It is their right to have an education paid for, including provision of school supplies down to the locks on their lockers.

This is a right they and their First Nations families earned in exchange for the rest of us being allowed onto their land.

The question is, however, what happens to those fees already paid this year ... and the fees paid in past years?

There is a lot of money at stake. Yellowknife's Catholic school board alone has 500 students who should not have been paying fees.

For one year this could be as much as $34,000 -- fees are varied from junior to senior Grades.

Calculate what that amount could be over how many years Treaty students have been hornswoggled into paying fees and you could be getting into something near a million dollars.

This is money the school boards have no right to and must refund, whether it comes from their pockets, or the larger pockets of the territorial government.

We have all heard the story of the boy who cried wolf.

So we wonder how many times Coun. Kevin O'Reilly calls out for an environmental assessment before his words fall on deaf ears?

This time around, he is insisting that a phase 1 environmental assessment be conducted on the land known as the sand pits before council considers renewing the Yellowknife Shooting Club lease.

This non-profit club has been operating on that land for decades. Members of the RCMP, Department of National Defence and federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans use it.

O'Reilly's suggestion is environmental overkill, a bureaucratic hurdle that would cost the club about $2,000.

It's an information gathering process only, and wouldn't involve soil samples or other more intensive work. It would likely determine there is lead in the sand. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Lead shot was only outlawed in Canada in 1997.

Council needs to use some common sense and work with the shooting club. If councillors feel there's a need to assess the land, the city should pick up the tab. After all, they took over the lease from MACA three years ago with full knowledge the shooting club had been there for years.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

It's not that we disagree with the Nunavut Territorial Soccer Association's desire to be more competitive at events like the Arctic Winter Games.

We just disagree with the way the organization is going about it.

The present format of holding a regional trial and then dropping players from the winning team in favour of players from other communities to advance to the territorial trials is emotionally draining on a number of our key resources.

Coaches, parents and the players themselves are all upset when it's time to make the cuts.

In fact, some coaches can't even bring themselves to break the news to young players who have poured their hearts and souls into the team's winning effort, opting instead to have a Sport Nunavut official inform the players on who will be advancing.

The philosophy behind the format is twofold.

Firstly, the reasoning is that major centres such as Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit have a distinct advantage at regional tourneys due to their larger talent pools to draw from.

This, secondly, may prevent talented players in smaller communities from having a legitimate chance at making the territorial squad.

Soccer Nunavut will point to the fact Nunavut won its first soccer game ever at the 2002 AWG as proof that the system works.

Whether one victory is proof of a format working is debatable, and there are other factors to be considered.

Are gains worth the pressure?

First, can Nunavut Soccer speak to the effects losing a trio of teammates has on players advancing and how those picked up are accepted emotionally by the squad?

Second, how does being dropped after winning a regional tourney affect the players left behind? How are they supposed to feel?

And, third, is this kind of emotional pressure worth the gains being made at elitist events?

The solution isn't all that difficult.

If an all-star team, of sorts, is the ultimate goal, hold a regional tournament with players from different communities comprising the teams from the outset.

Then, Soccer Nunavut can have officials on hand to select the best eight players in the tournament to represent the region at the territorial level.

The end result may prove to be even stronger regional squads, and players on community-based teams are spared the emotional upheaval of being told they're not moving on with their friends and teammates.

When all is said and done, if community-based teams remain the norm at regional playdowns, then the sport organization involved should be prepared to simply let the kids play and accept the results.

Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum

Despite the fact Inuvik Twin Lakes and Boot Lake MLAs Roger Allen and Floyd Roland bowed out of the premier's race this week, both were poised to take on some high-profile cabinet positions.

If this comes to pass, it will put Inuvik in a good position to enjoy the perks of having two heavyweights in the 15th legislative assembly. Between Allen and Roland, Inuvik's MLAs could hold down the finance, justice and RWED portfolios.

As the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project is in its developmental stages, there couldn't be a better time to have our MLAs in those positions.

During the race for the Twin Lakes riding, education, alcohol and drug abuse, affordable housing and taking care of the elders topped the list of prevailing issues.

Now, it is our MLAs duty to respond to these concerns and take concrete action in addressing them.

It has been said that there's a lot more to education than books and at the end of November, the Career Technology Studies class at Samuel Hearne Secondary school proved it.

For three days the class' students lived on the land and employed skills they learned in the classroom.

In speaking with CTS students about their experiences, one wonders why a course such as this is not mandatory right across the territories.

Loss of language is generally attributed to the deterioration and ultimate loss of cultural identity. However, if people don't understand the manner in which their culture evolved, and an interest in that is not stimulated, then the rest is moot.

This is why programs like CTS should be the cornerstone to a truly Northern education. Getting kids -- aboriginal and non-aboriginal -- out on the land with the benefit of hands-on guidance from elders is the best way for anyone to gain an appreciation for where they come from or where they live.

I have never lived in a place that throws as many community Christmas feasts as Inuvik. This kind of openness and generosity is a sure sign of the spirit of the town and I am certain that many are appreciative of the efforts of those involved in providing for and hosting these events.

So with each passing Christmas we are reminded of those who are less fortunate than others. This season is no different.

Last week it was reported that the food bank has been experiencing a shortfall in its stock. Being that it is the most crucial time of the year for such an operation to have the resources it needs, any support would be surely appreciated.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

What is wrong with being forced to clean up the mess you've left behind?

Responsible parents teach this concept to their children. Yet in the realm of government and mining -- at least in the NWT -- there has been no such lesson. The only lesson to date has been a hard one left for taxpayers to swallow.

Mining companies come barreling in, build infrastructure, create undesirable and often toxic byproducts, then, just before turning out the lights, these same companies become insolvent, leaving the public to deal with the mess and the cost associated with it.

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has finally adopted a policy that should hold existing mines responsible for putting up 100 per cent of reclamation costs during the life of the mine. It's a well-intentioned approach, but in the case of North American Tungsten, it may prove too little, too late. Just as the reclamation security payments are about to kick in, the mine lays off its 200 workers, company executives resign and they mothball the mine as they did in 1986.

So now what? Nobody knows, really.

The $7.9 million that the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board was holding North American Tungsten liable for may never be collected.

Enormous clean-up costs

Reading through the Land and Water Board's review of CanTung reclamation costs, it's obvious why mining companies cannot be allowed to write their own ticket when it comes to environmental clean-up. North American Tungsten proposed that a paltry $1.9 million would be sufficient to make the site clean and safe once again. Compare that to the two independent studies that concluded totals of $10.2 million and $34.4 million would be more realistic.

The Land and Water Board commissioned another environmental consulting firm to assess the aforementioned studies. That firm blended all the figures and came up with the $7.9 million that was attached to North American Tungsten's water licence.

Although nobody seems sure of what will happen from this point forward, the public should fully expect the Land and Water Board to be a bulldog in demanding the reclamation security deposit. There is no way that CanTung mine should be permitted to resume production until the deposit is paid on schedule. In the same vein, the company is sitting on MacTung deposits, which it proclaims as a 25-year, high-grade supply of tungsten. If North American Tungsten should go bankrupt, then it must forfeit that asset.

The company must not be allowed to reinvent itself to take advantage of that asset. Whoever is in line to exploit the MacTung deposits -- should that area ever be mined -- must be made to pay full reclamation costs up front.

Canadian taxpayers may just have to ante up for CanTung's clean-up, but let's be sure to leave past mistakes in the past.