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Before Bob McLeod was elected premier, the 17th legislative assembly held a meeting with aboriginal leaders in Dettah.

The intent: to mend the relationships between the GNWT and aboriginal leaders and their communities. Prior to the gathering, those relationships were described to be at an all-time low.

McLeod and his cabinet have been demonstrating their commitment to reaching out to aboriginal groups. A series of meetings over the past month with the Tlicho, Gwich'in and Beaufort Delta Regional Council are evidence of the GNWT's resolve to re-establish lines of communication.

Speaking with News/North last week, McLeod said approximately 13 more meetings are planned with aboriginal governments and communities.

The discussions span the usual topics -- health care, education, devolution and employment, to name a few -- but the goal of the government's territory-wide tour might change the face of intergovernmental relations between the GNWT and aboriginal governments.

McLeod said a follow-up meeting to the initial gathering in Dettah is planned once the GNWT has concluded its latest round of consultations. When that happens, McLeod said a government policy -- the "aboriginal engagement strategy" -- will begin to take shape. An idea born during the first Dettah gathering, the strategy would outline a protocol for consulting with aboriginal governments and communities.

McLeod said the intent is for the government to be as open and transparent as possible, a commitment he said extends beyond communication at the government level and to the community level as well. It is here the yet-to-be-drafted aboriginal engagement strategy will truly be tested.

Although it is vital the GNWT communicate and negotiate with aboriginal governments -- because it ought to recognize aboriginal groups' authority and rights to self-determination -- it is equally essential the general population is kept in the know.

In the past, that disconnect has contributed to serious problems. For example, in 2009, the announcement of the GNWT's ban on caribou hunting caught aboriginal hunters and residents by surprise, despite assertions from the territorial government that Tlicho and Akaitcho leaders had been consulted.

If the general population is kept in the loop, those types of situations will hopefully be avoided in the future. McLeod said the lines of communication will be a two-way street between the GNWT and aboriginal leaders. We encourage whatever protocols are hammered out will call for well-detailed information to be put into the hands of the general public in a timely fashion.

The government's efforts are encouraging and demonstrate a recognition that effective governance of the NWT will be achieved through a partnership between the legislative assembly and aboriginal governments, a move that is welcome sooner than later.

So far, Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq has managed to stay in the news for the right reasons.

She came out of last year's federal election with high expectations given past successes from her previous term, and the higher-echelon status she enjoys as health minister. She has kept the momentum rolling into 2012.

The recent announcement of $2.2 million in federal funding for fisheries training is another example, as were things like last year's announcement of $4.2 million over two years to help the GN hire much-needed additional judges and lawyers, and, at the community level, announcements such as $30.2 million for a utilidor system in Resolute.

Being the minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency certainly helps attach her name to projects that bring opportunities to Nunavummiut, and it's fair to say she recognizes that economic development plays a key role in bettering the lives of Northerners.

Yet there are still glaring areas where she hasn't made much of a dent - namely, housing and healthcare.

Nunavut obviously has different needs than other territories and the provinces, and many of those needs are very pressing. Premier Eva Aariak recently stated the territory is in need of critical health infrastructure investment, and pointed out Nunavut's medical problems themselves are unique - tuberculosis rates are the highest in Canada, for instance. Also, the prevalence of health issues that crossover into social problems, like alcoholism and mental health, are all too common in the North and require urgent treatment from the federal government.

Given the Tory toe-the-party-line gag order on its MPs, most Nunavummiut will not know the extent to which Aglukkaq fights for these issues in Parliament's backrooms.

We urge our MP to maintain her focus on advances in Nunavut's fishing and mining industries, as these things will improve lives in the long run, but also remember that the territory needs to soon see better and more plentiful housing and a strengthened healthcare system.

That's a daunting task, but one that we're more and more confident she can prove capable of fulfilling.

Trustees with Yellowknife Catholic Schools best curb their penchant for high-stakes drama lest they lose even more pupils and tax dollars.

The latest dust-up over the school board's attempt to dismiss two of its most popular employees, superintendent Claudia Parker and assistant superintendent Johnnie Bowden - who together represent 59 years of service - mercifully came to an end last week. The longtime educators still have their jobs, and protesters went home from the school board meeting happy, if not a little confused as to why the board wanted to get rid of them in the first place.

There have been other Catholic school board controversies: its refusal to allow Gardasil vaccinations of female students for the HPV virus -- a sexually-transmitted infection - and its attempt to keep non-Catholics off its democratically-elected board. The fallout from those decisions has lingered, with very damaging effects.

We have been pointing this out over the last few years because there is clearly something at work here. Up until six years ago, the Catholic school district was quietly laying down surplus budgets and raking in an increasingly larger proportion of tax support from residents compared to its rival, Yellowknife Education District No. 1.

Catholic schools were seen by many parents as superior to their public school counterparts, never mind the religion. And clearly religion didn't matter to many because 40 per cent of Yellowknife Catholic Schools' students were non-Catholic.

