It begins with businessYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 8, 2015
There is a clear benefit to increasing business tourism in Yellowknife. As Bruce Jonasson, business development manager at Adlair Aviation, put it, "They're like tourists on steroids."
As well as bringing their official business to town, these travellers rack up car rental, hotel and other bills that feed the local economy.
But, is it the government's responsibility to push this sector of visitors in the same way it promotes tourism? Certainly, it has a vested interest in seeing this segment grow and can offer support to make business ventures such as cold weather testing in Yellowknife easier but the real responsibility lies within the business community itself.
Looking back at the tourism industry, it was business operators such as Bill Tait of Raven Tours who in the early '90s launched Yellowknife as the winter tourism Mecca that it is today - primarily with Japanese tourists in search of northern lights.
When the frequency of travel dropped worldwide following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. 2001, and again when the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 shook the not-yet steady ground, reviving the struggling industry fell largely on businesses in the area. Innovators such as Don Morin of Aurora Village and Grant Beck of Beck's Kennels - who has been drawing tourists to the city for decades - ensured Yellowknife remained a prime winter destination.
The benefits of investing in business tourism can be proven by existing ventures, such as the recent visits of teams from Bombardier and Honeywell Aerospace who set up shop in Yellowknife for aerospace testing in the cold climate. It's these opportunities and the economic spinoffs that will encourage the government to put more behind business tourism. Offering the necessary infrastructure to support business tourism - whether it's appropriate roadways for vehicle testing or runways for aerospace testing - lie within the government's hands.
Enticing industry members to make the trip to Yellowknife, rather than to our sub-Arctic and Arctic neighbours, is the role of the business community.
North's heritage sport runs strongYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 8, 2015
As far as Northern sports go, the enduring popularity of the Canadian Championship Dog Derby is proof enough that the 60-year-old event will not be running into oblivion anytime soon.
The sight of barking dogs pulling a sled remains a common sight around Yellowknife even while the tar paper shacks and mine headframes disappear.
The derby marked 60 years in grand style late last month with teams from across the continent challenging themselves and their dogs in the 150-mile race. A dynasty also regained prominence with the victory of Richard Beck but he had to fight for it against Dave Turner of Oregon. There were five Becks in the top six at this year's event, cementing the Beck family's dogsledding dynasty.
Like the prohibition-era bootleggers who laid the foundations for NASCAR when they raced cars modified to outrun police, dogsled racing has its roots in practical applications. The original purpose of the derby was a social event among trappers who came to Yellowknife to sell furs they collected over the winter and then have a little fun by racing their dog teams.
The derby has captured imaginations for decades and is being pursued by future generations. Several novice teams got a taste of competitive racing with four-dog 32 km races and even children tried short two-dog runs. This bodes well for the future of dogsledding as it shows there is no shortage of people willing to get behind the sled.
Bill threatens your way of lifeEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 8, 2015
There are quite a few reasons to be nervous about the more than 60 pages of legalese that represents -- if you happen to have an affinity for Kool-Aid -- the mother of all action plans designed to make you feel safe and secure in the knowledge your government is about to make Canada a tough place for terrorists.
But simply being nervous about its contents only applies if you're well-grounded to begin with; exhibiting no overt signs of mental instability, emotional imbalance or unchecked paranoia such as an inherent distrust of all things related to Big Brother, and/or displaying a tendency to be a free thinker.
Should you not be oak solid to begin with, some parts of Bill C-51 could take you well past the state of nervousness and deposit you smack dab in the middle of slightly unhinged avenue.
To borrow a line, you'd still have the right to free speech, provided, of course, you're not dumb enough to actually try it.
At least not in any way that could be read or overheard by others.
If you Google Bill C-51, you'll discover all sorts of fascinating reading material.
Said material will cover everything from the eight things you absolutely have to know, without wasting another second of your life, to why it's our duty to sacrifice a bit of our freedom to fight the good fight against terrorism.
You can, however, expect to read a great deal more on the former point of view than the latter.
You'll even see Bill C-51 portrayed as a tool designed by men who've had their manhood threatened by terrorism or gay rights, although I'm not sure exactly how the author prompted herself to come up with that particular combination.
No-fly listings, personal information sharing, and information agencies being given policing powers are all things that should make one sit up and take notice.
The deal breaker for me is Uncle Stephen's desire to make it easy for police to legally detain a person who has not been charged with a crime, and to allow them to prosecute an individual for the spoken word as easily as they would an act of violence.
That trips the light fantastic too closely to the rhythm of a police state for me.
