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Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus came out firing at Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week, stating that if Chief Theresa Spence, of Attawapiskat, Ont., dies on her hunger strike it will cause tensions between Canada and its indigenous peoples comparable to the 1990s Oka crisis.

That clash in Quebec was a violent land dispute between a Mohawk band and the Canadian government. Erasmus went so far as to suggest the prime minister might be in danger if the Ontario chief dies.

Although Erasmus' comments drew very little reaction, he may be right about the potential explosiveness of the situation.

It can be argued that Canada's relationship with aboriginal populations is at an all-time low. Tensions are not only being fuelled by Harper's initial decision not to meet with Spence but by recent pressure from the United Nations for Canada to improve the rights of aboriginal people. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird's office helped fan the flames when it ridiculously stated that the United Nations had no business wasting its resources on countries such as Canada.

Fortunately, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan doesn't display the same political buffoonery as his counterpart. Duncan, at least, has expressed concern for Spence's health and has offered to meet her in person or speak to her by phone. Canada can no longer sweep these issues under the rug, tack the corners down and ask people not to look, hoping the problem will disappear.

Low education levels, poor nutrition and diabetes, poverty, inadequate housing, addictions, and a host of other issues plague aboriginal communities across the country.

This predicament has divided the country. On one side there are those who blame chiefs and other indigenous leaders for fiscal mismanagement. On the flip side, others say the Canadian government has for too long ignored aboriginal rights and allowed near-Third-World conditions to persist.

Idle No More protests are being held in communities in every province and territory, ranging from marches to blockades of major transportation routes. The movement is being supported by aboriginals and non-aboriginals alike.

We have reached a boiling point and the anger is real. Here in Yellowknife hundreds marched in support over the Christmas break, sporting signs such as "Moosehide tanners against fascism." In the south, signs reading "Nazi Canada" and "Racist Canada" have also popped up.

Spence has become the figurehead of the movement and if her broth-based hunger strike causes her health concerns, or worse, if she were to die, the movement will have a martyr.

Martyrs have the power to inspire extremism and then diffusing the situation will become much more difficult. A violent backlash might follow.

It is time for Canada to swallow its pride and recognize that this grassroots problem requires a grassroots solution. Harper must step up and show his leadership by agreeing to meet with Spence and other aboriginal leaders. It is time for a nationwide summit between aboriginal leaders and the federal government to find solutions and review concerns associated with the omnibus bills, which cram aboriginal legislation in with broader economic law.

Our country stands divided and it is our prime minister's responsibility to broker peace. In fact, at this point, it is his duty to do that. Word came Friday that Harper will meet with a delegation of First Nations chiefs on Jan. 11. He must seize the chance to begin mending relations.

The death of six-month-old Isaac Appaqaq in a Dec. 22 plane crash was tragic beyond words. Worse yet is to imagine his mother's grief, having her son ripped from her arms by the force of the plane's violent crash landing.

The only way to prevent this from happening again is to apply the same safety standards to infants as are already in place for other passengers - they must be buckled in their own seats.

When a plane travelling hundreds of kilometres an hour comes to an abrupt halt, anything unsecured inside the aircraft keeps travelling at a high rate of speed. This is the reason baggage is stowed securely in overhead storage bins or under passengers' seats upon takeoffs and landings.

It's time we stop letting safety standards slide when it comes to our children.

This is by no means a simple fix. Air travel in Nunavut is exceedingly expensive, and surely being able to avoid purchasing a second plane ticket - which can easily cost $1,000 apiece - for the first year or two of a child's life is a necessity for some parents, many of whom opt instead to just hold their child on their lap during the flight.

Considering other alternatives, standard plane seats are not designed for infants. Airlines should consider having child seats available for their youngest passengers.

Though incidents such as the one in Sanikiluaq have not been common, the risk is always there. The risks of flying in the North have been underscored by recent accidents such as the First Air crash that killed 12 passengers in Resolute in August 2011, as well as two smaller aircraft crashes in Yellowknife that same year.

Fierce winter weather adds another hazard.

The factors leading to the crash in Sanikiluaq are not yet public, and depending on what happened, other steps toward safer flying might be necessary.

Even before the investigation is concluded, it would be advisable to begin making flying safer for infants.

The arms of a human, no matter how much love exists in their clutch, are just not reliable enough to be able to keep a child secure.

It is encouraging that incoming Aurora College president Jane Arychuk recognizes the need for a stand-alone campus in Yellowknife.

It is also somewhat surprising that, in an interview with Yellowknifer last month which centred on her appointment to the leadership position, Arychuk said there have been a number of false starts in attempting to establish an independent campus in Yellowknife and that lease payments for the current location, at Northern United Place (NUP), could have been used to buy a building.

