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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!

Many Northerners welcomed the news that the GNWT is coming up with $20 million needed to prevent a territory-wide power rate hike triggered by low water levels in the Snare hydro system.

While that may temporarily hold the line on the ever escalating cost of living in the North, it will be going directly on the GNWT's debt and doing nothing to prevent the same thing happening next year if not for the foreseeable future.

The question is: how serious is the GNWT about finding a lasting solution to our power needs?

In December 2013, two action plans laid out what the next 20 years of energy infrastructure projects will look like: the Energy Action Plan and Power System Plan.

The Energy Action Plan sets ambitious goals to increase renewable energy infrastructure to lessen our reliance on diesel. One target is solar power systems meeting up to 20 per cent of power needs in diesel communities.

Again and again, Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger and others on cabinet have committed to increasing the amount of renewable energy in the territory and ending our expensive reliance on diesel generators.

Keep this in mind when reading two stories that appear in this week's paper on pages 11 ("Few returns for new solar panels on senior's home") and page 27 ("Geothermal project killed to protect monopoly: MLA").

There was a golden opportunity to get Fort Liard off diesel when Borealis GeoPower, a Calgary-based company, offered to install a geothermal system that would meet all of the community's power needs. The project would not have cost the territory anything, as the company could have taken advantage of a federal clean energy fund.

However, NTPC procrastinated in getting the company the power purchase agreement it needed to secure the financing. The company blames NTPC's obstruction for killing the project and there is little evidence to the contrary.

In Hay River, a NWT Housing Corporation's seniors facility installed a solar panel system, thinking that under the new net metering program, approved in January, it would be able to sell its excess power back to the grid. However, it now seems the array adorning the top of Whispering Willows is too large. Northland Utilities has so far declined to provide the senior's home with a smart meter, essentially meaning the facility will be feeding power into the grid with no return. Northland operates under the same agreement as NTPC, one overseen by the Public Utilities Board, that stipulates it's only for renewable energy systems producing five kilowatts of electricity and they can't be a government organization. The housing corp.'s solar power system would have produced 60 kW.

Yet the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment had no problem getting NTPC to purchase the power from its 100 kW solar array in Fort Simpson, so what exactly are we missing here?

Mixed in with the announcement that the GNWT would offer a $20-million bailout to the power corp. was the news that the proposed transmission line to connect the Taltson hydro system in the South Slave to the Snare system in the North Slave has been called off.

Studying the most recent route for this power, around the western shore of Great Slave Lake, cost the government half a million dollars. This does not include money spent considering a route from the Taltson River dam to the diamond mines by way of Lutsel K'e in the previous attempt to sell hydro electricity to the diamond mines.

All of this was done without the mines expressing firm interest in purchasing power from NTPC.

Two failed attempts on a hopeless project, expending valuable staff time and taxpayers' money. Why didn't they simply ask NTPC chair Brendan Bell, who is also a vice-president with Dominion Diamonds, which owns Ekati and 49 percent of Diavik, whether they were the least bit interested?

We think it's time the government makes good on its public commitments.

NTPC may masquerade as a private corporation obligated to its shareholders but there is only one shareholder: the GNWT, which is supposed to promote the best interests of all residents.

If, in the face of undesirable expensive diesel and an equally unreliable hydro-electric system, the shareholder says renewable energy and liquid natural gas is the way of the future, then we would suggest the GNWT rein in its utility. The future of the territory depends upon it.

It is an issue wherever there are humans living, eating, drinking, breathing and creating waste.

How that waste is managed has a huge impact on people's quality of life because of its potential impact on a source for fresh water.

In the case of Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit, how waste has been handled has caused immense problems, with both the capital city and the hub of the Kivalliq region experiencing fires at their waste management facilities, or dumps, in the past year. Iqaluit's dump fire, of course, was particularly nasty with the fire smouldering under piles of garbage several storeys tall. It serves to illustrate just how much waste people create and, coupled with the realization that a vast majority of Nunavut communities are operating without a valid water licence, prompted further investigation by Nunavut News/North, which resulted in a three-part series. It concludes in this edition.

What we found is a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare. Only a few Nunavut communities are in compliance with the Nunavut Water Board's water licence regulations. Inspectors from the federal government's Aboriginal and Northern Development Canada visit communities to check method of waste disposal, test water quality and infrastructure. Many are found to be lacking because of improper waste disposal, leaking sewage holding ponds and inadequate fencing.

