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The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that there should be "effective and fair representation in every legislative assembly and the House of Commons." In Canada, this means representation by population.

Yellowknife has 47 per cent of the population, but only 37 per cent of the representation.

As longtime Yellowknife resident Bill Aho told Yellowknifer last week, the city is being short-changed yet again. Of three recommendations from the Electoral Boundary Commission's final report, only one allows for an increase in Yk MLAs, and even in that vision the numbers don't satisfy the Charter.

Aho, who was formerly part of a group called Friends of Democracy, helped champion fair representation in the NWT Supreme Court. The group won in 1999 and the city saw its representation increase from five to seven MLAs.

The final report came out last May but as Aho said, "There's been a silence and that's disappointing. It looks like it'll take the motivation of Yellowknife's residents to get MLAs to get out of their seat."

Good luck with that. Voter turnout for territorial elections in Yellowknife hovers between 30 and 36 per cent, with the Great Slave district spiking at 40 per cent. Monfwi electors show up at a rate of 87 per cent, while Inuvik Boot Lake almost outdoes them at 84 per cent.

Shameful? Perhaps, but Yellowknifers may well be apathetic after asking themselves what have Yellowknife MLAs done for Yellowknifers in recent years, when they are not jockeying for and taking cabinet positions?

A bridge? A costly, questionable bridge, benefits unknown, solely paid for by the territory, mostly by Yellowknifers, unlike the more expensive road to Tuktoyaktuk which was paid for by federal and GNWT money.

Our MLAs remained mum as the GNWT passed federal water quality guidelines into law, which will result in a costly, questionable water treatment facility. Setting aside the ludicrous adoption of southern guidelines for Northern water, unlike other communities, which would have new water treatment facilities paid for by the GNWT, the City of Yellowknife will have to foot the bill - $30 million or so.

What about a simple black and white issue like providing 911 service to the capital of the NWT. Can't be done the assembly decided, unless every single NWT community gets it. Did our seven MLAs stand up as one and fight for what's right? No. Some are in cabinet. Some want to be in cabinet. Some have other pet issues they want to talk about.

Perhaps this is a good time for those MLAs who care about Yellowknife to stand up and be counted and speak with one voice: Representation by population is the law of the land. Yellowknife is under-represented by two seats, as documented in the commission's interim report.

The GNWT needs to curb its propensity for fighting every issue with costly court battles and take care of this business once and for all.

With the high cost of food and housing, many residents likely share the territorial government's vision of more affordable prices for all who live in the North.

The GNWT's Reducing Cost of Living Initiative focuses on four areas – improving shelter, improving transportation access to communities, addressing factors that impact the cost of goods and supporting individuals and families.

One way to achieve that goal is through better infrastructure.

Finishing the chipseal on Highway 1 between Fort Simpson and Enterprise is a step in the right direction, but the government needs to move at a faster pace than sealing 10-kilometres per year.

Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche remarked, during his constituency meeting in Fort Simpson on Oct. 9, the two-and-a-half hours of gravel road trucks must travel to reach the community increases shipping costs as companies are applying off-highway rates. Another resident remarked the gravel means smaller trucks travel on that highway -- truck trains are not an option, so more trips are needed to transport the same amount of goods.

Another simple way of reducing the cost of living is starting the MV Lafferty ferry across the Liard River at 6 a.m. The extra two hours means many people could safely reach larger centres, such as Edmonton, in one day, saving the expense of sleeping somewhere along the way. More people are travelling on the highways, working different shifts than the standard nine to five, so it's important to give options.

Two of these initiatives meet two of the strategies' focus areas – improve transportation to communities and address factors that impact the cost of goods.

Another initiative is the Mackenzie Valley Highway, an 818-km all-weather road from Wrigley to the Dempster Highway south of Inuvik. The highway, in its planning stages, is high on the government's agenda, Menicoche said. It should be as it will reduce shipping costs for those communities and enable people to travel on the roads year-round.

Understandably, some people might be worried about the social ills it might bring. Those concerns are valid, especially for smaller communities.

It would be premature to take a position on whether those concerns should put a stop to the project. That's the role of the Mackenzie Valley Review Board. But if it does go ahead, don't be surprised if the cost of living for the residents along the highway goes down.

Jeanne Gagnon is the acting editor for Deh Cho Drum while Roxanna Thompson is on vacation.

Lately there's been a lot of chatter throughout town about when winter is going to arrive.

You can count me in with the group eagerly awaiting winter. After having a taste of all four seasons in Inuvik now, I have clearly become a creature of the snow and cold.

For the last 17 days, I've been waiting with an almost unwholesome eagerness for things to freeze up and the snow to start accumulating.

I've always been a fan of cold weather, the colder the better. My father likes to tell people how even the coldest weather back in Ontario – which is nothing like here – failed to keep me indoors for long.

Partly, that's just practicality. After all, you can always put more clothes on in the winter to be comfortable. During the hot summer months, once you've stripped down to a bare minimum, well, there's only so far you can go.

My fondness for the cold outdoors is also partially due to the fact that it keeps most other people indoors and away from me. Working in the news field means that I enjoy my solitude when I can get it, and the dark winter months are a perfect way to get it.

