 |
We're standing 100 per cent behind Premier Stephen Kakfwi for his response to last week's speech from the throne.
Kakfwi, who may as well have described it as a 'Drone from the Throne', bitterly denounced the government's plan for the country, calling it nothing more than more meaningless federal rhetoric.
While these speeches are hardly the venue for concrete commitments, this one failed to offer any acknowledgment of the North's role in Canada's economy.
Aside from two vague references to Northern pipelines, and promises for infrastructure funding -- which all Canadian jurisdictions are to receive -- there was no mention of the North.
Then, two days after the speech, federal bureaucrats recommended the NWT get $20 million in infrastructure funding, a fraction of the $133 million that's needed.
Can't Ottawa realize that building roads in the North will benefit all Canadians?
Don't they see that there is a wealth of opportunity here for all to share.
They gladly take the money from royalties and taxes -- hundreds of millions of dollars -- and yet continue to treat us as if we are a have-not territory unable to pay its own way. As long as the federal government keeps the North, as our Finance Minister Joe Handley describes, "on a pauper's budget" we won't be able to move forward.
Our health care system is in shambles, our addictions services are failing the people and there's a desperate lack of housing for people who would like to call the North home. As evidence of further federal bungling, in today's News/North we've got the Aboriginal Pipeline Group pleading with Prime Minister Jean Chretien to get a Mackenzie Valley pipeline into the planning stages. Why is Ottawa dragging its feet on investing $70 million and $300 million in loan guarantees for a project that promises to pay off in double digit billions for Canada.
Making a bad situation worse, our own MP, Ethel Blondin Andrew, declared how pleased she was with the throne speech, calling Kakfwi's frustration untimely.
"I can tell you we're not going to give up on our goals or aspirations regarding the pipeline or infrastructure development," she said.
"I don't think today is the day you're going to get notice on any of those specific things that he has mentioned but there are days to come."
Blondin-Andrew's reaction is even more difficult to understand than her government's. Most troubling is a failure by both to grasp the incredible opportunities the North offers the country. Kakfwi's loss of patience is understandable but we hope he's not going to give up the fight.
Come on, really, what would you rather be doing?
Playing a game of pool with friends? Some indoor soccer down at the gym? Hanging out at the Northern with your friends?
The other choice is a few minutes of passion, then 1 a.m. feedings, diapers full of gooey mustard-yellow poop, clumpy white spit-up that will stain the new jeans you saved for all month ... and a lifetime of responsibility.
That is possible every time a teen -- boy or girl -- makes the choice to have sex. It's that simple. Set aside all moral and religious arguments about pre-marital sex and consider the life-altering consequences.
The North has the highest rate of sexually transmitted disease in Canada; that's syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS. The rate of teen pregnancy in Nunavut is nearly five times higher than the rest of Canada.
Someone has to take care of that child from the time they are born until the time they are ready to be out on their own ... at least 18 years.
Somehow, someone has to hammer home the point that parenthood is not an easy job.
Ask any parent. Ask your mother or father about the sacrifices. What does an average 13-year-old know about sacrifice, even in Nunavut? Yes, life is tough up here, but childhood is short enough without having to jump from dressing Barbie dolls to worrying about snowsuits for a month-old newborn.
Parents have to talk to their kids. Teens have to know they can talk about sex with their parents, the hamlet nurse, their doctor, minister or school counsellor.
They have to have access to birth control.
Girls have to understand it's okay to say "No." Boys have to keep their trousers zipped.
Saying "I love you" is not a get-in-bed-free card. It's a commitment to a person, a promise of respect.
So, what would you rather being doing nine months from now?
Apparently getting home for lunch is more important to some people in Iqaluit than pedestrian safety.
City council wants to install yield signs on two sides of one of Iqaluit's busiest intersections because some people are tired of waiting in traffic.
The longest backup so far has been 15 minutes. The four-way stop was put in more than four years ago when there were fewer cars and people. Safety concerns aren't any less today. A report by Dillon Consulting reinforced that argument, but councillors voted against the recommendations. Now they've asked for another report, from Ferguson Simek Clark.
Coun. Linda Gunn said she'd like to put some faith in drivers but is faith really enough to slow people down?
Traffic is inconvenient for parents who are trying to get their children lunch. But it would be more inconvenient for a parent to rush to the hospital after their child has been hit by a car.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
We can only hope the Government of Nunavut's decision to take over construction of the Rankin Inlet Regional Health Centre will help expedite the process.
However, that being said, it is time for Kivalliq beneficiaries to start demanding answers from the Kivalliq Inuit Association (KIA) concerning the Sakku Investment Corp.
Beneficiaries have the right to know why the Sakku Investment Corp. could not finalize a deal with the Nunavut government on construction of the new health care facility.
This is your regional health facility being built with your money.
Why, despite its claims to the contrary, can the Sakku Investment Corp. not get its financial house in order?
What are the other "factors" involved in the KIA's decision to replace the entire Sakku Investment Corp.'s board of directors with members of its own board of directors?
Why did it take the KIA so long to intervene in health centre negotiations with the Nunavut government, especially in light of the fact Finance Minister Kelvin Ng had publicly stated the government's patience was wearing thin?
In fact, Ng said on the record had the KIA made this decision a mere 30 days ago, a deal could still have been reached on the health-centre project.
Why has a former Sakku top gun, a key figure in health centre negotiations with the Nunavut government, been placed on leave with pay instead of outright dismissal if the KIA is dissatisfied with his performance?
How much of beneficiaries' money has the Sakku Investment Corp. lost during the past few years?
Are there ANY areas where Sakku is showing a substantial return on its investments?
For too long now the answers to these questions have been denied to the media under the guise of only having to answer to beneficiaries.
If that's the case, it's time for beneficiaries to speak up and demand answers to these questions.
