An important new chapter in the history of Yellowknife as a compassionate community opened this morning with the kick-off of the city's first-ever United Way campaign.

The United Way has a long and proud history in North America. The first United Way organization was founded in Denver in 1887 as the Charity Organizations Society. It planned and co-ordinated local services and conducted a single fundraising campaign for 22 agencies

In 1917, the movement began in Canada with federated campaigns in Montreal and Toronto.

Some may recall the United Way's earlier incarnations in Canada, such as the Red Feather, begun in Quebec City, and Community Chest, in Regina, both of which started in 1935.

Yellowknife's chapter is the 125th member of the United Way of Canada.

The key to United Way's success is in mobilizing communities to build partnerships, while forging consensus on their most pressing human needs, which will vary somewhat from place to place.

Here that will include working with agencies that help people deal with such issues as affordable housing and rampant alcohol abuse, one broken or disadvantaged person at a time.

Organizers want to make this city a "healthier, safer, more caring place to live, work and play."

It's a tall order that will take a lot of work, and money.

The city's volunteer United Way board plans to start that effort by "friend-raising."

To do that, the board has enlisted some prominent help. Former two-term mayor Dave Lovell is honourary chair for the first campaign.

What they are doing is giving people the chance to contribute $5, $10 or $20 from each paycheque to the United Way community fund or charity of their choice.

And when the dollars are tallied at the end of the year, it will be about the number of people who were helped thanks to Yellowknife's generosity.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

It should come as no surprise that we applaud Sport Nunavut's philosophical shift to focus more on grassroots development.

It is encouraging to hear Community Government and Transportation assistant deputy minister Shawn Maley talk about improving available resources to those involved with sport at the grassroots level.

It appears Sport Nunavut is finally getting the message that without the efforts of the volunteers who work their tails off developing, operating and administering local sports, there would be no elite athletes to shine the spotlight on in the future.

We are fortunate in the Kivalliq region to already have a solid core of veteran volunteers active in our communities.

The accomplishments of people such as Donald Clark and Jim MacDonald in Rankin Inlet and Bruce McKitrick in Coral Harbour are impressive.

So, too, are the efforts of Margo Aksalnik with soccer in Rankin, Roy Mullins (Chesterfield Inlet) and Dan Burgess (Arviat) in developing minor hockey programs in their communities.

However, the only way we're going to get more volunteers active in the Kivalliq is to pay more attention at the grassroots level and that has to start at the top.

Every year we hear the same complaints from many of our volunteers -- a lack of equipment, resources, support, organized structure and, most importantly, sporadic at best training opportunities.

It will also be interesting to see how CG&T's discussions unfold on moving Sport Nunavut further away from government influence.

It's been proven in almost every region in our country that provincial and territorial sporting bodies operate more efficiently when they're independent from government bureaucracy.

Make no mistake about it, they still have to be 100 per cent accountable for the funding they receive.

However, sporting decisions are better made by people involved on the front lines of development and that, invariably, takes us back to the grassroots of the matter.

In closing, let us also give an enthusiastic thumbs-up to CG&T's talk about placing a person with strong ties to Nunavut into a mentorship role with the next director of Sport Nunavut.

This is an undertaking which should have been put in place when Sport Nunavut's original director, Patrick Tagoona, stepped down.

To fully develop sports in the North, you have to understand life in the North and eventually, a mentorship program will produce an individual to assume that leadership role.

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.