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The right to hunt NWT News/North - Monday, January 31, 2011
Hunting rights are enshrined in treaties Canada signed with the aboriginal people of the NWT who continue to rely on the land for survival. Some people may argue Northern aboriginal populations no longer need to hunt to survive, not with grocery stores and modern conveniences close by.
Unfortunately, that perception ignores some of the hard truths about many Northern communities. Unemployment, the high cost of nutritious food and low availability of country foods makes hunting a vital resource for aboriginal families.
For everyone else hunting is a privilege not a right, especially in times when conservation is a priority due to declining populations of game animals.
Aboriginal hunters do have a responsibility to assist in conservation efforts. Due to their reliance on wild harvests, they should be more prone to accept measures to protect the animals they rely on.
Hunting restrictions that balance community needs with preservation are essential. More important is accurate accounting of hunts. Knowing animal populations is key to wildlife management. Tracking the rise and fall of populations makes it easier to determine harvest limits and ensure fair access to resident hunters when populations are healthy.
Commercially, the act must find ways to ensure sport hunting remains a viable industry. Economically, outfitted hunts provide opportunities for employment income to aboriginal and non-aboriginals alike and can generate much needed revenue for the territory.
Soccer players in Fort McPherson playing for the Western Canada Games team have more than training to worry about. The five players need $27,000 to keep up with the costs associated with representing Team NWT in Kamloops, B.C., in August.
Each player on the team is responsible for a certain number of expenses but that is where the equality ends. Yellowknife players definitely have it easier when it comes to participating in this national event. Not only are they favoured with access to better training facilities; travel costs to attend training camps are negligible. Aside from a trip to Saskatoon the Yellowknife players only have to walk out their back doors and take a short jaunt to the fieldhouse. Travelling from Fort Mcpherson means flying to Inuvik and then to Yellowknife -- travel time of more than three hours.
Obviously training at Yellowknife's superior facilities benefits the team but more has to be considered. Sport North and Soccer NWT must work to ensure equal opportunity to players in the communities and not just Yellowknife.
We can't build fieldhouses in every community but we can even the playing field as far as cost. If Sport North and NWT Soccer cannot afford to help the Fort Mcpherson players travel then perhaps Kelsey Blake, one of the Beaufort Delta players, has the best solution -- make the Yellowknife players travel, too.
One of the training camps should have been held in Inuvik.
Turn of the century millionaire and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie called libraries "the poor man's university," because they provide any reader with free access to the world's compiled knowledge.
Literacy - being able to read and write well enough to communicate clearly - is key to raising a population's health, employment and education levels. Libraries house books, and reading books - any books, even the Twilight series - help improve language skills key to literacy.
Family Literacy Day was observed last week in Nunavut and there was much to celebrate.
In 2009-2010, Nunavut's 11 libraries logged 79,124 visits by patrons, up 22,000 visits from the year before. Some 799 new patrons signed up for a borrowing card.
Many visits are by those seeking computer access, looking for a movie to watch, or just passing some time in a quiet place and that's OK. Being around books makes it more likely you'll eventually pick one up.
With this increase in patronage, libraries are asking for more culturally-relevant materials, such as books, DVDs and CDs in Inuit languages, but these are hard to find. New Northern authors have to be found and encouraged to produce books and films and music.
One such new author, Marion Carpenter, will have her first book, Kaujagjuk, published in March by Iqaluit-based Inhabit Media. She has found inspiration in the rich stories of Inuit oral tradition.
The story, written for elementary school-aged readers, shares the life journey of the title character, a mistreated orphan who finds hope in the memory of timeless traditions illuminated by the man in the moon. Inhabit Media received support from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association to help develop Carpenter's writing.
She's already working on her next book, which will be her own take on the tale of Sedna, a mythic character she says is misunderstood.
Grants and other support for the arts are increasingly hard to come by these days as many levels of government tighten their belts. Nunavut's authors and bookworms need to pool their knowledge on applicable avenues of funding for projects and workshops to produce more Northern stories and make them available to Northern audiences.
