Monday, November 22, 2004
To learn that certain members of the Mackenzie Land and Water and Environmental Impact Review Boards were receiving six-figure honoraria fits that bill.
These positions are funded by taxes through the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).
As INAC's Jim Martin pointed out, no one needs any practical experience to become a member of one of these two boards. They are all political appointees. Getting onto one of these boards is not a matter of what you know, it's who you know.
They are supposed to be at arms-length from the government, but we hardly see how that can be when a part-time job carries such generous rewards.
By comparison, this week we learned that chiefs in the Deh Cho -- who also receive a large part of their funding from INAC -- are paid salaries at near-poverty levels or receive none at all.
Chiefs have to win elections, board members do not.
Meanwhile, the federal government complains about the high cost of delivering health care and paving our nation's highways.
We can think of at least a couple areas where they can trim some fat.
The porkbarrelling at the water and review boards seems just the place to start.
Rankin Inlet resident Donna Kusugak died a most horrible death.
She was beaten and strangled in March 2003. There were other acts as well, but they are too horrific to report.
Allen Kabvitok, 36, of Whale Cove, admitted killing her and was recently sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter. He's eligible for parole in seven years, five years if the year he's spent in pre-trial custody is taken into account.
Kabvitok was originally charged with second degree murder, but that was reduced in a plea agreement with Crown counsel.
Given what is known about this case, the decision to reduce the original charge is mind-boggling.
Was it done to clear the case out of the Nunavut Court of Justice? Was it done because Kabvitok was drunk at the time?
Donna's brother Lorne Kusugak lashed out at the justice system for being soft on violent offenders. We have to agree.
Punishment is supposed to match the crime. Instead the only real punishment handed out is to the victims and the families left behind.
Nunavut is no stranger to violence. This won't change until such crimes are prosecuted to the full extent, not the lessor intent, of the law. Until then, people will continue to get away with murder.
Too many regular MLAs are becoming cabinet lapdogs in exchange for tidbits of insider information. Government decisions go unopposed and constituents are left hanging.
Hay River North's Jane Groenewegen is the latest MLA to become what we like to call a junior cabinet minister. Included in budget planning, she knew Hay River justice facilities and jobs were on the chopping block, yet sat silently on the sidelines. Inuvik's court registry will also be cut in the $2.6 million cost-saving measure. This is despite the fact that on Oct. 22, she complained "too much of our work is conducted in committee behind closed doors."
Instead of swearing secrecy to the budgetary process, Groenewegen should have pounded her legislature desk demanding the government cut fat consulting contracts, not jobs in her community. Now the decision's made and Groenewegen is vowing to fight. Too late.
If regular MLAs aren't going to stand up for their communities, they might as well stay home and collect their pay.
When people staying at Larga Baffin had concerns about the Ottawa boarding home, they took them to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.
QIA passed the complaints -- about lack of country food and translators among them -- along to Nunasi, the Inuit birthright corporation that owns Larga Baffin and similar facilities in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
And Nunasi acted, offering apologies and promised to address the concerns.
Larga Baffin's manager also promised to take the complaints to heart. That's the way it's supposed to happen.
It's never good to just accept a situation.
If you think it's wrong, speak up.
That's the only way to make sure issues are addressed and people get the services they're promised.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
There is yet another disturbing trend emerging with Nunavut's economic performance.
Nunavut's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 8.3 per cent in the year 2000, which was to be expected with the money being spent by a new government to put infrastructure in place.
That number fell to five per cent growth in 2001, where it remained through the end of the 2002 fiscal year.
However, in 2003, despite continued heavy spending by the Nunavut government, the territory's GDP fell dramatically to -7.6.
How it works
The GDP represents the total value of all goods and services produced within a territory during a given year. To arrive at the GDP, consumption, investment, government consumption and expenditures and exports are all added together.
From that point, imports are subtracted from the mix to arrive at the GDP.
Obviously, provinces and territories strive to be on the positive side of the GDP's ledger.
