The session, held in Hay River, brought together territorial, aboriginal and municipal leaders in a unique forum where every level of government had equal voice.
But if there was one nugget that came out the meeting, it was from Aklavik Chief Charlie Furlong: "We don't want to put so much in that it's unworkable."
How right he is.
Such assemblies can easily get burdened and bogged down with agendas, goals, regulations and bureaucracy.
If this gathering is to be successful, it must not become another level of government.
It has to be a place where everyone can openly air their concerns and talk about issues facing them, their people and this territory.
Do anything more and soon you'll need an administrator, staff, a big budget and more. It will become bogged down in process, rather than being a lively forum for debate and discussion.
The only formal agreement that's necessary is that all involved agree they should meet once a year, not quarterly. The inaugural event alone cost $200,000. Spending $800,000 or more to hold four meetings a year would be too costly.
Instead, time the so-called Intergovernmental Assembly at the start of the year, when the territorial government is planning its annual budget.
That will allow premier and cabinet to hear what municipal and aboriginal leaders want and help set priorities for the coming year.
Understanding everyone's needs is the best way to achieve true democracy.
This takes consensus government out of the Legislative Assembly and into the communities.
And one more thing: these meetings should be held anywhere but Yellowknife, away from the seat of "power."
It will be interesting to be inside a bar or smoke room anywhere in Nunavut during the last few hours of April 30.
Light up a few cigarettes, smoke them two or three at a time if you want, and suck back the last precious moments of this ritual, this bonding with co-workers, the break from paper work, your stress, whatever, because the next day will be the dawn of a smoke-free era in Nunavut.
Smokers are going to have to find new spots to get their fix. Come May 1, there is no smoking allowed in any workplace in Nunavut.
Students at Inuksuk high school have been doing their part for the last five months to get the word out to their impressionable peers that smoking is bad.
They produced projects with nuggets of information like one litre of tar is left in your lungs after a year of smoking, and 1,000 Canadians die every year from smoking.
This is smart, because by the time these students join the full-time working world, they will at least have the non-smoking coping skills ingrained in them that their parents probably never had.
It is important -- as bars and restaurants brace for lost business -- to remember that the WCB smoking ban is about workers and their health.
It is not about stopping people from having fun while they drink or shoot the breeze at work.
The change-over won't be easy. The most recent statistics available indicate about 55 per cent of all Nunavummiut older than 15 smoke and 29.3 per cent of people surveyed were exposed to second hand-smoke during the previous month.
When a smoking ban was introduced to bars and restaurants in New York City in March 2003 many angry letters choked the editorial pages of major daily newspapers in the city.
A notable one came from a man in Brooklyn who wrote the New York Post saying that smoking and drinking go together like "peanut butter and jelly." Then he stopped himself, adding: "I'd better watch what I say. The mayor's new health initiative will probably go after peanut butter and jelly next."
It was the same in Yellowknife where a city bylaw banned smoking in bars on Oct. 1, 2003.
Bar owners protested and sent delegations to city council, blaming the ban for lost business.
The smoking ban is about recognizing that health is really important, that second-hand smoke does effect people's health, and that it's one thing to suck back the cigarettes on your own time, but it's quite another to inflict that smoke on others.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Nunavut's political rumour mill has been going all out since Manitok Thompson withdrew from the Liberal Party's nomination race.
And, while the vast majority of it deserves little attention, there are one or two that perk the interest.
The hottest discussion, of course, revolves around why Thompson decided to run as an independent.
There are those who truly believe the Liberal Party's deadline extension was the sole reason behind Thompson's decision to walk away.
Those are the same people who, a few months ago, truly believed Thompson was going to spend the next 10 years sewing up a storm at home in Rankin Inlet.
Then there are the Nunavut Liberal Association members who did not support Thompson's bid, and are gloating up a storm over her change in direction.
To them, the writing was on the wall for Thompson. To their way of thinking, she abandoned ship after realizing there was no way she could wrest the nomination from Nancy Karetak-Lindell.
The problem with this group is, they also believe not winning the Liberal nomination equates to not winning the Nunavut seat in the federal election.
Not only is their logic flawed, but they also grossly underestimate Thompson, which, at this stage of her political career, borders on the unbelievable.
Thompson knew she had a lot of ground to make up on Lindell going into the nomination process.
Maybe she did the math and realized she couldn't win a party nomination, or, maybe, she simply realized her best bet for victory was with an open vote.
We're leaning towards the latter, and the nomination delay was just the public reason Thompson needed to manoeuvre herself into what she perceives as a stronger position.
Little party loyalty
Unlike many parts of Canada, Nunavut has a much lower percentage of voters who cast their ballots for a certain party because their parents did and their parents before them, etc.
In fact, per capita, Nunavut probably has the largest swing vote potential in the country.
Lindell has built a solid track record during her time in Ottawa representing the people of Nunavut.
And, when you add in the margins of victory during her two election wins, you quickly realize just how imposing a political adversary Lindell truly is.
However, to take nothing away from the candidates who came before her, Thompson is definitely Lindell's toughest opponent to date and, if Lindell does prevail, we'd be quite surprised if the margin of victory remained the same.