Whispering one's thoughts well off the beaten path, and trading opinions in the darkest recesses of the public domain for fear of having them twisted, misunderstood or used against you has suddenly become an all-too-real possibility.
I have read social-media postings left by friends this very week that could make them a person of interest should Bill C-51 become law, possibly as early as the end of the House's spring sitting.
And spy agencies, even a Canadian one such as CSIS, being given the power of threat reduction?
B.C. Civil Liberties Association senior council Carmen Cheung is right when she argues threat reduction power is policing power.
Secret spy agencies being given policing powers has already been done.
They're recognized by such cheerful abbreviations as KGB and Gestapo, and their results speak for themselves.
Should Bill C-51 become law, the type of freedom so many gave their lives to protect will slowly, but surely, fade from memory, and those most powerful among us will succumb to the mistakes of the past.
Stick to what's realisticNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 6, 2015
The territory's leaders must be feeling dismay one year into their five-year plan to increase the population of the Northwest Territories by 2,000 people.
Not only has the territory lost 200 citizens since the beginning of this initiative but a recent NWT Bureau of Statistics survey reports more than half of those working in the mining industry do not live here.
In his budget address last year, Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger told the legislative assembly the GNWT is working with the private sector and other governments to tackle the issues that lead to the territory's stagnant population growth, such as mine workers who fly in for work and fly back out to their southern home bases or high school graduates who leave to earn post-secondary degrees and never return.
It's pointless to criticize the government for having failed to grow the population so far. But it's hard to not to feel let down after reading the best idea Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay could come up with in last week's News/North to turn the population tide was an infrastructure project abandoned months ago because it was too expensive.
His suggestion, to link NWT's power infrastructure to southern grids, was the fruit of a 2012 roundtable discussion over how to reduce the cost of energy in the NWT. It seemed like a wonderful idea until Miltenberger announced to the legislative assembly this government was no longer considering the project because a feasibility study came back with a $1.2 billion price tag, which is almost double the originally anticipated cost. Since then, the government convened an entirely new energy roundtable and came up with a handful of other ideas to reduce the cost of energy, such as small-scale community power infrastructure and information campaigns to help people reduce their power bills on a grassroots level.
It is absolutely useless for our leaders to continue to hang on to a discarded infrastructure project to tackle a five-year goal.
Hopefully Ramsay only neglected to consult with the people Miltenberger indicated was working on the problem before talking to the media because the other possibility, that representatives from the GNWT, private sector and other governments have spent the past year hoping a defunct infrastructure project will come back from the dead is far worse.
A few Northern News Services editors had their own short brainstorming session on the issue last week and have a few ideas to add to whatever this working group has come up with. Considering the Northwest Territories already gets something to the tune of $30,000 per person who lives here in federal transfer payments, we wonder what is stopping the government from re-allocating some of that money to incentive programs to encourage mine workers to put down roots here. Perhaps the GNWT could extend low interest loans or rebate programs to people to put a down payment on a house. Perhaps it could better advertise incentive programs it already has, such as the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program, specifically to people who work in the territory but don't live here. For example, the GNWT will refund as much as much as one-third the cost, to a maximum $700, of a wood pellet stove to any NWT resident.
None of these ideas are as grandiose as linking NWT to a southern power grid but there is no reason to believe any of them aren't feasible. And really, that is all NWT citizens expect of their government officials when planning for the future of the territory - stick to what's feasible. Because the alternative, throwing out abandoned ideas as viable ones -- is no way to build confidence that our leaders have any plan to achieve their goal to build the population.
Students' trip to Europe has potential for positive resultNunavut/News North - Monday, April 6, 2015
Posing on a pile of snow in the remote Baffin Island community of Clyde River, five teenagers with a longing for knowledge have embarked on a project that appears to be too ambitious.
Set to graduate from Quluaq School, Tyson Palluq, Nora Aipellee, Katelyn Hainnu, Maybelle Enuaraq and Leah Palituq need to raise about $30,000 to pay for a graduation trip to Paris and London.
And they don't have much time left to pay the balance of the cost of the tour, $20,000, after clearing the significant hurdle of raising $8,000 to pay a deposit last month. Another $10,000 is needed for the students to get to Ottawa from their Nunavut community to catch the plane and embark on a great learning adventure.
The students have been doing everything in their power to raise money for the trip, including catering the recent opening of a new hamlet office, where they cooked and served country food for the feast. They've also done raffles, bake sales, cake walks, 50-50 draws and hockey pools.
