Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

Trustee Rose-Marie Jackson's decision last week to leave the Yellowknife Catholic school board is another reason to scrutinize the board's accountability.

Certainly, board members face limitations in publicly discussing personnel issues, specifically related to the recent prospect of parting ways with superintendent Claudia Parker and assistant superintendent Johnnie Bowden.

That said, trustees during public school board meetings have not been forthcoming on whether the contracts for the senior administrators should have been renewed, an issue that tipped off a public outcry. A group of determined citizens forced a school board meeting Jan. 18 to be relocated to a larger venue at St. Joseph School to accommodate those who wanted to speak to the issue.

The public doesn't need to know the personal, and rightly confidential, details surrounding the board's original wish to no longer retain the services of Parker and Bowden. However, that doesn't mean the trustees can't make individual comments about whether they supported the removal of the senior administrators.

We believe the public has a right to hear opinions from each trustee. Further, by virtue of their election in a free and open democratic society, the trustees have an obligation to keep members of the public informed on matters of public interest - at the very least to express where they stand on the issues.

In the three months since the Parker/Bowden issue began, there has never been public disclosure of what trustees had to say during in-camera meetings regarding the senior administrators' continued employment, or public statements regarding their perceived value or detriment to the school district.

The issue of public accountability ought to be part of a platform for those letting their names stand for election to the Catholic school board in October. Certainly, hiding behind public statements by the board chair should not be tolerated.

Privacy is an increasingly cherished right in the information age. Like all things valuable and fragile, privacy should be vigorously protected.

Unfortunately, the NWT's privacy watchdog has more bark than bite when it comes to advocating for complainants who feel they've been wronged by public institutions, either by having their privacy breached or by being denied access to government information.

Elaine Keenan Bengts, information and privacy commissioner for the NWT and Nunavut, lacks the kind of order-making authority wielded by her counterparts in places such as Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. Consequently, it is up to the GNWT to adopt her case-by-case recommendations or simply shrug them off.

As Keenan Bengts has pointed out, issues related to privacy and access to information have evolved considerably since the NWT adopted the Access of Information and Protection of Privacy Act 14 years ago. She is calling for a review of NWT access and privacy legislation. What happens next will be the responsibility of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, which will table a response to Keenan Bengts' December report in the legislative assembly later this spring.

One of the committee's priorities should be to insist the privacy commissioner's powers be expanded to include enforceable orders, rather than recommendations that can be easily ignored.

There are a number of topics that are difficult to broach with people, especially if you think they are the victim or perpetrator of family violence.

Family violence can take a variety of forms including physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse and neglect.

Communities in the Deh Cho are undoubtedly affected on a daily basis by family violence and it's heartening to see steps being taken to address it in Fort Simpson. The 10 agencies comprising the Fort Simpson Interagency Committee have created and signed onto a Fort Simpson Interagency Family Violence and Abuse Protocol.

The protocol's goal is to improve the delivery of services to adult victims of family violence.

The document outlines the responsibility of each first responder agency to victims of family violence and also support from other agencies.

It is undoubtedly difficult for victims to come forward and now, when they do, agencies participating in the protocol will have the knowledge to help. The protocol should eliminate any cases of people being shuffled back and forth between agencies.

If victims of family violence know they will receive help and support quickly once coming forward it will undoubtedly remove one of the barriers from them reporting the abuse.

While the protocol is good, what's even more exciting about the collaboration between the agencies is the awareness campaign that is being launched.

The Fort Simpson Interagency Committee has developed a series of posters and brochures to promote the idea of Fort Simpson being a strong community where family violence will not be tolerated.

To provide an even more visible sign to show that people are taking a stand against family violence, the committee will be distributing green plastic bracelets that carry the message, "We choose a strong community."

Family violence exists, in part, because both victims and bystanders allow it to. Hopefully, the protocol and awareness campaign will empower people to tell the perpetrators of family violence their actions won't be tolerated and encourage victims to report abuse to the appropriate authorities.

