The NWT Department of Justice has to be commended for its recent move to introduce a video conferencing system in the courtroom.

To save money, many locations across the country have begun using this type of technology.

Here, in the North the benefits are obvious.

This technology will result in less and less prisoners from remote communities having to be transported to the capital city for court appearances. It will also allow the accused, a witness or attorney to take part in a court proceeding without having to leave their home community.

The system cost $165,000 to install and will lead to annual savings of several tens of thousands of dollars, the justice department estimates.

Those savings will come from reduced costs associated with expert and lay witness travel, accommodation and other expenses.

It will also save courtworkers time and could help reduce the tremendous backlog of cases that plague our courts.

We hope the system will be utilized as often as possible so any money saved can be put into other areas, such as putting more police officers on the streets.

The mother of all lawsuits has been settled for $50 million.

The fight was between the Union of Northern Workers representing well paid territorial government employees and their opponents, the even better paid deputy ministers and cabinet ministers.

In 1989, the union said 6,000 of their members, past and present, mostly women, were being underpaid compared to other employees in other positions doing similar work or work of equal value. They were backed by the Public Service Alliance of Canada. For most of the 13 years the legal battle was waged, the territorial government argued it was innocent. Damn figures proved them guilty!

The federal government has already been caught in the same legal argument and dispensed millions of dollars after 10 years of fighting and losing in the courts, as did Canada Post with a seven-year battle. The private sector is not immune, as Bell Canada found out, paying $59 million to 20,000 of its current and former employees. Over the years, various territorial finance ministers fought the case, saying the potential pay out of $300 million would break the government. The union said the bill was more like $70 million, a much more reasonable figure and only $20 million higher than the actual settlement just announced.

In 1999, the government even went so far as to try to divide and conquer the union forces by buying off union members -- and some non-union members -- with $26 million. Then Finance Minister Charles Dent said the average payout was $5,100 with some as high as $40,000.

Why should the public care that well paid government employees are getting paid more?

Well, the public should be glad the case is over as the legal bills probably total in the tens of millions. For labour, the principle of equal pay for equal work has been established again in Canadian law. There are going to be some happy government workers with cash to spend.

All good news. It only cost us $50 million dollars.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

There can be no denying the difficulties a government faces when its tax base contributes as little to its overall revenues as it does in Nunavut. The territorial government is further bound by the fact the number of items that qualify for a quick financial hit under the ever popular sin-tax banner are much more limited than those of its 12 counterparts.

This leaves the finance minister in a position of having to be bold and creative in raising enough revenues to minimize our dependence on Ottawa.

If we are to accept the dollar figures we keep hearing from tourism operators on the chartering of aircraft to feed their establishments with clientele -- we can't help but wonder why the Nunavut government isn't moving to capitalize on this opportunity.

Let's even take it one step further.

What a wonderful opportunity for the Nunavut government and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to stop wasting millions of dollars fighting each other in court and work together to make something economically positive happen for a change.

Let's say the two sides were to take the money they're preparing to spend fighting each other in court (again) over the government's decision to extend the grandfather arrangement in the Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunik Ikajuuti procurement policy and devoted it towards establishing a charter aircraft business.

The benefits of such a project would be threefold.

First, it would greatly aid the numerous tourism operations in Nunavut to attract more clients. This would likely result in the expansion of their operations, and the hiring of more Nunavummiut into entry level tourism and hospitality positions.

Second, it would allow for additional training in Nunavut's tourism industry, which is one of the truly promising areas of economic development our territory has.

Finally, it would produce additional revenues to be allocated into the grossly underfunded Nunavut Tourism and allow it to gradually escape from its lame-duck environment and aggressively pursue bona fide tourism-development projects.

A small step forward

And let's not forget the Kivalliq Inuit Association. In a partnership with any of these players, the plane(s) could be used in the off-season to fly representatives around to the numerous meetings they attend. We're not suggesting such a venture is the key to curing all of Nunavut's economic woes. But it might well prove itself to be a stepping stone to similar partnerships to help develop other neglected areas of our infrastructure. At the very least, it would be a move away from arguing over issues that affect very few of Nunavut's residents and a tiny step towards putting more of our own infrastructure in place.

Such a venture would help lay a stronger foundation for others to take advantage of and develop more ambitious projects. It would also show our leaders have the ability to recognize economic opportunities and take advantage of them to increase our self-reliance.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

It's good to see the RCMP are working with visitors to provide a safer holiday and a more effective method of search and rescue.

