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It is city council's responsibility to tend to Yellowknife. With that, a recent resolution demanding the Alberta government meet certain water quality protection standards around the province's oil sands before proceeding further is out of line.

Seen from a territorial perspective, council's intentions are good. The intent is to safeguard NWT water supplies from pollution, for the sake of our health and the health of future generations.

Effects of water use by the tar sands operations are unclear. What is clear is the operation uses massive amounts of water from Alberta's Athabasca River, and everyone and everything downstream will be affected by the operation in some way. This concerns every living thing along that river and Lake Athabasca in northern Alberta.

The oil industry's use of the river basin may possibly - and this is unproven - be of concern to another river just northeast of Lake Athabasca - the Slave River -- which ultimately flows into Great Slave Lake from the south.

Yellowknife, however, cannot rightfully claim that its own water supply stands to be affected by the tar sands. This city's water supply flows out of the north from Yellowknife River, emptying into the north arm at the opposite end of Great Slave Lake. If tar sands pollution affects anyone in the territory at all, it would be those along the Slave River and southwest portions of Great Slave Lake.

So why pass such a resolution now? Yellowknife has had more obvious environmental issues at its own doorstep, concerning toxins from gold mines - some within city limits. Wagging a finger at Canada's fastest-growing province, cautioning them to contain water pollution in their own province is misguided, and moreover, outside of city council's purview.

If city council can't get administration to move on making sure stores have bus passes for sale, who will?

That's the question we have to ask after public works was on the hot seat last week for its unresponsiveness to retailers looking for more bus passes to sell.

City councillor Bob Brooks said he doesn't think administration is taking the issue seriously enough. We have to agree.

Two weeks after a Yellowknifer story appeared where store owners from Sutherland's Drugs and Reddi-Mart complained about fruitless attempts to get more bus passes from city hall, public works director Dennis Kefalas was blaming the problem on staff turnover in the finance department, even though it's his department that's in charge of public transportation.

Meanwhile Sutherland's, who appear willing to sell the passes again after giving up on the city back in February, are still waiting for someone from the city to call them.

Kefalas said he intends to talk to Sutherland's and other stores along bus routes. The sooner, the better.

One would think the city would feel some urgency in ensuring the stores have enough bus passes to sell considering that the service is subsidized with $1 million of taxpayers' money.

The organizers of a soccer coaching clinic held in Fort Simpson over the weekend took what otherwise would have been a normal event and turned it into something more significant.

As you would expect in any coaching clinic on soccer, the in-class and practical portions of the clinic focused on developing and strengthening skills related to the sport. Among other things, the participants learned about a variety of new soccer drills and how to tailor them to different age groups. All of this was to be expected.

What was different about the clinic were the people who attended as aspiring coaches. Mixed in among six adults were four youth who currently play on soccer teams in the village. The youth learned everything the adult participants did and applied these skills while helping to lead practices for two younger teams over the weekend.

By encouraging the youth to participate, the organizers purposefully changed the clinic into something more. It became a building block for a new foundation.

The village has a very strong soccer program that has produced some successful teams. The program, however, like many others around the Deh Cho, relies on the coaching and volunteer hours of people who have moved to the community. This in itself isn't a problem as long as the coaching staff diversifies.

The population of any Northern community is fluid, particularly among people who haven't been born or raised in that community. If new arrivals start programs, both sport and otherwise, they flourish while given attention but can quickly decline if the founder moves away. By offering youth the chance to attend the coaching clinic, the organizers are helping to ensure this decline won't happen with soccer in Fort Simpson.

The young coaches now have the necessary skills to lead a soccer practice if the regular coach isn't available. In time they will grow old enough to coach teams on their own.

The clinic, however, was good for more than just soccer in Fort Simpson. If the youth move away from the village they will carry these skills with them and can apply them in their new communities. The basic coaching theories can also be transferred to any other sport.

Developing young coaches is also a necessary step to address the general shortage of volunteers.

In many communities both in the North and the south, the same people end up stepping forward every time there's a call for volunteers.

Teaching teenagers how to coach instills confidence and a pattern of learned behaviour that could lead to a lifelong dedication to volunteering. If participation at the weekend coaching clinic had been restricted to adults it would have been nothing more than a soccer clinic. By including youth, the clinic opened up a world of possibilities that are needed in Northern communities.

Before getting down to write this week's sports feature on one of our youth leaders, Logan Ruben, I struggled with one of those fundamental questions every reporter should ask themselves as they approach each story: Why is this story important to you, the reader?

You'll notice there's no mention of an upcoming hockey tournament, no mention of an award being granted. There's no real news flash.

But the one thing it does illustrate is an important relationship between one volunteer coach and a teenager. I would like to think the story reflects many such connections in this community and how essential they are.

In part, I've tried to reveal what an adult's support and vote of confidence can do for a young person's self-esteem and growth.

Talking to Logan you can't help but notice his maturity, intelligence and good-naturedness. Obviously part of that comes naturally, but it doesn't hurt to have supportive parents and a committed volunteer hockey coach who believes in him so passionately.