The problem is that Clyde River has only about 1,000 residents. About half of the residents are under the age of 18 and about half of the adult residents are on social assistance and don't have much money. That's why the group turned to a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe, where perfect strangers have the opportunity to donate to the cause.
We believe it is a worthwhile endeavour, deserving of support, for a number of reasons.
This is the first time the school has organized a trip outside Canada. The students will learn about history involving Canadians during the Second World War with a visit to the beaches of Normandy. Tour companies which specialize in educational excursions for students pack days during the trip with activities and realms of information about each country's history, people and way of life.
The trip is bound to be an eye-opening and perhaps life-changing experience for each of the students. It has the potential to create future leaders in the community, people with vision, who can realize the untapped potential within their own community.
The trip will likely also inspire other young people to stay in school, to apply themselves to their studies and graduate high school with an anticipation of greater things to happen.
The community is supporting this initiative as well as it can, even providing the means for the students to get passports. However, the goal cannot be reached within the school or the hamlet itself. Outside forces are required to make this trip a reality.
Our hope is that more people contribute to the crowdfunding campaign - or that a wealthy individual, a generous corporate donor or a politician able to pull some strings steps forward - to help these young people accomplish their ambitions.
We think it will be well worth the investment.
Seniors and the Northern Advantage Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 3, 2015
The old tale of someone trekking up to Yellowknife for a quick visit only to end up falling in love with the clean Northern air and tightly knit sense of community is a familiar one.
So it should come as no surprise that the city's aging seniors are steadfast in their desire to stay in the place they have come to call home.
"It's a lovely place to live," said Merlyn Williams, the recently elected president of the Yellowknife Seniors' Society.
Last week, Yellowknifer reported that despite the high cost of living more and more seniors are deciding to remain in the city rather than flock south as many snowbirds eventually do. As lovely as it may be the reality is that Yellowknife's aging population is facing a housing crunch.
According to Jeff Renaud, the CEO of Avens' seniors home, Yellowknife's senior population is expected to double by 2031, while the number of people older than 60 is expected to triple over that same time-frame. The news from Renaud this week that Avens is $20 million short of the expected $28 million it will cost to build a 60,000 square-foot expansion of the facility is troubling to say the least.
When completed, the expanded seniors home will offer 60 long-term care beds - 31 of which will be new, while the other 29 will be transferred over from the existing facility. It will also provide three palliative care beds. Given that there is currently only a single bed dedicated to palliative care in Yellowknife these beds are much needed.
Last year, the territorial government was thumping its chest at a bold plan to attract 2,000 new residents to the territory before 2019. So far, it has met with very limited success. But what of those who have already made a commitment to staying here come hell or high water?
Glen Abernethy has proclaimed that Avens is an important partner in maintaining the NWT's population and the all important $30,000 per capita federal dollars residents bring to the territory.
Seniors may not contribute to the workforce in the same way that younger people to do -- although it is not uncommon to strike up a conversation with someone well into their 70s who is gainfully employed. But they are residents who pay rent, goods and services, all the while contributing to a vibrant community.
The GNWT already provides benefits, such as extended health care coverage and subsidized rent, which seniors such as Marg Green say make Yellowknife an attractive place to live.
But if the government wants to make sure it doesn't lose a rapidly growing part of its population in a southward exodus, it should put its money where its mouth is and invest in more seniors' housing.
Don't expect power bill break Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 3, 2015
Speaking on behalf of Denendeh Investments Inc., which recently upped its ownership interest in Northland Utilities to 50 from 15 per cent, company president Darrell Beaulieu said the company was "definitely committed" to looking at ways to lower power rates. But it's difficult to see where lower rates could come in.
The NWT Public Utilities Board already closely regulates the power rate that Northland Utilities is able to charge its approximately 9,000 residential and commercial power consumers in Yellowknife, Hay River, Ndilo and several other small communities.
In a nutshell, the public utilities board reviews both the operating costs of NWT power providers and the fairness of the provider's proposed annual power rates. Assuming the utilities board is doing its job in protecting the public interest, it's unlikely any NWT power provider is truly gouging ratepayers. The board essentially determines the profitability of the provider, hopefully ensuring the provider does not grow rich on the back of what could be described as a monopoly situation.
It's difficult to see where there could be much wiggle room on power rates in such a tightly regulated market, especially when one considers the fiduciary duty of a corporation to make a return on shareholder investment.
The real news in this announcement is that a Northern, aboriginal-owned corporation has increased its ownership in the company.