This year, it's mostly because of the mud. I don't mean to sound like some sort of neat freak, which I'm not, or prissy, which I also am not, but this autumn's mud bath is driving me so far around the bend, I can't see the end of the bend from here.

The Thanksgiving weekend was a perfect example. My wife and I have a tradition of always spending as much time as we can outside on the long weekend. Usually, we go for our last paddle of the season on Thanksgiving Sunday or Monday. It's a final fling of fine weather that we've enjoyed during the nearly 10 years we've been married.

This year, we don't have our boats handy, so we substituted hiking for paddling. We had in mind walking the trail leading to Three Mile Lake, but soon changed our minds. While the weather was fine, the walking was not. Nor was the driving, as the back roads of Inuvik had the vehicle kicking into traction control mode in places.

There's not a lot of fun in hiking while accumulating five kilograms of Inuvik's sticky, clay-based mud on each boot.

So we settled for a pleasant walk around the Boot Lake Trail, although spots there were far muddier than was appealing.

By the end of the weekend, my wife had announced on Facebook, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but bring on the winter."

I second that motion. If this mud won't dry up, then it can freeze up.

After that, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Now there is ample evidence the Deh Cho Bridge is behind higher food prices reported by Statistics Canada, it seems prudent the territorial government use it to show the federal government Yellowknife is still an expensive place to live.

Ottawa has long warned a permanent span across the Mackenzie River could spell the end of the northern living allowance it offers federal employees living in the Northern capital. Yellowknifers also fear the Northern Residents Tax Deduction could be decreased or scrapped altogether should the feds discard Yellowknife's isolated post designation.

The GNWT loathes any suggestion the bridge is responsible for the five per cent spike in food costs since its opening last November. A spokesperson with the Department of Transportation suggested transport companies may be using the new bridge tolls on commercial traffic as an excuse to gouge Yellowknife customers.

As well, the GNWT avoids acknowledging the cost of the road bans last spring. Trucks had to cut back on their loads by 25 percent to avoid damaging the highway during the spring melt. This had not been a problem when there was no bridge because there was no traffic while ferry operations were suspended pending break up.

The territorial government would be wise not to dismiss rising costs so vociferously. Ottawa might just agree.

The point should also be made Northerners are paying for the bridge, as opposed to the Canadian taxpayer. Statistics Canada figures prove as much.

More people are coming to Yellowknife, and the rest of the NWT for that matter, thanks to a boost in funding to NWT Tourism and a focus on the Chinese market.

It only makes sense to invest in one of the world's largest economies. The $140,000 investment is already paying off.

About 60 visitors from mainland China and another 250 from Hong Kong were recently hosted by Yellowknife Tours Ltd. Those 300-plus visitors were for just one visit. There are no current numbers for how many Chinese tourists come, but it's safe to say this wasn't the only group. If each tourist spends a few hundred dollars while they're here, then that initial investment will be put back into the NWT economy in no time.

Tourism NWT was wise to invest in China, as it can't rely completely on the other major players in the tourism market North of 60 - the rest of Canada and Japan. While both markets have proven lucrative and may continue to do so, diversification is the best way to build a lasting foundation for Aurora viewing tourism .

Now that we can see that investing in other markets pays off, perhaps we'll see Tourism NWT put more money into other markets as well in order to entice visitors.

Whitehorse has a strong tourism connection to Germany, a trail the NWT may do well to follow.

The economies of India and Indonesia are growing in leaps and bounds. Now that we know these region-specific investments work, who's to say it won't pay off again?

Cracks are starting to appear in the hockey foundation of Rankin Inlet.

The malaise that seems to have gripped the community in regards to doing anything but attend the games is mind-numbing.

The number of officials, coaches, and minor hockey board members and volunteers has dipped below the level of acceptability anywhere, let alone a community that takes pride in its moniker Hockey Town.

I've appreciated each and every fan who attended a game I was part of, in any manner, during my 50 years of involvement with hockey.

Whether a player, official or coach, the game was always that much more enjoyable to me with people watching from the stands.

That even goes for the handful of fans who would actually heckle me once in a while during the multitude of games I've officiated.

Well, OK, maybe there were more than a handful, and maybe a little more than every once in a while, but the memory grows shorter as the years pass.

But, as much as I've always applauded the hockey fan, I've long felt, as a group, they believe in magical beings.

And fairies are my guess at what type of being.

Fans come to the arena and find two teams and a crew of officials on the ice, and coaches behind the bench trying to pump up their young charges for the big game.

There's someone running the clock, taking care of the game sheet and, most times, playing the music and announcing goals and penalty calls.

Obviously, fairies were hard at work an hour earlier, spreading their magical dust around the arena to make all this happen.

Oh, if only that were the case.

What the fans see on the ice is the result of a small group of people's time, effort and determination in supporting the game and, far more importantly, the kids who play it.

The time commitment is huge and the effort required large, but the rewards that come with it are immense.

If I had $5 for every time during my 15 years in Rankin I attended a meeting, or turned on a radio, to hear someone lament how few positive activities we have for our youth, I'd be quite comfortable financially.