In fact it was his coach Paul Grech who came up with idea to do a feature on Logan, to which I gladly agreed. Normally I'd be reluctant to do a column highlighting a community's commitment to volunteering with youth for fear of going overboard.

I went against that instinct because I think Inuvik is exceptional in this area. People may still accuse me of going overboard. That's OK.

Doubtless you would have trouble finding a community of similar size anywhere in this country that boasts as many volunteers and offers as many recreational activities as this one.

Like Logan said in his interview, without them, hockey just wouldn't happen.

It's pretty plain to see in the faces of the many kids I've seen signed up for speed skating, figure skating and curling, the positive effect volunteer leaders have had on them.

Many of them have no problem stating as much. In short, there seem to be a lot of Logans around.

Maybe all of this is obvious to the community, but there still deserves to be an acknowledgement of it.

I think most of us, including myself, think volunteers will simply just show up or appear out of the woodwork.

Of course, there's a reward for them, as in many ways it's a privilege to work with youth, but there's also a big time and emotional commitment involved. With all the current distractions, the need for such a commitment is greater than ever. That challenge is being met.

Clearly the confidence volunteers instil into youth spills over into other facets of the young person's life, whether in school or relationships, whatever.

It appears Inuvik provides a model for how it's done, showing clearly that youths are worth it. The benefits by far outweigh the challenges and stresses.

Two years ago, modular home retailer Regent Homes threatened to boycott Yellowknife after city council instituted rules requiring new homes to be more energy efficient.

Its sales manager Blair Turner said it wasn't worth it for the company to recalibrate its Lethbridge, Alta., factory just because little old Yellowknife wanted to out-green other cities in Canada.

He said if Regent or any of its sister companies under the SRI Homes umbrella tried to comply with the new rules, the homes would have to be built bigger, and would get stuck under bridges and overpasses on their way up North as a result.

Yellowknife developers such as Homes North and Premium Homes joined the chorus of condemnation for the high efficiency standards.

How times have changed, and quickly. Yellowknife resident Wade Friesen brought a SRI-built single-wide trailer into the city last week, which he says will meet the EnerGuide 80 standard.

The initial cost is higher, by about $25,000, but savings on heating will gradually offset that.

SRI now says, after figuring it how to do it, that it will only take a couple months to a build a mobile home it not long ago said was unprofitable and impractical to build.

Klassen Homes out of Enterprise, meanwhile, is marketing energy-efficient, manufactured homes in Yellowknife.

Two things have become clear: the market is showing that energy-efficient homes are the way of the future, particularly if heating fuel prices continue to rise, which they will.

Secondly, council was right on this one.

When Yellowknives Chief Fred Sangris handed a cheque to Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem on behalf of Dettah last week, he was doing more than settling a financial debt.

Sangris was paying back the city for the Yellowknife Fire Department's assistance when a man set his wife's home ablaze in August 2008.

The $3,171.72 cheque, in addition to paying for the service, was meant as a goodwill gesture, signifying an improving relationship between the communities.

This past summer, Yellowknife extended its hand to Ndilo when it committed to paving its roads, despite a lack of funding from the federal government. This opened a door for a new neighbourly relationship between the communities.

Another recent symbol of the area's developing unity was Van Tighem's attendance at a Dettah drum dance over Easter.

It was the first time a Yellowknife city official was invited to such a function - and hopefully the first of many.

It is encouraging to see trust and understanding developing. The communities' leaders should be commended for their efforts.

After a number of years of moving in the right direction, Kivalliq hockey took more than a few steps back this past season with the verbal harassment of officials.

I am also growing alarmed at the number of senior officials who are skating away due to the harassment.

Those who follow the game realize I am still an active Level 4 official who continues to work more than 100 games annually.

This past season included a number of firsts for me as an official.

It was the first time I ever stepped away from the action before all was said and done, needing a reprieve from it all with three games remaining in the final series of the Rankin Inlet Senior Men's Hockey League playoffs.

I am, by my own admission, a tough official who calls what players often refer to as a "tight game."

The reason is simple. It's what Hockey Canada (HC) asks of its refs with the new standard of officiating and I follow HC directives to the best of my ability.

So you can take me at my word when I tell you I've heard my share of creative and colourful expletives over the course of my career.

The 2008-2009 season was also the first time in my life I ever had a hockey player accuse me of cheating.

And again, you can take me at my word when I tell you such an accusation burns much deeper - and hotter - than "Hey ref, you suck!"

This season also marked the first time I was spit on by a player since 2002, and the first time I ever had a player shoot a puck at me on purpose.

The cumulative effect of these actions gave me a healthy dose of insight as to why so many refs are leaving the game.

Some - such as when a player told me the refs cost his team the game during an elimination match in the Avataq Cup in which they lost by a score of 8-3 - were so absurd as to be laughable.

There was nothing funny, however, about being called a cheater.

I cannot even fathom the thought of an official deliberately fixing the outcome of the greatest game on Earth.

Local hockey officials rarely get any kind of credit for what they bring, or add, to the hometown hockey scene.

But it's time for players to start giving some serious thought to what may happen to their leagues if they get up one morning to find there are no real refs left who want to officiate their games.