When it comes to political sure things, remember this -- it wasn't all that long ago when the Tories were the most powerful political party in Canada.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
Of all my acquaintances who relinquished that ugly smoking habit in February, pitching their cigarettes into the trash and swearing off the darn cancer sticks for all time, only one remains. Unfortunately, for the sake of my own health, it is not I.
While a trip for two to Mexico and a lifetime of better health hangs in the balance for those who can remain smoke-free for another month, it's back to the drawing board for those of us who lacked the will power to continue.
Your humble editor was able to last a month before going down in flames and succumbing to the persuasive allure of nicotine and the sweet smell of tobacco. And what a glorious "first" cigarette it was.
Sucking back the cigarettes, one after another, I was feeling liberated from the shackles of the Quit and Win contest. However, it was short-lived.
As the smoke began to fill my apartment following my fourth or fifth cigarette, the guilt kicked in with the realization that I would soon have to begin this entire process again, if I gave a hoot about my health.
This was not the first time I tried to kick the habit and it won't be my last, I'm sure. Sitting in a bar, sipping a beer, I told a friend about how I had fallen off the nicotine wagon as I puffed away.
"You've got to quit when you want to, not when somebody tells you to," he said, offering some kind of consolation, while at the same time implying that I had somehow fallen under the "thought control" methods of the health czars. Now I really felt disappointed in myself.
If I wasn't able to quit simply for the sake of improving my health, then dangling in front of my nose a free trip to Mexico was hardly going to provide enough incentive. Not more than a month's worth, anyways.
And from all of this "quitting for prizes" business, which has sent many seasoned smokers gasping into a smokeless frenzy, I have discovered one thing: that I've become obsessed with quitting. Occupying my thoughts with each cigarette that I stub out are the days ahead when I will no longer be chained to this noxious weed.
Don't eat red meat, don't eat fried food, don't go cycling without a helmet, don't smoke inside, outside or anywhere....
Most would agree that too much of anything is never healthy, making the following new twist on the adage "everything in moderation, (even moderation)" words to live by in these dangerous times when merely glancing at the grease from French fries could cause your heart to seize.
It saddens me to think that some activities, which many derive so much pleasure from, are bad for us -- to the point of singing it from the rooftops.
"Yeah, yeah, we know it's bad for us, but we love it anyways!" I hear a dedicated smoking set shout.
But as Bob Dylan -- a former smoker -- once said, "The times they are a changin'" and if new tastes are not formulated by the masses soon, society runs the risk of smothering itself in a bed of cheeseburgers and secondhand smoke.
Thankfully, the health czars in conjunction with the thought police and insurance companies have ensured that at least we won't go down with the ship whilst enjoying a beer at the pub.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
There are a number of Deh Cho residents who have complaints about their homes built through the NWT Housing Corporation. Leaking basements, excessive moisture and mould seem to be a common bond.
Interestingly, each of the tenants featured in this week's page three story say they know others who are having the same problems. Some of those people have chosen not to publicly state their concerns, for whatever reason. Perhaps most Housing Corporation tenants don't make waves because they are actually content. It's hard to tell.
Housing Corporation homes are not the only ones with mould problems. It's not unusual for private homeowners -- at their own cost, of course -- to have air exchange or ventilation units installed to dehumidify their homes and improve air quality.
To be fair, the Housing Corporation has its own challenges, such as a significant number of clients who are not paying their rent or mortgages. Some clients also damage to their own homes while in a state of intoxication or in a fit of anger.
As well, there are those who have owned their Housing Corporation-built homes for many years, but still expect that every problem should continue to be the Housing Corporation's responsibility. When you buy a car, the warranty doesn't last forever. At some point, the cash is going to have to come from your own pocket.
A home is no different: it's a major investment that requires regular maintenance.
As well, the Housing Corporation does have several appealing programs that serve as incentive for clients to become homeowners, in some cases while heavily subsidized.
But, all that said, it's hard to instill confidence of ownership when some of the Housing Corporation's units are clearly deficient structures. If hundreds of thousands of dollars can be spent on repairs to just one poorly constructed home, wouldn't the government be better off investing money to have a qualified housing inspector visit each site before the client takes possession?
That way the contractor can be held accountable then and there, rather than well after the fact.
Former Housing Corporation president Tom Beaulieu noted that those with mild humidity problems can lessen the accumulation of moisture by using exhaust fans in the bathroom and above the stove. Obviously that's not going to be of much use if the basement leaks or floods.
There have been extenuating circumstances leading to questionable construction of some homes in the NWT. Yet it cannot simply be written off as one of those "only-in-the-North," conundrums.
Although today's Housing Corporation employees have inherited problems from oversights of the past, so have the tenants who have unwittingly moved into the problem homes. They can't be expected to accept anything less than good quality. It's going to cost a bundle to properly fix those places, but that is what needs to be done. Maybe the odd one would be better off bulldozed.
Standards for building houses have to be consistently upheld in the Deh Cho just as they are in Yellowknife or Hay River.
Housing Minister Michael McLeod must follow through on his pledge to step up detailed inspections by qualified tradespersons.
Brian Alivaktuk's last name was incorrectly spelled in the April 5 edition of Nunavut News/North. We apologize for any embarrassment that resulted.