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Gun owners in the NWT have good reason to be angry over the Liberal government's firearms registration program.
After an intense media campaign last year to convince gun owners to obtain possession licences before the prescribed Jan. 1 deadline, the government's efforts to create public awareness have shrunk to a whisper now that another deadline looms to register guns.
Some, like Yellowknife Shooting Club president Barry Taylor, say if anything, last year's awareness campaign only highlighted the boondoggle Canada's gun registry has become since it became law in 1995.
Allan Rock, the federal justice minister at the time, said it would only cost $85 million to administer, but it has since mushroomed to nearly $1 billion and counting.
As a result, staff and services have been slashed. With only 10 weeks remaining until the Jan. 1 gun registration deadline, the NWT is left without a Canadian Firearms Centre office. Offices in both Yellowknife and Hay River closed last month, leaving residents to try their luck wading through the registration process by Internet or phone.
Gun owners say registering by phone is particularly frustrating because the line always seems to be busy.
What is most troubling, critics say, is that the licensing and registration process is mind-numbingly confusing, particularly for aboriginal residents living in outlying communities, and even more so for elders who have trouble with the English language.
The main problem in this country in the debate over gun control is polarization: one segment of society views them as weapons, and the other as tools, both valuable and necessary.
The sight of motorcycle gangs engaged in an all-out shooting war on the evening news -- with apparent impunity -- is enough to make most urban dwellers take a hard, cold look at any neighbour who may choose to keep several dozen firearms at home.
In the North, several firearms-related incidents, including the shooting death of an RCMP officer in Cape Dorset and murder-suicide of three young men in Deline last year, bolster our opinion that restrictions on the usage of firearms are not only a good idea but necessary.
However, the government must finish what it started and not leave law-abiding gun owners in the lurch.
The required gun safety course to obtain a licence must be made readily available (as far as we've discovered, only Inuvik has an ongoing training program) and information more visible and available.
Therefore, perhaps it's time for constituents to give Western Arctic Liberal MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew -- who voted for the gun law -- a call to remind her of the problems NWT gun owners are facing.
For those of you heaping on the gravy today during your annual Thanksgiving feast, you may need a reminder that the Iqaluit Food Bank could use your help.
With a customer list that averages 250 people per week, this year the food bank is so strapped for cash it can't afford to offer fruits, vegetables and canned goods that are desperately needed.
So, what are you waiting for? Every little bit helps.
Residents of Iglulik are screaming mad and pointing fingers at local RCMP officers because the masked man who robbed the co-op convenience store at gunpoint is still lurking in the shadows.
The incident occurred on Sept. 1 when the lone female clerk was preparing to close down the store.
The clerk heard a knock on the door, opened it and immediately was greeted with the barrel of a shotgun in her face.
The gunman struggled with the clerk but managed to escape with more than $2,000 in cash, all of the store's revenue for the day.
As a result of the robbery, employees are terrified to work at the convenience store.
The clerk on duty that evening is afraid to sleep in her own home, and residents are outraged that the perpetrator, one of their own, has so far had the last laugh.
Although the co-op offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest, and both officers at the Iglulik RCMP detachment say they are doing everything they can to identify the suspect, he or she still walks undetected among the honest and respectable hamlet residents.
Rumours are flying about, several witnesses have been interviewed and tips investigated, and everyone thinks they know who the guilty party is, but yet the police still have not gathered enough evidence to support an arrest and conviction.
By now, the money has probably been spent on booze and drugs and will not be recovered.
Sure, the RCMP have to investigate all other criminal activity in the interim.
But if the two officers cannot handle the caseload in a community of less than 1,300 people, additional investigators should be called in temporarily to assist in the investigation.
This crime has not only terrified residents and resulted in significant financial loss for the co-op.
The community has lost faith in the RCMP. Where is the protection? Where is the justice?
It's time for the RCMP make an arrest.
When someone points a shotgun in the face of a store clerk in a close-knit town like Iglulik, arresting and convicting the perpetrator should be a priority above all else.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
We here at Kivalliq News are certainly sympathetic to the needs of our region's smaller communities.
However, there has to be a better way to meet those needs than to cut program funding in larger communities which have exceptional track records of success.
The numbers put up during the past year at the Rankin Inlet Work Centre are quite impressive.
There can be no downplaying the significance of $750,000 being pumped into the local economy.
But, it's not just the lost monetary value of the Work Centre that concerns us.
We've all heard the government rhetoric on trying to get more people gainfully employed and independent.
The Work Centre performed a number of invaluable services to the very people most in need of help to reach self-dependency. While all the services provided were important, the temporary job placement service stood out as a beacon of hope to many in the community.
Not only were people building up job skills and gaining valuable work experience, they were also establishing themselves with local employers for better opportunities to come.
As the Department of Education itself points out, it had helped fund the Work Centre for the past two years.
Why now is the decision made to turn down the proposal on the grounds of service duplication?
Another point to consider is our high rate of suicide in this region. People with few job skills and limited employment opportunities are in a high risk category.
We've already heard how Work Centre personnel beamed with pride after earning their own money.
Clients received the type of help they needed -- delivered in a manner they were comfortable with and could understand -- to develop the job skills they needed to find employment in a very limited job market.