Disturbing trend
What's disturbing about Nunavut's numbers is that a -12.6 swing in one year is significant, with a government still spending as much on territorial development as the GN does.
Further, the downward spiral lends credence to the argument that any province or territory being almost entirely fuelled economically by its own government is heading down the road to financial ruin.
There are those who don't believe the GDP is an accurate portrayal of the overall financial picture.
Credence could be given to two areas of omissions in Nunavut's case, even if not entirely for the right reasons. The GDP does not include production of work done at home or the black market.
Chunk of change
Anyone with even a basic understanding of life in most Nunavut communities would realize that represents a fair chunk of change, but, at the same time, is not overly indicative of the direction the government wishes to travel to financial prosperity.
As well, the GDP does not show the potential distribution of wealth.
Even with a high GDP, it could only be the wealthy benefitting, not middle-class or lower-income families.
But that is almost always the case in Nunavut, regardless of the economic scale being used.
Outside help
The bottom line is the GDP is yet another indicator that Nunavut must attract outside business interests and/or industry.
To wait around for the mining industry to solve our economic problems may prove to be a long wait.
And the Nunavut government cannot continue to drive the territory in the dual role of major employer and best customer.
We can only hope, as a starting point, plans are already firmly in place to take advantage of the benefits territory-wide broadband Internet will provide, especially in the areas of training and information technology.
If not, Nunavut's economic forecast will continue to produce frigid temperatures.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
If you happen to pass by the Drum office on Monday and Thursday afternoons, you will no doubt see youngsters gathered in front of the doors waiting to sell newspapers.
Believe it or not, we actually have to enforce a policy, which is not to sell papers to anybody until after 3:40 p.m., at which time the kids from Sir Alexander Mackenzie school and Samuel Hearne secondary school have been dismissed.
Why is this necessary, you may ask? So as not to give an unfair advantage to the kids who are not attending school over the ones who do.
When I first started working in Inuvik a little more than a year ago, I was surprised -- no shocked -- that so many of the community's youth, some of them perched outside the Drum office doors as early as 1 or 2 p.m., did not attend school.
A year later, I've become somewhat accustomed to the drill that happens week in and week out, playing out like a bad re-run.
Mervin from Matco arrives with Monday's News/North or Thursday's Drum usually around 2 p.m.
Minutes after Mervin leaves for his next delivery, or sometimes while he's still in the office, a child -- or several -- will enter and ask to buy papers. (We sell editions for half the cover price and the paper boys and girls keep the difference.)
When I ask why they aren't in school, answers vary from the indignant to outright lies and most are delivered with the straight face of deception.
"I didn't have school today."
"We got out of school early."
"I don't go to school."
"I don't have to go to school."
"I quit school."
What's wrong with this picture?
On Monday, one girl aged 12 actually said that she knew everything and didn't need to attend school any more.
"I quit school," she replied with confidence to my query.
This town can have all the meetings it wants to discuss combatting alcohol and drug abuse, but until this issue of truancy is addressed, I'm afraid that the cycle of abuse will likely continue. Uneducated people are generally the ones most at risk of making unwise decisions and, sadly, these include getting mixed up in the vortex of drugs and alcohol.
Already it is happening amongst some of our youth. The view from my apartment looks down on the rear of the liquor store and several times during the summer I witnessed kids -- not teenagers but younger ones -- loitering around waiting for somebody to buy them booze.
There is absolutely no excuse for 10, 11 and 12-year-olds to wander the streets when they should be in school. None whatsoever.
Often, when kids come to the office to buy papers, they will hand me an amount of money but not say how many papers they want.
As papers are 50 cents a piece, I ask them how many they can get for their money. In my experience, very few can actually come up with the correct answer. Not wanting to bring ridicule, I make a game out of dispensing papers first to those who can give a correct answer to how many papers they can buy.
If this isn't reason enough to get the kids in class and keep them there let me say this: the Inuvik Drum office is not where the youth of this town should be gaining simple math skills. That's what school is for.
Alcohol more widespread
According to RCMP statistics, alcohol abuse is a far more widespread problem and occupies the lion's share of police resources.
