Right Spot Bar & Grill owner Ken Wong and Black Knight Pub co-owner Gordon Wray are upset over what they see as harassment from the territories' liquor inspectors.
Considering that their establishments are accused of breaking liquor laws -- and they are in company with Raven Pub, Gold Range Hotel and Le Frolic -- Wong and Wray are looking at an expensive couple of weeks. Wong's Right Spot misdemeanour has already cost him $2,000 in fines and an 18-day closure. Wray's case won't come up for a week, but he's on record as suggesting such a closure could cost $60,000-$70,000 in lost revenue.
The point both bar owners have been striving to make is that by being visited by liquor inspectors as much as two or three times a week, Yellowknife bars and restaurants are getting an unfair amount of attention compared to bars down south.
"In other cities they (the inspectors) come in two or three times a year," Wong said recently.
If this frequency of visits is the liquor board's way of sending a strong message that bar owners must be more vigilant, then Yellowknifer supports that effort. Indeed, public opinion over the past year has been four-square in favour of tougher patrols. No law broken, no charges laid; no fines paid, no lost business.
Admittedly, bar owners are saddled with the difficult task of babysitting adults who should know better.
People frequently come and go, making it almost impossible for tavern staff to keep an eye on the drunker ones staggering in, especially on a busy night. Indeed, some well-sloshed patrons have an amazing talent for "holding their sauce" until their internal alcohol-o-meter goes "tilt!" and the patron collapses, throws up or starts a fight. It would be unfair for an inspector to walk into a bar just as a particular patron chooses that moment to go over the top, boozing-wise, and label the establishment negligent.
The inspectors should patrol with some sense of leniency. As liquor board chair John Simpson said, certain establishments with a reputation for harbouring misbehaving individuals will see a more frequent inspection rate.
Bars should be judged on overall performance as opposed to an isolated incident.
At the end of the evening, however, the bars and restaurants have to do what we all have to do: behave within the law. Individual citizens don't get a holiday from bad behaviour.
Bars, restaurants and bistros of all types must act that way, too.
Having well-regulated bars will contribute to the bigger goal of improving the atmosphere downtown.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
It didn't take our leaders long to jump on the bad-feds bandwagon following the Auditor General of Canada's (Sheila Fraser) report to the House of Commons.
The backlash is focused on Chapter 8 of the report, which chastises the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development for not meeting "the spirit" of the agreement signed in 1993. We were most impressed by the fact Fraser and staff spoke quite often with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. before releasing the report. Too bad they hadn't taken the time to speak to our education leaders.
Much of the rhetoric being launched in Ottawa's direction points at more Inuit hires in government. And the voice calling for student exams to be more culturally sensitive is also rising up, once again.
In view of all this, we have a few suggestions on where the feds should start funnelling money to eventually meet the objectives of the Nunavut Land Claim. Nunavut has one of the highest rates of absenteeism and tardiness in Canada's school system.
Conversely, it also has one of the lowest graduation rates.
So, the first thing the feds should consider is hiring a wave of truant officers to be strategically placed across Nunavut to ensure our students go to school, and on time.
Second, a wave of counsellors -- family counsellors -- should be placed across the territory to emphasize to parents the importance of working with their children to ensure they get a good education.
Once we've addressed the problem of actually getting the kids in school, it will be time to develop training and cultural sensitivity. African Canadian and African American students study Black History as part of their curriculum. In fact, schools across the globe place emphasis on the importance of allowing their students to learn about the great people of their culture.
They don't, however, replace essentials such as science, reading, writing and arithmetic with pottery making or basket weaving. We're all for developing a made-in-Nunavut curriculum that teaches today's youth about the great Inuit leaders of the past, as well as helping preserve their language and culture.
We also favour the implementation of proper trades training that will lead to employment. Let's be honest, we don't need to start graduating 200 carvers and wall-hanging experts every year.
So, instead of simply admonishing the Canadian capital for not being in the spirit of the agreement, maybe it's time to partner with Ottawa to ensure the proper path is blazed to get us where we expected to be with the creation of Nunavut.
That begins by addressing the problems we know exist at the grassroots level ourselves, not waiting around for someone else to come along and do it for us!
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
When the Workers Compensation Board's workplace smoking ban comes into effect this May, the territory's smokers will have even fewer places to light up.
Inuvik will soon have its contingent of dedicated smokers, shivering on the streets.
