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If law enforcement in Yellowknife is a cupcake, RCMP is the baked good and the Municipal Enforcement Division is the icing - essential, complimentary, but distinguishably different.

But lately it's as though the cupcake has found its way to the bottom of a full lunch bag and has squished into itself, making those distinct layers less distinct.

The line between the RCMP and bylaw officers turns fuzzy when municipal enforcement officers take on roles in which the probability of a physical altercation grows. The city is going the wrong way when it moves toward giving bylaw officers the legal authority to seize liquor and apprehend intoxicated people - a role traditionally reserved for RCMP.

A recently released city-commissioned bylaw review concludes the division lacks clear direction and oversight; it states officers don't have access to policies and procedures, and that those policies and procedures are fragmented and inconsistent, anyway.

The report further shows the defensive tactics training courses the city provides its officers are focused on physical skills, without accompanying de-escalation skills.

This is evidenced through the video that went viral on social media, in which a Yellowknife man seated at the wheel of his truck is shown being pulled out of his vehicle by two bylaw officers after the arriving officer got into a heated argument with the driver. The video raised many questions, not least of which was whether it is appropriate to have unarmed bylaw officers engaging the public in physical confrontations over seat belt infractions.

Had the officers returned to their vehicles at the first hint of trouble and waited for RCMP to arrive this wouldn't have been an issue.

Bylaw should be sticking to what it was initially created for -the issues RCMP don't typically deal with: loose dogs, litter and traffic and parking violations.

The bylaw review states parking meter enforcement shouldn't be part of the division's mandate as it creates the perception the force - staff of 12, including seven street-level officers - is focused on revenue generation, rather than public safety. But while parking and traffic violations may carry a negative public perception for obvious reasons, it is a necessary job, and when the city is setting bylaw's much-needed mandate, it would be well advised to keep that in mind. Creating another level of bureaucracy, which will no doubt mean more staff and increased costs, is not the answer.

The city already has RCMP officers, who are trained to deal in physical confrontations when necessary. We need bylaw officers to maintain a professional municipal enforcement division with clear boundaries and direction that serves as the icing atop a law-enforcement cupcake.

A lack of government-issued identification is a major barrier to those looking to get back on their feet.

The First Nations Bank have taken on that problem through a $5,000 donation to the Centre for Northern Families. Other banks should take note.

Those who have identification probably never think twice about the importance of the documents in their wallets. They forget that these little pieces of plastic are what allow them to get a job and open bank accounts.

Lose your ID, and it's usually easy enough to pay the fees to get that ID replaced. It's more of a challenge when you're out of cash.

In order to get a SIN card, you need a birth certificate. If you don't have a birth certificate, you need $20. Without $20, you're out of luck. There are costs attached to many forms of identification: health cards cost $20, a replacement driver's licence costs $26, a new general identification card costs $37.

People without identification don't seem to be uncommon. The CEO for the Centre for Northern Families estimates that of the up to 30 women checking into the shelter each night, 65 per cent are without identification.

This has a ripple effect that puts more burden on taxpayers and social services. People may find jobs, but have no way to get paid without the necessary identification to open a bank account. It's a problem that can be solved through the help of a third party.

Finding work after a gap in employment is already enough of a challenge. Those who overcome that obstacle shouldn't be defeated by something so miniscule.

This is a relatively small investment that has the potential to make a big difference. It also has the potential to be a win-win. Those who are helped by the bank walk away with a strong incentive to keep their money with the institution that lent them a hand in a time of need.

We hope the same assistance can be offered to men facing similar problems.

Fort Providence is the community to watch right now in the Deh Cho as it takes an exciting step toward opening up a new area for business and employment potential.

On Oct. 24 Digaa Enterprises Ltd., a development corporation formed jointly by the Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation and the Fort Providence Metis Council, signed a Forest Management Agreement with the territorial government. The agreement gives the corporation rights to harvest timber from a defined area of Crown land for 25 years.

For a region without a settled land claim or an implemented land use plan and few resource developments, this is a major step. Resource development is clearly something that most of the Deh Cho, particularly First Nation and Metis governments, has mixed emotions towards.

On one hand there is evidently a need for development to create local employment and spin-off business opportunities and to pour money into local communities' economies. On the flip side there are grave concerns about negative environmental impacts from proposed developments like mines.

