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Squabbling nation NWT News/North - Monday, February 7, 2011
Yet, despite generations of negotiations and planning, the GNWT and aboriginal governments cannot seem to reach consensus on an agreement that will undoubtedly affect everyperson in our great territory.
The crux of the argument: who should be making the deal? We understand that aboriginal leaders must protect their people's rights under the treaties and the best way to do that is to hold Canada to its obligations whenever possible. Sometimes, refusing to negotiate or going to court is the best strategy. However, this may be an instance where such stubbornness will do more harm than good. Devolution is a complex issue and who makes the deal isn't as important as the deal itself. It's not in the interest of aboriginal governments to accept an agreement that leaves anyone worse off. But refusing to sit at the table or threatening court action will not stop a deal from being signed. Unfortunately, the territorial government has not been very approachable. Instead of telling aboriginal governments they can't access their share of the money until they sign, Premier Floyd Roland should have agreed to hold their share in a trust account until they decided to come on board. Such an action would have at least demonstrated a willingness to work with the aboriginal governments. It would have also shown an understanding of the aboriginal government's treaty position. How do we explain the divide that exists between aboriginal governments and the members of the legislative assembly? Many MLAs are also land claims beneficiaries. Settling a land claim does not erase the NWT citizenship. Nor are aboriginal governments completely independent of territorial government support. For now, and likely well into the future, the fates of both the NWT and aboriginal governments will be intertwined. This is not the time to butt heads. The future of the territory is at stake and going to the negotiating table united will ensure a stronger package. Ultimately, regions with a settled land claim will see the most benefits of a devolution deal. Not only will their people share in money paid to their aboriginal governments directly from resource development, they will also enjoy the benefits of resource dollars spent on territorial government programming.
Fort Smith councillor should apologize NWT News/North - Monday, February 7, 2011 People make mistakes and it's what we do afterwards that defines our character. Fort Smith Councillor Sheila Sauteur-Chadwick is facing one such defining moment. Late last month she was convicted of alcohol related offences, made worse by the fact there were children involved in the incident. According to legislation, her actions are not considered unbecoming a town councillor, so her seat at the table is not in jeopardy. However, Sauteur-Chadwick's actions were definitely unbefitting a public figure. Aside from community governance, elected officials also carry the burden of upholding the image of their hamlet or town, and serve as role models. It's a tall order served with plenty of pressure, and it takes strong character not to bend under the stress. Only Sauteur-Chadwick can decide if she is up to the task, especially now that she will be under heavy public scrutiny and will need to earn back the public trust. Regardless of whether she chooses to remain on council, she owes her community an apology.
Why aren't students in class? Nunavut News/North - Monday, February 7, 2011 Lack of attendance at school can be the biggest obstacle to learning, passing and eventually graduating. Not graduating can be the biggest obstacle to employment, income and housing. Ask any teacher or principal in Nunavut and they'll acknowledge getting students to class is a challenge. Attendance rates at Nunavut schools range from 49 to 93.1 per cent, reflecting the spectrum of approaches individual schools use to attract students to attend on a regular basis, with varying levels of success. Kugluktuk High School, for example, requires students to achieve certain attendance rates to participate in the Grizzlies sports teams. Aqsarniit Middle School in Iqaluit recently set up a video games room. Many schools have breakfast programs to feed students before classes start for the day, and some schedule fun activities for Fridays, such as Grise Fiord's Ummimak School's recent pyjama party. Some schools hand out prizes for steady attendance in the form of gift certificates, bikes or iPods. Ask any teacher or principal in Nunavut why they have to go to such lengths to get students to attend school and you'll get as many answers as there are educators, such as there are no immediate penalties for not attending school; many children sleep in the morning and arrive late, missing half of each school day; parents distrust schools as agents of assimilation, residential schools being a prime example of an educational system targeted for this purpose; and attendance drops as students get older because teens find entertainment elsewhere more alluring than algebra. That's just for starters. However, Nunavut has made great strides in adapting its curriculum to teach traditional skills and instil cultural pride. Certification of elders as Innait Inuksiutilirijiit - a recognition of their role in the education of Nunavummiut youth - and on-the-land programs are ways Inuit knowledge is present in the classroom. Just having secondary school classes available in the communities, instead of sending children to regional centres for high school has made a Grade 12 diploma more accessible. But, again, students have to attend to graduate. The scope of the problem is difficult to ascertain as the regions collect their attendance statistics in different ways, making comparison difficult. How can we know if one Kitikmeot school's approach is working better than that at a Qikiqtani school if they count absences differently? The move to establish a standardized attendance tracking system across the territory will provide valuable data on the scope of the problem and the efficacy of possible solutions. It will cost $210,000 to establish and $40,000 a year to maintain, but if it can help us educate our kids more effectively it will be money well spent.