People who know the game and its terminology understand exactly what I mean when I say it's the players who have to start speaking up.

They stand to lose as much as the officials if it reaches the point where experienced refs want nothing more to do with their leagues.

Hockey is an emotional sport, and there's no escaping the fact frustration will often rear its head.

But like everything else, there are boundaries.

And when the boundaries are crossed by those with no respect for the game, it's the game itself that gets cheated.

For now, I'm left to an off-season haunted by the memory of a six-year-old girl smiling at my partner and I as we left the arena.

As we walked by she looked up and sweetly said, "One-sided referees!"

Earlier this month the federal government released a doom-and-gloom report on the state of our nation's woodland caribou herds.

More than half of the herds have less than a 50 per cent chance of survival if a management program is not put in place.

Of the 57 herds listed, 10 have a 20 per cent -- or less - chance of survival without a management program.

In the NWT figures are less dire. Although News/North received an earful from the Canadian Parks and Wildlife Society (CPAWS) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for that assessment, the numbers in Environment Canada's report clearly indicate woodland caribou in the NWT are either significantly stronger than their southern counterparts or have a better shot at recovery with proper herd management.

Of the six solely-NWT herds, three are listed as having a 50 per cent chance or better survival rate without changes to habitat management. One of those herds - referred to as the Yk/Gwich'in in the report - has an 80 per cent survival rate.

Two herds, both in the Deh Cho, are worse off with a 40 per cent chance of survival. Although both of those herds are listed as being above critical populations - 300 animals or more -- both CPAWS and WWF insist the herds are in decline. However, only half of the six herds have undergone assessments of population trends. The Yk/Gwich'in herd is deemed to be increasing. Both Dehcho herds are said to be "likely decreasing." In the case of the Dehcho North/Southwest herd, the assessment is based on "professional judgment," which the report explains is based on "limited data, not on rigorously collected field data."

The GNWT doesn't see the report as an accurate reflection of woodland caribou numbers in the NWT, according to a government spokesperson.

NWT outfitters, who have been battling caribou counts for years, see the report as an indication that the NWT is not losing boreal caribou at a high rate and, in some cases, herds are increasing in numbers.

Regardless of whether one sides with the hunters or the conservation groups, one of the most alarming statistics in the report pertains to the two herds that cross between the NWT and Alberta. Both of those trans-boundary herds - listed at a 20 per cent chance of survival without a recovery plan - appear to be in serious trouble. Therefore it would be prudent to take action now.

Listed as one of the primary barriers to the trans-boundary herds' sustainability is disturbance from human and natural interference. Interruptions in herd migration and shrinking habitat range in Alberta caused by widespread industrial development are prime suspects.

Although the report indicates herd disturbance North of 60 is low or moderate we could easily see that threat rise to high if proper checks and balances on development are not in place. It is important we do something now to ensure caribou sustainability is a top consideration when approving future development and hunting practices in the NWT.

We look forward to Environment Canada's follow-up studies, which will put more effort into identifying critical caribou habitat. Most importantly, Environment Canada's future reviews will use traditional aboriginal knowledge, something the initial report did not incorporate, but should have.

The appointment of a new Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is weeks away, and the Chuck Strahl, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, still will not commit to appointing at least one Inuk.

This is the second time a commission is to be selected. The first time there were two First Nations commissioners and a non-aboriginal commissioner, all of whom resigned because they were not able to work co-operatively.

Citing expediency, Strahl said whether the new candidates can do the job and work with people from a variety of cultures is more important than what group they themselves are from.

This is true.

It can also be argued that one Inuk and two First Nations commissioners would be able to connect better with Inuit residential school survivors than three First Nations commissioners, or two First Nations commissioners and one non-aboriginal.

This is the second time Inuit organizations have lobbied hard for an Inuk on the commission. If their voices are ignored again, they will be rightfully annoyed.

The residential school system existed throughout the North and arguably had some of its most dire impacts here. It was a system imposed on Inuit by the federal government and governed from the south.

The commission tasked with uncovering the real history and legacy of residential schools should not be similarly imposed by Ottawa and governed from the south. To do so would be a continuation of colonial attitudes.

A refusal to participate in a commission that doesn't include an Inuk may be the only way to communicate how seriously Nunavut is taking the truth and reconciliation process. The federal government should oblige, or give Nunavut funding to create a truth and reconciliation of its own.

Natar Ungalaaq's performance in the film Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life) has earned him a Genie award - Canada's equivalent of an Oscar - for best actor, beating out such household names as Christopher Plummer and Paul Gross.

This is yet another confirmation that Nunavummiut have the talent, skills and determination to rank among the world's best in any profession they choose.

Fluent in English, French and Inuktitut, Ungalaaq is eager to work on all sorts of movie genres and tackle roles not defined by his heritage alone. As he told our reporter, "I can be anything."

This is something he expresses to youth in his other work as a student counsellor at Ataguttaaluk high school, and it's worth repeating.

Where you go in life is limited only by your imagination and the depth of your commitment.

Congratulations, Natar, and keep inspiring us to be our best.