dispute between Akaitcho and Dogrib territories.

The minister of Indian and Northern affairs first raised the possibility of personally getting involved at a meeting last January in Fort Simpson.

At the time, Akaitcho Dettah Chief Richard Edjericon quoted Nault as saying the meeting could come as early as February. Nault's press secretary would only confirm the possibility was raised by Nault but couldn't confirm a date. February came and went, no meeting, no end to the dispute.

On April 3, Nault again told News/North he still intends to get involved but gave no date for such a meeting.

We applaud the minister's hands-on approach. It's a difficult issue. The Dogrib claim, which is close to being signed, includes land from Boundary Creek between Fort Rae and Yellowknife, all the way east to Lutsel K'e. This cuts deep into the very same lands Akaitcho leaders consider their traditional lands and the future of their economic development.

Dogrib leaders enjoy the upper hand. They are way ahead in settling with the federal government. They have a larger population, substantial wealth flowing from smart investments, and considerable experience at the negotiating table.

Dogrib are also dealing with a similar dispute to the southwest, where they are claiming portions of the Horn Plateau that the Deh Cho leaders view as their traditional land. There has been no progress in those talks, either.

Nault is right to take these disputes seriously. In other parts of the globe, people are killing each other over land. It's an emotional, even dangerous issue and at the very least may damage the integrity of any Dogrib claim.

Now that he has made the commitment, we hope he follows through with a firm date. Failure to do so would affect his own integrity.

The principle of sharing the wealth is a noble one. But when it comes to sharing meagre resources of a disadvantaged territory, a line has to be drawn.

That's what's needed with the fishery in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.

Nunavut desperately needs economic activity of any kind, but fisheries managers in distant Ottawa don't seem to understand principles of fairness and adjacency.

The latest affront is a decision by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to give Nunavik four per cent more of the turbot quota in Davis Strait and an undecided share of shrimp in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. Those waters are hundreds of kilometres from Nunavik's shore.

That's adding insult to injury. Southern fishers get 69 per cent of the Davis turbot and will also get to send their trawlers after shrimp in Baffin Bay.

Nunavut's right to the fisheries is backed up by a report commissioned by the DFO. The Independent Panel on Access Criteria filed its report April 5, a week after DFO awarded Nunavik access to Nunavut fish.

"No additional access should be granted to non-Nunavut interests in waters adjacent to Nunavut until the territory has achieved access to a major share of its adjacent fishery." Could you get any clearer a recommendation than that?

Or: "The panel found that Nunavut does not enjoy the same level of access to its adjacent fisheries as do the Atlantic provinces."

It's almost as if Ottawa is trying to play the varied interests against each other, creating dissent so nothing gets done.

Federal Fisheries Minister Robert Thibeault has to act. He has to rein in his DFO bureaucrats. They must read the panel report and heed its recommendations.

Nunavik and even Southern companies may be cut out of the fishery, but that's a function of geography.

Conflict of interest is not so cut-and-dried as you might think. Just ask Fort Smith lawyer Lou Sebert.

He found out first hand when NWT Supreme Court Justice John Vertes ruled Sebert couldn't represent a client on a case.

The reason? Because Sebert has once represented a Crown witness, there was an appearance of conflict.

NWT Legal Services fears the ruling will mean higher costs. In small communities like Fort Smith a lone lawyer could represent many residents during a career and could, conceivably be in a conflict with almost every case. There may be no choice but to have a lawyer from another community take over.

It's unfortunate, but what other alternative is there? Everyone is entitled to a fair hearing.

Lawyers must be quick to not read too much into this case.

The most important thing is for prosecutors to disclose a complete witness list as early as possible. That will allow a potential defence lawyer to decide if there is any possibility of conflict, before a case gets too far.

If there's still a question after that, ask the judge to rule on a case-by-case basis.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

A few disturbing trends have emerged in the Kivalliq's minor hockey scene during the past few years.

While we're sympathetic to parents who find it difficult to meet the costs of player equipment and registration, other areas can be addressed at no cost other than one's time.

With the possible exceptions of Rankin Inlet and Arviat (and even they're pleading for more volunteers), it's worrisome how many hamlets have their entire programs resting on the efforts of one or two individuals.

While we have seen positive developments in Chesterfield Inlet -- the situation in Coral Harbour, Whale Cove and Baker Lake shows how quickly a system can erode when one individual carries the entire burden.

Don't get us wrong, we loudly applaud the efforts of these individuals in trying to ensure local kids have the opportunity to play hockey. But, where are all the hockey moms and dads? Why does almost every rec co-ordinator and minor-hockey organizer have to beg and plead for more parents to step up and take some responsibility for the program in their community?

As we've said many times before in this space, youth involved with minor hockey gain far more than just exposure to the game. They learn co-operation, teamwork, self-esteem and a sense of fair play.

Time and time again we hear our region's minor hockey personalities say how much our kids enjoy playing the game. Yet we also see their continued pleas for more volunteers fall on deaf ears.

Pond Inlet lost most of its organized hockey season this year and, if we're not careful, the same could befall an unfortunate community or two in our region.

Too many people in the Kivalliq are content to stand back and watch a handful of volunteers put in enormous hours of their time to keep our hockey programs running. So many expect so much from so few, including the program being delivered for next to nothing.

There can be no denying hockey is a big-time popular event in our region. But there's much more to the game than just showing up at the arena whenever your community hosts a tournament.

