Pressure on Dehcho leaders is mounting as the decision on a pipeline grows closer.

The federal government has made an offer to the Dehcho - 39,000 square-kilometres of land and $104 million - which is very much like the Tlicho settlement of 39,000 square-kilometres and $154 million. Dehcho leaders are not satisfied.

While there may be some haggling over how many square kilometres and millions of dollars, we can expect the federal government will not be straying far from the settlement model of land and money it has applied successfully to the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu and, most recently, the Dogrib.

Dehcho Grand Chiefs, from former chief Michael Nadli to present chief Herb Norwegian, have been clear the Dehcho want authority over all Dehcho lands, so this latest rejection is really more of the same.

What is different is who's leading the federal government.

The Liberal strategy when reaching an impasse was to walk away from the table and return with something different, even if slightly so.

What will Stephen Harper's Conservative government do? What if they walk away from the table and stay away?

As people in the Delta will tell you, their voices getting louder, there is a $7 billion pipeline at stake.

Business plans are in place, investments made, hopes pinned to a prosperous future, sickening visions of the last pipeline bust looming darkly.

Harper may well invoke national interest and give the green light to pushing the pipeline through Dehcho territory.

What can the Dehcho leaders do?

Manning the barricades and bringing in reporters from the New York Times sounds romantic enough but a much more likely scenario would be a salvo of lawyers into the courts.

To date, the federal bureaucracy has been very careful about avoiding court action, which may indicate a lack of confidence in their case for federal ownership of aboriginal lands. After all, isn't aboriginal ownership the basis for all the other deals?

A court injunction could stop the pipeline in its tracks, pitting Harper and his Conservative Party against the Canadian judiciary, not for first time.

The first indication as to how events might unfold will come with the election of a Grand Chief at the end of June during the annual assembly in Kakisa. Norwegian may be out and a more pipeline-friendly person might be in.

As it stands now, it's anyone's guess. The most important thing is that before voting, the people of the Dehcho understand what's at stake and with whom they're dealing.

Seventy-five per cent. That's how many students aren't graduating from high school in Nunavut.

Look at four kids, any kids. Chances are, only one out of the four will get a high school diploma. What are you doing to make sure it will be your child?

If the territory is set on hiring Nunavummiut instead of importing southerners for top jobs, the high drop-out rate has to change, and soon.

Right now Inuktitut is the language of instruction from kindergarten to Grade 4 (except Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay.) Then it stops. English begins as the sole language of instruction.

Justice Thomas Berger, in his report on the state of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, identified the difficulty of the switch to English as the start of the slide into incompetence in either Inuktitut or English.

Student success rates in the two Kitikmeot centres of Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay where English is the language of instruction in the primary grades are no better, mainly because Inuktitut is still the language used at home.

Berger concludes, based on the studies by education experts, the only solution is to give a solid grounding in both languages from day one, right through to Grade 12.

But that's going to take more Inuktitut teachers. Only 35 per cent are Inuktitut speaking, a number that is going down rather than up. The government has a plan to train more Inuktitut-speaking teachers and offer more classes on the language at higher grades.

Education Minister Ed Picco says the education system is working; it's the social problems that are the real culprits to the high drop-out rate.

It's true the lack of housing is crippling the ability of parents to create a proper learning environment. It's also true that the only experience many parents have with the education system is the dysfunctional model of residential schools. There the negative equation was an education gained, self-respect lost.

So with the history of education in the North, the overcrowded housing and subsequent social ills, the cards are stacked against anything changing soon.

Solutions begin with the recognition of the problems. Parents must recognize that despite their experience, education is not just a way to deal with non-Inuit society, it's a way to a better relationship with the past, the future and their children.

Politicians must mobilize and educate the federal government on the benefits of bilingual Inuktitut and English education.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

It's good see Canada Post take the first step in providing an Inuktitut-speaking employee in Rankin Inlet.

Canada Post is advertising for an on-call worker in Rankin who speaks both Inuktitut and English.

On-call workers are used when full-time employees are not available due to sickness, holidays or, on occasion, training.

Many of the past reasons given for not having an Inuktitut-speaking employee in Rankin were valid ones.

But that doesn't change the fact Inuktitut is the main language in Nunavut and the service should be provided.

It's not as good as a full-time job, but the person hired for the on-call position will gain valuable experience and, hopefully, will be able to step in when the day comes that there's staff turnover at the facility.

While there's little doubt media attention played a role in the new job being posted (Posting Its Defense, Kivalliq News, May 10, and Speaking Different Languages, Nunavut News/North, May 8), Canada Post still deserves full marks for proving it does listen to the voice of its customers.

It's not the permanent solution Rankin Mayor Lorne Kusugak has been fighting for the past few years, but it's a compromise and a step forward in relations between the two sides.

The Rankin post office is exactly the type of situation where media coverage benefits the people of a community, but those days may soon come to an end if Joe Public doesn't let his voice be heard.

More and more journalists in Canada and the United States are being pressured by law-enforcement agencies to reveal their sources in major stories.