We applaud the Department of Education for the proposals it did accept from the Pualaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre.
And, we appreciate how tightly its funding capabilities get squeezed by the number of proposals submitted.
However, the decision to discontinue funding the Work Centre was a grievous error in judgement.
The benefits $40,000 may instill in a small community pale in comparison to the benefits the Work Centre was bestowing on Rankin. The decision to cut Work Centre funding amounts to nothing more than an attempt at solving a problem in one community, at the cost of creating an even bigger one in another.
And that is just plain bad politicking.
Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum
The Oct. 3 all-candidates forum was hijacked by a handful of well-meaning but over bearing individuals who should have been shown the door.
The first hour of the meeting was informative and well-managed but it degenerated from there.
The Husky Trailer Park squad peppered the panel with pointed hypothetical questions and then the youth took centre stage.
What will council do about the youth? Oh, the poor youth!
The youth of Inuvik have many more facilities than most communities of this size in Canada and if the youth need more, the youth can get off their butts and do something about it.
Certainly there are a lot of good kids here, but there are also some ill-mannered little reprobates who wile away the evenings by making a spittle skating rink over the bridge on main street.
The kids block traffic there until it's late enough to smash planters and knock garbage cans into the street.
If town council wants to do something for the youth, how about a curfew? Then our bylaw officer can spend his days chasing dogs and his evenings chasing brats.
No, the problems our youth have cannot be solved by municipal, territorial or even federal government people. Our teachers and principals cannot be blamed for the outrageous temperaments of the young people.
Our town has lowered the speed limit to 40 km/h because the youth can't stay off the roads. They have donated a building so youth have a place to go. The town built an arena/fitness centre and will soon have a new swimming pool, but that's not enough for some people.
Parents won't find the recipe for successful child rearing at town hall or even the bingo hall. Try spending some time with your kids in the living room and around the dinner table and you might find that more helpful than pointing fingers at politicians.
Our town council has their hands full with zoning, rezoning, planning and re-planning, but most of the public doesn't understand that because they've never attended a council meeting.
That was another topic that came up at the forum, "Why can't council let us know what's going on?"
The mayor publishes a monthly newsletter, regular reports in the Drum, and notices on the rolling television channel. Heaven forbid you could attend a meeting.
Every other Monday and Wednesday nights there are public meetings in your town hall and lots of empty seats. Council would love to see you there and I could sure use the company.
The next time there's an all-candidates forum, I'd suggest having a couple of the Zoo's bouncers in attendance to keep the questions at one per person and keep the youth at home.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Is there a realistic chance of Fort Simpson becoming a diamond plant/tourism hub? That depends on many factors, not the least of which are the finer details of three Vancouver businessmen's plan, a welcome sign from all groups in the community and an allotment of diamonds from one of the NWT's mines.
The latter may be especially difficult. BHP's Ekati mine, the only diamond mine currently in production, is already meeting its 10 per cent supply of diamonds committed to Northern-based manufacturers, according to Bob McLeod, deputy minister of Resources and Economic Development. Rio Tinto, whose Diavik mine is scheduled to begin churning out gems next year, has already put out a call for proposals of interest in their rough diamonds. A short-list of candidates was to have been drafted by Wednesday. The Vancouver businessmen have seemingly missed out on that opportunity. The NWT's third diamond mine, De Beers-owned Snap Lake, has been delayed by a year. Now it's not expected to be operational until 2006.
On the face of it, the Vancouver businessmen's proposal is somewhat confounding. Yellowknife, with its existing infrastructure, is the obvious choice for a diamond cutting and polishing facility. Peter Saito, one of the prospective investors, acknowledged that. However, the NWT capital is already playing host to its fifth diamond cutting and polishing plant as world-famous Tiffany and Co. is currently planting roots. In Yellowknife, Saito said, he and his colleagues would simply be "one of a few."
Although Fort Simpson would require rapid growth to meet the demands of such a large business, everyone would benefit, as Saito sees it. At the most basic level, job opportunities would multiply. Not only would residents be able to become diamond cutters and polishers, they could choose to work as hotel staff, restaurant staff, secretaries or bookkeepers to meet the expected onslaught of Japanese tourists. There's also the chance to own and manage these spin-off businesses.
It would bring a boom.
Of course, a Mackenzie Valley pipeline and oil and gas exploration and development also promise to bring a boom. The pipeline boom, all agree, would be short-lived. Oil and gas exploration and development could have a promising future in the Deh Cho -- within the framework negotiated by First Nations -- and with a longer lifespan than the pipeline. There's plenty of interest in exploiting other natural resources too.
Therefore it's a buyer's market, so to speak. Although the terms imposed by local governments and businesses can't be too high for fear of driving off all suitors, local people largely have the luxury of picking and choosing which industries live or die in the Deh Cho.
As Saito said, he and his associates have a dream. Does Fort Simpson share in their diamond/tourism dream? Time will tell.
Then there's still the matter of getting the rough diamonds ...
A story in Wednesday's Yellowknifer ("City considers bringing arena back from dead") reported the Gerry Murphy arena could not open without at least $1 million in renovations.
That figure came from the City of Yellowknife, not fire marshal Don Gillis. Yellowknifer regrets the error.