Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

Elder abuse is wrong. This is something on which everyone should agree.

The issue is a growing concern throughout the territory, with many recognizing that elders are being taken advantage of, most often financially, and that their ongoing mistreatment needs to stop.

Both the NWT Seniors' Society and the NWT Network to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults implore members of the public to call RCMP for support or if they need immediate assistance.

For these reasons and so many more, the irony in the way our police force has chosen to handle the situation going on in Fort Resolution boggles the mind.

When relatives of a 71-year-old elder - the mother of the chief no less - say she was needlessly manhandled by police in her home, such complaints need to be taken seriously.

Canadian police forces promise to keep the peace in our communities in exchange for us citizens respecting their authority to enforce Canadian laws. This requires trust between police and the public and in several NWT communities, trust in this traditionally colonial system is tenuous at best.

The RCMP G Division investigating themselves in the beating of Loretta Edjericon is wrong.

Likewise, those in headquarters making decisions on this matter would be wise to heed Chief Louis Balsillie's warning that keeping the officer accused of the assault in his community on active duty is unwise while the investigation continues.

Fort Resolution is a small town and Balsillie is not being sensational to warn that residents - many of whom are related to Edjericon - may take matters into their own hands if justice is not served.

Whether or not the officer assaulted this woman, the public needs to know they can trust police to fully and transparently investigate allegations of police brutality.

This is not the first time police have been accused of abusing members of the public, nor the first of these cases where the public questioned the impartiality of RCMP investigators and the justice system in which they work.

When a "member of the public" was injured during a drug raid in Yellowknife last December, RCMP wasted no time calling upon the police services in Medicine Hat, Alta., to take over as third-party investigators in order "maintain public confidence and transparency."

Surely, when a police officer in Fort Resolution is accused of elbowing an elder in the face because she happened to be standing in his way, RCMP should be equally, if not more, concerned about maintaining that confidence and transparency.

Clearly the manner in which the RCMP handle complaints of abuse is inconsistent.

People can turn to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP when police conduct is at issue but this body has no real power other than to make recommendations.

In B.C., concerns about the way police investigate themselves led to the creation of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., a civilian-led organization mandated to investigate police-related incidents of death or serious harm in order to determine whether or not the officer committed an offence.

The office has helped re-establish public trust that allegations of police brutality are taken seriously, and that no violent crime is condoned by a police force in B.C., even if that crime is perpetrated by one of its own officers.

Setting up such an office in the Northwest Territories would be difficult and expensive but is worth exploring in a territory where the population is mainly aboriginal but the police force is mostly non-aboriginal.

There are many good police officers working in the NWT and unfortunately decisions like the one in Fort Resolution tar them all with the same brush.

From the response to date from police headquarters, it seems as if the plan is to hunker down and wait for this to blow over. That is a mistake.

The prospect of a government-run beer and wine store opening on a trial basis in the capital city has piqued the interest of residents of Iqaluit.

It is a polarizing topic, with one group of people firmly in the "no" camp and another group in the "yes" camp.

Generally speaking, it seems elders and long-time residents who remember ugly incidents from the 1970s when there was a liquor store in Iqaluit are against the proposal. They point to the harm done to society, families and individuals from binge drinking, primarily of hard liquor.

In the other camp is the "yes" vote, made up of people who moved to the territory from the south, where attitudes about alcohol consumption are different, and young people who see no harm in having a few beers in a social situation, or having a glass of wine with dinner.

There is merit to the arguments put forth by both camps.

But into the mix comes other considerations, such as the underground economy created by bootleggers, who make an enormous profit by illegally selling bottles of liquor, primarily vodka. Some suggest opening a beer and wine store would cut into the livelihood of bootleggers, because people would be less inclined to spend big money for illegal booze when they can buy beer or wine from a retail outlet.

There is also an observation that the territorial government has an opportunity to turn a substantial profit from the sale of beer and wine at a retail outlet, through markup and taxes. That money could be used for a variety of positive purposes, such as an education campaign about responsible drinking, substance abuse initiatives or programs for those who suffer from mental illness.

