Closing Con Mine's underground works will leave more than a big hole in the earth; it will leave a big hole in this city's heart.

Wednesday's announcement that Yellowknife's longest operating gold mine would shut down on Nov. 30 came as a shock. While the closure was expected, that it came this year took most off guard.

Miramar Mining Corp. has long warned the city that Con's life was drawing to a close. Most expected it a year from now, not a mere three months distant.

The mill will remain in operation until mid-2005, processing gold mined in Giant.

At that point, the industry that built Yellowknife will cease to exist.

This city has changed from the gold-mining town it used to be, with two diamond mines on the tundra and the prospect of oil and gas. Still, Con's closure will hurt.

Miners tend to go where there are mines, and an exodus like that which followed Giant's demise in 1999 would be painful. The NWT needs all the skilled workers it can get. Let's hope diamond mines, Miramar's Hope Bay gold project and the proposed natural gas pipeline will be incentive for most Con workers to remain.

The city has taken some measures to prepare for the loss of $700,000 in tax revenue, but are they enough? That's a question that must be answered by the current council and candidates in the October election.

One council goal must be to work with Miramar to take advantage of housing and waterfront development opportunities on Con land.

The territorial government has promised to find ways to minimize the impact of Con's closure. To us, that means retraining opportunities that will keep these skilled workers at home to help build the new NWT.

These people have built lives in the North and we must do all we can to keep them here.

Still, losing Con Mine is like losing kin. Since 1938, miners pulled tonnes of gold from deep within the earth. Generations of mine workers helped build Yellowknife and the NWT.

For that we're thankful, even as we acknowledge the loss.

It's hard to believe that six months ago I made my first real trip to Eastern Canada.

For most Southerners a trip east means Toronto, Montreal or Halifax. I guess, I am not most Southerners. My first trip east took me a little more to the North, landing me in Iqaluit.

Three months later I came here to Rankin.

The experience is hard to sum up in just a few words.

I have been absolutely amazed by the diversity and richness that I have found in the Eastern Arctic.

I have been exposed to a new culture and languages and very different way of life than I was accustomed.

If you'd asked me two years ago if I was ever planning on going to Rankin or Iqaluit I would have said no.

But, now, I believe everyone should experience first hand what life is like in the North.

For me it was fascinating, and a real eye-opener.

Northerners, both Inuit and white, create harmony where many cultures might clash.

They make the best of what they have around them and they have a strength that only a harsh and difficult environment can provide.

On Friday I got on a plane back west to Yellowknife. Still a Northern community it is much more Southernized than communities in the East.

It wasn't something I really understood until I lived here.

My experiences here will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I learned a lot. I think the way I see the world and my place in it has also changed somewhat because of what I have seen here in Nunavut.

I know that I won't take things as much for granted as I once did.

I also know that there is much I haven't seen in Nunavut and much that I still want to do.

Six months goes by very fast perhaps I will get a chance to come back and do some of the things I didn't get the opportunity to while I was here.

It has been fun and challenging working here, but the people and their kindness and willingness to accept others has made it an easy transition.

I admit I will miss it here in Nunavut, but as the new sports editor for News/North, I am sure a sporting event will bring me back this way at one time or another.

Thanks for everything.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

It seems that cabinet has pulled another one of it's unilateral end-runs with the Business Incentive Policy.

I'm not a big fan of business subsidies and I think business should be left alone to succeed or fail on its own, but this whole thing stinks to high heaven of a government so enamoured with itself, it doesn't need the advice of industry, the public or regular MLAs.

The BIP was put in place to give struggling Northern businesses a level playing field with Southern competitors.

The cost of doing business in the North is much higher than in the South and the policy made much more sense than handing out negotiated contracts and sole sourcing.

What the policy did lead to was what's become known as "storefronting." This is where a Southern business will hitch it's wagon to a Northern "company" just to get the extra 15 percent boost from the BIP.