Residents of Inuvik have been hit with a lot recently, and they want to know what to expect in the murky aftermath of revelations on dwindling gas supplies and rising utility rates.

First, there was the announcement in December that the town's natural gas supply was diminishing at a much faster rate than first expected – the supply will dry up in about a year and a half.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) then made the switch in January to diesel to lengthen the life of the well which was compromised due to water inflow.

On Friday, the NTPC announced its general rate application for a seven per cent rate increase April 1 and additional seven per cent increases April 2013, 2014 and five per cent in April 2015. The proposed rate changes are due to increased cost in generating/distributing electricity as well as the natural gas situation here in Inuvik.

Monday night brought residents out to hear about a proposed new well that Ikhil Joint Venture – which sells natural gas to both NTPC and Inuvik Gas – is hoping to drill next winter at South Parsons Lake. Those who attended the meeting implored Colin Nikiforuk, Ikhil Joint Venture's general manager, to give them any information that would give them an idea of what the future holds for their homes, their bills, and therefore their lives.

They were told they must wait for these answers. In a little less than two weeks, the Town of Inuvik is hosting a public information session on Inuvik's natural gas supply. All associated organizations – the town, the GNWT, Ikhil Joint Venture, Inuvik Gas's managing partner ATCO Midstream NWT and Inuvialuit Petroleum Corporation – will be there and will be put on the spot to answer all residents' questions.

These answers are due. As fears grow and patience fades, residents are completely justified to be chomping at the bit to raise their concerns and get the answers they deserve.

It's fair to give the town time to gather as much information as it can before relaying it to the community, and the community can be sure that over the next two weeks, the natural gas proponents will be working day in and day out to put that together, but the clock is ticking. Families need and deserve to know how the gas issue will affect their bills, to know whether this is something they need to prepare for or, in extreme cases, if it will be something their household can even afford. Businesses need to know what their operating costs are going to be. These are valid questions with potentially life-altering answers – answers which need to come as soon as possible.

Those heading to the meeting on April 10 should be well aware that the frustration, uncertainty and anxiety about the natural gas supply for Inuvik, and the financial implications it might carry for residents, will be heard loud and clear. It's on the people behind the gas project to bring clarity to the issue.

The overwhelming success of last weekend's inaugural Long John Jamboree proves yet again that the key to success for a community event is organization.

Without energetic and well-connected organizers it's impossible to raise money, find volunteers and bring together crowd-pleasing activities and events.

Caribou Carnival did not die from an absence of community spirit, it lacked the organization needed to pull it off, and eventually, the Caribou Carnival brand become so tarnished from previous failures that people who could have rescued it stayed away.

Anybody who attended the last Caribou Carnival in 2010 - a shadow of its former glory held in a parking lot next door to city hall -- would have seen that. No amount of good vibes and calls for support could have saved that event.

Anyone who has been around this city for a while and ventured onto the ice of Yellowknife Bay last weekend may have thought they had stepped back 20 years. There were thousands of people at the Long John Jamboree, and a wealth of things to do, too. The Ugly Dog and Truck contest was back, parents and kids were lining up for helicopter rides, checking out the ice sculpture competition, or the waiter and waitress server relay.

Right next door was the always dependable Snowking Snow Castle, and just a little further afield on the ice were snowmobile, ATV and dirt bikes races. The Diavik 150 Canadian Dog Derby Championship race course was also nearby.

Having all these events together in one general area certainly encouraged public participation. One of the key logistical problems with Caribou Carnival in later years is that it was held on Frame Lake, which created a bottlenecked traffic nightmare when crowds did appear.

The community is simply getting too large to host a festival on Frame Lake with its single vehicle access from Veterans Memorial Drive. Wide open Yellowknife Bay, with ample parking room, is simply a better location, and now Snowking and the Jamboree can complement each other rather than compete for festival attendees.

