Monday, March 14, 2005
Would Northerners care if the world powers declared open season on all land north of Canada's arctic coast?
The Arctic islands belonging to NWT and Nunavut, excluding Baffin Island, are home to about 3,000 Canadians in an area of almost 500,000 square kilometres.
There's oil and gas there, perhaps more diamonds, and the potential for much more undiscovered wealth. What's really stopping the dominant world powers from redrawing the map of Northern Canada? Very little.
Canada does have a standing request that all foreign ships entering Canadian Arctic waters notify Canadian marine authorities but it is voluntary.
In the spring of 2003, United States Ambassador Paul Cellucci told News/North the American government does not consider the Northwest Passage to be Canadian waters. If those are not Canadian waters, which they clearly are, what about the Arctic islands?
There is no reason to believe the Russians and the rest of the world powers disagree with the Americans on this one.
Standing toe to toe with any one of these powers would require hundreds of billions of dollars of military hardware that Canadians neither have nor would ever spend. We are not a militaristic people.
But there is more than one way to establish sovereignty and Canada's armed forces should be taking a lead role.
Cellucci himself suggested Canada concentrate on surveillance technology. That surveillance should be focused on the largest undefended border in the world - Canada's northern border.
Who knows what's going on underneath arctic waters? Canada should know, both from a military standpoint and an environmental one.
From almost every angle, a beefed up Canadian military presence in the Arctic stands to serve Canadians and Northerners, by watching the effects of global warming, catching polluters, search and rescue, establishing Canadian ownership of oil, gas and mineral resources.
And, as pointed out by former commander of Canadian Forces Northern Area Headquarters, Col.(Ret.) Pierre Leblanc, preservation of fresh water stocks. He reminds us a litre of gas costs as much as a litre of water, except water is cheaper to process. How easy it would be for a supertanker to sail to a quiet Arctic island and tap a rushing river.
Leblanc also described the Canadian Rangers stationed in NWT and Nunavut as the "one of the most cost effective sovereignty programs in place."
In the recent budget, Ottawa is committing $12.8 billion to upgrade the armed forces.
Territorial leaders should join forces to make sure a significant amount of that money is spent in the North.
Increases in prospecting permits and money spent on mineral exploration are often seen as good signs for Nunavut's economy.
It's true: the money brings the potential of jobs and prosperity.
But today we thank the hunters in Hall Beach and Iglulik for showing us the downside of development.
They are concerned that low-flying helicopters used by prospectors in the summer months might affect caribou migration patterns.
There is little caribou meat in either community this winter and the long trips needed to find animals are causing residents unnecessary stress.
The animals are accustomed to silence, and the noise -- not mentioning the physical intrusion -- of a helicopter definitely has an affect on them, the hunters say.
These Nunavummiut are not the only people concerned by the environmental problems possibly caused by development.
A few weeks ago, World Wildlife Fund president Monte Hummel, speaking at the Nunavut teacher's conference in Iqaluit, criticized Nunavut's pro-development stance.
He pointed to a map showing 100 million acres.
"This land is being staked, leased and claimed right out from underneath you," Hummel told his audience.
NWT conserving
Feeling the pressure of development over in the NWT, he continued, aboriginal peoples are labelling 75 million acres for conservation. Nunavut has done no such thing, he added.
To its credit, De Beers Canada says it consults with communities before doing any exploration work.
And the department of Indian and Northern Affairs (INAC) lists a number of different groups it consults with before handing out exploration permits, though local hunters and trappers organizations are among of them.
DIAND says only about one in 10,000 mineral prospecting claims ever becomes a mine.
But every prospector who works in Nunavut leaves an impact on the land.
Whether the noise and flight path of a prospector's helicopter is actually affecting the caribou remains to be seen.
But does it really matter?
When we have Inuit hunters worried their main source of food could be affected by this exploration, we have to listen carefully.
Let's not develop Nunavut's mineral deposits at the expense of its living and breathing natural resources.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
There is great cause for celebration in Repulse Bay these days over coaches Ian Gordon and Mike McMillan winning the prestigious Local Hockey Leaders award.
However, there are also feelings of resentment lurking beneath all those smiles - and rightly so.
How bizarre that it took a panel of southerners to acknowledge an effective Kivalliq program that our own government chooses to ignore.
Bizarre, that is, in the sense that we still have too many people controlling purse strings who refuse to acknowledge the individual and community growth that often accompanies sports programs.
Long before they received national recognition, the coaches, who also teach at Tusarvik school, had submitted funding proposals right here in their own region.
Each proposal tried to access $7,000 in funding. One from Brighter Futures and the other from the Building Healthy Communities program.
The proposals landed on a desk in Rankin Inlet, where they were turned down flat. Not a dime.
From what we've managed to ascertain, the proposals were denied because the money was to be used to take the Repulse hockey team to a Manitoba tournament.
The exact same thing the $10,000 that comes with the Local Hockey Leaders win is to be used for.
The short response to their proposals was that the money is to be used inside the community, not outside of it.
That reasoning hits an all-time low in nearsightedness.
The teachers' proposal had the overwhelming support of their community.
In fact, the entire hockey team wore their jerseys to accompany their coaches when the two pitched their proposals to hamlet council.