Forestry, however, is something slightly different. To start, it is a renewable resource.

When managed correctly forestry resources can last indefinitely as new trees are planted and grown to replace the ones that have been cut down. Furthermore, it is an abundant resource in the region.

The majority of the Deh Cho is covered in forests. This is not like a mine or an oil and gas development where the potential is limited to a very small area.

And that is why other Deh Cho communities should be taking note of Fort Providence's example. The forestry industry is clearly something that every community in the region could tap into, but few have done so successfully.

Having signed the second Forest Management Agreement in the NWT, Fort Providence is almost like a test case for the Deh Cho and the rest of the territory.

People can watch the steps Digaa Enterprises takes, the agreements they sign and the successes and setbacks they face and learn from that example. It's far easier to follow a template than to start a venture from scratch.

Fort Providence should be congratulated for entering into the forest industry and wished every success because they could be laying the path for increased economic success for the rest of the region.

A contest held to recognize the best small businesses in town was held for the first time, and that's a good thing both for business owners and for the Inuvik Chamber of Commerce.

This was for National Small Business Week, celebrated by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) and the chamber last week.

It's the first time such a contest has been held in Inuvik, according to chamber president Bright Lubansa and Michel Lemieux of ITI.

It's a little difficult to understand why that would be the case, but it seems Small Business Week has mostly flown under the radar in recent years as the chamber has gone through a bit of a fallow period.

Being a regional government centre, it's easy to underestimate the influence and impact of small business in the private sector.

While government jobs tend to mark the most sought-after employment because of high pay, there are only so many to go around.

To be sure, the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority likely constitutes the largest employer in town. There are a few private-sector employers who employ reasonably large numbers of people.

It would be quite interesting to look at the statistics, though, to see how many people small businesses employ. The niches they fill are also interesting signs of entrepreneurial activity.

If you take a look at a few of the winners, you'd find two new companies who haven't been in business for six months yet.

Stephanie White of Beaufort Beauty stepped into the void when Northern Hilites, one of two hairstylists in Inuvik, closed its doors in the summer. She's built a more-than-thriving business out of that opportunity.

Brian and Pam McDonald of Alestine's restaurant listened carefully to the all-too-frequent grumbles around town about a lack of dining options, and acted on it.

Their business, like Beaufort Beauty, only opened in mid-summer and has thrived since on the hunger for change.

That's the kind of business acumen that is going to drive Inuvik forward in the future, as it provides another option to relying on government and chain businesses.

The best part of businesses like these as well, is that the money is circulated locally. That's an cliche that's too often used, but is totally accurate in these circumstances. So the people of Inuvik owe the winners a hearty round of applause, as well as, of course, their continued patronage.

Todd Parsons cruised to victory Oct. 18, winning a fifth term as president of Union of Northern Workers.

Parson's win proves - at least among the union's hierarchy - that his record as a tough-minded negotiator securing generous benefit packages for members mattered more than past controversies. Courts battles with tenants living in apartments at the union headquarters or the recent human rights case that found Parsons didn't do enough to accommodate a physically disabled union member seemed not to have mattered among the voting delegates, two-thirds of whom selected Parsons.

It was the first time since his initial victory in 2002 that Parsons has faced a challenger. He and Frank Walsh should be congratulated for offering up a rare debate in what otherwise would have been a coronation.

Parsons said he is pleased with the win, saying it showed the union had confidence in his leadership. But for all its talk of inclusiveness and equality, the union ought not to burnish its democratic credentials too much.

Democracy only exists with the UNW when its needs a mandate to strike. Then union members get a vote. That's not the case when it comes to selecting its executive, which is limited to 60 or so delegates among 5,600 territorial government and mine workers.

It's questionable whether rank and file workers had much involvement with this month's election at all.

That's a shame because one needs to look no further than the rising monument to the UNW - the new five-storey headquarters being built next to Mildred Hall School -- to recognize what kind of money is at play when it comes to union dues.

If the average salary among members is $90,000, that would mean the UNW collects about $4.2 million in union dues per year.

Parsons said a top priority for this mandate is seeing the completion of the new headquarters. We recommend a greater emphasis on including ordinary members in UNW decision-making ought to be high on the list as well.