Jamboree organizers, among them a few people who are no strangers to organizing community activities and events, such as president Adrian Bell and vice-president Julia Mott, deserve praise.

Judging by the large turnout over the weekend, which numbered into the thousands at any given time, the hunger for a springtime festival among Yellowknifers has not diminished with the demise of Caribou Carnival. It also puts to rest the theory that our city has become too transient in nature and can no longer rustle up a sense of community spirit.

With dedicated volunteers and sponsors, future Jamboree events have a chance to prove just as successful. We can only hope that when the current roster of organizers inevitably tire out and move on to different things, other capable people step in to fill the breach.

I'll be the first to admit fish and wildlife discussions interest me as much on a personal level as they do professionally.

I'm quite content with my station in life today, and am happy to have called Rankin Inlet home since 1998.

However, it wasn't all that long ago when I was living in the town where I grew up and happily employed in the fisheries.

Not long after the feds decided jobs were more important than sustainability, codfish stocks on the East Coast vanished, the fishing industry collapsed and a way of life was lost for thousands.

One of my most vivid memories of those days is a meeting I attended, where an old skipper showed government officials underwater footage of an area taken about 15 years apart, if memory serves.

The first footage showed a rolling ocean bottom with marine vegetation swaying in the current and schools of fish darting around everywhere.

The second showed the area as a flat ocean desert, devoid of almost all vegetation and any fish life of note.

The skipper said they were looking at the damage done to the habitat by giant weights used to hold dragger nets down, acting as giant rolling-pins going back and forth across the ocean floor with nets often as long as a football field.

In retrospect, they were the perfect killing machines, dragging-up schools of target and non-target fish, while destroying everything in their path.

When I left to return to college, I was a huge believer in two things: anything that can't be caught on a hook deserves to stay in the water, and habitat is as important as the life forms that call it home.

So, I recently went numb with anger when I learned of a leaked report about the Conservative government preparing to change the Fisheries Act to remove any reference to fish habitat.

If federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield and his merry band of carpetbaggers get their way, Section 35(1) will be rewritten.

No longer will it prevent big fishers and corporations from doing anything that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat.

The new version would prevent them from carrying on any activity other than fishing that results in an adverse effect on a fish of economic, cultural or ecological value.

That is a huge, huge difference in wording, especially in the hands of a millionaire lawyer and his billionaire client, both of whom only care about the balance in their bankbooks. It's also quite convenient if you happen to be trying to get approval to build an oilsands pipeline to the West Coast, like the Calgarybased Enbridge Inc.

It's hard to believe this government is entertaining such a foolhardy notion.

Just as hard to believe is that it's only been 20 years since the collapse of the East Coast ground fishery threw more than 40,000 people out of work.

Have we forgotten the lessons learned during those dark days so quickly?

Make no mistake about it, nothing has changed but the date.

It doesn't matter if it's fish, seals, polar bears or caribou, when you're talking governments and corporations, big bucks always trump common sense!

Inuvik MLA Alfred Moses is fed up because he believes the government has been "coasting" when it comes to addictions treatment.

In an effort to rectify the problem, he is pushing for a second addictions treatment centre for the NWT. His reasoning that the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve is not culturally relevant and too far away for people in the Beaufort Delta or Sahtu regions makes sense. It might also explain why, in a territory that suffers from addictions rates twice the national average, the facility is rarely at capacity.

Moses's point is also highlighted by stats that indicate the territory is losing its battle against addictions.

According to the latest addictions survey from the Department of Health and Social Services, people who reported at least once trying one of five types of illicit drugs -- cocaine/crack, hallucinogens, speed, ecstasy and heroin - increased to 24 per cent in 2009 from 16 per cent in 2002.

The same report states 43 per cent of residents surveyed said they typically consume five or more drinks on one occasion. This is an increase from 34 per cent since 1996.