Having a Northern company, and in particular Denendeh Investments, take a great interest in the destiny of Northland Utilities bodes will for all residents of the North. Just don't expect your power bill to come down anytime soon when Northland's profits are already so closely regulated.
Get back to the tableDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, April 2, 2015
Premier Bob McLeod has a lot of explaining to do.
In the legislative assembly on at least two occasions, and in interviews with the media, the premier has said the territorial government has no plans to terminate the Dehcho Process if the Dehcho First Nations doesn't accept its latest offer to settle the decades-long land claims negotiations.
Questioned by both Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche and Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli in the house, the premier has categorically denied the government has threatened to end negotiations. He gave his word to MLAs, to the people of the region and across the territory, that the government is willing to sit down and work out an agreement, going as far to say the Dehcho First Nations is acting like the "boy who cried wolf."
Correspondence between the premier and Grand Chief Herb Norwegian given to the Deh Cho Drum reveals a different narrative - a far cry from the old tale of the boy and the wolf.
Not only was the premier contradicting his public statements with those made in private with the first nations group, he has also walking a fine line between bending the truth and outright lying.
A letter dated Feb. 20 to Norwegian from McLeod says if the Dehcho First Nations doesn't accept the government's latest offer by early April then negotiations should be terminated.
Mr. Premier, doesn't this sound a lot like the opposite of what you've told members of your government, the public and Dehcho members?
A response from the premier's spokesperson Shaun Dean on whether the premier mislead the legislative assembly - which both Menicoche and Nadli feel may be the case - says the contents of the letter is a "respectful" and "frank" assessment of the status of negotiations and that all parties need to be realistic about the possibility of success.
The definition of negotiation is a dialogue between two parties intended on reaching an understanding by resolving differences. If you call negotiations a take-it-or-leave-it offer then there is a problem. What's going on right now is not negotiating. It's telling the Dehcho First Nations that this is the best offer they're going to get so take it now or watch years of negotiations crumble.
The result of this ultimatum has been an outright public war of words. It's understandable why the Dehcho First Nations is upset. It feels backed into a corner by an offer void of any opportunity for negotiation.
However, the current state of talks - or lack thereof - isn't the fault of Dehcho leadership. They can't be blamed for threatening legal action over bad-faith negotiations by the territorial government. What are they to do? The Dehcho Process has been happening for decades, and they aren't about to let it die.
The premier needs to take responsibility for what is happening. By strong-arming leaders, described by a number of chiefs as bullying, it's putting the talks on thin ice.
If cooler heads don't prevail and the government doesn't back down on its offer, the ice will crack and all the work achieved will disappear.
Jamboree is a premiere eventInuvik Drum - Thursday, April 2, 2015
Judging by the weather, there might not have been any compelling signs of spring over the weekend, but the start of jamboree season says otherwise.
With another successful Muskrat Jamboree in the books, even with a troubled financial situation, it's time to give some thanks to the many people who give up a lot of their time and energy to plan it.
Yes, things went somewhat awry this year with the organizing committee's failure to apply for its annual Jamboree bingo license, but mistakes happen.
There's no point in excoriating the town council for it declining to dispense with its normal procedures and grant the Jamboree an exception, although it might have been understandable if it did. As Coun. Alana Mero said, council didn't want to open Pandora's Box by setting a precedent, and she has a point.
One of the sillier elements of this argument, though, is what constitutes a special event.
The Muskrat Jamboree, of course, is one of the signature special events for the town, if not the premiere special event. If it isn't that premiere event, it would be hard to say what is. Perhaps the Sunrise Festival, coincidentally operated by the town.
Putting all of that dry, political stuff aside, the jamboree once again ran fairly smoothly and without major incidents, with the members of the organizing committee not hard to find.
People like Gerry Kisoun and Jeff Amos seemed to be everywhere and at every event. Adele Campbell certainly needs some accolades for putting together a bountiful community feast heavy on traditional foods.
From the snowmobile races to the honey-bag hockey to the log sawing and the dog sledding, everything went fairly smoothly over the weekend.
Sure, you could be disappointed that for the second time in three years there wasn't a muskrat skinning competition, but these things happen.
The jamboree had a bit of a new look to it this year, with some events removed while others were modified. A facelift for the main "village" on the river was good to see.
I said in a column in 2014 that I think everyone who takes in even a bit of the jamboree festival should be stopping the organizers on the street or in the coffee shops or stores around town and thanking them for their efforts, and my opinion hasn't changed.
Now, let's get set for spring and let's hope the jamboree's lingering money issues don't affect its kids carnival in June.