While not trying to downplay the seriousness of crack, addiction to this drug must be viewed in the context of the larger issue of alcohol addiction and addictions in general.
For a person hooked on booze, the ride from normality to rock-bottom can be a lifelong affair. Slowly, yet surely, the alcoholic becomes the shell of the person he or she once was. For the a person addicted to crack, this degrading process can happen in a matter of months. The dramatic change witnessed in many loved ones using crack in town perhaps explains the reason for such robust attendance at the Ingamo Hall crack think-tank.
Word is that another meeting to talk about the crack problem is being planned. What may provide for a more proactive approach at this upcoming gathering would be discussing ways of dealing with all addictions in their unique, yet ugly forms.
All Twin Lakes MLA candidates should make getting an addictions treatment centre the forefront of their platforms for election, but without the people's support, their promises will be nothing more than hot air.
Hopefully, the community can channel its energy into lobbying the territorial government for an alcohol and drug treatment centre and not relent until this is realized.
Pipeline construction has not even begun and the swelling economy anticipating this coming gas boom has brought hard drugs in its wake.
What will the future hold in store for Inuvik?
Things look bleak unless changes are made and soon.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Practically everyone likes to debate salary issues.
The topic is in the news these days relating to NHL players. They want to avoid a salary cap, which would limit their lofty incomes. Many fans view the millionaire players -- or even those earning mere hundreds of thousands -- as greedy.
Far removed from the NHL labour dispute, the Deh Cho grand chief's salary was one of the items for discussion at last month's Dehcho First Nations leadership meeting. Delegates approved the $85,000 annual rate for Herb Norwegian.
Whether that's a lot of money depends on how you look at it. As grand chief, Norwegian oversees 13 aboriginal groups in 10 communities.
There are two MLAs who split most of those same communities between them. Kevin Menicoche, as a regular MLA for the Nahendeh, receives a salary comparable to Norwegian's. Michael McLeod, who oversees two ministerial portfolios in addition to being MLA for Deh Cho, gets tens of thousands of dollars more than the grand chief.
All are essentially paid by the federal government. Ottawa is the source of most of the DFN's funding, and most territorial government dollars are derived from Ottawa as well -- although the hand is always out for more.
So Norwegian could be viewed as a relative bargain, that is unless you completely disagree with what he stands for politically and the tactics he employs in his quest to attain the Deh Cho's objectives.
If that's how you feel, then remuneration isn't really the issue, ideology is.
In the smaller communities, the chiefs make very little money, or, in the case of Lloyd Chicot, receive no salary at all. While a base salary may be in order, others would be quick to point out that most mayors and Metis presidents in the Deh Cho toil at unrelated full-time jobs. They generally take care of their mayoral/presidential duties in their spare time.
Do the chiefs deserve more? That's something for their band members to examine closely.
Precipitation please
It's been a dry year in the Deh Cho. Rain was at a premium for most of the summer and water levels were desperately low in rivers and creeks throughout the region. It's been a pleasantly mild winter, but now we're into the third week of November and there's little more than a few inches of snow on the ground.
Snowmobilers are itching for more powder. Close to two feet of the white stuff came down in parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island earlier this week. If only they could package some of it and send it our way...
In the Nov. 15 edition of News/North, incorrect information was contained in a business brief, "Tax increase set for New Year." The amount of tax an individual earning $100,000 will have to pay in additional tax is $135. The amount of additional tax an individual earning $125,000 will have to pay is $385.
Also in that issue, due to an editing error, incorrect information appeared in the article, "Six-figure honoraria." The NWT Water Board was not completely dismantled as the story implies. The board still regulates water licences in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. News/North apologizes for any confusion caused by the error.
ALSO, Qaqqalik school was spelled incorrectly in last week's Nunavut News/North.
Also in last week's edition, in the photo Greenland Unmasked, the woman pictured is Stella Kablalik of Rankin Inlet, not Charlene Tasseor.
Nunavut News/North regrets any confusion caused by the errors.