For the future, Nunavut's libraries are working towards creating a web-based public access catalogue, which would increase selection by allowing patrons access to items in other communities' branches, and then expanding the collection of audiobooks and e-books.
Hopefully by the time Carpenter's book on Sedna is published, readers in Nunavut will be able to look it up on the catalogue system at their local library.
So says the man holding the purse strings for the City of Yellowknife, director of corporate services Carl Bird. He was referring to the possibility of the city borrowing $49 million to build the Con Mine community energy system.
While we admire the vision and goals of the project, we don't share Bird's confidence in what he calls the "business case."
There are many unknowns. Imagine if Gord Van Tighem were back at his banker's desk where he sat for so many year before becoming mayor. He'd scan the business case asking: "Where are your customers?" All downtown. "Have they signed on with firm commitments?" Not yet, but they will. "Why will they?" Because we will offer them a better price than they are getting now for their heating costs. "How much are you going to charge them?" We won't know until the cost of the project is known. "How will you know that before it's complete?" We won't. But we can make them sign on whether they like it or not. "Sounds like a great project. Come back when they sign on the dotted line."
Of course, the city won't be borrowing any money based on the business plan. Any loan will be based upon the ability of the taxpayers of Yellowknife to pay no matter what happens.
Another unknown is the so-called private partner the city says it is in the process of selecting. Why would a private partner invest with so many unknowns? Perhaps they too will be relying on the paying power of Yellowknife taxpayers.
That's precisely what the city's private partners did in the development of Phase 1 and 2 of Niven Lake subdivision in 1995. The lots failed to sell and no profits were made by 2000. The private partners - Volker Stevin Contracting, Reid Crowther Engineering and M.M. Dillon Ltd, who only wanted to share the profits and not the risk - invoked their escape clause and the city's taxpayers had to buy them out for $3.1 million.
The community energy project is the passion of a significant number of Yellowknifers. Overconfidence has been the death of many a worthy project. Better to proceed with caution.
The need to help women experiencing violence at the hands of their partner is a pressing issue in Yellowknife.
The court system is riddled with incidents of assault against women and the cases overseen by judges are likely just the tip of the iceberg. The federal Standing Committee on the Status of Women visited Yellowknife last week to address abusive acts against women - a problem the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition is trying to deal with.
The coalition's goal to build a transitional home for women and children faces difficult financial needs - a projected $6 million is required to construct the facility on a piece of land across from Aurora College on 54 Street - a hefty amount of cash to pull together.
However, organizations like the Yellowknife Community Foundation are stepping up to the plate. That group donated $50,000 last week to the homelessness coalition, to help women and children escape violence. It's generosity like that which will gradually put the goal within reach.
Foundation president Daryl Dolynny said the organization hopes its donation "serves as a catalyst for organizations and business to recognize the need" for a transitional home in the city.
Some women in Yellowknife are desperately counting on his optimism to prove correct.
The code likely developed out of necessity as roadways began to spread across the region. Drivers had to help each other to ensure they got to their destinations. The long distances that separate communities and the challenging conditions that can still be found on the highways have kept the code alive.
The code itself is a simple one, help fellow drivers whenever possible in the same manner that you would like to be helped if your fortunes were reversed. True to the code drivers in the Deh Cho are almost always willing to go out of their way to assist fellow motorists in need.
Whenever I hear a story about someone who had mechanical trouble on the highway or worse yet had an accident there always comes the part in the retelling where a good Samaritan motorist happens along, stops to see if the driver is all right and then helps in what ever way possible. Levels of assistance range from helping to change tires to getting people out of wrecked vehicles and driving them to get medical care.
Father Wes Szatanski knows about the kindness of motorists.
When Szatanski collided with a parked semi-trailer outside of Fort Providence the two truck drivers who witnessed the accident leapt into action. Szatanski remembers that the men quickly came to his truck to see if he was okay.
They tried to open the truck's doors to reach Szatanski but realizing that the extent of the damage made it impossible, one of them drove to the nearest telephone to contact emergency services.
Szatanski's story also highlights how thankful motorists should be for the dedicated training that volunteer firefighters in the region undergo.
