The nine members of the new Fort Simpson village council were sworn in with pomp and ceremony on Nov. 5.

Approximately 50 people attended the ceremony that even included refreshments afterward. The event will likely mark the most recognition and thanks the mayor and members of the council will get during their three-year term.

Serving on a village or hamlet council is usually a thankless job. How often do people think about thanking the members of their local council when things are going well around their community? Probably far less than the times residents track down the nearest council member they can find when things are going wrong.

Being on council also isn't a very glamorous job. Councillors have to deal with the smaller details that keep a community functioning. As some like to say, there's a lot of talk about dogs, ditches and dumps.

Village and hamlet councils, however, are far more important than most people realize. Along with band councils, they are one of the closest forms of elected government to the people. The councils have a direct say in the running of the services that affect the daily lives of residents. They have a hand in everything from ensuring a supply of clean water to having snow cleared from municipal streets.

Councillors also have to have a wide range of knowledge. They deal with everything from personnel issues to local bylaws to budgets. It's not an easy task.

That's why it's essential that a strong team of individuals is elected to the councils and that they be supported throughout their term by local residents.

On election day voters choose the candidates they think will do the best job on the council. It's not enough, however, to make a mark on a ballot paper and then hope for the best for the next two or three years.

To get the most out of their elected councils, residents have to keep tabs on what they are doing, offer words of praise when things are going well and, more importantly, offer suggestions about issues that need to be addressed and how things could be done better.

Fort Simpson now has its council in place for the next three years but both Fort Liard and Fort Providence will be heading to the polls in December. The residents of each community should keep in mind the importance their councils have.

Reality shows on TV reach a wide audience. They may not always portray the reality of life, regardless of their titles, but they can promote an interest in a certain region, like the NWT or the Beaufort Delta.

Jesse James is not well-liked around here because of his misrepresentation of the region and behaviour during his December 2008 visit during the filming of Jesse James is a Dead Man.

The episode, called the Arctic Bike Journey, was aired in 2009 and in it James rode the unfinished ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk to deliver medicine.

Inuvik Drum reported at the time that some residents were angered by the portrayal, specifically the episode voice-over which stated there was no airport in Tuktoyaktuk and that residents struggle to survive every winter.

However, love them or hate them, reality TV shows can at least boost the visibility of a region.

Mikey McBryan, from Buffalo Airways, was in Inuvik last week with Erin Cebula, a hostess on Entertainment Tonight Canada.

Although only in Inuvik for 24 hours, they were able to witness a sample of what the region has to offer, even when the snow is falling.

While the two Entertainment Tonight segments focused on the new season of Ice Pilots NWT, the second day, which aired Wednesday, showcased some of the outdoor activities in Inuvik.

From snowmobiling and dog sledding to indoor demonstrations of Northern games, there was no rest for the two TV personalities.

It's not the first time Inuvik has been featured on TV this year. CBC's Cross Country Fun Hunt featured Inuvik, with teen celebrity Jordan Francis visiting the greenhouse, youth centre, visitor centre and Midnight Sun Complex.

The documentary Our Longest Drive followed three men and the cremains of a fourth who travelled over 8,500 km to play golf above the Arctic Circle. The series is currently airing on the Golf Channel.

Accurate depictions or not, showcasing Inuvik and the surrounding areas can do wonders for tourism, especially when people find out there are actually airports and places to stay.

The ET Canada segment is different from the fun hunt and the golf series because it showcases the town in winter. When everything is covered in snow there's still a lot to do and tourists shouldn't be scared off by low temperatures.

For people trying to decided where to spend some of their vacation money, a few brief minutes on TV can make all the difference.

As the city prepares to welcome the 40th annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum next week, the GNWT and the feds should be ready to take the opportunity to mine delegates for insight into how the government can facilitate more resource development in the territory.

The sharp drop in mineral exploration spending in the NWT in 2009 that followed the global collapse of commodity prices appears to be rebounding, with an almost 30 per cent increase in spending last year. Natural Resources Canada anticipates a further rise, up to $124 million, by the end of this year.

Governments should encourage this momentum to grow.

