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Northern and isolated schools have always been at a disadvantage when it comes to the variety of classes they can provide at the high school level.

For that reason, many students in the NWT who travel to southern universities after graduation find the road to higher learning a steep one littered with obstacles. Students from the territory's smaller communities often need to upgrade courses before beginning their post-secondary programs because classes required to take their program of choice weren't available during their high school years.

Although the NWT attracts enthusiastic and talented teachers, low school population means limited resources, smaller faculties and hence fewer options beyond the regular curriculum.

Ideas ranging from regional schools to better funding have been floated to help correct the problem but both are impractical for their own reasons. Regional schools take students away from much needed family support, while more funding is difficult to justify from a per capita standpoint.

E-learning, however, could be the solution to bridge all the gaps in our current system. With the fibre-optic link up the Mackenzie Valley promising to radically improve Internet connectivity in communities up the valley, the time is right to capitalize on technology-facilitated education.

Through E-learning, access to teachers, classes and peers becomes nearly limitless, allowing students in even the remotest and smallest communities to access virtually any education opportunity they can think of.

Schools in the Beaufort Delta are already taking advantage of the opportunities that E-learning can offer, with reportedly excellent results. As the department of education prepares to implement its education renewal plan, a territory-wide E-learning program should be looked at as one of the priorities to enhancing the education system and as a means to better prepare our students to succeed at the post-secondary level.

Northern students have enough challenges to contend with following graduation - such as the shock of leaving the North for the daunting world of the south and being isolated from family due to distance and steep travel costs. The fewer obstacles and frustrations our students face after graduation, the greater their chance of success. Their level of education, dictated by factors beyond their control, should not be the thing that holds them back from pursuing further studies.

Last week the Mackenzie Valley Review Board and the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board released, upon request, the travel costs paid to members of the federally-appointed boards.

The number is high - more than $1.6 million over the past five years for approximately $325,000 a year.

Alone, the numbers do not say much. We know one former staffer is suing the review board, alleging wrongful dismissal after raising concerns about overspending by senior board members.

Without a full breakdown of what the money was spent on, it is difficult to determine whether the costs were unjustified or were a product the distance and cost of travel associated with conducting business in the NWT.

What is notable is that the two boards freely released the figures and that kind of transparency should be the norm.

The public will draw its own conclusion about whether the expenses of the two largest environmental oversight bodies in the North were justified and we encourage the boards to release a more detailed picture of the spending so those opinions can be based on fact and not assumption.

It is a majestic beast, a wonder to behold, beautiful, speedy and dangerous. So revered, in fact, that its image is depicted as a symbol of the North, on company logos, licence plates, used in the names of sporting events and recognized across the world as an inhabitant of the Arctic.

That is why recognizing the potential impact of outside influences on the future of the polar bear is so important as the government of Nunavut looks at a new way to manage the harvest of the animal.

Environment Minister Johnny Mike wishes the territory wasn't subject to outside forces. But that is the reality.

"Polar bears are an iconic species being heavily scrutinized by animal rights groups in the southern locales, and there are still many misinformed zealots who want to place the polar bear in the threatened category," said Mike.

It is encouraging that the territorial government realizes it must take an approach in developing a polar bear management strategy that finds a balance between misinformed animal rights advocates and the reality of the animal's importance to the Inuit. After all, Ottawa labeled polar bears as a species of concern under Canada's Species at Risk Act in 2011. It is because of that designation that Nunavut is in the process of developing a management plan.

On the other side of the balance sheet is the fact that many Nunavummiut depend on the polar bear for food, clothing and money. It has been hunted and harvested for years as a vital part of a traditional way of life. The polar bear population in many parts of Nunavut is thriving. Arviat has an abundance of the animals. In fact, there are so many that it becomes a safety concern from time to time.

The approach being taken by the Department of Environment's wildlife division realizes the importance of the animal to the people and, in its community consultations, is gathering information from those closest to the polar bears about how they are to be harvested.

Essentially, the division is preparing a made-in-Nunavut plan to be presented to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board for approval. It proposes that people in the communities will get to decide how many polar bears can be hunted in a season, based on the population of the bears in the area and scientific research.