This is your money. It represents a substantial portion of any formula devised to provide future economic prosperity in the Kivalliq region.
Why should Kivalliq beneficiaries be any different than Southern taxpayers when it comes to the right of knowing how their money is being spent?
If you can't get the answers you want from these organizations contact your local MLA, a number of whom in the Kivalliq region are territorial ministers.
They're elected by you to serve you.
It's your land and your money. You have the right to know where it's going.
And, the time for getting those answers is now!
Editorial Comment
John Barker
Inuvik Drum
Inuvik lives for me as a kaleidoscope of snapshots. One of the most vivid that will resonate with me for a long, long time is standing on the shore of the mighty Mackenzie River last Saturday morning, watching a flotilla of small boats head out in miserable weather for Aklavik.
The Gwich'in and Inuvialuit were gathering to bury three of their own: Doug Irish, Larry Semmler and Charlie Meyook. Northerners, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, look after their own.
Hundreds of Gwich'in, Inuvialuit and non-aboriginals travelled by river and by air from Inuvik, from McPherson, from Tsiigehtchic, from the Yukon, from Alaska and from the South for the funerals at All Saints Anglican Church in Aklavik, on the site of the original Anglican Cathedral of the Arctic. The women volunteered to cook the community feast; the men hunted caribou and dug graves, all giving aid and comfort to their brothers and sister in Aklavik.
By the time you read these words, I will have hopped a jet plane and be back doing my usual job as a news editor in our main newsroom in Yellowknife after spending six weeks on the Mackenzie Delta. Five of those weeks were spent working as a reporter and photographer in our News/North bureau here, while the last week has been spent as the acting editor of the Inuvik Drum.
This is a vast and open land, where two of the highest virtues practised are tolerance and respect. I witnessed many examples of both, but the two that come readily to mind occurred on difficult and controversial stories.
My first assignment here was to fly into Tuktoyaktuk for a story involving allegations of police brutality by some officers from the hamlet's RCMP detachment. A number of things struck me. Taking off one's footwear at the hamlet council meeting as a sign of respect (and practicality to keep the floors free of Delta mud), which is also common here in Inuvik.
Nobody tried to "spin" me on the story. The alleged victim and his wife invited me into their home for tea. One of the accused Mounties, knowing this wasn't going to be a good news story, still managed to chat graciously with me later at the airport. Mayor Eddie Dillon, in some ways the man in the middle, offered me a ride to the airport in his pickup with his daughter and grandchildren after the meeting.
I would have a similar experience my last week in Inuvik, covering a joint meeting of the Inuvik Indian Band and Nihtat Gwich'in Council in the wake of critical press coverage by Inuvik Drum of their postponed election. Again, no one tried to "spin" me on the story. No one went behind closed doors. No one asked the press to leave or gave us the cold shoulder.
Chief James Firth, who has shouldered much of the criticism, candidly admitted, "There was a big mistake made. We're here to do it right ... blame me or whatever ... we buggered it up. Let's do it right."
Firth also noted the council's process, while flawed at times, was at least "transparent."
Indeed. There's many lessons, many virtues, practised here that would do well to be practised everywhere.
Mahsi Cho, Inuvik.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Beth Philipp has a lot of spunk.
She's going to test her mettle at the RCMP training academy in Regina in a few weeks.
Leaving a husband and four children behind for 22 weeks isn't going to be easy, obviously, but it's all relative. Philipp pointed out that she's
in the process of hiring a nanny from the Philippines. The nanny is a mother of five who would temporarily be forsaking her family life to come and work in Fort Providence. Both women will be undergoing life-altering experiences.
These are the types of sacrifices often associated with the difficult choices we have to make in life. However, people usually stick with the status quo. For someone about to turn 38, to drop everything and pursue a long-standing ambition, well, that requires gumption.
Many of us think about what might have been if only we had gone another route, taken another path in life. Beth Philipp won't be asking herself that question anymore. Whether she graduates from the RCMP training program or she packs it in before it's over, she will have quelled a doubt in her mind.
Best of luck, Beth.
Related to the topic of crime and punishment, the story in this week's Drum regarding marijuana found in a van that rolled on the Mackenzie Highway might not be a story at all in the months or years to come. The fact that an accident occurred and the driver and passengers survived holds some news value, but some may argue that the possession of a small quantity of marijuana is negligible.
The signal from the throne speech on Monday is that the federal government is still considering the decriminalization of marijuana. That's short of legalizing it for those 16 and older as a Senate committee recommended earlier this year. The distinction is that decriminalizing marijuana could still warrant a fine for minor possession, whereas legalizing it would put an end to penalties.
This topic will undoubtedly continue to elicit great debate in our democratic nation. There are those who maintain that marijuana is relatively benign, resulting in fewer incidents of violence than alcohol, which is legal. There's also the argument that too much money is being wasted on the "war on drugs," especially for minor possession. People are smoking weed anyway, whether it's legal or not.
On the other side of the coin, some people take the position that cannabis leads to "harder" drugs, like cocaine and heroin. That one is debatable, but what's assured is there is a second-hand smoke issue with marijuana as with cigarettes. More importantly there is scientific evidence that pot temporarily affects smokers' motor skills and their reaction time.
Therefore, if marijuana is to be decriminalized, the laws against smoking up and driving should be unrelenting.
In an article in the Sept. 23 Around the North section of News/North, ("Back from South Africa," page B4), it was incorrectly stated that Elaine Alexie was representing the Population Institute at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Alexie was at the conference, but was acting as the Canadian youth delegate representing the Indigenous Environmental Network, an international agency based in Minnesota that advocates for indigenous people's rights. She said comments used by News/North from a press release were incorrectly attributed to her by the Population Institute.
News/North apologizes for the error.