Mining means jobs, not only those attached to the industry itself, but also throughout the transportation, hospitality and various service sectors.

The diamond industry alone accounts for a quarter of the territory's GDP.

Government efforts to improve the investment climate in the territory will help determine the scale of the apparent comeback in mineral exploration.

Meanwhile, the forum continues to grow, with more than 800 delegates expected to participate in this week's event. About half of the participants will be visiting from out of town.

All residents should do what they can to help welcome the visitors and make it known that the benefit of mining investment is appreciated and understood in the capital.

High school students and others looking forward to undertaking studies at a post-secondary education institution would be correct to be sorely disappointed with a lack of action by MLAs during last week's session of the legislative assembly.

Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins brought the issue to the forefront when he slammed Education Minister Jackson Lafferty and other cabinet ministers for not setting aside one cent to create a stand-alone Yellowknife campus of Aurora College.

Hawkins said that, despite the issue being raised more than 30 times over the last five years, the territorial government has not only not set aside funds but it has not set wheels in motion to plan for a stand-alone campus in Yellowknife.

We recognize there are financial considerations related to creating a stand-alone campus and that there are real limits to the $75 million the GNWT has for capital infrastructure projects. However, it is unacceptable that the notion of a stand-alone Yellowknife campus is not getting any attention whatsoever.

It is all well and good that there is a new three-year rental agreement with Northern United Place so that the Yellowknife campus can continue serving more than 200 full-time students and deliver its successful four-year bachelor of science in nursing program, among its other offerings. However, there is room for expansion of its programs, especially in the areas of Northern studies, research projects and other disciplines that are currently only offered at universities in the south.

Continuing to use the shared space at Northern United Place should be seen as a temporary situation and efforts should be made in earnest to create a space for the hundreds of high-school graduates who would prefer to continue their studies in the North. Because we all know, once students go south to study, not all of them come back to contribute to the economic prosperity of the capital city.

It was interesting to hear social promotion being raised during the annual general meeting of Nunavut's District Education Authorities (DEA) this past month.

The DEAs want the practice stopped.

Much of the talk centred on student preparedness for post-secondary education or the workforce, as well as the "southern equivalency" of Grade 12 Nunavut graduates.

The Government of Nunavut took issue with the terminology, stating it supports continuous progress, not social promotion.

OK, but the problem with that is continuous progress focuses on elementary students. It's an alternative program that attempts to blend innovative new approaches with the best of traditional elementary school practices.

It's built on the cornerstones of continuity over a fiveyear period, multi-aged classrooms and families (two or three teachers and a group of students who stay together during the elementary years), a cooperative educational approach, and processoriented instruction -- some of which applies to current Nunavut elementary instruction, but most of which does not.

But, I digress.

There's been a long ongoing argument over the effectiveness of both social promotion and grade retention (failing students for a year). Retention edges out social promotion in most informed circles, but both are rarely endorsed.

Studies show grade retention provides next to no academic or social advantage.

Similarly, stacks of research also fail to show any evidence that social promotion offers any benefit to students.

Since we're not going to see a reduction in the size of Nunavut classrooms anytime soon, a number of our teachers probably realize the key to raising educational standards is more interaction and extended one-on-one contact with students, but have no idea how to provide that without moving their beds into the classroom.

American studies on countries excelling with their educational programs such as Japan, Sweden, Norway and Denmark -- where retention has become virtually extinct -- noted how teachers stay with the same students for a number of years and teach them multiple subjects.

The approach (known as looping) results in close relationships between teacher and students that result in overall school success.

Studies also show it's far better for educational systems to be proactive than reactive in dealing with underachieving students.

The best tool in that approach is a quality early childhood education program, which produces consistent positive effects on student achievement and grade retention.

The concept of social promotion does little more than retard a student's academic growth and provides nothing in terms of social benefits.

A Canadian study by high school teacher Michael Zwaagstra and University of Manitoba education professor Rodney Clifton concluded social promotion leads to weaker academic standards and unskilled Grade 12 graduates.

Advocates tend to focus too much on students who have academic difficulties, yet all but ignore those who just don't apply themselves. Social promotion sends the message to these kids that just showing up every day will earn them a diploma.

