Our territorial legislators should be commended for their choice to send the controversial SCAN (Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods) legislation back to committee.

Perhaps they should go the extra step and scrap the proposed program all together.

Public forums on the issue garnered significant negative opinion, especially among residents outside the capital.

Referred to as draconian by Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger the legislation would give investigators -- four proposed for the territory -- the power to evict people accused of running drug or booze operations.

Mary Pat Short, chair of the NWT Human Rights Commission, said the legislation would create a new level of law, one where people could face eviction without trial; where investigators would not be subject to the same burden of proof levied against normal criminal proceedings; and no right to appeal.

Best case scenario, the law would merely displace criminal operations. At its worst, the wrongly accused and their families could find themselves homeless, with no recourse.

Although some protesters to the legislation were concerned that investigators' time would be poorly spent responding to 'vendetta' calls, the bigger concern is the $1 million price tag in light of the many outstanding policing issues that exist in the NWT.

Currently three communities, Gameti, Sachs Harbour and Wrigley are waiting for RCMP detachments to be established. Each need a permanent station and personnel housing constructed before officers can be stationed there.

This past week, officers had to catch a scheduled flight to Sachs Harbour to respond to an incident, likely not the best emergency response time on record. Although considering the circumstances, their ability to arrive and apprehend the suspect within five hours of the call is impressive.

Twin Lakes MLA Robert McLeod was correct when he said that a law taken from the south cannot be applied directly to the North.

The most obvious problem is having investigators stationed in Yellowknife or another regional hub like Hay River or Inuvik operating in remote communities. Aside from not knowing the lay of the land, there is the question of a lack of trust in strangers coming into the community to enforce a controversial law.

The GNWT should be focused on providing consistent and permanent policing to communities before it begins looking at other methods of law enforcement. Building up the trust between the residents and RCMP and ensuring there are enough official police resources in place to address the high rates of crime in the NWT should be paramount.

Hiring investigators whose services may not be used at a cost of $1 million seems like a waste of public money that could be put to better use, such as better treatment programs, building more houses, creating jobs or ramping up police resources.

Staggering numbers.

That's how Kugluktuk Mayor Derrick Power described the 59 people in RCMP custody two weeks prior to a temporary alcohol ban in the community. That compares to just three during a one-month liquor prohibition. When that ban was lifted, the number of people put in cells jumped to 36 over a two-week period.

Not only are those numbers staggering, they are very telling. The connection between alcohol consumption and illegal behaviour is evident.

Residents in Kugluktuk have made their voices heard on addictions by holding a "Save our Youth" march and by circulating a petition calling for alcohol controls. Power said the hamlet is seeking a plebiscite on whether a majority of residents want a local committee to decide who can order alcohol and how much liquor is acceptable.

The community attempted to establish such a committee in 2003, but it was rejected by close to 60 per cent of residents.

These committees have been in place in other locales like Baker Lake, Resolute and Clyde River.

They haven't made alcohol problems disappear in those communities, but they can make a dent.

Some will argue that restricting alcohol only opens wider avenues for bootleggers, unscrupulous individuals who will fill the void by charging desperate drinkers two to three times the going rate for booze.

Again, it is up to the community to work in co-operation with the police to stop bootleggers. If there's a concerted effort to clamp down, then progress will be made.

It is unfortunate that there are no alcohol treatment centres in Nunavut. Nevertheless, residents can also offer support by organizing and promoting local chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous. Communities do have social services workers to draw on, and healthy retreats on the land led by elders can be organized.

Sports, recreation and arts programs can and should be encouraged as alternatives to drinking.

Although drinkers have to decide for themselves when they want to seek help and turn their lives around, the community can play an integral role by ensuring that assistance exists and by stemming the flow of liquor.

Alcohol Education Committees and concerned residents will never be able to claim a complete victory in the battle against alcoholism, but they can gain the upper-hand if enough community members fall in behind them.

A community that takes no action can be assured of one thing: nothing will change.

Students are heading back to school some with a smile on their faces and a bounce in their step and others with long faces and dragging feet. They will be met by teachers, some familiar and some new, and assigned a desk where they will receive their lessons.

Although classrooms are designed as centres of learning where children are expected to pick up a variety of skills they will need over the course of their lifetimes, the process of learning doesn't end when they leave the classroom.

Just because you don't have a degree in education it doesn't mean you can't read to your children or help them with their homework.

But education isn't always about your ABC's, literacy or mathematics.

In the Deh Cho an important part of most of the schools and the curriculum is the local culture. Cultural teachings and language are woven into more modern subjects.

But cultural teachings are another thing that doesn't have to stop outside of the classroom walls.

At many meetings and gatherings between leaders in the Deh Cho elders come to the microphones and comment on how youth are losing touch with their culture and language. They talk about all the things such as a strong grasp of Slavey and cultural teachings that are falling by the wayside.

Often passing this information can be as simple as making the subject interesting and providing an opportunity for the exchange to occur. A perfect example of this took place at the annual gathering in Wrigley over the weekend.

While waiting for the handgames tournament to begin young boys from Wrigley and visiting communities struck up their own impromptu handgames session. Some of the boys formed the two teams while others took up drums and provided the beat.

They played back and forth with both sides showing just as much skill and finesse as many of the men who've been playing for years.