What mattered most to parents, as it still does today, is that their children get a quality education while attending state-of-the-art facilities, staffed with competent and professional educators.

Yellowknife Catholic Schools, by most accounts, still provides an excellent academic environment but so does Yk1, especially now that public school trustees have overcome the board infighting and administrative turmoil that used to plague that district.

What did change the Catholic district's fortunes was the disastrous religious crusade the board launched prior to the 2006 municipal election.

Suddenly, religion was an issue where previously it was not. Attempting to keep non-Catholics off the board may have played well to the hardcore faithful but not with other Yellowknifers who had two school districts to choose from when deciding where to send their kids or put their taxes.

The French school board offers a third option for a smaller number of city dwellers.

The Catholic school district's tax support - 44.5 per cent in 2006 - dropped to 40.2 by 2010. Student enrolment is also dropping - 1,556 in 2006; 1,314 in 2010.

Administration blames the decline on a sluggish economy but it's surely not the only reason the Catholic district has had its troubles.

Religion may not have played any part in this latest debacle with Parker and Bowden, but the board's poor handling of the situation showed it is out of touch with rank-and-file Catholic school supporters and reinforces the perception of a board of trustees behaving recklessly.

Privacy rules likely prevented the board from explaining its position to the hundreds of angry protesters who showed up for last week's public meeting at St. Joseph School. Still, the board did a poor job of explaining even that.

Whatever the reason, if the trustees' wish was to make for an interesting election season this fall, they surely have accomplished their goal.

It's that time of winter again in the Deh Cho, the season when there seems to be at least one tournament if not two every weekend.

The Wolfpack Invitational Basketball Tournament got things rolling from Jan. 6 to 7 followed by the Fort Simpson Men's Recreational Hockey Tournament last weekend. Coming up is the Fort Simpson Merchant's Mixed Bonspiel this weekend followed by the Scott McAdam Badminton Tournament and the Kingland Ford Hockey Tournament on successive weekends in February. Later that month, soccer will take the stage with two separate tournaments in Fort Simpson.

All of these tournaments are important to the region for a number of reasons. Their most obvious role is to provide a venue for local athletes to test their skills.

It's fine for a hockey or soccer team to practice in their own community and potentially play against another local team, but it's not until they come up against competition from another community that they can really gauge their skills. Regional tournaments allow teams to take stock of where they are really at and look at the areas where they can improve.

Although tournaments exist for the purpose of creating competition in a sport that is really just one small portion of what they do.

During the Wolfpack Invitational Basketball Tournament Geoff Buerger, the coach for the Hay River senior team and the principal of Diamond Jenness Secondary School said the tournament allows athletes to meet old friends every year. Michael Vandell, the captain of the Fort Providence Bulls, made a very similar comment at the hockey tournament. Vandell said one of the things he enjoys about the event is seeing all the boys again, "it's like a hockey family."

Sports tournaments play an important role in creating ties between communities as athletes from different places come together, compete and form friendships. When the same teams and players come to a tournament, often enough the event takes on the feel of a family or class reunion.

While the tournaments are important for the athletes, they are equally important for the communities they take place in. Tournaments give residents a chance to see some live sport action during a season when there's not much else to do. The tournaments also create fundraising opportunities for groups and economic spinoffs for local businesses.

Sports tournaments are clearly important events for a number of reasons, both related to and independent of the sports competition itself. Residents need to continue to step forward and volunteer at these events to ensure communities continue to benefit from them.

There is never a lack of things to do in Inuvik. As an added bonus, most activities in town serve a greater purpose – raising money for a school field trip, a new children's centre or youth sports programs.

This town has an incredible knack for fundraising, with organizations knowing what event will go over well and effective ways to communicate the message of their event.

This past weekend, Samuel Hearne Secondary School students and teachers put together a successful Kids' Carnival. Money raised will now go to the high school's sports teams.

Many Donations

Local businesses gave funds or in-kind donations to the Cafe on Mackenzie for its stocking contest leading up to Christmas. Everything raised through that initiative is being distributed among the youth groups in town such as minor hockey as well as the high school's impending trip to Ethiopia.

Another class trip will receive funds in the near future through A Night in Paris next weekend. The money raised through a dinner, dance and auction will support the Sir Alexander Mackenzie School grades 5 and 6 French immersion classes trip to Quebec.

One important project that garnered the help of the community at large is the Children's First Centre.

At a recent Town of Inuvik committee of the whole meeting, Peter Clarkson of the construction committee said community members have been fundraising for this project for the past 10 years. People of Inuvik have invested more than a decade of hard work making this centre a reality.

The Town of Inuvik budgeted a contribution of $2.3 million, businesses from the community and surrounding area have donated both funds and materials for construction, which has all assisted in pushing the project forward. All of these efforts have left the Children First Society with its final push of raising about $1.5 million to meet its goal.

When it comes to fundraising, every little bit helps. It's the individual donor who makes the difference in community development efforts.