We applaud this approach which, unlike attempts by the Government of Northwest Territories to manage caribou, gives prominent consideration to the grassroots - the people who possess the traditional knowledge about the health and status of the polar bear population.

The goal of the management plan is a healthy, viable population of polar bears. That is achieved by keeping a firm grasp on the numbers, which is accomplished by working closely with Inuit hunters, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and regional wildlife organizations.

We are hopeful the polar bear management plan, with its emphasis on community consultation, will be approved and put into practice. With the plan in place, the polar bear can be assured of its continued revered place in the minds of people in Nunavut and around the globe.

When one is smart with their money - whether it be an individual or a larger entity - there's usually some cash left over from their budget.

That money can either be reinvested in other ventures or be put away for a rainy day. Depending on the amount of the surplus, both can be done. Such is what Yellowknife's two public school boards have done, with thousands of dollars saved. That's being fiscally responsible.

So why is it that the territorial government is targeting these school boards with its roll-out plan for junior kindergarten, asking them to use their surpluses to pay for the program? Rather than putting up new money to fund this influx of young students, the GNWT is turning to the school boards to pay for it.

Education Minister Jackson Lafferty and his territorial department are expecting the school boards to do more with less, and this isn't the first time either.

Take a look at the Yellowknife Catholic school board's Do Edaezhe program that helps support at-risk students. Previously, the program had been supported by the feds, with $1.5 million coming in every year to fund it.

When that cash dried up, the GNWT came in to help with this on-the-land program for at-risk children. In fact, the territorial government thought the program was so great that others in the NWT should have the same opportunity, as well they should. But the caveat on all this? The Catholic board is expected to expand the program's mandate to three other communities, but with less than half of the money it was receiving from Ottawa - $623,000.

So again, the model of the GNWT has become to expand programs, but to either not put up the money to pay for it, or to drastically cut the funding - unless it's for a party to celebrate the legislative assembly's birthday, as was seen last fall.

In that case, spending $100,000 for a one-day shindig was no big deal.

Once again, local politicians are being asked to consider giving bylaw officers the authority to arrest people for being intoxicated in public.

Dennis Marchiori, the city's director of public safety, said the city is asking the territorial government for the authority to do so.

It's not a new idea. Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny pitched it last fall after a ride-along with RCMP and municipal enforcement officers.

Then, as now, Yellowknifer has the same response: this is a job for the RCMP, not bylaw.

Whenever physical force is applied, even by the most well-intentioned officer, there's a very real risk posed to the person being arrested, the officer doing the arresting, and the public. It only makes sense that the most-experienced, best-trained, best-equipped officers are the one asked to take on that challenge.

Putting bylaw officers in potentially dangerous situations would change the scope and requirements of the job. Municipal enforcement officers would need to be armed to safely perform the new duties and that comes at additional cost for equipment and training. .

According to Marchiori, the problem is that the Mounties aren't always available to respond because they're dealing with more serious crimes. But by seeking to expand the responsibilities of bylaw officers to include potentially dangerous situations, the city is overlooking a much simpler solution.

RCMP G division Chief Supt. Wade Blake has already said he would welcome the opportunity to hire more officers - if provided the funding.

We should take him up on that offer, rather than reinvent the wheel.

Once again, a woman from the Deh Cho has been honored by the Status of Women Council of the NWT.

Harriet Geddes of Fort Providence is the recipient of this year's Wise Woman Award for the Deh Cho. The awards are given to women who are dedicated to improving the status of women and who support, lead, advocate and give their guidance and wisdom to others.

The awards have been given out since 1992 and Geddes is the latest among of a number of Fort Providence women who have received the award recently, including Margaret Ann Landry in 2013, Margaret Vandell in 2012 and Sylvia Nadli in 2011. The award only goes to one woman in the Deh Cho each year, but it can serve as a broader reminder of how many deserving women there are in the region and how much women contribute to the Deh Cho.

There are wise women in each Deh Cho community. It's not necessarily their years that make them wise and they don't all share wisdom in the same area.

The classical definition of a wise woman would be someone like Geddes who has a strong base in traditional and cultural teachings and is able to share those with the people around her. Wise women can share knowledge on things like medicinal plants, but it can also be a woman who runs a sewing program and shares how to pick the best piece of tanned moosehide or how to make perfect pleats in a moccasin.

