Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Legislative assembly needs to sharpen travel priorities
Great Slave MLA Bill Braden's recent jaunt to Commonwealth meetings in Fiji falls into the same category. As he correctly points out, these kinds of trips are useless to NWT residents. By bringing his wife along, it only confirms that this trip was more a vacation than anything else.
That's what makes Braden's rationale for going all the more audacious - that as a Canadian politician, his presence at the Fiji conference offers a shining beacon to all those other Commonwealth countries that don't know how to govern themselves yet.
We have our own problems to work on right here at home. Instead of spending more than $10,000 of taxpayers' money to fly to some exotic country, perhaps the money would've been better spent if Braden had used it to see how things work in other NWT communities.
We don't need backbench MLAs or any other low-ranking politicians flying here and there. If the NWT's presence is required on the international stage, it should be covered by either the premier, the appropriate cabinet minister, or in the case of the Commonwealth conference, the speaker Paul Delorey - that's it.
Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay says politician travel is the "nature of the beast." We say it's the nature of taxpayers to pressure politicians not to travel unless it benefits the NWT.
Judging by the lack of enthusiasm and input from the public for the recent forum on MLA remuneration, it appears people find them irrelevant. Trips to places like Fiji only confirms it.
The puck drops tonight on a new season of professional hockey. Across Canada, if not North America, fans of the game will tune in to see what a difference a year has made.
Elimination of the centre line, smaller pads for goaltenders, a score or more of retirements and a double dose of rookie talent hold the promise of fast-paced games and high scores.
But all that might not be enough to maintain interest over a season that has far too many games, in a league whose commitment to cracking down on clutching, grabbing and on-ice thuggery remains in question.
Despite the flim-flam from the National Hockey League, no one accepts that expansion into the sunbelt and dilution of the talent pool has improved the game.
Add those issues to the aggravation of a season lost to the lockout and the outrageous cost of a night at the rink, and the NHL has a lot to account for, even with its most committed supporters.
That said, let the games begin. Go Preds Go!
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
To say it was depressing sitting in on the first meeting of the year for the Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association would be the understatement of the year.
Not a single parent attended the meeting. Not one!
That has to be some sort of record, even for Nunavut.
There were seven people at the meeting, all familiar faces who have been handling the vast majority of the workload in every conceivable area for years.
While hockey remains immensely popular among players and fans in the Kivalliq, the game will die (no, that is not an understatement!) if more people don't step up and start giving a little back to a sport which brings so much to our communities.
Numbers shrinking
Slowly, but surely, during the past couple of years, the numbers of the dedicated few are beginning to dwindle.
In fact, while Rankin remains the region's hotbed for fan support, the only hamlet improving its minor hockey program to the point where it's exciting is Baker Lake.
Yes, Repulse Bay was on a major roll with its program the past two years.
But the two award-winning teachers who were behind that have moved back to the south.
Only time will tell if anyone in the community will step up and continue to develop this great program (you busy this year, Rodney?).
While our governing territorial board remains relatively strong, and has the support of Sport Nunavut, it can only do so much.
Hockey has always been - and always will be - dependent on volunteers at the grassroots level.
Make no mistake about it, while the organizational presidents, top players and coaches get all the ink, volunteers are the backbone of minor hockey in every city, town and small community in Canada.
While I am always hesitant to mention names in fear of overlooking others, we have to start seeing people step up to replace the efforts of people who have stepped back from the game recently, such as the departed Repulse teachers, Jim Ramsay and Jim MacDonald in Rankin, John Donovan and Tom Thompson in Iqaluit - the list goes on.
The people who take on the responsibility year after year to run our minor programs - such as Justin Merritt, Ron Roach, Tommy Adams, Donald Clark, Mike Courtney and John Thomas in Iqaluit, Jim Kreuger in Baker and Greg Tanuyak in Chester, just to name a few - deserve the support of their communities.
This is not even to mention the small group of coaches and officials (you know who you are) who come out every year to keep the kids playing across the Kivalliq.
Kids depend on you
Minor hockey is a wonderful program that benefits hundreds of kids in our region every year.
But it is also another area where kids are dependent on adults to provide those benefits.
Take an interest in the youth of your community and the coolest game on ice.
Contact a local minor hockey rep and get involved in your community.
And do it now, before it's too late!
