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Animal hospital abuse Yellowknifer - Wednesday, April 13, 2011
It is also the dumping ground of countless lost dogs and cats, many in desperate need of a home. The hospital adopted out 158 dogs and cats in 2009 alone. Faced with these stresses, it's not surprising that trouble arises occasionally, whether it be over a dog turned in to the pound and adopted out without the owner being aware, or complaints over expensive veterinary bills. Residents should take the animal hospital's plight into consideration before judging it too harshly. Many pet owners in the North are not so fortunate to have a 24-hour veterinary service in their community that also takes in strays and unwanted pets and find them new homes. At the same time, vet clinic staff should realize that forcing unhappy and vocal pet owners to make public apologies, as dog owner Jocelyn Christensen-Blondin had to do to get her dog back, does little to engender public sympathy. In any event, a wise policy was borne out of that situation. Now, the hospital instructs staff to tell people to come and check the pound themselves rather than trying to verify the status of missing pets over the phone. It's a welcome part in the evolution of this invaluable service to the city.
More forethought, more input Yellowknifer - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 Though public turnout was modest, the two recent town hall meetings councillor Paul Falvo organized to discuss next year's budget are a promising step towards better money management. Last fall, three councillors - Falvo, David Wind and Cory Vanthuyne - bemoaned the city's inability to shave a single dollar off its expenses, while property taxes continue to rise. They were then chided by Coun. Mark Heyck for not bringing up concerns over spending earlier in the year. Traditionally there have not been sessions for public input into the budget before the grinding process of reviewing the document prior to the vote. Though there was not much of a turnout for the two public sessions - no one came to the session on March 7, while eight people attended the meeting on April 4 - these talks at least get councillors thinking about the budget earlier in the year. More Yellowknifers should step up and attend these meetings as the more public input that's provided, the better council will understand residents' priorities. With property taxes having risen for several straight years, these town hall budget talks are an ideal venue for people in Yellowknife to let their elected officials know the best places to put their tax dollars.
Digging out roots and the ghosts of Liberals past Darrell Greer Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 13, 2011Wednesday, April 13, 2011 If there's anyone who wasn't surprised by the choice of former Nunavut premier Paul Okalik as the Liberal's territorial candidate for the federal election on May 2, I haven't talked with them. And, many people I did speak to about Okalik's candidacy seemed to think this was not a good choice by the Liberal party. We'll see soon enough, but I wouldn't be too quick to write Okalik off. NDP candidate Jack Hicks showed his social background when he almost immediately announced he wasn't running against Leona Aglukkaq, the person. Hicks, apparently, is running against a Tory majority, which he sees as a severe threat to the North. It was a politically correct way of starting his campaign, and an attempt at winning Inuit votes by implying what a good person Aglukkaq is, but we'll see if that approach produces any results. Green Party candidate Scott MacCallum is also in the race for the Nunavut seat, but, pitted against Aglukkaq, Okalik and Hicks, will have to run the campaign of the century to come out on top. Okalik may not be too outspoken against Aglukkaq, as attack campaigns are rare in Nunavut. In fact, the last time some true political sparks flew in the territory was when Manitok Thompson ran as an independent in 2004 and threw a few zingers incumbent Nancy Karetak-Lindell's way. It may have been Nunavut's version of Manny just being Manny, but the aggressive campaign had her finish second to Karetak-Lindell and the Liberal party, which was no small feat for an independent candidate. What makes this election interesting is that Nunavut, historically, has deep Liberal roots that stretch back to the heyday of Jack Anawak. And, while Okalik does face an uphill battle to defeat Aglukkaq, frustration with the Tories on a number of issues may have those roots showing once again. Now, let's be brutally honest here. Okalik has let his tongue get ahead of his brain on more than one occasion in the past, landing him in political hot water. And he sometimes falls victim to wishful thinking, rather than accepting reality when it comes to the current capabilities of Nunavut and its homegrown talent. But he, among all the candidates, seems to have the best grasp of just how important it is for Nunavut to pour as many resources into education as it can find, beg, borrow and scrape together. And say what you will about the Liberal candidate, but Okalik is nobody's puppet. Should he ever represent Nunavut at the federal level, you can rest assured he would pursue the territory's interests relentlessly. It remains to be seen if Okalik has enough political fire left in his belly to run an effective enough campaign to defeat such a strong candidate as Aglukkaq. Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles he and Hicks face is the fear Nunavut would be left in the cold should it go Liberal or NDP and the Tories win by a majority. With the odds being better than average of the Baffin vote being split, a strong showing in the Kivalliq could be key to success in this election. And the Kivalliq just happens to be home to many of the ghosts of Liberals past.