A history of consistent giving creates a foundation for strong organizations and there is comfort in knowing the support of the community is backing up these essential projects 100 per cent.

Yellowknifers watching the bustle of city hall are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed and wondering how recent actions relate to costs passed on to taxpayers.

No sooner did city council complete budget discussions in mid-December, including hitting residential property owners with a 2.83 per cent tax increase, than the general plan was on the agenda. Extensive talks resulted about a desire to include environmentally friendly initiatives in the future development of 35 large residential lots at Grace Lake.

The attention of residents was then drawn to new garbage bag pickup restrictions and a change in fees.

Then Yellowknifer reported on negotiations between the city and a private company, Corix Utilities, to move ahead with a district energy project, which is expected to provide heat to buildings in a vast section of downtown. This story was sparked by the city's desire to create a subsidiary to manage the district energy system as a utility, a move which would also help set the stage for landing federal funding should the geothermal part of the district energy prove viable.

Then came the city's release of the latest version of its draft harbour plan, a wide-sweeping 150-page document outlining an ambitious blueprint for changing and regulating the use of Yellowknife Bay, private and public waterfront property, the Woodyard, floatplanes, houseboats, the snow castle and Jolliffe Island.

The plan was prepared by private consultants and a 17-member harbour planning committee. It includes the city's short-term, medium-term and long-term vision. A preliminary estimate of key capital and administrative costs for a finalized harbour plan is pegged at more than $10 million but implementation, according to Mayor Gord Van Tighem, is dependent on finding funding.

We fully support the principle of strategic planning to allow for orderly growth and community enhancement. However, we have some concerns about the draft harbour plan.

First, residents only have until Feb. 9 to comment on a comprehensive and somewhat intimidating document, filled with colourful graphics, charts, comparisons and generalities which involve an assortment of government jurisdictions, historic users and property owners.

Second, and more importantly in our view, the city's preferred approach for harbour management calls for the immediate "establishment of a specialized municipal-led agency headed by a senior city bureaucrat with dedicated staff support and comprised of a team of other senior staff members cross-appointed as members of the agency."

That sounds like pretty big dollars to us, especially since the short-term goal is for the city's jurisdiction within the harbour to be established within one to five years.

The way we see it, establishing jurisdiction is just paperwork. And hiring a highly paid senior staff person to create an agency with a vague mandate will have little if any meaningful immediate impact on ordinary citizens.

Van Tighem said that there will be a more precise cost analysis done in the second and third stages of the harbour plan process.

In the meantime, residents and stakeholders should make their views known soon via the city website's public feedback forum, especially if you agree that hiring senior staff for this project at such an early juncture is putting the cart before the horse.

It was more than a little interesting to listen to Repulse Bay teacher Jeremy Chippett's views on video games and their ability to help students learn this past week.

But as positive and credible as many of his points may be, they only tell one side of the story.

I agree completely with Chippett's contention that video games can help people learn, especially when designed for that purpose and built from the ground up with a specific goal in mind.

I also believe video games can help develop eye-hand co-ordination, and help players learn how to formulate strategies, learn from mistakes and avoid repeating them, and plan one-step ahead and prepare for unseen difficulties.

Yet, for all their positives, video games are part of a rapidly-growing family of high-tech devices that have become so all-consuming as to be almost addictive.

Now, no doubt, there are already more than a few people sneering at that term.

But, the fact of the matter is, the vast majority of cellphones that do almost everything for you except go to the washroom, iPads, iPods and the Blackberry, are never far from their owner's reach.

There are few things more irritating than being in the middle of a conversation with someone when they pull out their device and start texting or scrolling merrily away.

Face it, at that point, you can tell them about your morning chasing a giant tuktu-eating siksik around the roof and they'll nod knowingly with that distracted grin on their face or, even worse, ask you how it all turned out.

Like pretty much everything in life, moderation plays a huge role in the use of this modern day magic.

But how do you moderate their use without following someone around almost 24 hours a day?

You don't, and that's the rub.

The biggest problem many folks have with the saturation of these devices into our society is their power to retard our ability to interact with one another in person.

And that's not to mention the significant side effect of so many of today's young adults, teenagers and adolescents wanting -- and expecting -- the same instant gratification in real life as they receive in their virtual universe.

Never in the history of humanity have so many wanted so much while doing so little to earn it.

That annoying little characteristic also comes to us courtesy of the technical age.

Another aspect of these little toys is the ability to create a false impression or ruin a person's reputation with one click of a button.

There's a politician with a table full of booze at the local watering hole, or, depending on the angle the photo was taken, there's a married man sneaking more than a little peek at the pretty waitress in the restaurant.

Just this past October an NHLer had to publicly explain his choice of costume at a, supposedly, private Halloween party when a guest brought in a cellphone and shared photos with a friend.

Hopefully, Chippett proves his theory correct and another check mark gets added to the positive side of the ledger with today's gadgets.

Then we can all gather at a local eatery to text each other the news while our ear buds play the sweetest notes a computer program can generate.

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