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
So it seems the wheels are in motion (no pun intended) for construction of an all-weather road from Wrigley to Tuktoyaktuk. It's about time and surely Cece McCauley will be pleased, as she has consistently written in her News/North column about getting it done.
It has been said that the project will take between three and five years to complete, so don't look for a drastic reduction in the price of staple food items anytime soon.
Come to think of it, in five year's time inflation will probably have caught up to the highway's projected completion and it's unlikely grocery store prices will vary much from today's going rate.
That said, anything that can bring the cost of milk down to the range of two-litres worth of soda pop is a good thing because healthy choices should not be dictated by price.
With the prospect of a gas pipeline going through the valley, it seems more than just coincidence that a highway project on roughly the same trajectory is being seriously considered. One has to wonder, if the pipeline project falls through, will the highway to Tuk disappear along with it?
Government can say the road to Tuk is a means to solidify Canadian sovereignty in the region but that is merely lip service. As a community, Tuk itself, along with Holman, Sachs Harbour and many others, assert Canadian sovereignty.
In the meantime, the federal government could park a few submarines in the Northwest Passage on a permanent basis to bolster the country's claim of the Arctic archipelago as Canadian territory... at least until the highway is completed.
Closer to home
With each passing day the mercury drops lower and lower, making the plight of the community's homeless that much more dire.
Last week the Drum received a phone call from a concerned elder, wondering what was going to be done to accommodate those without shelter who have taken to camping out in various locations around town.
The Drum has previously addressed this issue and local efforts to deal with the situation. While some headway has been made, a shelter is still a long way from being realized. Of course, money is what's ultimately keeping things in limbo.
Sure, Education, Culture and Employment coughed up some cash for a planning and management position and other funding proposals are under review but yet another year has gone by with lots in the way of planning but little in the way of concrete results.
On the bright side, things are moving forward and there is a glimmer of hope that something more will be provided in the upcoming GNWT budget.
Unfortunately, the budget won't be debated until the beginning of the new year, well into this winter's deep freeze, which will be of little consolation to those sleeping rough around town.
Last year one fellow froze to death in Inuvik. How many more will have to suffer the same fate before we move from the planning phase to actually seeing a shelter built?
Editorial Comment
Andrew Raven
Deh Cho Drum
This Monday, the CBC labour dispute entered its seventh week and perhaps nowhere is the radio silence more deafening than the Northwest Territories.
Faced with a country-wide lockout of 5,000 workers, the national broadcaster has slashed its news coverage and reverted to a Toronto-centred call-in show.
This development means very little for most southern audiences, who have their choice of sources for local news. And studies show those choices are exercised quite often - in most urban centres the CBC television news trailed competitors like CTV and Global.
The Northwest Territories is a different animal though. Aside from Northern News Services - which owns the Deh Cho Drum and five other publications - there are really no other media outlets that cover the entire region.
Getting your hands on copies of daily newspapers like the Globe and Mail or Edmonton Journal is nearly impossible in the smaller communities.
While the strength of newspapers lies in their ability to provide context and detail, the CBC offered Northern residents immediate news - something that is vital in the fast-paced 21st century.
The national broadcaster also provided aboriginal language newscasts, something elders across the Deh Cho have relied on for years.
Most importantly though, the CBC gave the Northwest Territories what elbow-patched journalism professors call "a diversity of media voices." The concept is simple: the more outlets you have, the more stories that make their way into the public domain.
The media machine is driven by a difficult-to-explain concept called "public interest," something that determines which stories make their way into the news and which do not.
Triple-murder-suicide? Certainly newsworthy. Climate change conference? Probably.
Every single reporter, editor and news organization has biases that affect which stories they cover, though most would probably be loathe to admit them.
Like other businesses, we sometimes make mistakes and overlook stories that should be reported.
Nationally, there is a disturbing trend towards media conglomeration. Three major companies - Bell Globe Media, Canwest Global and Quebecor - control most of the daily newspapers and television stations in Canada, which limits the number of stories that get through the net.
The situation in the Northwest Territories is different, thanks to the open minds of the people behind Northern News Services. They believe in letting reporters cover the stories they think will have the most impact on readers.
At their best, reporters are watchdogs. They make sure governments are not wasting tax dollars, police are not crossing the line and public companies are not hiding massive losses on altered balance sheets.
The more people out there wading through the muck, the better.