Some players in the debate make a deliberate distinction between hard liquor - such as vodka, whiskey and rum which typically has 40 per cent alcohol content -- and beer and wine products, with five per cent alcohol content in beer and 10 to 12 per cent alcohol content in wine. The argument is that beer and wine is less harmful because a person has to consume a lot more beer or wine to get drunk.

People getting drunk, essentially, is the crux of the issue, because drunk people cause a host of problems and increasing access to alcoholic beverages will only make it worse. After all, alcoholism is a devastating disease which affects many people.

Because of their upbringing and life experience, many people see alcoholic beverages as having one purpose -- to get drunk. This experiment will determine if attitudes can change.

It seems likely that a beer and wine store will open in Iqaluit on a trial basis, a pilot project. If so, it will be the behaviour of patrons that will decide if it remains open.

We hope the experience won't be too painful.

With snow blowing around, frosty mornings and a cold snap in the air, the time for riding bikes is coming to a close for the year for most people.

This past summer marked the first with the city's new helmet bylaw in effect - if you're on a bike or skateboard and you're under the age of 18, you're wearing a helmet. No ands, ifs or buts.

The city's bylaw officers took the right approach for the inaugural season for the bylaw - rather than immediately handing out tickets to children left, right and centre, they instead took the opportunity to remind and educate parents and youth first. If youngsters were caught riding their bike around town without helmets this summer, they would be told by bylaw that helmets are now the law of the land. And if you were found with a helmet? That's one free ice cream cone for you! Everyone loves ice cream.

However, a bylaw such as this is going to be tough to enforce. As it stands, residents need to take Dennis Marchiori, the city's director of public safety, at his word that they won't be seeing bylaw officers chasing helmetless children around in an attempt to give them a ticket next summer. There is nothing to argue about Marchiori's sentiment that he doesn't want bylaw to "scare kids about our presence in the community."

What would scare children? The checkstops proposed by Coun. Cory Vanthuyne. Last week, Vanthuyne said he would like to see bylaw officers on the McMahon Frame Lake Trail flagging down helmet bylaw offenders.

More bylaw patrols on the trail wouldn't be a bad thing, especially in terms of enhancing public safety, the perception of which has taken a hit in recent years after a number of sexual assaults and muggings were reported there. But "checkstops" have a different connotation all together, not at all far removed from Coun. Niels Konge's fear that bringing in a helmet bylaw would only further the "nanny state."

Yellowknifers want their children riding bikes, and safely enjoying it, not pedaling in fear of running into a bylaw dragnet around every corner.

Such a scenario is bound to discourage ridership not increase it.

The municipal enforcement department would be wise to carry on with kid gloves rather pick up Vanthuyne's enforcement hammer and drive away the goodwill that has been established.

The NWT Teachers' Association hosted it second territorial educators conference last week - a full house as just about every single person associated with education in the territory descended upon the city for three days of plenary sessions, workshops and breakout sessions.

With a price tag of $850,000, it must have been a wonderful show and let's hope it was worth it because there are still major issues in the classroom, especially when it comes to student performance.

According to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's own numbers on student attendance, students are absent 17 per cent of the time during the school year. When those numbers are stretched out over time, a student who misses one day per week will eventually miss one year's worth of school every five years attending school. That doesn't help anyone.

Even more noteworthy are the scores from the 2013 Alberta Achievement Test, which measures how well students in grades 3, 6 and 9 are doing in math and English language arts.

The scores are nothing to write home about, showing some staggering results in terms of non-achievement. For example, in Yellowknife, barely 50 per cent of students who wrote the Grade 3 English Language Arts test met acceptable standards, right on par with the Grade 9 math test.

If the knowledge that one out of every two students in the classroom is merely treading above water in those subjects doesn't scare you, it should and it shows there is a long way to go to improve.