Storefronting is a practice that has become rampant in the North, but this new policy doesn't even deal with that. Quite the opposite -- it leaves legitimate Northern businesses competing with storefronters and also with full-on Southern competitors.

Cabinet's passed this greasy ball to Jim Antoine to run into the end zone because it doesn't matter to Diamond Jim since he's not running in November.

But why leave it at that? While they were at it, cabinet could have handed-off the housing harmonization and the energy policy to Antoine too, since this government didn't have the eggs to deal with them before the election.

Talk is not enough

Talking to Bob Simpson wears me right out. I can't imagine what that guy goes through in a given day.

When he's not negotiating the self-government file, he's working on devolution or the Gwich'in Land Use Plan and who knows what else.

If all this wasn't enough, he's got to deal with cagey government lawyers, squawking chiefs and airline food.

It must be pretty disheartening to Bob and his team when they get out to the community self-government meetings to see empty chairs.

I know Bob would rather be out trapping 'rats in the spring, rather than sitting in some boardroom in Ottawa, but he's spurred on with this deal because it's important, it's ground-breaking and it's history in the making.

I really wish the people of the region would feel the same way because the government you make is going to be the government you get.

I hear lots of bar stool politicians grumbling about the cost of self-government and the issues of representation, but I don't see anyone making a move to do anything about it.

Any government needs lawyers and it needs laws; it needs time to evolve and grow; it needs court challenges and firm opposition, but most of all it needs people.

The time you take with your government now, will save a lot of bar stool grumbling later.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

Aboriginal groups in the Deh Cho are lined up in support of expanding Nahanni National Park Reserve and protecting the Nahanni watershed. Grand Chief Herb Norwegian and federal Heritage minister Sheila Copps have signed a couple of agreements to further that end.

There's dollars to be made in resource exploration and development, but, as it's been said many times, the riches of the land itself make people of the Deh Cho better off than industry could ever compensate them.

This isn't pro-environment propaganda. Of course industry is needed in the region to keep the economy running and bread (but not moose meat) on the table. So it's really a question of designating lands for development, which is exactly what the First Nations are in the process of doing.

Nahanni National Park Reserve has been widely recognized as one of nature's gems. Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau played a key role in having the area designated a Park Reserve in 1976. Two years later it was designated as an United Nations Education, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site. The park encompasses mountain ranges, canyons, white-water rivers, boreal forest, hot springs, tufa mounds, limestone caves and Virginia Falls. It is home to grizzly bears, Dall's sheep, mountain goats, wolves, caribou and many species of birds.

However, only a thin parcel of land has been protected. The surrounding watershed had been left vulnerable, thereby making the ecology of the park vulnerable. With recent action taken by the First Nations and the federal government, that is changing. The park could grow as much as seven times its current size over the next several years.

There are two existing mines near the Park Reserve. The measures being taken today will prevent more from cropping up. No matter how careful industry may be -- even by using state of the art technology and practices -- accidents still occur. Contaminants can spill into the waterways, affecting the land and wildlife.

In addition, mines have finite life spans. They may produce minerals for 10 years or 20 or 30, but they will eventually exhaust the resource (or go broke or mothball the operation). The park, on the other hand, is a proven tourist attraction. With preservation measures in place it will remain that way for the long term.

The Deh Cho First Nations have also set aside Edehzhie for protection. It's a huge swath of land that includes the Horn Plateau. The Pehdzeh Ki First Nation in Wrigley wants to do the same for a large area north of its community.

Aboriginal groups in the Deh Cho are about to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in oil and gas development, forestry and other resource sectors. They have made sure to safeguard some key lands and waterways first. That's getting things done in the right order.

Three people pictured on page 3 of Wednesday's Yellowknifer were not identified. Also in the photo of Prime Minister Jean Chretien receiving a commemorative paddle during the signing of the Tlicho Agreement were Premier Stephen Kakfwi, Wha Ti First Nation Chief Charlie Nitsiza and Ted Blondin. Yellowknifer apologizes for the omission.