The latest assault on the freedom of the press is a subpoena to San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams to give testimony before a grand jury on how they obtained leaked testimony from the grand jury in the Barry Bonds steroid scandal.

The string of stories were mainly responsible for the best-selling book, Game of Shadows.

Not exactly life-threatening stuff.

So why should the people of the Kivalliq region care about such things?

Simple. If law enforcement continues to harass journalists into revealing their sources, nobody will talk to reporters who are doing anything deeper than a feature on hamlet days.

There will be nobody left to inform the public of wrongdoing at any level.

Think of every person you know in a position of power, trust or high finance.

Would you have faith in each and every one of them to always do the right thing, should the day ever come they have no fear of being exposed?

The assault on the media is not just an attack on reporters.

It's an outrageous attack on the people's right to know.

This is not a battle the media

cannot win alone. It needs the public's help in sending a clear message to government that such action will not be tolerated.

Make no mistake about it, when it comes to information on wrongdoing, there is nothing golden about silence.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum

In the past few weeks, this little town has seen its fair share of drug busts.

I find myself congratulating the RCMP officers of Inuvik, as well as the officers from Yellowknife on a job well done.

The recent drug seizures have seemed to make our community happy.

But since I took over this position, every drug-related news release sent by the detachment has involved marijuana.

Yes, it would seem that the sweet leaf has been the primary target in the war on drugs here in the land of the midnight sun.

While I'm sure there are many congratulatory high-fives and handshakes going around the Inuvik detachment, I can't help but wonder when our population will see another crack bust.

You all remember crack, right? The malicious older brother of cocaine.

Last year, this town was rocked by this powerful drug.

In 2006, it almost looks like the crack problem has been eradicated by the power of the police.

Or maybe it has just gone deeper underground, and is not as noticeable.

I don't want to seem like I'm sitting on the fence when it comes to drugs, so I'll say it straight out: crack is a bigger threat to our community than pot ever could be.

Lasse the police dog did a great job cutting off teens from their daily doobies.

I'm sure that town munchie merchants have noticed a down-shift in their midnight snackers who wish to spend all their money on brightly coloured licorice and pop rocks.

I want to know how many shifty, neck-scratching crack addicts were brought into custody?

How many other barricaded doors of crack dealers were kicked in?

I find it hard to believe that our crack problem is over and done with.

This drug is powerfully addictive and doesn't disappear after a couple of busts.

The police can't do it alone, however. We must all be strong enough to stand up to the mighty "rock."

I would die a happy man if I was one of the people who saw crack cocaine disappear for good from Inuvik.

We are developing into a strong and independent community, and crack and other illegal drugs are a black eye on a great track record.

Hopefully as I write this, it wouldn't surprise me if the brave officers at the cop shop are planning their next big crackdown.

If people are so eager to call the police about pot-related crimes, they should also be calling about crack dens.

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum

It may be one small step for drug dealers, but it's one scary leap for residents of the Deh Cho.

News that RCMP officers arrested Edmonton men for trafficking crack cocaine in Wrigley is scary stuff.

RCMP stated that this is the first time that suspected cocaine traffickers have been charged within the Fort Simpson RCMP detachment area. Police believe that cocaine dealers have travelled into the communities to sell their wares.

Previous instances of cocaine in the communities have stemmed from people bringing it in for their own personal use, said the RCMP.

Any illusion that the Deh Cho was sealed in a protective bubble from hard drug dealers because of geographical location has been shattered.

It can be easy to ignore signs of increasingly scary drugs infiltrating into the communities, but a case like this brings drug dealing into the spotlight.

It would probably keep many people, especially parents, up at night if they knew about all the types of drugs that may already be available in communities or could easily make inroads.

This case illustrates the lengths that drug dealers will go to find a market.

It has to be wondered what kind of a profit you would need to make it financially sound to travel all the way from Edmonton to the Deh Cho to deal drugs.

Frighteningly, someone seems to have thought it was worth their while to make the trip and maybe it was.

It is disturbing to look at the number of people that the RCMP have so far identified as customers. Wrigley is home to fewer than 200 people, so having 14 or 15 members of the population on cocaine is not a happy percentage. Of course there may be even more users that haven't been identified so far.

The RCMP say they suspect the suspects were dealing in other locations in the Northwest Territories. Because their investigation is ongoing they can't go into details, but there is, of course, the possibility that some or all of these other locations are also in the Deh Cho.

There is one bright lining inside of this very dark and stormy cloud.

The fact that it was community members who took the initiative to come forward and provide the RCMP information about the drug activities is commendable.

Everyone needs to play a part in helping to drug-proof their communities.

People who have lived in a community all their lives or for a long time will logically have a better insight into local activities than visiting or temporary RCMP officers.

No one ever wants to be labelled as a snitch or an informant, but sometimes if might be necessary for the sake of the community as a whole.

Of course it is particularly hard if family members are involved and in small, close knit communities this is a likely possibility.

But messages need to be sent to drug dealers and to the youth. They need to know that using drugs is a bad choice and that drugs won't be tolerated in the Deh Cho.