As City Hall and Mayor Gord Van Tighem stall on facing up to the deaths of two firefighters, the surviving firefighters have a very good case for shutting the city down.

Last week in Yellowknifer, the firefighters went public with their frustrations over the lack of progress on the safety orders issued by the Workers' Compensation Board. The orders, issued in March, a year after firefighters Cyril Fyfe and Kevin Olson died in a small shed fire, have gone nowhere.

It seems the implementation of such orders can be negotiated with the WCB without consulting the workers involved.

Ignoring his responsibilities as a CEO, the mayor has left the handling of the safety orders and WCB charges against the city in the hands of city administration.

This is the same city administration that reacted to the WCB charges by promoting the deputy chief to acting chief. The same deputy chief the WCB ordered to get recertified. This is the same deputy chief the WCB charged in the deaths of the two firefighters.

So it is no surprise that little has been done on the safety orders and that firefighters are frustrated.

In being asked to fix what went wrong, the acting fire chief is being forced to admit there were serious problems with fire hall leadership, which set the stage for the deaths of two firefighters. This places him in a conflict, because it undermines his defence to the WCB charges and exposes the case against the city.

By saying nothing and doing less, mayor and council are aiding and abetting this dereliction of duty. It's called protecting your ass.

What if firefighters finally say enough is enough? What if they refuse to work in unsafe conditions? The grounds for such action are obvious: Their direct supervisor is facing charges in the death of two of their fellow workers and is, according to the WCB experts, unqualified to be the fire department chief until he receives re-training. Who could deny they have ample grounds? What person in authority would order them back to work without some immediate changes and commitments to work quickly on other changes?

When the fire chief in Fort Simpson said enough is enough this past winter, Simpson's mayor and council were fired by the Minister of MACA and new elections ordered.

We can certainly do without mayor and council for a period of time, but how long would our insurance companies let us go without fire protection? Eight hours? Two hours?

As this indefensible situation drags on, the more dangerous it gets.

Right now the city's fate remains in the hands of frustrated firefighters who have not forgotten the deaths of Fyfe and Olson.

In the official silence, firefighters have been left to accept responsibility, which is a burden that rightfully belongs with a city administration and council bent on escaping responsibility.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

It's starting to look like there was a silver lining to Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell's Liberal Party being ousted in the last election.

Who knows if complacency had set in during life at the top, but Lindell has been more outspoken during the past few months than she has been for quite some time.

Eventually this will pay dividends for Nunavut, even though she's up against a stacked deck and dealing with a political joker in Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice.

Prentice's decision to not inform members of the Aboriginal Affairs Committee that he would not be attending a scheduled appearance is the latest in a growing snub of all things pertaining to the North.

Now, to be fair, it's been a busy month on Parliament Hill and we're sure Prentice was tied up with important issues at the time.

Still, the four seconds it would have taken him to ask an assistant to make a phone call would have bought him some goodwill among committee members and it's starting to look like he's going to need all the goodwill he can get his hands on.

What's impressed us the most about (in our books) the new-and-improved Lindell, is not just that she's become more vocal, but also her change in political style.

Lindell hasn't been speaking just to hear herself talk.

She's launched a perpetual stream of well-researched, insightful and articulate dialogue towards the minister's office. And, she is finally showing the willingness to roll up her sleeves and get a little on the down-and-dirty side when the need arises.

Lindell's comments towards Prentice this past week, while polite and professional, literally dripped with Northern sarcasm.

And, the grave misgivings she expressed towards future dealings between the minister and the Aboriginal Affairs Committee is the type of stuff that gets your attention.

It's early in the game for Prentice to be suffering from a bout of arrogance, but that almost seems the case.

Most alarming is that this government, at times, seems to equate concessions given to First Nations as payment to all aboriginals.

In short, it sometimes appears that all aboriginal claims and rights look the same to Prentice, but he's yet to come up with anything even remotely resembling a Nunavut equivalent to the money-making factories (casinos) we see dotting aboriginal land across the rest of the country.

Premier Paul Okalik, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Kaludjak and outgoing Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Jose Kusugak maintain Prentice is a minister who can be worked with and the Tory government still holds promise for Nunavut.

However, unless they know something the rest of us aren't privy to, we've yet to see any tangible evidence that this is going to be a Northern- or Inuit-friendly government.

