Features

Residents and visitors alike take delight in the Frame Lake Trail.

It's one of the city's treasures, a quick, safe and quiet link for pedestrians and cyclists between downtown and the suburbs, a safe and easy introduction to the wilderness that surrounds Yellowknife.

It's not the only trail, but for most of the past decade it has been the backbone of a system that is struggling to grow.

City Hall has plans to make significant additions that would make it possible to walk along the rock bluffs overlooking Great Slave Lake, from Negus Point to the boat launch on Back Bay, or traverse the wetlands between Rotary Club Centennial Park and the Woodyard.

In all, $1.3 million is budgeted. That's a significant amount, but the plans are only on paper, and are part of other, larger projects. Mostly, trail plans are contingent - on volunteer efforts and land selections by the Akaitcho, cleanup of Tin Can Hill, development of a casino on Twin Pine Hill, construction of a road between Kam Lake and the airport.

There are many good reasons to push the trail plans forward, from improving quality of life for city residents and reducing reliance on motor vehicles, to providing a safe route for long distance runners.

Up to now, the necessary political will has been absent, a situation that interested observers attribute to the previous council's lack of interest. A change in emphasis is anticipated by trail supporters when the green-leaning councillors elected last fall take their first cut at drafting the city budget.

What's needed is a plan that pulls all the bits and pieces together and sets a firm agenda and budget for achieving each new step.

There always seemed to be something a bit understated about the decision to name the second, smaller ice rink at the Multiplex arena after local hockey icon Shorty Brown.

The naming of the rink came with an agreement between the city and Diavik Diamond Mines, who offered their services as project manager during its construction.

While Diavik's contribution proved invaluable in getting the rink built under budget and ahead of schedule, the name of the two-pad arena itself - the Multiplex - is a throwaway dreamed up by city planners who couldn't think of anything better.

Yellowknifers were stuck with the Multiplex moniker after the city failed to find a corporate sponsor willing to cough up $500,000 to name it themselves.

Four years ago, back when Shorty was still alive, Yellowknifer conducted a reader poll, most of whom chose to name the arena after Brown.

Now that Shorty is dead and honours for the hockey-loving philanthropist continue to pour in, including a jersey and a salute from the visiting Edmonton Oilers, it seems fitting to revisit the Multiplex name and consider renaming the entire building after him. Who else contributed as much to healthy choices for youth?

His skate-lending program, which saw thousands of skates distributed across the North, his love of the city, and the hundreds who loved him, makes his name the most suitable replacement for Multiplex.

While Diavik should be first in line to attach their name to the Shorty Brown (Diavik) Arena, considering their contribution, others may well line up to share the honour for a $500,000 donation. In any event, the name Shorty Brown crowning the twin pads would honor the city.

When it comes to emergencies you can never be too prepared.

In Fort Simpson a measure of the community's preparedness was taken during the live emergency response exercise held on Sept. 13.

During the event that ran for approximately three hours, a variety of organizations and departments had to deal with a scenario as if it were happening in real life. The scenario involved a mid-air crash of two airplanes.

One airplane carrying 17 passengers crashed alongside a runway at the airport while the second with three passengers was discovered shortly afterwards at a location down the highway. Emergency responders arriving at the site were met with victims: high school students given a variety of injuries to act out.

Things became more complicated when the second crash sparked a forest fire that moved towards the village, threatening inhabitants. To make a bad situation worse the smoke from the fire led to a closure of the highway cutting off victims from the health centre.

While parts of the scenario such as the forest fire sound a bit far fetched the reality is that any part of that mock disaster could happen, and when situations go wrong they often do so spectacularly.

Although no one wants to see what a real emergency situation of this kind would look like, residents in Fort Simpson can be comforted in the knowledge that the village is well prepared.

Throughout the entire event responding agencies ranging from airport staff to the members of the volunteer fire department acted in a professional manner treating the scenario like it was actually happening. All the organizations involved deserve a round of applause for the effort and energy they put into the exercise to make it as realistic as possible.

But even with evaluators judging their performance, responders managed a few lighthearted moments revealing their comfort level in their skills.

At one point a volunteer firefighter asked high school students pretending to be crash victims what was supposed to be wrong with them. When he heard the answer (impaled by shrapnel from the plane), he smiled warmly at the student, who was by then strapped to a spinal board, and commented that that was pretty serious. Having filled the momentary pause in the action, the firefighter helped lift the student onto a stretcher and into an ambulance to be taken to the health centre.

The village is fortunate to have so many qualified people who are committed to ensuring the safety of residents and willing to spend half a day away from their other duties to practise their responses. All participants gave valuable efforts whether they were in the field or in offices.

Russ Head, a security and protective services officer with the airport division, made a valuable observation about the importance of having the whole village pull together to work in the exercise. Small communities in the North need to be able to count on their own resources because in the case of a real emergency outside help will take time to arrive.

