Friday, October 7, 2005
No need to rush decision on council pay hike
That would be a mistake.
Last Monday a seven-member committee led by former councillor Ben McDonald tabled recommendations for an increase in council salaries. While the proposals have received coverage in this newspaper and other city media, there's been precious little opportunity for public debate.
Yes, people can address council, if they contact city hall by 10 a.m. Tuesday. That's not good enough considering the report is not yet available for public viewing. Council shouldn't be surprised if no one shows up to make a presentation, but it would be a mistake to interpret that as an indication of public support.
Most people simply haven't had enough time to consider the implications of the report, one of which is a tax increase.
Voters need time to read the recommendations, consider the role they want councillors to play and what that's worth, and then provide informed opinion.
This feedback is essential before council makes a motion approving any of the recommendations. Tuesday's vote doesn't final approval on any pay changes, however, council will be proceeding without all the information it needs.
The committee consulted members of council, read economic statistics and surveyed seven communities across Canada, but did not meet with taxpaying Yellowknifers.
That's a terrible oversight. The territorial committee struck to review MLA pay invited public comment and held meetings to see what NWT residents had to say. City council should do the same and schedule a public hearing before considering the report.
A key question the public must be asked is when a possible pay raise should take effect - Jan. 1 as recommended by the committee or after the next election?
After all, it was just three years ago that a similar committee recommended council pay be reviewed before each election, not at the whim of council members.
There's plenty of time to voice your opinion on this issue. Yellowknifer's voice mail poll is open until 3 p.m. today. So call 920-4298 to vote and leave a comment. Do you believe a 35 per cent for council members is warranted? Results will be printed in Monday's edition of News/North.
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
This week former premier Stephen Kakfwi, negotiator for the K'Asho Got'ine Dene of Fort Good Hope, said he thought the pipeline project was "doomed to failure." The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines "doomed" as such: "consigned to misfortune or destruction."
Geez, not very optimistic. Sort of the same kind of optimism one might possess if staring down the Four Horsemen on doomsday. How grim.
But whatever doom and gloom may be on the horizon, take comfort in the fact Inuvik made the New York Times last week in a story entitled "Demands by Native Canadians Delay Start of Ambitious Pipeline Project." With reports that Imperial Oil just asked for $2 billion worth of concessions from Ottawa, I guess somebody forgot to tell the Times about big oil's "demands."
Switch over to Reuters news service out of London, England and its pipeline article's lead is, "Canadian governments may offer to broker a deal between major oil companies and native groups in the Arctic to push forward a pipeline..."
Two things here: aboriginal groups in the Arctic portion of the territories are more-or-less on-side with respect to the project; and, secondly, haven't the "Canadian governments" been trying to broker a deal all along?
Then take into consideration that hearings for the project - expected to take two years - have yet to get underway and with all that doom and gloom in the media on the subject, one wonders if it will even get to that stage.
A little closer to home
Thinking about future projects for Inuvik, Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland won't go so far as to say that a new high school would be pushed ahead of a 2007/2008 SAMS replacement in the capital plan however he did admit that, "Discussions are underway about the plan and perhaps dealing with both schools (Samuel Hearne and Sir Alexander Mackenzie) as one complex."
Roland added that a lot depended on the future life-span of a repaired SHSS but as things stood, SAMS remained on deck.
He also stuck to the Department of Public Works' December target date for getting the high school ready for students despite the contractor's confidence the school would could be opened for classes at the end of October.
Play it safe this holiday
With Thanksgiving and a long weekend to look forward to, Inuvik RCMP phoned the Drum late in the day to day that "Operation Impact" would be going into effect. So drivers should be on their best behaviour as there will be a zero-tolerance for speeding, traffic infractions and, of course, impaired driving.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Halloween takes place at the end of this month, and we already know that there is no Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. But it's kind of fun to indulge in fantasy sometimes, isn't it?
Some of life's mysteries - Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and "Elvis Lives" - are easier explained than others, like UFOs, Stonehenge, the pyramids of Egypt and the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa.
When word started spreading in Fort Simpson that an elk was shot in the North Nahanni, some people reacted with disbelief. That must be fiction of the local kind, right? No, actually it's reality.
In addition to the wayward Northern elk, there have been plenty of sightings of white-tail deer in the Deh Cho over the past few years, particularly around the Fort Simpson airport.
In addition, bison, common in Fort Providence and Fort Liard, keep on winding their way towards Yellowknife on Hwy. 3. Some animals are obviously expanding their habitat in a northerly direction. So why is that?
Well, that leads to another myth versus reality question: Could it be global warming or climate change? It seems the majority of scientists now agree that climate change is taking place.
Average temperatures are inching up in many locales and the polar ice cap continues to melt at an alarming rate. The hurricane season has been more intense than usual in the Atlantic, but, as some weather observers have noted, there have been fewer storms in the Asian Pacific.
Some experts claim it's all part of a natural cycle. They often point to the panic over another ice age predicted back in the 1970s. Others are adamant that human beings and their pollutants are responsible for most of the changes in our environment. So that debate rages on, but we are clearly seeing signs that wildlife are adapting to something - in some cases it may be due to intrusion on their previous habitat. Humans are, without a doubt, displacing animals in some areas.
Before signing off on the weird animal stories, biologist Nic Larter mentioned that a hunter recently submitted a moose jaw that had nine teeth! What's next? Somebody will bring in undisputable proof of the bush man or a sasquatch? Elvis, are you out there?
A thousand words...
In this wonderful age of computers and digital devices, Deh Cho residents are sending in more and more photos to the Drum for publication. Those pictures are very much appreciated and we will make every effort to use at least some of them.
While not at all wanting to sound ungrateful, just keep in mind that we are a newspaper that focuses on people, so try to make your relative or friend prominent in the picture. Scenic photos are seldom used in the Drum. They appear mostly in News/North each week.
Please keep the pictures coming!
To clarify the story 'Dividing the pie,' published in last week's Drum, all Metis in the region are represented by the Inuvik Metis Council; some members of the Metis council are not Gwich'in beneficiaries and therefore not included in the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim, contrary to what was stated in the story. The Inuvik Drum regrets any confusion this may have caused.