In fact, if we could shovel what we've heard from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister Prentice during the past few months into bags, we could cultivate a few nice lawns in Nunavut.

Hopefully, Lindell will continue to politely remind the Tories that we have no use for fertilizer in the North.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum

A spring cleanup at the Inuvik Youth Centre this past weekend proved to be a good time to brainstorm new ideas for the facility.

The centre's chairperson, Martin Landry, wants to develop its backyard.

It seems that the secluded area has become a haven for homeless people and unruly teens looking for a place to hang out and drink.

It is understandable that the homeless don't have a lot of places to go, and people are entitled to do what they want with their lives.

I just don't think the youth of Inuvik need to leave piles of smashed bottles behind a public building.

After the crew of volunteers had sorted through and cleared out the area, the lot didn't look too bad. A bit of landscaping, brush-cutting and maybe some gravel would really change that little area for the better.

Martin had a good point when he said the lot would need to have a fence to keep it clean.

So after a discussion about the feasibility of fencing the backyard, he concluded that the fence would need to be higher than the adjacent utilidor. The high fence would keep people who don't belong in the yard at bay.

While some may not think a tall fence is necessary, keep in mind those people who spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon picking up the shards of discarded Private Stock bottles.

I'm sure they would enjoy the privacy and avoid having to sift through debris and broken glass on a daily basis.

I would like to take this opportunity to send a message to those people who choose to ditch their bottles in the yard behind the youth centre, as well as other locations around town. Dump the left-overs into a recycling bin instead.

Camping season is quickly approaching, and that means people will be piling into the parks that lie just down the highway.

Personally, I can't wait to unfold my tent and try to start a weak fire in one of those fire pits.

I never got the hang of starting those fires, but have not resorted to starting one with gasoline.

But no matter how hard it is to get a campfire going, we all know that cutting down trees is illegal. Just a friendly reminder to bring your own firewood along.

I hope you're all enjoying the barbecue season. I don't have the luxury of firing up the grill myself.

So If you're cooking up a meal and you see me walking by, I wouldn't say no to a burger or two.

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum

"If you build it they will come."

That is the line that Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, hears coming out of his cornfield in the movie Field of Dreams.

The message from the voice leads Kinsella to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. Other characters in the movie think he is a bit crazy, but he goes ahead and follows his dream.

In the North, a situation with surprisingly similar parallels to the movie is being played out, but instead of the structure in question being a baseball diamond, this time it's a bridge.

The Deh Cho Bridge across the Mackenzie River has become the stuff of dreams in the North, particularly for those living in the Deh Cho. If a Hollywood director was going to make a movie about the project it might be called "Bridge of Dreams."

The idea of a bridge across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence has captured the imaginations of people for decades. Just looking at the illustration of the possible bridge design is enough to start anyone dreaming of a time when the river break-up and freeze-up wouldn't cut off access to Yellowknife.

But the future of the bridge is being called into question because of rising building costs.

Every estimate seems to be significantly higher than the last.

From those sitting on the Yellowknife side of the conundrum, there might be less of an outcry if the project gets shelved. They are already living in a big city where supplies might run a little low when the ferry is shut down, but products and services are still available. The only major hardship seems to be postponing driving trips to the south for a while.

On the other side of the river, the picture is a bit different.

If the bridge is built, surely people from all of the Deh Cho communities would welcome not being cut off from one of their nearest large centres. It would mean a lot to be able to reach Yellowknife without having to fly.

Of course, most people would still have to find a way out of their own communities that would be cut off by thawing winter roads and ice bridges, but getting onto the main highway system can be small potatoes while on the quest for goods and services when compared to the cost of a full return flight to Yellowknife.

Now, just like many people questioned Kinsella's sanity when he built the baseball diamond in the movie, many people are wondering if maybe the Deh Cho bridge is a bridge too far.

There is no question that the bridge would be nice to have, but how much is it worth?

As the construction price climbs, is there a limit where people would rather deal with break-up and freeze-up instead of seeing money being spent on the bridge?

There is a question that needs to be answered.

Is this a time to follow dreams or to keep heads firmly attached to shoulders and out of the clouds?

In the May 18 edition of the Inuvik Drum, in the photo feature entitled "Hats off to grads," Miki O'Kane was incorrectly identified in a photo. We apologize for any confusion or embarrassment this may have caused.