Keeping the doors open NWT News/North - Monday, April 11, 2011
Last year the GNWT announced it would be changing the way it funds alternative schools, shifting from a formula financing deal to a per student allocation based on full-time attending students.
Principals in both Fort Smith and Hay River said the change would mean a loss of approximately $200,000 for each school, mainly because many of the students attending the school are not considered full time.
The alternative schools - often called storefront schools - provide services to students who work part-time or full-time, have children, or for other reasons do not attend traditional classes.
By that very nature funding the program based on attendance misses the point. Any program that attracts students back to the school system and has shown success at producing graduates should be embraced, especially in the North where graduation rates are low.
A funding review is a good idea and shows the government wants to ensure it is making the right choice in how it funds the schools. We hope, however, more is taken into account than the hours students spend at a desk. These are not conventional school spaces and therefore applying conventional funding formulae will likely fail.
Perhaps the schools can manage their spaces more efficiently but taking money away from a solid investment that is generating gains would be a costly step backward.
For years Dehcho First Nations and its members have criticized the territorial and federal governments for their lack of communication regarding issues affecting Dehcho citizens.
However, recently, Jean Marie First Nation came under fire from its band members for neglecting to consult with them on plans to protect traditional lands used for trapping and hunting near McGill Lake. For Francis Nahanni, who has a trapline and cabins in the area, the region has spiritual significance to his family due to ancestral burial sites said to be located in the proposed protected area.
Nahanni and members of his family say they are shocked the First Nation did not consult them on the proposal. They worry what turning the region into a park will mean for their traditional practices and if it will draw more tourists to the area.
Acting Chief Stan Sanguez says he is confused by the family's reaction and told Deh Cho Drum protecting the region will preserve the land as well as traditional land-use rights.
That makes sense, assuming the federal government doesn't steal subsurface mineral rights at the last minute as it did with Edehzhie not too long ago, but that's not the point.
The people using the area weren't brought into the process early on and now confusion and fear of the unknown have clouded the benefits.
Dehcho First Nations has always demanded to be informed when it comes to decisions involving its lands and with good reason.
It must do the same with its own members.
Festering wounds heal better if they're cut open and the poison drained out. It's not pretty, and it's definitely painful. But without intervention the infection may spread, and eventually kill.
The same goes for emotional wounds.
A key part of the 2007 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement was the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide survivors and others affected by the schools an opportunity to tell their stories.
Children sent to residential schools were removed from their families for 10 months of the year. The experience was designed to remove all aspects of their culture. Some were also subject to physical and sexual abuse from those charged with their care, or from other students.
The commission has held hearings in six Northern communities so far, with 13 more to come.
As people attempt to talk about what they went through and how it has affected their lives, many are being revisited by the feelings of shame, worthlessness and hopelessness they experienced while in residential schools. Those who are not yet ready to talk about their experiences are also subject to sickening jolts of recognition as other survivors' stories are told in newspapers, on radio and on TV.
Commissioner Marie Wilson told Nunavut News/North last week that people who have spoken to the commission are consistently overwhelmed by emotion, even if they don't intend to be. She also said many of those who are now speaking up say they have never told anyone before about what they experienced and witnessed at the schools.
So it's unfortunate that these hearings are happening a year after the federal government decided not to extend the Aboriginal Healing Foundation's funding. The foundation's funding for programs in communities by Inuit for Inuit was essentially replaced by what's called "Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support" from Health Canada.
Had the government seen fit to keep community-based healing programs running for another year or two, residential school survivors and their families would have more places to turn to for help as they go through this painful process.
As it is, survivors' wounds are being cut open, but then they're being abandoned on the operating table with the healing process half-done.
For those in need of immediate help, the Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Helpline at 1-800-265-3333 is available from 7 p.m. to midnight. There is also a 24-hour national residential school crisis line at 1-866-925-4419, with an Inuit language speaker available on request.
But a crisis line cannot help a person get back the cultural skills and the language they lost. Nor can it help an entire community bridge generational gaps in parenting skills and traditional knowledge.
Residential school survivors and their families have been given the opportunity to share their haunting stories. Now they deserve the opportunity to heal.
Eagle later became unresponsive after vomiting in a detachment cell, and he was taken back to the hospital. He was flown to Edmonton, where doctors found and operated to stop the bleeding in his brain. After surgery he entered a coma and stayed that way until his 2010 death.
A person who is drunk may be dazed, confused, unbalanced and nonsensical, or completely unconscious. The symptoms are similar to those of a serious concussion, and if a person is drunk enough to be unsteady, it's possible they've fallen multiple times before entering custody to sober up.