The college has had a long tenure at NUP, but the venue is shared with residences for seniors and students have restricted space for pursuing their studies. With 16 classrooms, four labs and one library, the new president admits there is little room for students to work in groups, move around freely and find a calm environment to concentrate.

It's time for Aurora College to focus in earnest on the task of creating a "stand-alone campus in our capital city that looks like a college-university campus," as Arychuk said.

To accomplish this, might we suggest dedicated college administrators in Yellowknife employ the same techniques they have used to engage industry in the past, such as the development of a program to train underground workers for the diamond mines.

Perhaps success will be found by engaging representatives of government, the city and industry to sit on a committee and develop a vision for a Northern-based science institute and educational/training facility? That project would include seeking endowments, developing work-placement programs and working closely with industry to develop and deliver programs that provide graduates with jobs.

Every effort should be made to keep secondary students in the North to further their education, and we can move in that direction by creating a post-secondary facility that rivals what is offered in other parts of Canada.

After a wobbly couple of years, Yellowknife's Royal Canadian Legion is back in the black and doing what it does best: advocating for veterans and raising money for charity.

There was a time, as was the case in many communities across Canada, when the legion hall was the beating heart of Yellowknife's social life. Back in its heyday, a legion membership was a prized honour when military service was commonly a young man or woman's first step out of high school.

As late as 2005, the Vincent Massey branch here in Yellowknife was cutting $50,000 cheques for Facilities for Kids to help pay for the gymnastics club's Styrofoam landing pit in the Multiplex's gymnasium. All told, the Yellowknife legion donated more than $1 million to community charities between 2003 and 2008.

But city residents then suddenly learned the legion was in financial trouble and its building was up for sale. Yellowknife's legion managed to survive, although it is a tad smaller these days. It no longer owns the building it called home for more than 30 years but at least the bills are paid. And now the institution is back helping the community with donations, including $5,000 raised for the army cadets since October.

This is great news, for the legion still plays an important role in educating Canadians of the importance of military service. The key is youth membership, without which there is no future. Membership rules are more relaxed these days. One doesn't have to be a Canadian Armed Forces veteran or from the merchant navy anymore to become a member.

But the legion still faces a difficult road ahead because most young people's only experience with combat today is in a video game. Getting proactive and staying visible while reminding young Canadians of Canada's crucial role in military and peacekeeping efforts around the world is the only way to maintain the organization's relevancy.

At the start of a new year, it's always nice to think about the positive things that may happen in the year ahead.

Everyone knows about New Year's resolutions, but if there were New Year's wishes instead, there are a few things that the region should be hoping for.

Related to an article in this week's edition, one of the wishes near the top of the list should be progress on the Prairie Creek Mine.

Canadian Zinc Corporation expects 2013 to be the year it gets the necessary permits to start production at the mine site.

Resource development projects are few and far between in the Deh Cho as are opportunities that will lead to significant job creation. Not everyone agrees with the Prairie Creek Mine, but it is currently the best hope the region has for economic development.

The Dehcho Process should also be high on the New Year's wish list.

So many outstanding issues, such as which land can be developed and with what kind of development, could be answered if the Dehcho Process, along with a connected Dehcho Land Use Plan, were finished and agreed upon by the Dehcho First Nations, and territorial and federal governments.

As wishes go, however, this one is a real doozy. There are many unsettled topics that would have to be concluded and compromises that would have to be made for even an agreement-in-principle to be reached. Then there would be the struggle of getting all of the members of the Dehcho First Nations to agree to what has been negotiated. It's a long-shot wish.

As a side note to the Dehcho Process wish, there should be an additional wish that Pehdzeh Ki First Nation rejoin the process. A number of leaders from the region expressed sympathy for the reasons the First Nation from Wrigley gave for leaving, but that doesn't change the fact that there is strength in numbers and a united front when dealing with the federal government.

A final wish, which covers a broader basis, should be made for the individuals, families and communities who are struggling with social problems. Across the region, there are ongoing issues related to drug and alcohol use and other forms of abuse.

If wishes could really fix problems, it would be nice to see healing take place in troubled lives so communities in the Deh Cho can become healthier, happier places to live in the New Year.

Regardless of whether these wishes come true, hopefully the year ahead holds lots of promise for the Deh Cho.

After months of waiting, user groups are finally going to have access to the facilities at East 3 School. Up until this point, the majority of groups have not been allowed in because the Inuvik District Education Authority (IDEA) has been working on a new user group policy to ensure the million-dollar asset is kept in good shape, according to IDEA chairperson Judy Harder.

The authority has created an interim policy that will be used while the members work on a final draft. The biggest difference between the new document and the old is that user groups, such as the adult volleyball league and the basketball team, who use the facilities in the evening will have to pay $35 an hour for access. The charge will not apply to student activities.