Several weeks ago, when the temperatures dipped to more than 40 below, a trio of smokers huddled around the back entrance of the post office earned my admiration. These guys were the smoking equivalent to what extreme sports enthusiasts are to armchair athletes.
Though May will be a more agreeable month for enjoying a smoke in the great outdoors, I'm worried about my state of mind when the temperatures drop and my recreational puff becomes an adventure in extreme smoking.
While I and smokers around Canada salute the efforts of those who would let nothing stand in the way of having a puff, I can't picture myself going through the same hardship.
So, in an effort to avoid the feelings of animosity towards those whose influence banished me to the windswept Arctic streets for a nicotine fix, I'm opting instead to try and break the habit altogether.
On Feb. 14, I will embark on the "Quit to Win" quest to wean myself from this deadly habit that, besides from all of the harmful chemicals I inhale each time I have a smoke, is becoming harder and harder to enjoy.
Tips for living with denial
These days when I buy smokes, I request a package without the stroke afflicted brain, dead heart or machine-strapped lung disease victim. When one is in denial about the detrimental health consequences smoking presents, staring at an overflowing ashtray or a picture of a wheezing man when enjoying a drag is much, much better.
I pretended to believe this for some time until I was snapped out of my delusion not too long ago.
Despite the blatant "these things can kill you and anyone around you" warnings, I was still buying the darn things. To me, they are the little box of rewards for a job well done, a video well watched and a beer well consumed.
Even as I near the end of writing this piece, I stare lovingly at my cigarettes and think about the brief celebratory moment I'll enjoy while treating myself to a smoke for finishing the week's editorial.
Quit and be a winner or...
So good luck to all of those who have decided to enter the "Quit and Win" contest. It will be a test of one's determination (and how badly one wants the trip for two to Mexico). Statistics indicate that the odds are not favourable for going the distance.
Nevertheless, even taking a break from smoking will be beneficial to your health, so that's a win of sorts.
As for the real winner, keep in mind that two people are allowed 400 cigarettes duty-free when returning from Mexico. So, in the eventual "Quit and Win" winner's non-smoking glory, please don't forget about the ones you left behind; that dying breed.
When I think about all those great smoking moments I'll miss as I venture into the realm of the non-smoker, I console myself with the thought of a holiday I'll take with the money I'm going to save.
At more than $10 for a box of smokes, pack-a-day smokers spend nearly $4,000 each year feeding their addiction.
Then, I think about all the extra time I'll have, previously wasted by thinking about going for a smoke, finally deciding to have one, searching for my smokes, followed by actually going through with smoking. The ridiculousness of it all makes me want to quit right now.
But not before one last smoke...
Editorial Comment
Andrew Raven
Deh Cho Drum
Dozens of experts from across the country are gathering in Fort Simpson this week for a symposium on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), a condition that by all rights shouldn't exist.
The disorder is caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol and its severity can vary from minor behavioral problems to physical birth defects and learning disabilities.
The knowledge that alcohol can have a catastrophic effect on a developing fetus is nothing new, but the disorder persists nonetheless. During the last few months I have met a number of people who have FASD and most of them are well acquainted with the legal system.
One man I knew suffered from a relatively mild form of FASD and except for his slight stature, you'd be hard pressed to tell he had the disorder.
He was quick witted, intelligent and amiable, but there was another side to him.
It was this side that had accumulated nearly a dozen criminal convictions and had a hard time understanding it isn't acceptable to vandalize property and swear at people in the mall.
The man drifted from one menial job to another and spent most of his nights at the Salvation Army.
He's in the same frustrating predicament as hundreds of other Northern residents, resigned to a life of despair simply because his mother drank while she was pregnant.
And perhaps that's the most maddening part about FASD.
The disorder is entirely preventable.
It could be wiped off the face of the earth in one generation. But knowing how to do something, and actually doing something are often two entirely different things.
Whose responsibility is it to change the way things are?
Mothers who drink while they're pregnant share some of the blame, but the reality is the territorial government has failed miserably when it comes to treating substance abuse.
The government can hold conferences until it's blue in the face, but it won't make a lick of difference until more money is siphoned into combatting alcohol addiction.
It's borderline scandalous that in a territory of 40,000 people, there is only one drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.
How can we begin to fight FASD if we can't make a dent in alcoholism?