Wise women can be women who serve as role models for younger girls. There are many women in the region who are part of First Nations and Metis councils either as councillors or as chiefs and presidents.

There are also many women who hold high level positions in local businesses and organizations. Women keep many of the communities in the Deh Cho functioning whether through their work at First Nations' or hamlet offices.

There are also wise women who share less traditional skills like the women who coach speed skating, soccer, snowboarding and other teams. These women give their time to support youth, both boys and girls, in being physically active and developing leadership and other skills as well as self-confidence in themselves.

Geddes, the 2014 recipient of a Wise Woman Award, should be acknowledged and thanked for all of the work she has done for the people of the Deh Cho. Residents should also take the time, however, to give some words of thanks and praise to the women who are wise in their own ways and who, though they may never win an award, contribute so much to the region.

In the wake of the decision by members of the legislative assembly to seek a possible one-year extension to their term in office, many residents might well be wondering how and when the North hit that slippery slope of devaluing democracy.

Most people who pay attention to politics would say, rightly, that any such move should never be made by those currently in office who will benefit most.

That certainly includes the two veteran MLAs, Michael Miltenberger and Jane Groenewegen, who would qualify for a maximum GNWT pension for politicians if their term is extended by as little as 10 months.

It is certainly telling that those are the same two MLAs who introduced the motion. Miltenberger, who was offended by a question about whether his pension situation factored into his decision to support the motion, at least responded to it. It's up to individual opinion as to whether you find his answers acceptable or believable.

The GNWT became a laughing stock at the Town of Inuvik committee of the whole meeting on March 10, when several councillors made jokes about the situation.

Deputy mayor Jim McDonald and Coun. Alan Mero, a keen political observer, were clearly both amused and a little appalled at the situation.

The joke around the council table was that they would prefer to shorten their term rather than extend it.

That suggestion generated a considerable amount of cynical laughter.

If the Government of the NWT was genuinely concerned with public opinion and fairness, any extended term would have been discussed only for the next legislature.

More to the point, it should have only come from an arm's-length advisory body, not by elected officials who appear to have a closer eye on their own interests rather than the public's interests.

When anyone is voted into office with a fixed election date, the implicit promise says you will work for the public interest for the term indicated and no more. Anything else is an insult to democracy.

Any changes to that by politicians who ran under that condition displays, at best, a fundamental misunderstanding and loose grasp of democracy. At worst, it smacks of the kind of thing dictatorial governments do.

Those who voted for the motion should be ashamed of themselves. Perhaps the NWT – and Canada – does need some kind of recall mechanism.

The territorial correctional system's mishandling of inmate Brooklyn Palmantier compromised the safety of territorial jail staff and called into question the integrity of our justice system.

Palmantier is unusually volatile and violent, as was revealed in a three-week sentencing hearing earlier this month. Court heard the inmate regularly abused and threatened corrections officers at the North Slave Correctional Centre (NSCC), even as he was being held for assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest, making death threats and breaching a court undertaking - all of which he had pleaded guilty to.

But the court also heard a tale of what Judge Bernadette Schmaltz described as cruel and unusual treatment of a violent inmate.

Obviously, correctional centre employees did not have the skills and resources necessary to deal with the 20-year-old Palmantier, the exact nature of whose troubles are unknown. However, they should not be expected to.

The Yellowknife facility is not equipped to deal with prisoners such as Palmantier, while facilities in the south are - both with trained staff and the necessary infrastructure. Palmantier should have been sent to such a facility quickly, and until sentencing, so as not to jeopardize the safety of officers who were out of their depth.

There were red flags, the biggest one coming between June 2013 and February 2014 when Palmantier spent 132 days in solitary confinement - seven of those days without clothes, running water, toilet paper, a shower or a mattress - until he was finally sent to a maximum security facility in Edmonton in October. This is the treatment Schmaltz called inhumane - and rightly so.

Correctional officers testified in court but their poor performance at providing details supported the judge's conclusion that major deficiencies in practice and protocol led to inhumane treatment. Officers were unable to specify the exact nature of their handling of Palmantier and could not provide a written record of events. Monty Bourke, director of corrections, has now admitted the problem lies with "policy and procedures."