And that's absolutely the wrong message to send!

A new energy plan which would, among other things, seek to increase usage of the Taltson hydro electric power station is being drafted by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Taltson is designed to generate 18 megawatts of electricity, enough to service 6,000 homes. Presently it only supplies power to approximately 2,400 homes, plus businesses and industry, in Hay River, K'atlodeeche First Nation, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution and Enterprise.

Taltson power costs about nine cents per kilowatt hour to produce. That's a base price before transmission costs are added in.

Selling the unused portion of the full 18 megawatts could bring the cost down to five cents per kilowatt hour.

One way of accomplishing this goal would be to connect the NWT power system to the continental grid and export power to the southern market. That would require more than 300 kilometres of powerlines to either Alberta, British Columbia or Saskatchewan. The energy plan will determine the cost of extending the power lines.

If such a plan went ahead, the power corp. believes two things would happen. First, Northern access to the continental power grid would replace costly diesel back-up generation in the larger communities on hydro generation. Second, it would potentially reduce power costs to Taltson customers.

"NTPC could purchase power from Alberta while its power is priced below NTPC's own cost to generate, saving the water for high-cost periods when NTPC would then use its own hydro. Overall, this would allow NTPC to operate like any other utility connected to the grid and operate more efficiently than it can today, ultimately lowering the cost of power to its customers," a statement from the power corp. reads.

So, if it proves to be feasible, such a plan could lead to cheaper energy and more reliability, a very worthwhile goal. We hope, however, the power corporation moves forward more openly and prudently than with the previous proposal to expand the Taltson dam and sell power to the diamond mines.

Former premier Floyd Roland often touted the benefits, but the mines, as everyone suspected and as it was later revealed, had no interest in being customers. A lot of money and even more staff time was wasted, much like Talston's excess power.

If this new energy plan offers significant savings and benefits for NWT customers as promised, then it is worth pursuing. But we hope enthusiasm doesn't cloud unworkable economics.

In the end, federal help may be required for stringing transmission lines south.

Acting naive just doesn't cut it anymore.

South Baffin MLA Fred Schell has attempted to defend a series of serious Integrity Act violations levied against him by saying he wasn't clear on the rules and it's "human nature" to lie. Schell has only proven it's within his nature.

The controversial MLA used his position as minister of Human Resources to single out two government employees, with whom he has historical personal issues, and attempt to affect their livelihoods, according to the integrity commissioner. Schell also lied under oath, and made several other violations of the basic tenets of the Integrity Act, such as failing to conduct his affairs in a manner as to maintain public confidence and trust in his integrity, objectivity and impartiality.

Schell had already been chastised in October 2011 for sending an intimidating e-mail to a bureaucrat in June 2009 while he was a regular MLA, to further his Polar Supplies business activity. Lo and behold, when Schell was given more power and authority, through a cabinet seat and three portfolios, he wasted no time in throwing his weight around.

During his first meeting with his deputy minister of human resources, the same month he was chastised for his previous integrity violation, he asked about an employee whom he had a grudge against. He would also single out another individual with whom he'd had a problematic personal history, and tried to assert that it should be his decision, as minister of human resources, whether that individual, a territorial government staff member, should be able to run for hamlet council. Schell did not express any interest in the 12 other GN employees who had been given blessing to serve on their hamlet councils.

Then, in perhaps the most egregious transgression of them all, he lied under oath when addressing one of those allegations.

There is still one year left before the next territorial election. If Schell doesn't step down, the MLAs can and must make a motion to kick him out. Why they haven't already made a motion to remove him from cabinet is a mystery, as he's been collecting cabinet pay without cabinet responsibilities since March. Integrity commissioner Norman Pickell left his recommended punishment at a $10,000 fine and a forced apology, saying Schell's departure would leave Kimmirut and Cape Dorset without territorial representation. A hastily-arranged byelection would be better than leaving him as a representative in the legislature.

Schell has abused the powers given to him as an elected official, and did so for his own gain. It would be unfair for his constituents to be stuck with an MLA who's proven himself to be corrupt and dishonest, without the chance to elect another.

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