The best thing to come out of this conference was the chance for teachers from around the NWT to network with other education professionals and trade stories about what is working for them.

That's one way things can improve in the classroom and if it continues, things could get better.

Right now, the only way is up.

A diamond mine could be in the Deh Cho's future.

Sometimes a small portion of a presentation or speech, and maybe not even the part that the speaker thought was the most important, is what people latch onto and can overshadow the rest of the message.

For many of the 24 people in attendance at the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce's evening with Minister David Ramsay on Oct. 6, the reference to diamonds might be one such overwhelming force. When asked what Ramsay talked about, diamonds might be their first answer.

Diamonds, however, weren't the focus of Ramsay's speech. There weren't the first thing he talked about or even the second. They didn't make an appearance until at least half way through his comments.

Taken as a whole, fitting with his position as the minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Ramsay's speech was about ongoing and future initiatives that could benefit the region's economy. That's how the revelation that a resource assessment on the proposed protected area called Five Fish Lakes south of Jean Marie River uncovered 18 kimberlite pipes tied in.

The report from the assessment apparently says there is a high degree of probability that the kimberlite could contain diamonds. You can jump directly from here to people in the audience envisioning giant, shiny diamonds being pulled from the ground.

According to Ramsay, some of the deposits are so close to the highway you could throw a stone and hit them. Cue even more visions of a large mine, people streaming to work and a steady stream of traffic heading over the now chipsealed surface of Highway 1.

With a functioning diamond mine, all of the Deh Cho's economic and employment issues could be solved for years to come. With proper impacts and benefits and socio-economic agreements, Jean Marie River First Nation could become the wealthiest First Nation in the Deh Cho overnight.

But the glare from the sunlight shining off of all of these imagined diamonds hides some inconvenient truths. The presence of diamonds hasn't been confirmed and imagine trying to open a new mine in the Deh Cho where the Dehcho Process hasn't been settled yet. And a mine beside or in a proposed protected area? The red tape and objections only thicken.

Even if diamonds exist, the Deh Cho needs more than one basket to base its economic future on. It will take a lot of work in different sectors and a lot of years before the region has a more vibrant economy.

But still, think of those diamonds.

You have to give the Inuvik Ground Search and Rescue team full marks for enthusiasm.

The team, which has about 50 members, has been active nearly every weekend since its inception with training opportunities.

Last weekend was no exception, when organizers invited the Inuvik Drum to observe some of their course on basic search techniques.

The team, when it is ready, will fill an urgent need for the region. There's no real excuse as to why a search team hasn't been able to remain active here. Yes, the population is transient, but perhaps that's an indication that a great deal more effort recruiting people with roots in the region should be attempted.

The sub-arctic topography of the Delta area is unforgiving. Anyone coming in from the south will need time to acclimatize and adjust to it. When you factor in that people born and raised here with on-the-land skills get lost from time to time, it shows you just how dangerous the bush can be.

That's why it's a bit unfortunate to see how few people born and raised in the region are participating in the team. Their knowledge and experience can never be adequately substituted by all the training in the world.

The training being provided to team members is by no means sub-standard. It looks quite impressive, and shows the team isn't some fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants organization.

It is however, somewhat bureaucratic and paperwork heavy. It's quite a process to wade through the red tape to apply for a position.

The proof of the team's training is going to be found whenever team members are ready to be called in for the first time. Their performance will tell the tale of whether southern search methods and techniques will stand up to the challenges of hunting for a lost person under Delta conditions, or whether the so-called "locals" will succeed in finding the person independent of the team.

Perhaps it's time for those two solitudes to find a way to draw a little closer together.

The team's leadership should ensure an effort is made to reach out to the people with valuable knowledge and find a way to pique their interest.

A new concept of law and justice in the NWT offers a proactive means to deal with people caught up in a criminal justice system who would be better served with addictions and mental health counselling rather than time behind bars and hefty fines many cannot pay.