NSCC officers should not be placed in such a dangerous position in the future, and jail administrators among others, need to take responsibility for this display of mismanagement.

Yellowknife residents have demonstrated their desire to recycle household waste. Unfortunately, the city has yet to devise a viable system to streamline the process.

Currently, sorting and dumping items that can be recycled is literally in the hands of residents and businesses, who have to root through their garbage and drive it to blue bins around town. This is a labour-intensive system that often leads to people stockpiling items, cluttering up their homes and adding to the work load. It also reduces the incentive for more people to help divert household waste away from the landfill.

Other communities have made it easier for residents to drop off their recycling with blue box or roll-out programs, where all people need to do is sort items and leave them at the end of their driveways. One man, Frank England, is offering such a service to Yellowknife for a low annual fee. His service simplifies the process by allowing Yellowknifers to have items picked up at their homes and businesses.

The city should take a good look at offering a service such as England's by tendering contracts to private businesses to pick up recycling, similar to how it handles its trash collection. England could easily be one of the first to get such a contract, since he already has an established business.

It only makes sense to have curbside pick-up for recycling. This will complement plans for curbside composting, which the city is already investing $2.7 million to get started, including $510,000 for collection bins alone.

The will to recycle is there, judging by the number of bins around town and businesses such as Cascades Recovery and Old Town Glassworks making profits from others' waste. The city should be making it easier for residents to divert all reusable items from the landfill. In the long run, a city-wide recycling program would save money by extending the life of the landfill and providing a cost-recovery mechanism through the sale of recyclable materials.

Having the chance to present the Kivalliq News Official's Award for both the Avataq and the Rankin Inlet Senior Men's Hockey League is always one of my favourite times of the year.

The senior men's game has changed dramatically during the past five years - and for the better!

The Kivalliq does not play "beer hockey" and, with few exceptions, the emphasis today is on speed and skill.

The days of clutching, grabbing and snowshoeing along with your stick wrapped around an opponent's belly are long gone.

So, too, are the days when violent intimidation was useful in gaining an advantage.

This is not the NHL, and our players are not paid millions to fight through an aggressive style of play, only to take an absolute physical pounding in the corners and in front of the net.

The two official's awards go to players who not only play with sportsmanship and a respect for the game and those who officiate it, but who also score an impressive number of points or are among the best checkers in the region.

And they do it all within the rules of the game.

We're always a season behind presenting the league award because it's nice to do it during our biggest tournament of the year.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen this year when bad weather kept the awards from arriving on time.

You can bet two bucks I'll give it a lot more than three weeks when ordering the coming year's hardware.

Still being an active Level 4 ref and getting to call many of the top games in the Kivalliq each year, I've seen an increasing number of "clean" players play a pivotal role in deciding their outcomes.

And they don't do it from the penalty box.

More impressive are the players who used to play an aggressive - if not dirty - brand of game, who have adjusted their style to play within the rules and remain very effective.

The better players (no offense to any I may miss) for a number of years at the Avataq have all played tough, intense hockey within the rules (for the most part) while leading their teams to glory.

There's simply no denying the abilities of players like Pujjuut Kusugak, Darren Ikakhik, Rodney Taparti, James Connelly, Darryl Adjuk, Kelli Owlijoot, Jeff Siusangnark, Cody Dean and Harvey Jr. Taparti (we must, as well, tip our hat to Iqaluit's Sateana Goupil in this esteemed group).

And there's not a "soft" player among them.

A trio of young stars have also been making the transformation during the past two years in Wendel Kaludjak, David Clark and Tyler Tattuinee.

And I dare anyone to call them "soft" on the ice.

Clark only took six minutes in this year's Avataq, and won the Rankin league scoring race while cutting his penalty minutes almost in half.

Kaludjak lowered his time in the sin bin to an impressive 11 minutes this year, while Tattuinee has completely turned his game around to become a quickly-rising star since dropping the goon element from his game.

Hockey has changed, and Kivalliq's game is successfully changing with it to produce an uber-competitive, fast, exciting and unpredictable brand of play.

Hopefully, the trend carries on and our region continues to rise as one of the true powers of hockey in the North.

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