Members of the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department withstood temperatures of approximately -30 C for more than three hours while undertaking the delicate work necessary to free Szatanski from his crumpled truck. What Szatanski remembers is their calm demeanor, their professionalism and their close attention to his needs.
Although Szatanski survived the collision with remarkably few injuries the outcome could have been much different without the immediate assistance of first the two truck drivers and then the emergency responders. They all deserve to be recognized.
Drivers in the Deh Cho share many things in common including the long stretches of roads that need to be traversed and the challenging conditions that change with the seasons. Hopefully divers will also continue to share the code that keeps them looking out for each other and lending a hand where needed.
Many of us find it much easier to slip into the ugliest, warmest polar fleece PJs and turn on a video game. What? I'll get Wii fit. Don't judge.
So when I met seven-year-old Jazelle Pokiak and 17-year-old Rebecca Baxter, who man-handle energetic dogs to their leads, grip the bar of their sled and mush off into the wilderness for hours a day, I was impressed.
The balance, awareness and co-ordination needed to control a team of powerful dogs would put a Call of Duty player's skills to shame.
But the night before I met them, sitting in the public hearing to amend the Dog Act, something was brought up that just may send these girls to the couch.
The proposed section 6(b)(ii) of the act states dogs in harness must be "under the custody and physical control of a person who has attained the age of 16 and is capable of ensuring that the dog will not harm the public or create a nuisance."
Now I understand what it's saying, we have to be responsible for our children's safety. Those 16 years and older are stronger, have more experience and hopefully better judgment. There is a healthy limit to the adventures we should expose our kids to. For example, controlling a space shuttle or an armed tank would be extreme for a seven-year-old.
But if we become overly worried about any possibility of danger, how strong will this next generation grow to become?
Baxter and her brother Jason both started mushing as tots. Now as teenagers, these siblings have won numerous championship titles in the Worlds, the North American Championships and the Arctic Winter Games. Both Inuvik teens have defeated highly-sponsored racers from the U.S. and Europe.
If this wording is put through on the Dog Act, the NWT would have no young racers, and come on, if there's one sport we should claim over the rest of Canada, it's dogsledding.
We have to trust that mushing parents wouldn't throw their infant on a sled and yell "Hold on!"
That falls under a whole other issue.
There's many activities children do that could be way more dangerous, but you teach them and watch them until you know they're comfortable. I mean you wouldn't turn on the sprinkler, soap up a trampoline, throw your kid on and tell him to be careful and keep his knees bent while you go to get the mail. Now that's dangerous.
The judge found the accident to be foreseeable and preventable.
The hefty penalty was handed down in on Jan. 19 and it prompted the corporation's chief operating officer Brian Willows to that the expense "will not be passed on to our customers."
While that promise sounds like a relief, there is a pressing question that remains unanswered: how can he be so sure?
The power corp. has filed an insurance claim. If successful, the insurance company would likely get taxes off the hook, other than potentially higher insurance premiums in the future.
However, if the insurance claim is rejected, then Willows said a reserve fund for failed equipment will be tapped.
That leads us to ask - where will the money come from to replenish the reserve fund?
To the corporation's credit, its bonuses to upper and middle management were reduced to $96,400 in 2009, well below the rich $600,000 paid in bonuses in 2006. If there is no other option than to saddle the ratepayer, then bonuses for 2011 should be nil.
The utility should also examine its internal reporting procedures very carefully. In the Snare Lake hydro incident, the power corp. blamed the inaction of one of its own engineers. They said the employee was in possession of a critical report from an independent consulting engineering firm in August 2005, close to 10 months earlier. The power corp's engineer failed to forward the reporter to supervisors, leaving the door open for catastrophe.
"The person forgot about (the report), did not review it, did not pass it on," said Bill McNaughton, the power corp.'s lawyer.
But this engineer had a boss, and his boss has a boss. Why didn't any of those people come looking for the report on a crucial piece of infrastructure?