Downtown downturn Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, February 4, 2011
Centre Square Mall has watched a steady stream of merchants leave or give notice that they are vacating the premises. A walk through the deserted shopping centre is a grim reminder that something is awry, but answers are not coming from management. Huntingdon Real Estate Investment Trust, based in Richmond, B.C., hasn't returned Yellowknifer's calls about the particularly bleak situation in the lower portion of the mall. The hollowing of downtown commerce has grabbed the attention of city council. Councillor Cory Vanthuyne recalled how, when he was a youth, the Centre Square Mall along with other downtown retail centres - the 50/50 Mini Mall, Yk Centre and Panda II Mall - were all flush with tenants and bustling. Despite complaints these days about the plague of drunken people on downtown streets at all hours, that same problem existed 20 to 30 years ago, when Vanthuyne was a teen and downtown was booming. If anything, the social support is better now due to the city's efforts to open the day shelter and the Bailey House transitional home. In addition, the our municipal politicians have improved the looks of one end of 50th Street, adding flowers and improving the road surface through a beautification project. City hall has also spruced up Somba Ke Park at the periphery of the downtown, next to city hall. Some of the ideas to inject new life into Franklin Avenue and its adjoining streets have been recycled a few times over: a summer market, more downtown residential area, bus shelters at key locations, promoting the use of bright colours and murals and historic walking tours. Yet another perennial idea: restoring once vibrant community celebrations like Raven Mad Daze and Caribou Carnival that attract people to the downtown area. These are worthy pursuits, some of them more daunting than others. But at some point, commercial real estate landlords in the downtown core are just going to have to sharpen their pencils. It's time for city's economic development experts to meet with those who rent floor space to merchants and find out why the system is breaking down. Perhaps rental rates are set too high for businesses to bear. Perhaps it's time to start promoting the city's downtown to other landlords that want to help rejuvenate Yellowknife's downtown. After all, a dynamic downtown would go a long way towards boosting the landlords' profit margin.
Not one to be trifled with Editorial Comment Roxanna Thompson Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, February 3, 2011
At every turn Dehcho First Nations (DFN) has been met by actions from both the territorial and federal governments that seem almost purposefully designed to goad and alienate them. These have been long-standing and triggers. The Dehcho Process is one of the long-standing issues. Years of negotiations leading to little progress and delays at many turns have left leaders in the region feeling frustrated. The situation escalated last year when the federal government decided not to renew the sub-surface protection for Edehzhie, an area of land that was slated to become a national wildlife area. DFN had been working since 1999 to receive permanent protection for Edehzhie and the area had both surface and sub-surface protection since 2002. There were no warning signs the protection wouldn't be renewed until the day it was gone. It was a heavy and unexpected blow for DFN. And now there's the devolution agreement-in-principle the territorial government signed on Jan. 26. Leaders from the Deh Cho as well as many other regions in the territory vehemently voiced their objections before the signing took place. The objections were based on a variety of issues including a lack of proper consultation and a number of provisions in the document they wanted to see set aside or amended before the signing. Despite protests the signing went forward and DFN representatives were left outside the legislative assembly waving placards. This latest blow cements the perception that neither the federal or territorial governments want to recognize DFN as a government and treat it appropriately as such. DFN has been battered, bruised and ignored in recent years but it is still standing and pushing for its rights. The organization is known for carefully weighing its options and then proceeding with whatever course of action will achieve the desired results. The same procedure is undoubtedly already underway with regards to the devolution agreement-in-principle. It will be interesting to see what action is decided on. DFN could go the way of a legal challenge, as it did for Edehzhie or use the promise of applying a signature to the agreement to leverage progress on the Dehcho Process. Either way DFN will undoubtedly make the best of a situation that seems to be stacked against it.