It's time for people in our region to step up and start making a contribution to minor hockey.

For those who have played (or still play) hockey, look at it as the opportunity to give something back to a game which has given you so much. For the numerous hockey parents in our region -- look at it as the opportunity to do something for your kids that will only cost you time, but will be appreciated by your children for years to come.

When you talk about quality time, there are precious few activities that reward you more than spending time at the arena with local youth. And if you're looking for remuneration for your efforts -- please accept all those smiling faces looking your way as payment in full.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

The Happy Valley Campground-elder's facility looks like a done deal.

By all accounts, this elder's facility looks like the first phase of a multi-phased dwelling that will eventually take over a unique part of Inuvik.

It's been a campground since the first settlers arrived in East 3 and those first visitors were thankful for the quiet comfort and beautiful view afforded at Happy Valley.

As the baby boomers come of age the campground will become an old folk's home and our visitors and future settlers will have to find a new place to settle, but that's not the worst of it.

My biggest worry is that the housing corporation is going to erect one of their patented cracker box structures in the valley, that will have the aesthetic value of another row house or that big green box Nova's just erected on Ptarmigan Hill.

There is enough of that camp-style mentality in the NWT and if tourism is a real goal here, we should be looking at what the Yukon has done in their downtowns.

People come to the North expecting to see their Hollywood vision of log cabins and igloos. We couldn't and shouldn't give them the same thing here, but we should be forward-thinking enough to plan some eye-candy for the industry.

No, we can't give the tourists the gold rush kisses and sour dough dreams of our Yukon neighbours, but we can sure build on the rich history of the Delta's original people, the fur trade, the whale hunt, and, more recently, the oil and gas industry.

I'm not naive enough to think that tourism is a force that will drive a town's economy. My hometown put all their eggs in that basket and now Kimberley, B.C. is a great place to ski or to get a minimum wage job, but you can't even buy a pair of socks there.

Like Nellie said last week about the muskox deal -- good economics is all about diversity. A strong economy has many components and when the oil and gas are sucked from the ground, Inuvik will need all of them.

A new friend here told me she feels Inuvik lacks the soul of a real Northern town like Aklavik.

Sure, it's new. It's artificial and government-created, but it's here to stay. Let's be forward-thinking enough give it some soul. It's up to the town's planners and those of us who call this place home to instil that soul.

The elder's facility will house the Delta's living history. It seems to me that would be a perfect place to also house some non-living history.

A tastefully-built museum to go along with the facility would be a perfect place for tourists to go and relive the rich history of the Delta. A fire pit area where elders could share tea, bannock and stories of the way things were would also fit in nicely.

The memories visitors take home with them will be what leaves them to decide whether or not they'll revisit the area. If they remember row houses and cracker boxes or lodges and teepees will make a great impact on a great renewable resource.

We need not look any further than Yellowknife to see how not to build a downtown. The Atco trailer makes a practical work camp, but do we really need to see highrises erected in their honour?

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson

A heap of good advice was dispensed at last week's Youth Business Development conference.

Successful entrepreneurs from Fort Simpson, elsewhere in the NWT and across Canada shared pearls of wisdom based on their own invaluable experience. A few of the recurring messages were that hard work, persistence and education are all needed on the road to prosperity.

There was little variance in terms of the hard work. Each guest speaker told of frequently working into the wee hours of the morning and on weekends, particularly in the early stages of a new venture. One of the struggles that many of them alluded to was trying to strike a balance between constantly working and spending time with their families. Quite often, their families wound up on the back burner.

However, many of the speakers pointed out that their goal is to achieve a level of financial independence that will allow them to be with their families the majority of the time.

Even though most of the entrepreneurs stressed the importance of education, not all of them had it. That fact could send a message in itself: if you are dedicated and determined, you can succeed without a formal education. While that may be true in some cases, Brendan Bell, co-owner of two Yellowknife coffee shops and now a Yellowknife MLA, made an excellent point on the topic of eduction.

While sitting across from a banker in hopes of obtaining a loan, he suggested, an entrepreneur with a good business plan who has persevered through four years of university is more likely to be granted a loan than one who has not.

On another topic, one youth delegate asked bed-and-breakfast owner Carolla Cunningham a thought-provoking question about friends and relatives expecting free lodging or use of her teepees at no charge. Cunningham, who had just touched on traditional values (sharing being a primary one) in her presentation, acknowledged that there's a fine line between retaining ties to culture and allowing others to take advantage of you. She said she uses a barter system as a compromise.

For example, if her relatives are coming from the North and expect to stay at the B&B, she asks them to bring caribou meat or moose hide in exchange. That's not only good business sense, but it won't shouldn't leave either party feeling shortchanged.

The Youth Business Development Conference embodied plenty of inspirational accounts. Yet it wasn't all one success story after another. There were admissions of failed business ventures. It comes with the territory.

Even though many entrepreneurs may have nerves of steel, they still get that queasy feeling at the prospect of financial doom. Yet most soldier on. They're a hardy bunch and our communities wouldn't be as well served without them.

In the article, "Mining conference a success, says Nault," April 8, in News/North we reported that environmental groups took part in the state-of-the-industry and industry-government overview committee. In fact, they did not. One environmental group was allowed to participate briefly in the Northern Mining Ministers' Conference in Yellowknife.