Several senior administrative officers in Nunavut hamlets feel they are fighting a losing battle in their efforts to meet the water licence requirements. Already working with a tight budget to provide services to residents of small municipalities, the prospect of spending significant dollars to get a piece of paper from a regulatory body often gets pushed down the list of priorities.

Are Nunavut communities facing a version of the Walkerton Tragedy, where the water supply in the small Ontario town became contaminated with a strain of E. coli bacteria from farm runoff into an adjacent well, resulting in the death of seven people and severe illness in hundreds of others?

Not likely. Many remote Nunavut communities have access to some of the cleanest, most pristine fresh water in the world.

Is there a problem? Yes. Testing fresh potable water as it is sourced, stored and distributed is vital to protect human health. Managing the disposal of waste -- raw sewage, household trash and garbage -- is important to the long-term health of any community.

We suggest water and waste issues should be a higher priority for all levels of government, municipal, territorial and federal, in terms of funding and regulations.

There are also many contributions that individuals and communities can make, by diverting recyclables from the waste stream, looking for methods to have waste shipped out of communities and making efforts to protect the integrity of freshwater sources.

Look around. Ask questions. Raise concerns. Demand action.

A community's ability to survive and flourish depends on the proper handling of water and waste.

With non-profits often being the glue that holds society together, Lynn Brooks' Safe Place for Women, formerly known as Betty House, is a positive example of government supporting a non-profit in meeting a basic need - something that would otherwise be left up to the private sector.

Life management doesn't come easily to everyone - circumstance, experiences and genetics all play a role in who people become and what situations they find themselves in. As a society that takes care of its most vulnerable citizens, safety nets need to be in place.

Sometimes that safety net is as simple as income security, which supplements the cost of rent, but sometimes it goes a little further and helps establish people as functioning members of society.

Lynn's Place, for which the GNWT paid nearly half of the $4.3 million cost to build, bridges both elements by providing clientele a place to live - at market value - as well as tools aimed at improving their long-term well-being.

Lynn's Place is an 18-unit home available to women, and their children, after they leave an emergency shelter. The furnished rooms include a common kitchen area in which educational programming will be provided, including cooking, goal-setting and budgeting, aiding tenants - who may have fallen into difficult life circumstances - in establishing themselves within society. Although clients can stay as long as they like, Lyda Fuller, executive director of Yellowknife YWCA, which operates the home, says she expects tenancy to be about three years.

With rent at $1,580 and $1,760 for a two- and three-bedroom unit respectively, Fuller notes it may be difficult for those considered "working poor," who aren't able to claim income security, to make ends meet. But the budgeting education, along with flexible payment plans and connections to other non-profits to help with food, is part of the Lynn's Place package - an education that will ideally stay with clients long after they leave the facility.

Lynn's Place is an example of the non-profit sector doing what the private sector is unwilling or unable to do. Just this May, the city's largest landlord - Northern Property REIT - announced it would no longer be accepting tenants on income security.

It's good that government funding, through income security, is supporting non-profits actively working to help pull people out of vicious cycles, rather than supporting the private sector that's just looking to get paid.

While the GNWT pays income security directly to the landlord, there was concern from Northern Property that once a tenant went off the service, they may be unable to pay up.

The relationship between YWCA and the GNWT, which is bound by Lynn's Place, means more direct lines of communication between the service provider and the funding provider, and the available on-site services mean when a client is ready to go off income support, they are equipped with life skills that give them the best shot at maximizing their potential and being successful.

Confusion over where cyclists can ride on city streets can be easily avoided with proper education and signage.

Angelo Urbancig told Yellowknifer he's seen many incidents of cyclists driving dangerously on sidewalks, almost hitting pedestrians and not looking before entering intersections. He said he got into an altercation with a cyclist after a near-miss with an elderly woman. His concern is someone will be seriously hurt eventually.

Riding on sidewalks is a common problem in many communities. Many cyclists do it because they feel safer on sidewalks rather than on the road with motor vehicles. Enforcement varies between communities. Where in some places it's tolerated for the safety of the cyclists. Apparently, that includes Yellowknife, although it's illegal, according to the NWT Motor Vehicle Act.