Treasure hunting Editorial Comment Kira Curtis Inuvik Drum - Thursday, February 3, 2011
But walking into the Conference Centre of the Midnight Sun Complex was kind of underwhelming. Not for lack of quality, though. There were gems strewn across the tables, but there was a lack of quantity. More than half of the tables sat there barren in the room like clear-cut lots in what you once imagined was a forest of finds. Now, the plots that had sprung up that morning were eclectic and interesting - a barely used snowboard and bindings, a few good conditioned Guitar Hero guitars and cupcakes as to not let you perish. But I know I wasn't the only one with this idealism of furnishing my living space with wood cabinets, ancient dishware, and if I was really lucky, an armoire that looked like it came off the HMS Erebus. OK, that last one may have been leaning slightly more to the daydreaming side, but you can see where my mind was wandering to. I had sat down for dinner with friends the night before and we had all discussed the items around our homes that would make our lives just splendid. A Bodum for coffee, some big bowls for soup and a painting for the wall were all items thrown around the dinner table as we planned our attack on the sale. I bumped into those same friends the next day at this flea market, and we all had the same faded look on our faces. Humpf. One found a great button-up shirt, but nothing from the original list. I guess in a town so far removed from consumerism, I imagined so many gently used items to be sold and recycled through the community. But I think I was wrong, I think that because Inuvik is so remote, these items I was dreaming of finding to fill my sparsely furnished apartment are saved. They are passed around through families and friends. This is not a place full of extra items looking for a home, everything has its place, everything is used. A place to call home Yellowknifer - Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Expensive homes like that are fairly common in the Yellowknife market. For families desiring home ownership, there have been few appealing options in the $200,000 to $300,000 range over the past several years. Often the most affordable choice is a mobile home that was built 30 to 40 years ago. Those are extremely difficult to insure. Almost everything else that has become available in that lower price range gets scooped up very quickly, or the price is ultimately pushed higher by a bidding war. At $326,000, as of 2009, the average price of a home in Yellowknife was out of reach for a significant portion of the city's population. With a vacancy rate for apartments hovering around one per cent many years, some people feel trapped and that leads to thoughts of finding better living situations in other parts of the country. An affordable housing initiative in Niven Lake Phase VII will help to address that. City council, after almost missing the opportunity, halted a draft request for development proposals last October to address an incomplete section pertaining to affordability. After factoring in affordability at 15 per cent of the value of any proposal, council wound up hearing from Highstreet Ventures, which is hoping to construct 121 units in the Niven Lake subdivision at reasonable rates. The lowest priced one bedroom condos ring in at just under $200,000 and cover 650 square feet. Highstreet Ventures has a brief but impressive track record in the city. The company is in the process of building similarly affordable condos and townhomes in its Copper Sky development, which sits at the base of Tin Can Hill. Highstreet trumpets on its literature: Phase 1 sold out in two days! That obviously speaks to the level of demand. Council should pat itself on the back for remembering that affordable housing is a key determining factor in whether some families come to Yellowknife, and whether others remain here. Now the elected politicians in our city must ensure that the homes go up in a timely fashion with no wrenches thrown into this praiseworthy plan, and look for similar opportunities elsewhere.
Pet owners need to step up Yellowknifer - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 Yellowknifers came through in droves to help the city's SPCA earn $300,000 towards a new animal shelter. Voting in a nationwide competition, sponsored by an insurance company, helped the idea advance to the final stages before the judges gave the final stamp of approval on the cash donation announced last week. It's quite an accomplishment for a small city, one with cramped facilities at Great Slave Animal Hospital, which deserves much credit for having done so much over the years. But the campaign isn't over yet. More money still needs to be raised before the project is a reality, perhaps another $200,000. No matter how large the new animal shelter may be, we don't want to see it quickly filled with neglected animals. There are some basic principles that will not change: primarily, responsibility for pets falls first and foremost with the owners. People who get an adorable puppy or a cute kitten should be prepared to care for that animal throughout its lifetime. It's animals that don't get love, exercise, training or spayed or neutered that wind up becoming nuisances in many cases. We can't expect any SPCA to change that, that's up to us.
A magical night in Arviat Darrell Greer Kivalliq News - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 There's no denying the final game in the Jon Lindell Memorial (JLM) hockey championship produced one heck of a special night in Arviat this past month. I've been going to Arviat to officiate hockey for the past nine years, and I've never seen its barn as incredibly alive as it was on the night of Jan. 23. The arena was packed and the crowd was loud, boisterous and extremely well-behaved, for the most part. It was an evening that did the hamlet of Arviat proud. Yes, the organizers are still learning and there were mistakes, but that's no different than any town in Canada hosting an event that's rising in popularity. No, we're not talking the Avataq Cup here - at least not yet - but other Kivalliq communities should take note of the JLM and give some serious thought to participating. Ideally, the organizers would like to see at least eight teams in the event so they can create two divisions. And, having another Kivalliq tournament rise in popularity, especially one outside of Rankin Inlet, is good for the game in our region. A number of factors went into making this year's JLM so magical, not the least of which was having a team comprised mostly of Jon Lindell's sons and nephews win the event. Amauyaq Lindell was bang on with his contention the Karetakers' will overcame Rankin's skill, and that no one will ever be able to take away from him the fact the family team won the tournament honouring his dad's memory on its very first try. That memory will last those players a lifetime, even if the hockey gods decide they are never to win it again. Another who helped make the final such a success with little fanfare was Arviat economic development officer John Main. Having Main hooked up to local radio - via a phone in the timekeeper's bench of all things - allowed the vast majority of people in the community to follow the action and share the excitement among friends and family members in their own home. Main's contribution vividly illustrates the good that can result from people in a community getting involved and volunteering their time to help out at a local event. His play-by-play on the local airwaves created a buzz over the final that reached beyond Arviat. Thanks to Main, and the numerous out-of-town fans texting away on their cell phones, word spread across the region of the magic unfolding in Arviat that night. It's been staggering the past 10 days, or so, to realize how many people across Kivalliq were glued to sites such as Facebook to get updates on the game every few minutes. Kudos to the folks at the game who were devoted enough to keep posting those updates so others in the region could share in the fun. The thing about any sporting event, especially tournaments, is you never know what you're going to get. This year's excitement, unfortunately, may be next year's boredom. But, for one magical night in Arviat this year, everything came together to give people from one end of the Kivalliq to the other a night they won't soon forget. And that magic was provided by a total team effort, both on and off the ice.
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