The emergency response exercise showed that while the village still has a few areas to smooth out where responsibilities overlap, overall they are just as prepared to handle an emergency as any southern community.

Residents should be proud.

I don't mean to pick on those who are obviously already down, but we need to curb the temptation to light up and start smoking cigarettes.

I was walking through the halls of Samuel Hearne last week when a student came up to me and told me he wanted to see something done about the high number of cigarette smoking youth in town.

It's true, we have a situation on our hands. Somewhere down the line, our kids started smoking and now the habit is too much to put aside any longer.

Luckily, I haven't started the filthy habit of cigarettes, I hope I never do. All I need is the support given to me by my closest friends. They all smoke and I feel good for not being in their club.

Tobacco tried to get me at the young age of 13, but I steered clear with the help of some concerned family members.

As adults, we need to set a good example for the youth of tomorrow.

There are a lot of young people in this town who don't light up and they seem fine. Almost ahead of the game I'd say.

There are posters and ads all over that attempt to stop the smoking fad in our younger people.

Information is given at young ages about the dangers of smoking. Maybe it's working. I feel good because I know a large group of young students who don't even think about stupid things like cigarettes.

I applaud those young learners and the people around them. Obviously something good is happening, now we just need a way to expand the good word.

All this talk about cigarettes reminds me of the region's number one anti-tobacco campaigner; Alfred Moses.

Moses is not living in Inuvik any more, but he was always seen waving the flag for the good guys. He would talk with youth and set up signs, information kiosks and other events.

He is one of the best examples for a role model I can think of. Stopping smoking by reaching out and connecting with the young people is what needed to be done.

Generations of people in this region smoke and it's been that way for a long time. Maybe a pack of cigs were the first item handed off by early explorers who made contact with the locals here.

With tobacco being a part of aboriginal traditions, it's hard to banish the leaves without stepping on sacred toes. I don't think the traditional uses for tobacco abuse the substance. Feel free to light those peace pipes, just not in our school yards.

While I was doing an interview with a student at my alma mater, the vice principal came out the door and shooed some smokers from the doorway.

I don't blame the schools, because this was a problem before them and it will probably continue to be a problem for years to come.

Push the unsightly smokers away, to the back of the building. It makes the place look nicer, when there aren't a massive pile of butts on the ground.

I don't understand what keeps people going, but I guess we all need something to get us through the day.

You cannot tell your kids that smoking is bad in between puffs. Show your kids that you care for their wellbeing and your own. Butt out the smoke and chew some gum.

When you feel that craving, just don't reach for the pack. I could be wrong, but I don't think people have died from not smoking. Just stay strong and one day, you can join the others who have quit too.

There has been some anger expressed during the past week over Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand's decision to vote against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

The declaration was supported by 143 countries.

Whether the Conservative Government changes its mind and supports the declaration will not change the reasoning behind its original vote.

And that reasoning has far more to do with cost than it does with respecting human rights.

Whether they admit it publicly or not, their fear is that the declaration will open the doors to more lawsuits, and fuel demands for increased federal funding to aboriginal people.

That cry for increased federal funding is being issued again and again in Nunavut.

And, in almost every instance, it's a cry for help that translates into a plea for further social dependence.

It is a symptom of the disease itself -- federal handouts that ease the strain of a present situation, but come with a vision for the future that leads to self-dependency.

It's an insidious trap known all too well by First Nations people across Canada, and one Nunavut could find itself hopelessly snared in if our leaders aren't careful.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the state of Canada's aboriginal people, but the time for pointing the finger to acquire more federal funding out of shame and guilt has past. The time has come for a banner of Just Do It to be flown over the quest for aboriginal independence.

The bearer of that banner may well be one of the most articulate, intelligent and thought-provoking aboriginal voices to emerge in Canada in quite some time.

Calvin Helin is an aboriginal lawyer, businessman and author of the book, Dances with Dependency.

A book which should be mandatory reading for every government personality and aboriginal student in Canada.

Helin, while not granting absolution to anyone for the mistakes of the past, puts economic independence at the top of the aboriginal priority list.

He sees the coming strain on Canada's social programs with millions of Canadians set to retire during the next few years, and realizes the government will not be able to sustain current funding to an aboriginal population growing at seven times the national rate.

In fact, Helin has had harsh words for aboriginal leaders who focus on nothing more than keeping the federal handouts coming.

He sees the keys being a return to the traditional value of self-reliance, and a renewed and vigorous focus on education, training, and economic development.

To Helin, federally funded self-governance is a meaningless mirage.

Federal handouts are about to come crashing down and aboriginal leaders must help their people become economically dependant.

If not, not only will they watch their own societies tumble, they may drag down Canada's economy too.

Helin's message should be heard by every Canadian -- and it's one we hope is heard in Nunavut so our future will be part of the solution, not the problem.