No matter why a person is arrested, if they are taken to the hospital then they cannot be released unless they are medically sound enough for release. Hospital beds come with straps for those who resist, and sedatives are another option.
It is commendable that the RCMP accepted recommendations, such as monitoring prisoners more often and having medical information posters on walls, but the responsibility rests with medical professionals to ensure patients are not released to those with little medical training.
Mayor Gord Van Tighem can blame the timing all he wants, but even if Earth Hour were held in the bitter dark of January instead of late March it's doubtful Yellowknife would have performed much better.
The mayor reasoned that because Earth Hour was held March 26, when clocks have already been moved forward and daylight hours in the North are longer, people were less likely to have their lights on at 8:30 p.m. when Earth Hour began, which he said skewed the results.
Had Earth Hour been held in a darker month, Yellowknife's altruistic instincts to use less power would have shone through more brightly, so to speak. Alas, Earth Hour the world over fared miserably this year as it's clear few people bothered to turn off their lights anywhere. The sun was surely still not beaming at 8:30 p.m. in Toronto, where energy use barely dipped. It actually went up in Edmonton, where the Oilers were facing off against the Calgary Flames in a critical race for the playoffs.
The fact is Earth Hour, now in its fifth year, is a fad, and like all fads, people eventually tire of them. Most generally want to do the right thing, but unlike the demonstrable results evident in cancer runs and charity fundraisers, most people have a difficult time understanding how spending an hour in the dark on a Saturday night will do the planet any good. Symbolic gestures will only go so far.
Northland Utilities must clearly demonstrate how power reduction has saved some customers money, but even that is a dubious claim in a territory where the power corporation has admitted it will have to raise rates if energy consumption dips too much because associated revenues fall in tandem.
It's a dilemma that's leaving very few of us in the dark.
Such signs are common in southern centers where there is more than one gas station in a community competing for business. If they were present in the Deh Cho, motorists would probably avoid looking at them.
Gas prices, as everyone knows, are on the rise. Signs displaying gas prices would only remind motorists what they'll face when pull up to the pumps.
Higher gas prices, however, could be the new reality. The price of oil is rising and with instability in some oil producing countries it shows no sign of returning to lower levels soon.
A world of higher gas prices is going to be particularly hard on the North, where many families are already struggling with high costs of living.
Driving is a part of Northern life. In small communities that are widely spaced, driving, often long distances, is the only option if you want specialized items or to stock up on supplies such as groceries.
Deh Cho residents can't take a transit bus or a subway to the next larger grocery store - they have to drive. They also don't have the option of a bus or a train if they want to travel a few communities away to visit family and friends or just go for a trip.
As gas prices rise, residents are going to have to start making choices and changing their habits.
Some gas-saving measures are obvious. Cutting down the time that vehicles are left to idle as they warm up in the winter will save money. Drivers will just have to deal with colder steering wheels and seats during their first few minutes of driving.
Driving tours, a popular pastime in some communities, will also have to be looked at critically. The number of people who drive around communities seemingly in endless loops in the evening for something to do may have to find other pastimes.
Deh Cho residents may also have to call on their neighbors more. Supply trips where one vehicle is shared between a few families will cut down on gas consumption. The same goes for carpooling outside town.
Although toughness and durability are favoured in vehicle choices for the Deh Cho, drivers will also have start to looking at gas mileage as a critical factor when purchasing their next vehicle.
Rising gas prices will only be an inconvenience for some, but, for others, financially it will mean the difference between turning on a vehicle or leaving it parked. Deh Cho residents need to take note of gas prices now and start making plans for how they're going to cope.
That's right, it was purely comical for those dozen faces I couldn't avoid as first I went from my focused-adventurous face, to the chewing-on-something-so-tough-I'd-never-get-my-teeth-through face, to finally (and I think the best part), the tasting-the-flavour-of-whale-blubber-for-the-first-time face - sorry you missed it.
I know every few years a new editor comes up and experiences Muskrat Jamboree for their first time and just has to write about it, but that's not going to stop me from saying that this town hosts one massive festivity.
The excitement of the grand events was obvious, but it was the smaller details that set this Jamboree apart for me. One was the participation from everyone young and old. No teen seemed too cool for nail driving or the egg toss, and couples joined the bush skills competition, moving at a pace as if they were just there to make bannock and tea for the crowd, no big deal.
But my favourite part was the never-missing-a-beat, even tone of Gerry Kisoun who'd suddenly drop some sideways joke, half hidden by his calm tone. Twice it took me a moment to register what was just said and by the time I was snickering he had moved on to another tale - all in the same, calm drone.
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