Not only were the proposals approved, a number of community leaders rose to speak about the benefits to the community they've seen as a result of the hockey program.
But let's add a bit more irony to the tale.
At the time the proposals were rejected, there was still $35,000 in available funding for use in Repulse that was perilously close to being transferred to another hamlet so it could be used before the end of the fiscal year.
While listing travel expenses may have given the government the out it needed to deny a sports program the money, the proposals also clearly illustrated the benefits being realized by the youth and the community through the hockey program.
The program is enabling these youth to build self-confidence and raise self-esteem, develop a sense of responsibility to their school and community through teamwork, and learn how to set goals and achieve them.
To tell these coaches they aren't helping to build a healthy community or provide a brighter future for these kids is a slap in the face to every Kivalliq volunteer who devotes countless hours of their time to improving the quality of life for our youth.
And, no matter what the guardians of the purse strings may say - the youth in the Repulse program are definitely working their way towards a brighter future in a healthier community!
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
Town council chambers could see some heated debate in the coming weeks as the proposed bylaw to make garbage collection a user-pay service is introduced.
Several small business owners in town have expressed their dissatisfaction with the way in which the town "sprung" its new garbage bins on ratepayers.
"Ripped off" and "misled" were common refrains and a few the Drum spoke with have stated that if they have to pay for garbage collection from the new bins, the town can have them back.
User-pay systems, especially in the case of garbage generation and collection, are very progressive. They encourage recycling which ultimately impacts the amount of garbage going into a landfill. Good for the environment and good for everybody.
However, in the case of the town's plan, there is no incentive for reducing waste for either residents or business owners as a flat rate has been proposed; $10 per household per month, with a two-bag maximum per week. For businesses, the charge could be as much $100, depending on how many enterprises are utilizing a bin.
For one business owner who had his old dumpster replaced with a new blue bin all to himself, the added fee of $100 would increase his municipal tax rate by upwards of 25 per cent. Viewing things from the town's perspective, the new garbage collection system was introduced, in part, to mitigate the amount of garbage finding its way out of the old dumpsters and on to the street.
At Monday's committee of the whole meeting, one councillor referred to the old bins as "feeding stations for ravens."
So to try and address this situation, which spawned continual complaints directed at the town about the litter problem, new "raven proof" bins were introduced and already there is a noticeable decrease in the amount of refuse blowing about town.
But with all improvements comes a price.
Very similar to the way the power corporation recoups its infrastructure expenditures and the like through a "shortfall rider" on your bill each month, the town is attempting to do the same thing by passing the "savings" of what will eventually cost $2 million, on to the ratepayer.
At Monday's meeting, where this user-pay bylaw was introduced for discussion, councillors were talking about "selling the idea to the public."
It's a tad late in the game to go selling a $2 million idea to a public that appeared to believe the new bins were an upgrade, paid for through municipal taxes. Especially in light of the fact that $850,000 has already been spent on it.
In closing the discussion at council, one member remarked that the commitment to go ahead with the new bins had been made and the time to move forward was now.
With that kind of attitude, the only winners will be the ravens. As for businesses and homeowners, the question is how much is a cleaner town worth?
Editorial Comment
Andrew Raven
Deh cho Drum
When the National Hockey League officially pulled the plug on the 2005 season two weeks ago, it was enough to drive die-hard puck fans to tears.
The Stanley Cup will not be awarded for the first time since 1919, when an influenza pandemic killed thousands.
Since then, the tradition has survived a Depression, a World War, near-Armageddon and 10 years of Brian Mulroney as Prime Minister.
You can spend hours arguing about who is to blame for the cancellation of the season: incompetent billionaire owners or greedy millionaire players.
For the record, this is one fan siding with the players in this dispute. What makes the owners - otherwise intelligent businessmen - spend millions of dollars on player contracts when their teams are hemorrhaging money worse than a hemophiliac running through a maze of razor wire?
Their proposed solution: a limit on the amount of money each team can spend on player salaries.
After all comrades, this whole free market system never really worked anyway, right?
As a result of this asinine quibbling, a vital part of this country's social fabric has been ripped to shreds. Not to mention my Saturday night television options are now a Disney movie or something in French.
How much of our loyalty does the National Hockey League deserve anyway?
The talent is diluted.
The officiating is abysmal. Scoring is almost non-existent.
The neutral zone trap has made talent look so 1980s you can practically hear the J. Geils Band singing in the background.
Ticket prices are ludicrous and please, a $5 hotdog? Come on.
Who needs the NHL anyway?
We can still watch curling. Taunt officials at youth basketball games. Or spill cheese slathered nachos on our pants watching indoor soccer.
Besides, there are plenty of other places to get our professional hockey fix.
I hear there are some pretty good players in the Swedish Elite League. Maybe I'll burn all of my red, white and blue Montreal Canadiens paraphernalia and stock up on Djurngarten brown and white.
Whatever we do, the most important thing is to punish the arrogant, impudent, selfish owners and players of the NHL.
If the league ever comes back, I say boycott it. There is plenty of good hockey in small towns and villages across the North to fill our Saturday nights.
Canadians do not need hockey to be functioning individuals.
Do we?
P.S. to Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey: If Alexei Kovalev will take $4.5 million a year for three years, give it to him.
He was awesome in the playoffs last year.