Alex Debogorski and Ice Road Truckers pave the way; Ice Pilots NWT have stayed the course when it comers to exposing huge numbers of southern television viewers to Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories.

The show has stayed true to its roots from its beginnings - showcasing and profiling Buffalo Air and its venerable fleet of aircraft that continues to provide a vital link to Northern communities. It was announced earlier this month that the sixth season of the show will be its last, ending what has been a great run both domestically and internationally.

Ice Pilots NWT was one of the trailblazers when it comes to reality shows in the North and it seems networks and production companies have decided the North is where it's at when it comes to producing reality television.

The latest Yellowknife-centred reality television show, Ice Lake Rebels, which focuses on houseboaters on Yellowknife Bay, hit the small screen in July.

Anything which documents life in the North draws an audience and it's a boon because not only are reality shows easy and cheap to produce, it gives those networks an easy time filler at minimal cost while bringing in plenty of advertising revenue.

Compare that to shows such as The Big Bang Theory, where a majority of the main cast pulls in $1 million per episode. It's almost a certainty Mikey McBryan isn't making $1 million per episode of Ice Pilots NWT.

As Buffalo Air says farewell to television, it's timely to wonder who will be next?

Rankin camp a total triumph
Editorial Comment by Darell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Straight A's go to recreation co-ordinator David Clark for being the driving force behind the highly successful hockey camp held in Rankin Inlet from Oct. 20 to 25.

Kudos, as well, to the husband-and-wife team of Pujjuut Kusugak and Adriana Kusugak for their roles in the event.

With a nod of the helmet to instructor Debbie Strome's participation, the camp was on par with what you would find in the south.

This was a significant accomplishment for Rankin's first real attempt at hosting a camp of this magnitude.

I was beaming every time I left the on-ice instruction at the arena, the off-ice training and team building at the community hall, and the literacy component at Simon Alaittuq School.

For a decade as the Northern hockey branch (Hockey North) referee-in-chief, I yapped like a broken record every chance I got about too many people here thinking we can't do things as well as the south when it comes to hockey programs.

OK, I concede our lack of infrastructure means we'll never have the bells and whistles they enjoy in the south, but we do have skilled and highly-motivated people who can provide what matters most -- solid instruction and a fun-filled, supportive environment for our youth.

And, when you figure in the cost of bringing in southern instructors or sending our youths to southern facilities, it's a no-brainer.

The camp was open to every age group supported by the Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association, and the turnout -- from initiation and atoms, up through peewees, girls, bantams and midgets -- was fantastic.

The camp employed the mentorship system, of which Clark is an advocate, and it was wonderful to watch older players (group leaders) spending not just time, but quality learning time, with the younger kids on the ice and off.

To top it all off, the marriage of the hockey camp to a literacy component delivered by Adriana Kusugak through the Nunavut Literacy Council was a sterling addition to the activities.

Rankin hockey players are taught what they have to do to win at a very young age, and the pressure to win in this community can be intense at any age.

But this time, the youths are also learning about respect, team building and the intangibles that go along with learning how to become a good teammate.

They heard what it takes to be a well-rounded athlete who appreciates the hard work and dedication of others, from parents and family members to coaches and local minor hockey volunteers.

This type of exposure allows young athletes to use retrospection, self-awareness and future planning to identify the path they want to follow as they mature.

And, in the present, it embeds an understanding and respect for the game they love.

Those elements allow a young athlete to realize there will be times they will give their best and win, and there will be times they will give it everything they have and not take home the hardware.

In short, it teaches them to have dignity in victory, and class in defeat, which, when you think about it, are trademarks of every successful hockey program.

This camp wasn't just a triumph for the organizers, players and Rankin's hockey program, it was a triumph for the entire community!

If the Northwest Territories is ever going to make a truth out of the oxymoron that is "sustainable development," then it will take a strong, independent regulatory system to get there.

Earlier this month, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board proved that it is up to the task of keeping resource extraction companies in check. It denied Strategic Oil's request to keep a waste water spill out of the public eye - one that affected 1.5 square kilometres about 100 km south of Kakisa on Aug. 14.

As a Strategic spokesperson re-iterated to News/North last week, this was a relatively small spill and it is believed to have been cleaned up quickly and thoroughly.