This is unnerving considering what's happening with Bluefish dam. In October 2009, the power corp. threatened court action against an NWT regulatory board if it had to wait for an environmental assessment before replacing the 70-year-old, rapidly deteriorating Bluefish dam. The board deferred, agreeing the dam is in "critical condition."
According to the power corp. leakage from the dam's wall had increased 400 per cent from 2007 to 2009 and its collapse was "imminent."
Sound alarming? Well, the work has yet to be done. The power corp., while still intent on replacing the dam, now says the situation is manageable due to lower water levels and daily inspections.
That work cannot be done soon enough. The last thing ratepayers need is another date in court.
When it comes to the late Jose Kusugak, I am so glad the old adage of you never get a second chance to make a good first impression isn't always necessarily true.
I got off on the wrong foot with Jose more than a decade ago, when I was still fairly new to the Kivalliq and didn't really understand the methods he would sometimes employ to get one's attention.
He had made a remark about how caucasians tend to train their children rather than simply allowing them to be kids, and I took offense to his words.
To say Jose and I had a rather colourful private exchange over the remark would be one heck of an understatement.
But, if nothing else, as the past century came to a close, the man had my attention.
From that point on, I really started paying attention to everything the man said in public.
And, you can believe me when I say that took up a lot of my time because Jose was rarely lost for words.
I don't mind admitting my intentions at that time weren't exactly honourable, as I was still upset with Jose and was paying attention to his words more to find something to take him to task on than anything else.
But a funny thing happened to me on my way to philosophical retribution.
The more I listened, the more I found myself nodding in agreement with what he said.
Darn the luck, I was starting to get really impressed with this guy.
Still, most of what I knew about the man was being gathered from a distance through the written word and radio airwaves.
We all know public personalities as large as Jose can often be quite different when they're away from the spotlight, so maybe my feelings would change again if I ever had the chance to really know him away from the public eye.
Most regular readers of Kivalliq News realize I have somewhat of an affinity for a little game called hockey.
And it was through hockey I got to know, and understand, a lot more about Jose Kusugak.
A number of years ago Jose began being the public address announcer at the Avataq Cup and a few other Kivalliq hockey tournaments, as well as the Rankin senior men's league.
As time went by, we began to talk a lot more and Jose would sometimes come into our little ref's room to get warm between games.
During one tourney, I was officiating the first of back-to-back games which ended after the second period due to the seven goal mercy rule.
My partner was off for the next few games, so I was sitting alone in our little room when Jose came in and sat down with the little kit he carried his music in.
During the next 45 minutes, or so, I had the man all to myself and we engaged in the best conversation on the music and social impact of the Beatles that I've ever had.
His knowledge and interpretation of the Beatles' music simply blew me away.
Those 45 minutes will always be among my fondest memories. Believe it!
Hockey was also responsible for the best example of Jose's courage and willingness to call it like it is that I saw in real life, as it happened.
He had been the guest announcer at a Kivalliq tournament outside of Rankin, which the home team won.
During the awards ceremony - as hometown player after hometown player came up to accept a most-valuable this or that award, while the other teams stood in silence and politely applauded each selection - Jose interrupted the proceedings for a moment to address the fans.
In a jam-packed arena filled with adoring hometown fans delirious with victory, Jose told the crowd in all his years of following Nunavut hockey, he had never seen another community give all the awards to their own players.
He said he would just like the community, and the tournament organizers, to think about that.
The arena fell into stunned silence for a moment and then erupted with applause.
I was bursting with pride and admiration at the man's words.
That took balls of courage the size of watermelons.
The world is less of a place without Jose, but far better for having had him for 60 years.
Hopefully, his legacy of dedication to his people and positive change will last a very, very long time.
And, just maybe, some of those changes will one day lead to a brotherhood of man, with all the people, sharing all the world.
Imagine, eh Jose?
Corrections To clarify information provided to Nunavut News/North in the Jan. 24 story "Navy refuelling depot construction delayed to 2013," by late March 30 per cent of the design and construction drawings for the facility will be completed. By December, the design and construction drawings will be fully completed. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat will approve the funding for construction. The Nunavut Impact Review Board will approve a plan to clean up the site where the fuel tanks are.
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