When the teams for the proper handgames tournament finally arrived the youth weren't relegated to the sidelines to watch. As Tim Lennie explained to the crowd before the competition began, the purpose of the tournament wasn't for one team to walk away with the large cash prize. It was a chance for young people to learn the intricacies of the game.

So the teams of young players were pitted against grown men, most of them more than double their size. Although play had to be paused a few times while the officials pointed out various rules relating to calls, the young players hung in through their games.

The tournament was a fantastic learning experience and one that didn't happen within a classroom.

A similar opportunity for passing on teachings will soon arrive with the beginning of the fall hunt. Although the hunt empties many classrooms, it also provides knowledge that no amount of books could.

You don't need a fancy degree to be a teacher, you just need to keep an eye open for opportunities where children and youth of all ages can be involved

Finishing the task might take a little more patience and time but in the end the effort will be worth it.

With summer becoming a memory, we all look toward the coming months and the changes they will bring.

It's the time of year when people settle back from their vacations and prepare for school, work or other responsibilities.

Youth are going to be filling our schools and another class enters Grade 12 looking to complete a milestone in their lives.

It is those teens that are finishing or continuing their education that are truly making steps in the right direction and making a positive impact on our community.

We need to keep our stable of youth strong and safe. We're all aware of the tragedy this past weekend when we lost one of our promising youth in the Mackenzie River.

A group of young people gathered near the east channel of the Mackenzie and now a family mourns the loss of their daughter.

It seems like we're losing the battle to poor decisions and without stepping on anyone's toes, being near the river without proper equipment is always a bad decision.

We need to support our youth and assist them in making healthy choices in life.

We have a new breed of youth that are determined to succeed. They will not settle for less and need to take advantage of every opportunity.

Our graduation rates are increasing year-to-year and so are our successful youth who attempt post-secondary education.

Who knows what possibilities were in store for that young woman who lost her life in that river. She had plans for her life and for those around her. Instead of taking, she gave back to those who knew her.

And now, we'll never know the extent of her potential.

With younger graduates and higher successes comes deeper consequences. There are more temptations now than ever before. Peer pressure is running rampant and nobody is to blame but ourselves.

We're the ones setting the examples, we're the ones who pay the price when we have to band together to search for another person lost in the water.

This past weekend was scheduled to be fun-filled and packed with community involvement and events. Instead, the community came together in a worst case scenario.

We need to stop stunting our growth as a community and as a society. There is so much anger and hurt in this town because of this loss, it's hard to know where to start. All we can see is that something needs to change.

We don't need to post signs, or railings or fences around the river, we need to enforce responsibility. We need to make an honest effort to change who we are and embrace the future that our youth have the key to.

My deepest condolences go out to the family of the victim and those friends she left behind. The hardest lessons in life demand the highest toll.

Let's learn from this and keep our friends and family safe.

While the kids from Rankin Inlet deserve full marks for capturing the Kivalliq team swimming championship earlier this month in Baker Lake, it's sad to see how far aquatics have sunk in our region.

It was only a few short years ago when almost every Kivalliq community was represented at the event.

This year, only Rankin and Baker competed for the crown.

With Arviat being forced to close its pool, the number of functional swimming pools in the Kivalliq has been reduced to only two.

And, the pools in Rankin and Baker are barely holding on.

One of the original engineers to install the Rankin pool more than a decade ago has been brought to the hamlet this week to assess the pool, and let the hamlet know how much it would cost to put it back on its feet again.

Baker's pool is in worse condition than Rankin's and Arviat's may have passed the point of no return.

And there's the rub - big bucks!

The cost of a new swimming pool in the Kivalliq would be about $1 million and that's a lot of sand dollars.

But what price do we put on recreational activities for our youth that help keep them in shape mentally and physically, teach them about competitiveness and sportsmanship, help them develop life skills such as co-operation and teamwork, and keep them active and having fun, away from the dark side that comes with having too much idle time on their hands?

That's not even to mention real social interaction, not sitting behind a keyboard alone in a room in their home, school or drop-in centre.

We all know Nunavut has many pressing issues and there's not enough money to meet the demand.

But we're worried about the repeated blows sports and recreation are taking in our region.

Yet, at the same time, our political leaders take every opportunity to talk about youth needing more facilities and activities to occupy their time so we can build healthier communities.

And, we might add, the number of youth in need of positive activities in our region is growing every year.

The situation has become a paradox of the highest order. Everyone realizes our needs in health, housing and education are many.

But, it's time for the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the municipalities themselves to grasp the importance of sports and recreation, and start partnering to greatly increase our infrastructure in those areas.

If not, more and more kids are going to be roaming the streets with nothing to do but ... well, you know the rest.

There's going to be a big splash made one way or another and it's coming to a community near you - soon.

If our governments and Inuit associations don't soon put sport and recreation facilities a lot higher on their priority lists, they had better increase their efforts to provide more mental heath-care and correctional facilities because they're going to need them.

As good as the vast majority of our youth are, if their recreational choices remain this shallow for much longer, a number of them will, inevitably, go off the deep end.

The Arnaitok arena in Iqaluit will not be closed for four months as stated in last week's Sports Check. Nunavut News/North apologizes for the error and any inconvenience it caused.