In 2002, addictions services in the NWT were hit hard by a report titled A State of Emergency ... Evaluation of Addiction Services in the NWT, a document produced by consultants hired by the territorial government. That 184-page document criticized nearly every aspect of addictions services delivery in the territory. Unfortunately, 10 years later, little has changed.

The Hay River treatment centre remains the only detoxification facility in the NWT; services for youth and special needs individuals with addictions are still non-existent; and funding, which was deemed insufficient then, has actually decreased to 2.3 per cent from three per cent of the total health budget. Although total spending is $8 million compared to $5 million 10 years ago, inflation takes a bite out of that.

While more must be done to combat addictions in the NWT, Health Minister Tom Beaulieu is correct when he says a new addiction treatment centre might not be the best option.

The minister pointed out that the GNWT spends approximately $2 million annually on the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre and the facility has been consistently operating under 50 per cent capacity.

There is no reason to believe that a similar facility in another region would see better use.

Beaulieu said other options such as on-the-land, culturally appropriate treatment options might be more effective. The health minister might be right, but he also told News/North the government will have to address adding or changing programs by working within the existing budget.

Unfortunately, that is not a realistic view.

Back in the 1990s, Beaulieu said, the government was spending up to 14 per cent of its health budget on addictions. Granted it was still budgeting for the communities which now make up Nunavut, but addictions levels were also at their lowest.

The minister took exception to Moses's accusation that the government was coasting on the issue because it undermines the work health professionals in the NWT have been doing. We would suggest, however, that the Inuvik MLA's comments were directed solely at the policy makers and not the front-line workers.

Addictions funding has not kept pace with the need; those with FASD and our youth are still sent south for treatment or end up in jail; and since the State of Emergency report was published addiction rates have continued to grow.

While we appreciate the government's fiscal challenges, addictions are tearing our communities apart -- a fact that is all too apparent every day in our courts. More money must be found to address this troubling issue.

It's hard not to feel pangs of sadness with seeing the Inuit Art Foundation meet its demise.

Its beautiful Inuit Art Quarterly magazine, the foundation's flagship product, was a pleasure to behold. The foundation's mandate, to promote and market Inuit art and to train artists and make being an Inuit artist in a Northern community a little easier, leaves a gap to be filled - but it's a gap that can be filled.

Look at David Alexander's Iqaluit Auction Bids page on Facebook. It's been around since November, and with no money down, it's created a Nunavut-wide art market that sees deals worth upwards of $500 go down daily.

There is a market for this art. If buying it is made easy, it will be bought.

Without comment from the federal government on why $485,000 in annual funding to the foundation - about half of IAF's budget - was cut, it's difficult to know the reasoning. It seems the foundation did not have data to support it was fulfilling its mandate. Whether it was or not, when funded by public money, that data has to be collected and presentable to the government, and public, on demand.

Even the best of organizations must be accountable, and the best tend to be.

As well, the foundation's quarterly magazine, while beautiful and well-read amongst art aficionados, is not modest in its production. It has beautiful, glossy pages with nice layout on heavy paper, making it an expensive product.

There is no question there must be programs to meet the needs of Inuit artists, and the death of the IAF is the death of the only national organization devoted completely to marketing and promoting Inuit art.

According to the 2006 census, the proportional number of artists in the territorial workforce was 242 per cent above the national average, although they earn just 53 per cent of the income of the average Nunavut worker. Those artists need to have support and backing. Art is the lifeblood of Inuit culture, and must be nourished.

Look to the Internet for opportunities to foster an economic environment for art. Iqaluit Auction Bids is a fantastic model to use as a launching pad.

The government must help artists the supplies and training they need, and foster opportunities for artists to work in their chosen

field.

If the government is cutting half-a-million dollars for Inuit arts programs, it shouldn't put it all back in the coffers to be spent elsewhere. Earmark that money for replacement programs, and make sure the accountability framework is there so results can be tracked and changes can be made if the programming is not effective.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.