The extra funds, Harder said, will be used to cover the cost of having a security guard. In the past the IDEA has had issues with uninvited guests entering Samuel Hearne Secondary School and Sir Alexander Mackenzie School after hours while user groups were accessing the facilities. Some of the visitors wreaked havoc on the buildings. This should no longer be a problem at East 3 School, with the introduction of a security guard, according to Harder.

It is hard to argue against the merits of having someone keeping an eye on the property given the cost of the building and the expensive materials inside. It would be nice to believe that everyone in the community could be trusted to do no harm but past experience shows that isnt the case. In September, the food bank was broken into, bottles of spaghetti sauce were smashed, boxes of pasta were open with their contents strewn across the room, and lightbulbs from their fixtures and smashed. If there are residents willing to trash a charitable organization then nowhere is safe.

The question is, however, should user groups bear the cost for the guard?

We say yes, because if the teams weren't using the facility the school could lock up for the evening and a security person wouldn't be necessary to monitor who is entering the building.

Also, $35 per hour is a fairly reasonable price. If a team used the facility for two hours once a week from September to June it would cost them about $3,010. For groups of 10, that would equal out to $7 a person per night. It's the cost of lunch, really.

Unfortunately, that price becomes less affordable with smaller groups. For that reason, I hope the IDEA will work with any groups that can't afford the full cost. People shouldn't be discouraged from getting fit.

In 2012, Yellowknife businesses undoubtedly felt the effects of what the Conference Board of Canada estimated to be a 5.1 per cent drop in the NWT gross domestic product.

But developers and real estate agents may not agree. They're going full steam ahead building homes and condos.

The city had no problem last year converting the blight of unfinished condos at Bayview Estates into a bustling centre of construction activity after subdividing the lot and selling off the smaller portions to a new group of developers.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports the sale of 250 homes - mainly condos - in the first nine months of 2012, while predicting the resale of 390 homes - a five per cent increase over 2011. The expected trend for this year is modest growth.

It's worth noting a renewed resource boom is possible. A little extra nudge at Avalon's rare earths project at Thor Lake or Seabridge's gold prospects at Courageous Lake could bring the hustle back to Yellowknife in a hurry. A prolonged delay, on the other hand, may see Yellowknife's little housing boom come crashing back down to earth.

Invest in the arts

There are other serious concerns for Yellowknife in 2013.

The Artist Run Community Centre may lose its 50 Street home for lack of rent money. Considering the attention Yellowknife has been receiving worldwide the last few years with a number of television shows, including Ice Road Truckers, Ice Pilots NWT and Arctic Air, investing in the arts makes sense.

The Northern Arts and Cultural Centre underwent $1.6 million in renovations this summer but the territorial government should seriously consider building a standalone arts centre like the one in Whitehorse. This would be a major tourism draw in an economy lacking diversity like ours.

MLAs must mind the store

The largest budget in the city's history at $74.2 million was just approved. A big chunk of that can be attributed to a GNWT decree that the city build a water treatment plant, expected to cost as much as $25 million. As the city's director of public works has insisted, Yellowknife already enjoys the best water "in the world."

Not a single Yellowknife MLA objected to this expensive scheme. Meanwhile, the second much-needed institution in this city is facing closure - the downtown day shelter - because the GNWT refuses to commit long-term funding.

Yellowknife MLAs must do a better job both convincing the other MLAs what's good for the territory's capital is good for the territory and guarding against unnecessary spending requirements dreamed up by territorial bureaucrats, such as the water treatment plant.

Revitalization strategy

Much was made during last fall's municipal election about the state of downtown and the city's purchase of three properties on "Range Street." Some have questioned these purchases, including this newspaper, mainly because the city's plans are vague. Municipalities often make these kinds of purchases with the aim of revitalizing decrepit parts of their inner core. Vancouver has been successful buying up derelict buildings and selling them for redevelopment as executive studio apartments with retail spaces on the ground floor.

But as long as the recently acquired properties remain sandwiched between two busy and rowdy bars, revitalization will prove difficult. Owners of the Gold Range and the Raven Pub have signalled they are not ready to sell. Perhaps if the city helps them refurbish into more tourism-friendly locations, revamping the other properties won't be such a problem.

As for bringing retailers back to the downtown core, merchants should focus on what shoppers can't get online - namely service. Several well-established retailers have stood the test of time because people can count on knowledgeable staff to answer their questions. Niche stores with a mix of franchise favourites will help bring customers and stores downtown.

The new year begins with lots to worry and lots to be excited about. The challenge of making 2013 a great year is one all Yellowknifers should welcome.

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