If a person who had raped a child moved into your neighbourhood, wouldn't you want to know?

Residents of Iqaluit have been given such a forewarning by the RCMP.

The police issued a notice nearly two weeks ago that a 26-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting two girls, ages 4 and 5, was coming to town.

Jason Hikoalok committed the revolting crimes in Cambridge Bay in June 1998 while he was 18.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison. He showed no indication of being sorry for his crimes prior to his 1998 sentencing. His deeply disturbing statements to a justice official included, "I really don't give a shit," and "I don't care."

Also distressing is the fact that he didn't finish counselling programs over the past eight years.

But now he has served his time and he's been released. Upon finding out he was bound for Iqaluit, the police judiciously decided to notify the public that he was being released into the community.

Canadians highly value their right to privacy, but this is not an unlimited right. It is outweighed by the right of others to live peacefully and securely.

Hikoalok's entitlement to privacy now takes a back seat to the safety of children in Iqaluit, or in whichever Nunavut community he chooses to reside.

We can sympathize with the trauma he experienced as a child, when his father murdered his mother and he apparently found her body.

This does not, however, justify Hikoalok's grievous actions against others.

Perhaps he will never harm anyone again, but nobody can know for sure.

In a territory where the rates of violent crime and suicide are already troubling, effective measures must be taken.

Those measures should be lawful, however.

There is some question of whether the RCMP went too far in detaining Hikoalok when he landed in Iqaluit.

Justice Earl Johnson didn't offer an outright indictment of how Hikoalok was treated, but he was critical of Corrections Canada for failing to take a "proactive approach" to Hikoalok's release.

Indeed, it has become clear that there was a lack of preparation and communication among government agencies prior to having a sexual offender set free.

Nevertheless, one has to wonder just how much really could have been done to ready any Nunavut community for Hikoalok's presence when the territory sorely lacks resources in social services.

The outcry from Iqaluit's residents and community organizations shows that many people are not prepared to accept the risk he carries with him. Yet we must bear in mind that Jason Hikoalok has to go somewhere.

He has some control over where he will go next, but he should expect publicity and a less-than-welcoming response to hang over his head for a long time to come.

The burden of stopping the flow of illegal booze falls on the RCMP, who must walk a fine line between enforcing the law and building trust with the people they serve.

Last month those two goals clashed when an RCMP officer in Norman Wells was accused of overstepping his authority during searches for alcohol at the airport.

In one case, a 12-year-old boy on his way home to Colville Lake was detained and searched.

Saying they were acting on a tip, police pulled the boy into a room for questioning and searched his belongings. The boy did not have a guardian present at the time.

Police have the authority to question or search a minor without a guardian present, provided they ask the youth for consent.

However, what 12-year-old will say no to a police officer? Would that child be able to understand his rights and demand that a guardian be present?

Validity of a previous search, coincidentally of the boy's sister who was travelling with her newborn, was also questioned. Neither search yielded any alcohol

It makes one wonder how solid the tips were.

According to Cpl. Donna Rorison, ranking officer in Norman Wells, the detachment has not received any complaints about the searches.

However, the 12-year-old's mother has complained publicly through the newspaper. It's important that police meet with the mom to address her complaints.

It's a small step that will rebuild a level of trust between the Colville family and RCMP. We also encourage police to review their procedures for verifying tips so no more angry moms phone the newspaper complaining about questionable searches.

It turns out that a little cash can be a big incentive and despite the NWT's widespread problem with littering, beverage containers are now not likely to show up along our roads and curbsides.

Out of 29.5 million containers sold since Nov. 1, 2005, 23 million have been returned to local depots -- that's an impressive 78 per cent return rate.

Yellowknife accounted for 9.7 million of those containers, with the rest coming from the remaining 25 communities with recycling depots.

Too bad it took so long to get the program running. Changing the collective mindset towards creating less waste now might expand to include widespread recycling of paper and other products.

And who knows, perhaps the public conscious may be heightened to tackle the pervasive litter problem plaguing our communities, making the great white North once more a pristine place to live.

The government must remember that success breeds success: what's next on the recycling list?

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

We give full marks to Hockey Nunavut president Dale Smith and his new board members for acting quickly at their September annual general meeting in suspending a Gjoa Haven coach for two years.

However, it was ridiculous for Hockey Nunavut to have taken seven months to deal with the situation, and now it's going to drag on even longer with word the coach is appealing the suspension. In his appeal, the coach said he was smoking a cigarette.

Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association president Justin Merritt says he notified Sport Nunavut at the same time he notified Hockey Nunavut of the incident - three days after the volunteer coach and chaperon was walked in on while reportedly smoking marijuana in a Rankin Inlet school.

The fact Sport Nunavut was notified does not change the fact Hockey Nunavut was far too slow in addressing the matter.

That being said, we would like to hear why the department overseeing sports in our territory felt no need to question Hockey Nunavut's inaction regarding the matter.

It would almost lead one to assume Sport Nunavut has no problem with a person getting high while being entrusted with the care of a group of young athletes, even though we know that's not the case.

We had another incident arise from Nunavut's hockey championships this past year, when a lack of clear communication led to coaches trying to bend the rules to strengthen their team for the Arctic Winter Games.

This time around, Hockey Nunavut, Sport Nunavut and the coaching staff of Team Nunavut's entry at the Atlantic-Hockey North Junior 'C' championship in Nova Scotia looked the other way while the same coach travelled to the tournament as a player. There's no doubt a legal point can be made that, at the time of the junior tournament, no official suspension had been issued by Hockey Nunavut.