Dennis Marchiori, director of public safety, said the city is trying to deal with the problem "proactively" by having municipal enforcement officers talk to children about rules of the road. They should also be talking to adults about the rules when they see them riding on sidewalks.

More obviously needs to be done. Urbancig's suggestion of having painted road signs reminding cyclists about the rules of the road, as signs are definitely needed and should be clearly posted for everyone to see. There are already signs for other parking and traffic rules and posting signs for cyclists is commonplace in other communities.

Many of these problems can be solved with some education and ensuring cyclists' safety so they don't feel they have to get on the sidewalk. The coming bike lanes should help ease tensions and keep traffic flowing smoothly.

Fish and strawberries growing in the winter in Fort Simpson - welcome to the brave new world of sustainable food.

At first glance Shelley Empey and Mark Gillanders' plans for their new greenhouse in Wild Rose Acres in Fort Simpson might sound unconventional and more than a little unworkable, especially for people who have never heard of aquaponics.

The idea of raising fish in tanks and using the nutrients from their water to fertilize plants that are growing hydroponically takes a little getting used to. The additional idea of doing it in a climate like the village's where the system will have to be heated and protected for more than half the year requires an even greater leap of faith.

But anyone who has ever stared at the produce section at a grocery store in the Deh Cho and either gaped at the prices, bemoaned the lack of selection or questioned the state of the vegetables and fruit as either being nowhere near ripe or past its prime, can understand the basis of the couple's desire to grow more of their food locally.

Today, the concept of eating locally and growing or producing as much of your own food as possible is known as food sustainability or food security. Not too long ago in the region, that was simply how the Deh Cho people survived.

All food came from the land or the water whether it was moose, caribou, fish, ducks, berries or other edible plants. If it couldn't be snared, hunted, netted or gathered it wasn't part of the diet.

Things, of course, have changed substantially; people can now buy all sorts of food in stores and as a result their expectations and the variety of the foods they crave has expanded dramatically.

The concept, however, is the same. Food that is grown or harvested locally is generally the most nutritious and the cheapest.

The traditional ties to reliance on food from the land can be most readily seen at this time of the year when whole Deh Cho communities empty out as everyone seeks to get a moose or two to fill their freezers for the fall. The land is still an important food source, but people have grown used to more.

The aquaponics system at Forest Gate Greenhouse is an experiment in locally producing items that have become part of our diet - like peppers, tomatoes and herbs - on a year-round basis. The system will provide a lot of answers about the logistics and costs of producing food this way in the Deh Cho.

Having a local diet is still an attainable and desirable goal, but new and seemingly unconventional methods have to be tried to match our modern tastes.

The news that the Inuvialuit Communications Society (ICS) is taking to TV to promote the survival of the Inuvialuktun language is a major step in the fight to preserve traditional language skills.

The program will be aimed at children up to about six years of age, and those early years are the most crucial when it comes to comfortably learning a language to achieve real fluency.

Since Inuvialuktun and English, the most commonly spoken language here, are about as different as can be, exposure at a young age is the best way to get a grounding in it before language habits become more entrenched.

There's also no arguing the irresistible appeal of television, which has become an ubiquitous medium. In this case, an argument can be made that it's better to use television for something good rather than to fight it.

Tony Devlin, the executive director of the communications society, noted how pervasive the influence of television can be. He said his children have a reasonable knowledge of Spanish now after many hours of watching TV characters such as Dora the Explorer. That illustrates just how effective television can be as a learning tool.

The number of people turning out to audition for roles as voice actors in the television show and their enthusiasm was also remarkable.

By the end of the day, more than 30 people had been processed through the auditions, which took about 10 minutes each.

Some said they were there just for the chance to be on screen. Others had noted the significance of the show in retaining one of the region's heritage languages and the cultural spinoffs of that retention.

There's no argument, really, that English is on its way to becoming the likely candidate as the universal language across the globe.

That doesn't mean that there isn't room to keep a firm grasp on other heritage languages, although it does make the process more challenging.

Those challenges will undoubtedly require some imagination and innovation. In the case of the communications society, you could truthfully say with a wink and your tongue firmly planted in your cheek that it's showing some "inside the box" thinking with the television programming.

It's a good move, and one that will help provide a foundation for more to come.

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