Well, there are few activities that keep more kids out of trouble, provide a sense of belonging, and contribute to their positive character development than team sports.

Even if you're not a sports person, to deny its benefits to youth is nothing less than foolhardiness.

I know how much Rankin loves its hockey. I've seen it, heard it and fell in love with it.

To think this community, of all places, would sit idly by and allow the game to slip below the standards it has always set and maintained for hockey is inconceivable to me.

I know no matter how long I live in Rankin, there will always be some folks who don't see me as "being from here."

But, this is definitely Nunavut's Hockey Town.

It's part of who we are and part of what makes our community so utterly awesome.

The game needs help, and I refuse to believe the people of this community will not answer the call -- if not for the game and our love for it, then surely for our kids who love so much to play it!

It would be one thing if government funding for the territory's only addictions treatment centre was cut, only to be pumped into a better system to serve the many people who suffer from addictions.

But the NWT is in a very different position, and it's embarrassing.

The only Northern options to treatment are the psychiatric ward at Stanton Territorial Hospital and jail for those caught up in the court system. Right now, Northern patients making it through the screening process are shipped south to four treatment centres: three in Alberta and one in B.C.

While the health department assure the public it is working toward implementing community-based or mobile treatment, where are the details?

The territorial government has plenty of mistakes to learn from. Its one operating treatment center - the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve - closed on Sept. 30 after almost 20 years. The earlier effort - Somba K'e Lodge in Dettah - shut down in 1999. Both facilities were apparently plagued with problems, from staff training and retention issues to a lack of willing participants in the programs, as was the case with the perpetually half-filled Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre.

So we know what doesn't work, but we don't know where we're going or when we're going to get there.

It starts with the individual wanting to get help, but having programs ready for them here is necessary. It was an impressive decision in June when Health and Social Services Minister Tom Beaulieu announced the plan to revamp the treatment for addicts in the territory, citing this is what the people want.

But four months later, leaving us with nothing else established or a schedule of what is to come is troubling.

Hay River and Inuvik were less than thrilled when the devolution job numbers came out earlier this month.

As Hay River Metis Council president Wally Schumann put it, the 25 new positions to be made available outside of Yellowknife is "not much of a bone to scrap over."

Especially when 259 jobs are being transferred from the federal government to the GNWT.

While the private sector, such as the mining industry, strongly encourages training to hire Northerners, what is the GNWT doing to prepare Northerners and NWT communities for new jobs?

Negotiations for the devolution of lands and resources from the federal government has been in the works for more than a decade, enough time for the territorial government to prepare people and communities for the potential of new positions through training.

With the legislative assembly sitting for the first time since these numbers have been available, it's up to the MLAs from outside Yellowknife to push the case for spreading the jobs around.

Devolution should be used as an opportunity to decentralize the employment, and in turn, create economic spin-off for the community economies outside the capital city.

There is no shortage of issues to be discussed and candidates to be questioned with only 14 days remaining until Nunavummiut go to the polls to select the next leaders of the territorial government.

Candidates are doing their best to communicate their platforms as they position themselves to be selected as an MLA in one of the territory's 22 constituencies. Two candidates have been acclaimed after no one else put their name forward for election in Netsilik or Kugluktuk, leaving an impressive 71 candidates seeking election in the remaining 20 constituencies.

The names of some constituencies have changed and the electoral boundaries are different since the Electoral Boundary Commission completed a review, taking into consideration population estimates in an effort to have each elected MLA represent approximately the same number of people.

We suggest voters do two things to prepare themselves to go to the polls.

Review the dominant issues facing the Government of Nunavut in the next four years and decide what your elected representative can potentially do to make a difference.

Second, become familiar with the individual candidates seeking election in your area and try to come to a decision about which person best represents your interests and would best represent the hamlet, city or region in which you reside.

A need for more housing tops the list of issues that are closest to the people. Stories this newspaper has reported about 24 members from one family living in overcrowded conditions in one house raised eyebrows and got people talking about the need for better housing. Significant funding from the federal government has been earmarked to provide relief, but it is up to territorial leaders to decide how it is spent.

The need for affordable food and the impending probe by the auditor general of Canada into the Nutrition North program is another hot topic for discussion. Outrageous food prices on fresh produce, disposable diapers and meat products eat into a family's income to such a degree that some parents are forced to choose between putting food on the table or paying for other necessities.

Another high-cost issue is the price of electricity and heating fuel. The Qulliq Energy Corporation is facing significant challenges to deliver energy to residents and businesses now and in the future. Upgrades are required and come with a hefty price tag, which will require government support.

Then there is the topic of education, with many people wanting to see an improvement in the number of high school graduates and their ability to pursue post-secondary studies. Adult education offerings are also part of the issue because of a need for more people to be trained for mining jobs and other non-traditional occupations.

There are other issues related to job training, health care, social services, mental illness and addictions.

It is not necessary for people to be fully versed on all the issues. However, it is important for voters to be familiar with the unique issues and the candidates in their corner of the vast territory.

Lastly, the most important thing voters must do is cast a ballot on Oct. 28. Embrace your right to vote and play a part in the democratic process.

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