But, while that is a legitimate argument in a court of law, in the world of right and wrong it is a lame excuse.

How many reading this would allow your children to continue travelling to sporting events if you thought, for one second, any of the people entrusted with their care were getting high on drugs?

There is no way this person should have been selected to the junior team with the coaching staff, Hockey Nunavut and Sport Nunavut all aware of what happened.

What message does that send to the other players on the junior team?

Why even bother having rules and codes of conduct to begin with?

Every team wants to be competitive when it travels to big tournaments.

But, putting the team above the rules of the sport and the conduct of those involved with it has got to stop.

Hopefully, the new Hockey Nunavut board will continue to deal with all disciplinary matters in an expedient manner.

And, hopefully, Sport Nunavut will make a point of following up on any case it's aware of that is not being acted upon in a timely fashion.

Finally, while it's tough to feel sorry for anyone who is believed to have made such a dopey decision, taking six months to hand out a suspension is also unfair to the coach involved.

All in all, the situation was handled poorly and we can only hope the parties involved get it right the next time around.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum

I want to start this week off by congratulating the newly elected town council and our new Mayor Derek Lindsay on starting their term this week.

They certainly had their hands full on Monday night with a large group of presenters and interested public attending their regular council meeting.

After hearing presentations about new libraries, the dangers of the sex industry and some pressure about the community capacity building fund, I was happy to see the group of councillors take it all in stride.

The new council and mayor have been put in charge of one of the more desirable communities in the North.

A full recreation complex complete with skating rink, curling ice, pool, squash courts, fitness centre, a brand new college, two new schools on the way, a planned concrete skatepark, fully gravelled walking trails and numerous playgrounds are only some of the benefits of living in Inuvik.

Wow, Inuvik has it really good. After nearly a decade of planning and building towards our dreams, we have done pretty well for ourselves. Now all we need is a pipeline to run through the land, so we can start paying for all these frills and goodies.

Mayor Lindsay has been given the engineer's hat and is now in front of a train that is moving at the speed of sound.

I'm not sure what our debts are, or who we really owe at this point. All I know is that I can live comfortably.

Maybe we should be concerned with more than just improving the quality of life. I'm happy that we have a mayor that wants to keep improving the basics, like our roads.

I am confident that our new town council will bring our fine community out of debt. Or at least, cut it down a bit.

All I hear about these days is how we should prepare for an influx of people and a larger population in town.

One presenter on Monday night said we could expect almost 1,500 new people coming into Inuvik in the next five years.

Maybe there will be a day when I wake up and see a booming town, where the streets are flooded with strangers and industry workers filling our bars.

I don't think we will see any real development in the pipeline for a while yet, so I will stay confident that my parking space on main street is safe for now.

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum

It probably happens everywhere, but living in the North seems to make people more aware of just how vulnerable they are to the whims of nature.

The quick closure of the ferries for Fort Simpson and Wrigley is a perfect example. I was one of those people who was caught a bit off guard when the final day came on Thursday.

Judging by past precedent and by the amount of ice flowing past Fort Simpson, I knew the ferries couldn't have long to go, so on Wednesday, Nov. 1, I drove aboard the MV Lafferty and headed off to visit Fort Liard. My reasoning for the trip was that I needed to get to at least one community before being stuck for close to a month in Fort Simpson.

I hadn't planned on staying overnight but it became a necessity so it was Thursday morning before I hit the road again for the journey home.

Getting closer to Fort Simpson, I did what most people do, which is judge which ferry I was likely to make -- given my current position, relative speed, road conditions and determination. It's the popular game of deciding exactly how fast you have to go to be able to drive onto the ferry instead of arriving to find it half way across the river.

I aimed for the 1:30 p.m. ferry. I never imagined that I might miss not only the 1:30 ferry but all ferries until the service started to run again in the spring.

Arriving at precisely 1:32 p.m., according to my truck's clock, I expected to the find the ferry waiting and drive on. Instead I found one other vehicle waiting at the stop sign and the ferry at the other side. No problem I thought and settled down to wait. I was still waiting at 3:45 p.m. when the ferry finally started to move again after having the rock removed from its rudder system.

I, and probably everyone else in the other vehicles who arrived behind me, spent a lot of time watching the river fill up with ice before my eyes and wondered if I would have to find a different means of crossing. The people in the line up of 43 vehicles on the other side probably had similar thoughts about what they would do if their vehicles didn't make it across.

The lesson to be learned by all involved is that you never can tell what will happen when the weather and Mother Nature are involved. There is always something unexpected that will keep you on your toes and it is better to err on the side of caution.

Air travel is a way of life for many residents of small communities in the North. For those communities such as Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake that don't have year-round road access, the ability to take planes is doubly important. Residents of the North should be able to feel safe in the knowledge that when they are boarding planes, they are in the hands of pilots who know how to deal with northern conditions.Gravel airstrips are found in many communities and snow and ice are simply winter realities.

Southern-based airlines who want to fly to the North need to take an example from the recent plane crash in Trout Lake to ensure that something similar or worse doesn't happen in the future.

Incorrect information appeared in the Nov. 6 issue of News/North. In an article about Holman's Ulu Awards, ("Sharp students win 'Ulu award' p.1) teacher Mark Lebourdais was quoted as saying "Ulukhaktok means the place where tools are made." In fact, he said Ulukhaktok means "the place where material is found to make tools."

Also, in an article about Fort McPherson's alcohol restrictions meeting ("Alcohol restrictions coming" p.15) the date of the meeting should have read Oct. 30.News/North apologizes for the errors.