Wellness court heard its first case on Thursday. It provides a sorely needed venue that addresses the root causes behind much of the criminal behaviour in the territory, namely drugs and alcohol and mental illness. This new court allows offenders who plead guilty the opportunity to get into treatment right away, instead of languishing in a court system limbo that often takes months to complete.

The goal is to break the vicious cycle of addiction, jail, release and repeat.

Sylvia Haener, deputy minister for the Department of Justice, explained this court will take people on a case by case basis and those who are accepted will remain under the court's supervision. The court will take the person's progress in the program into consideration when they return to be sentenced.

The program is modelled after a similar program in the Yukon, where a wellness court has been running since 2007. According to a 2011 report by the Canadian Research Institute for Law and Family, the number of people opting to go through wellness court in the Yukon increased to 79 in June 2011, from 34 in December of 2007.

A majority of people going through wellness court for substance abuse had success getting access to programs, finding supports and adhering to conditions of the program as well as helping to break their addictions cycle, get jobs and maintain a healthier lifestyle. Haener said they have been working closely with officials in the Yukon and said that territory has seen fewer repeat offenders since the program began.

For a backlogged court system in the NWT, filled with cases of petty criminal offences - many of them breaches of court orders handed down to hardcore addicts who have no real hope of abiding by them - a wellness court makes the most sense.

However, this program must not forget the victims. The first case to be heard in wellness court involves a man charged with sexual assault. Where victims of crime exist, their feelings should be considered before an offender is allowed to enter a wellness court.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a new style of justice in the territory that avoids warehousing people in jail for lesser crimes while providing them a better chance to work through their problems and defeat their personal demons.

Playing the game of debate
Editorial Comment by Darell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Two documents to make their way across the public domain recently provided a telling look into how global warming is perceived among the masses.

One was yet another editorial cartoon-type of image depicting the plight of the polar bear due to global warming.

The ice quickly disappears from under the bear, until he is left clinging to the top border of the cartoon, asking what it takes for humans to finally get the message.

On every Internet site the image appeared, tons of people commented on the poor bear and colourfully typed-down anyone who dared post a thought contrary to the concept of global warming destroying our planet.

Powerful stuff.

And impact is exactly what those who are on the side of global warming destroying the world look for at every opportunity.

You can't tug at the heart strings of people by showing a photo of a strong, healthy polar bear.

You need to hire guides and tromp around for days upon days, passing by dozens of healthy bears until the guides lead you to that one sickly looking bear that wasn't paying attention during mama's hunting lessons.

Nothing says impending doom quite like being able to see the ribs of a starving bear.

Perception is everything in this battle.

It's the same as taking a stand against seal hunting.

If you want people to support your cause, you don't show photos of happy Inuit children being supported by the meat and fur of the seal as a staple of their culture.

You show a baby harp seal under two weeks of age, with its beautiful fluffy white fur and soulful black eyes, staring forlornly into the camera, as if begging for help.

It's the way the game is played.

The second document, a news release issued by the Fraser Institute, caused hardly a whisper.

No cartoons, no heart-wrenching photos, just boring old facts that show there has been no significant temperature change during the past 15 to 20 years.

The study, authored by University of Guelph professor Ross McKitrick, shows the pace of global warming during the past 20 years has slowed well below almost every climate-model projection (fancy way of saying computer simulations that predict warming trends).

A number of recent studies also show greenhouse gases have less effect on climate than most climate models project.

The gist of McKitrick's study was to warn of the dangers of crafting policy without taking the pause in global warming into account.

He recommends policy-makers wait a few years to see if climate models change, maybe dramatically, before locking Canada and other countries into what could prove to be costly and inappropriate policies.

The message, for the most part, seems to have fallen upon deaf ears.

Chicken Little just doesn't seem to have the clout it once had.

Maybe the next study should be released by semi-nude models wearing cute little CO2 balloons.

They could even put a Mythbuster behind them with a large hatpin.

In today's social-media-driven society, that would at least get people's attention!

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