I just hope the visitors work with the RCMP to make the project work.

Last year, the Inuvik RCMP conducted 54 searches, with 29 of those taking place between July and September.

Many of those searches were unnecessary and took the officers away from other important police work.

People take days, weeks and months saving and planning for adventure vacations on the land and on our waterways, so taking 10 minutes to fill out a simple form seems like an easy thing to do -- especially when your life could depend on it.

A few simple answers to basic questions about where and when the travellers are going can also eliminate exhaustive searching over this vast territory.

Whether you're planning a day trip or a major excursion stop in and see Const. Darryl Chernoff or one of his colleagues; you might save the taxpayers thousands or even save your own skin

Mobile homeless

The owners of 12 mobile homes in Husky Trailer Park have been given notice that services will cease on Aug. 31, 2003.

The town has long been trying to get out from under the property and it looks like they may have found an out this time.

The owners will be given a $5,000 relocation incentive and that should more than cover the cost of moving and even leave something for a down payment on a new parcel of land.

Historically, towns make lousy landlords, and this situation was further compounded by a nasty utilidette that was an accident waiting to happen.

While it appears to be bad news to the 12 trailer owners, the move may actually serve them better, with a new subdivision with reliable services.

As for the surrounding neighbourhood, they will hopefully see the trailer park become a place for their children to play.

It is refreshing to see in a time of boom, that council is trying to reclaim some lost green space.

Nearly imitates death

It was a close call for the Great Northern Arts Festival, that came close to the brink of financial ruin over the winter.

It took some diligent and creative cutting by Darrin White and his staff of two to put together a festival this year.

The staff recycled paper and file folders, White did his own accounting and no doubt they ate a lot of bag lunches to pull this gig off.

The show promises to be all it has been in previous years, but the group at GNAF isn't out of the woods yet.

They need volunteers to help out at the workshops and events, as well as people who will share their homes with visiting artists.

Give a call if you can lend a hand, you'll get a chance to meet some world-class artists and maybe even work a deal on some world-class art.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

Time to cash out The numbers were flying fast and furious at last week's Deh Cho Assembly.

The discussion regarding honorariums granted to chiefs and elders raised some eyebrows and dropped some jaws. In December, chiefs voted themselves $300 per day in remuneration for devoting themselves to Deh Cho First Nations' business. In January, they made elder delegates eligible for the same stipend. Remember, travel, accommodations and meals are already covered, the honorariums are gravy.

When a four-day, self-government negotiations workshop was held in Trout Lake last month, a total of 55 DCFN delegates attended. Every delegate expected the honorarium, DCFN executive director Alison de Pelham told the assembly. That would have put a $66,000 price tag on the workshop. Needless to say nobody argued last week to approve shelling out that kind of money. (The Deh Cho Assembly, it's worth noting, was budgeted at $101,000 for all expenses, de Pelham said. The gatherings may be necessary, but they don't come cheap).

It was also revealed that $274,000 of a $765,000 pot of Department of Indian and Northern Affairs funding was paid out in honorariums to chiefs last year.

That led Liidlii Kue First Nations' executive director Rosemary Gill to ask if the leadership's priority is putting money in their own pockets. It was a sharp reprimand, but not out of line in light of the substantial portion of funds that is filtered into honorariums.

Gill wasn't alone in censuring the leaders. Gladys Norwegian, a member of the Tthek'ehdeli First Nation in Jean Marie River, called the $300 per diems "ludicrous." Norwegian said there has been plenty of rhetoric from leaders about making decisions to benefit future generations, yet what was paid out in honorariums could have been used to supplement school programs, directly assisting students.

The leadership endorsed a resolution to have honorarium payments transferred to band councils. Therefore, cheques will no longer be issued with chief's names on them. The band councils will decide what should be done with the money. That's a much more accountable procedure.

With so much money having been doled out for honorariums, it was a pinch last week to find funds for other purposes such as $75,000 for the elders' council and $50,000 to $65,000 for a deputy grand chief position.

Ka'a'gee Tu chief Lloyd Chicot mentioned that the issue of chiefs' salaries should be re-examined. There has been talk of a salary grid, but nothing has come of it so far. It's something that deserves to be implemented.

It's hard to argue against elected leaders being compensated for their hard work.

If the payment comes in the form of a salary approved by band members, it would appear fair. While the payment came in the form of excessive honorariums, it appeared as if the leaders were at the trough.