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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Continued absenteeism and foot-dragging by senior GNWT bureaucrats on the city's social issues committee left one irate city councillor Monday night suggesting the territorial flag should be taken down from city hall until the government takes the committee more seriously.

"It is hard for me to understand why the GNWT considers ameliorating social issues to be a conflict," added Coun. Paul Falvo, referring to statements made by department deputy ministers when they do attend meetings, arguing that they can't offer input into many issues discussed at a city-led meetings because it would put them in a conflict of interest.

"This follows on the heels of the disappointing response on Northland. Maybe we should do like Danny Williams and take the NWT flag down (to get them) to start recognizing Yellowknife's role as part of the NWT. "

The poor attendance and lack of input from deputy justice minister Sylvia Haener and Dana Heide, deputy minister of Health and Social Services, led to city council to unanimously pass a resolution Monday calling for government officials to play a lesser role on the committee from now on while meeting bi-monthly instead of every three months as it does now.

Many issues the committee deals with involve policy decisions made by the departments of Justice and Health and Social Services, hence the perceived conflict by GNWT officials.

"It has been a struggle to find issues that we can really make a difference on," said committee chair Amanda Mallon.

"The terms of reference were originally set up so that (the social issues committee) would meet every three months and we were set up for 10 people."

The senior GNWT bureaucrats aren't the only ones missing meetings. The social issues committee last met on Jan. 26 but the minutes from the Nov. 17 meeting, during which it was decided to revise the terms, show absences by Haener and Heide as well as Jan Stirling of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, and Alice Abel, of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

The situation has made it difficult for city administration to make recommendations to council and deal with social issues plaguing the city, such public intoxication and loitering, said Mallon.

With the changes, Mallon said the GNWT bureaucrats will play a lesser role by occasionally providing information as needed by committee members, similar to the role of city administration during city council meetings.

Councillors showed their support for the changes during a lengthy discussion last week, however, it was clear the issue still irked a few members enough to speak out before rubber-stamping the motion Monday.

Coun. David Wind said he found the scaling back of participation by senior GNWT figures as "regrettable" and "disappointing."

The social issues committee was born as part of the city's Championing Well-Being in Yellowknife plan. The document, which outlined how to tackle social problems in the capital, was drafted by Lutra Associates for the previous city council in June 2009. The committee then began meeting quarterly in April 2010.

Heide could not be reached for comment by press time. Last week, Haener sent an e-mail to Yellowknifer, stating that the territorial government is continuing to look at ways to work with the city and its concerns over social issue concerns.

"As a representative of the Department of Justice, we look forward to an opportunity to stay involved with the social issues committee," she wrote.

"It's important to be able to discuss and hear about social issues in a forum such as this. As well, it gives us a good opportunity to be able to actively look at ways we can work with our stakeholders to be a part of the solutions for the city's concerns. We are open to having a chance to talk about how we can work within our mandate to help."

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