However, a spill is a spill and the fact that the Calgary-based company even entertained the idea of keeping the spill secret, along with (more importantly) the fact the company was surprised its e-mails to the land and water board were being put on the public record, is telling. Clearly, this junior oil company does not fully understand the way things are done in the North. Chances are this is not the only company currently operating up here with this knowledge gap.

As Enterprise Mayor John Leskiw II said, it is incidents exactly like this one that cast doubt on information provided by companies when leaks and spills happen.

"If it is as safe as they say, then why are they trying to hide it?" he asked.

Why indeed.

In a very strongly-worded response, a letter signed by board chair Willard Hagen reminds the company that the land it is operating on is a traditional harvesting area. The board expects Strategic to leave the land in a condition where it can continue to be used for harvesting in the future.

In his rebuff to the request to keep the correspondence private, Hagen writes that the board takes its responsibility to be transparent and accountable to those living in the Mackenzie Valley very seriously, and that Strategic and other companies like it would be wise to do the same.

Although those at the land and water board were simply following their own policies in how they handled this request, their response deserves praise.

It shows that the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board specifically, and regulatory boards in the NWT in general, are not the dinosaurs moving at glacier speed that the federal government and industry would have us believe.

While the history of development in the territory is indeed fraught with lengthy delays in having projects approved, those delays have almost always been a direct result of either waiting for companies to file the proper information, or of a file sitting on a federal minister's desk for years before getting the rubber stamp of approval.

And yet, it is an imperative of the sitting federal government to come in and overhaul this system. In the short-term, Ottawa's now-approved superboard is bound to cause more delays in having projects approved. How could upending board staff and reducing the number of working board members do anything else?

There is still no plan on how to deal with the cumulative impacts of continuous development in the regions. The system is still tethered to looking at projects individually and it seems that no matter how many elders stand before them and make impassioned speeches about all the ways they have seen their lands poisoned within their lifetimes, it is not something the old dinosaur yet knows how to deal with.

With fewer staff and fewer board members, this is not likely to improve any time soon.

With the Tlicho Government's court injunction seeking to stop the dismantling of the regional land and water boards, there is still hope that the federal government could see the errors of its ways and stop meddling in board affairs.

Both the federal and territorial governments say the North can be opened for business sustainably. Leaving one of the strongest regulatory systems in the country alone to do its job would be a good way to prove they mean it.

The process for Nunavut residential school survivors to make use of a $3,000 personal education credit is nothing short of an outrage.

As detailed in two news stories last week, former students who received a common experience payment are eligible to receive $3,000 from the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement for education. The credit can also be transferred to an immediate family member, like a son or daughter, to assist in the cost of their post-secondary institution, providing the institution is on the list of approved institutions.

Any right-thinking individual would want to take advantage of $3,000 awarded to them as part of a settlement. The problem in this case is that many residential school survivors are above age 60 and, in order to use the money, are being forced to undergo the extensive ordeal of reading 28 pages of highly technical information, navigate an unworkable website on the Internet and go through a process that is completely foreign to their normal way of life. Applicants are expected to select a course for themselves or a relative, fill out an application form by Oct. 31, take it to an approved educational institute to be completed, then seek approval before Dec. 1.

The process is a debacle for a number of reasons.

Considering that the money originates from a fund intended to make amends for a system which attempted to destroy aboriginal culture and force Inuit and First Nations people to assimilate to the English colonial lifestyle, the onerous process adds insult to injury.

Offering residential school survivors $3,000 to go back to school is also questionable. The classroom and the school experience is where the abuse happened in the first place. It is easy to understand why survivors would not want to put themselves into an educational program outside of their community again.

Survivors would like to see a positive benefit from the education credit fund, which is believed to be worth not less than $200 million. As it stands, remaining money after Dec. 1 will flow to the National Indian Brotherhood Trust Fund and the Inuvialuit Education Foundation to fund their own educational programs.

There are better options, as was discovered through research by one applicant.

Money from several applicants can be pooled and used to fund cultural experience camps, where elders can pass on traditional knowledge to young people and family members.

Obviously, there are many reasons for the application process to be improved so school survivors can make good use of the funding while maintaining their dignity.

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Minister Bernard Valcourt needs to stand up, do the right thing and call for the program to be reviewed and changed so survivors can realize a true benefit without having to jump through impossible hoops.

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