A $200 shot of inequality Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, October 9, 2015
Did Yellowknife just travel back in time?
If any indication is the bizarrely inequitable fact that the Department of Health and Social Services - via the Yellowknife Health And Social Services Authority - is charging parents of boys but not girls to get vaccinated against a cancer-causing viral infection spread by sexual activity, then yes, yes it has.
Parents of Grade 5 students received a letter late last month informing them of an opportunity to vaccinate their children against human papillomavirus (HPV) and that it is free for girls and $200 for boys.
One can only fathom the thinking behind this.
Is it the idealistic notion that every single female who engages in sexual activity with a member of the opposite sex will be vaccinated and therefore protect her partner? With the vaccine being voluntary, there is a spectrum of reasons that may cause a person to opt out.
Maybe it's the archaic assumption that males don't engage in sexual activity with other males. How will the department protect this undeniable demographic?
And what about the low-income families who can barely afford a bag of groceries, let alone $200 to protect their son from something that quite possibly won't affect him for years? It doesn't mean they don't want to protect their children - but anybody who can't afford to meet their families' basic needs cannot be expected to dole out this kind of money for a possible future threat. Not providing an equal benefit between the sexes is indefensible and the meager reason provided by the department - that it "will continue to monitor the experience in other jurisdictions" - is inexcusable.
It's unacceptable the health department is nestled into its cozy armchair justifying its inaction by waiting for a status quo to emerge from the rest of country. So far, British Columbia, Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia offer the HPV vaccine for free - to every child, regardless of their sex.
One is only left to wonder.
When the territory's health system becomes strained in the future due to an influx of cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus and throats - all which can be caused by HPV - health department officials will have to accept a lot of the blame themselves.
Exodus is lost cash for the North Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, October 9, 2015
What if, instead of imagining care for seniors as a chore, a duty, a burden that must be fulfilled, society pictured our elders as significant economic contributors?
In that light, it's no longer a matter of whether our territory can afford to care for seniors. It's a question of whether the territory can afford to do without them.
We will put it this way, using a very conservative figure because in many cases it would be much higher: each senior couple who leave the North represents $100,000 heading south with them - about $70,000 in lost transfer payments from the federal government and the rest in money they would be spending in the territory if they were still living here.
That's not chump change. The exodus of six senior couples would represent the amount of federal funding received for the Hope's Haven youth shelter. We will repeat: this is money fleeing the territory and now being spent down south.
Yet, to show our appreciation for seniors the territory asks these would-be life-long Yellowknifers to tough it out on housing waiting lists that are six or seven years long. This is the current state in the city even though the over-60 population is expected to triple by 2031.
The campaign to staunch the exodus must accelerate. Stephen Jackson, the incoming CEO for Avens, says the lack of beds and homes for seniors is his top priority as he takes the reins from his very vocal predecessor Jeff Renaud. He should be given every possible support from the territorial government, the city and the public.
The failure to date to address seniors' housing needs demonstrates not just a lack of compassion but a lack of foresight that recognizes losing seniors to the south hurts us in the pocketbook as well.
Northern treatment for Northern needsDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, October 8, 2015
On Sept. 25, Deh Gah Got'ie Koe Chief Joachim Bonnetrouge sent an e-mail endorsing concerns from K'atlodeeche First Nation about the territorial government's failure to fund a detox centre.
In that e-mail, Bonnetrouge called for a full inquiry to determine why the GNWT Cabinet is steadfast in its decision to deny the centre's funding.
K'atlodeeche First Nation currently has an addiction treatment facility sitting on the reserve - a building that closed in 2013 and thus lost government funding.
Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy has said the NWT currently outsources its addiction treatment to southern facilities across Canada.
In the most recent sitting of the legislature, he pointed out southern treatment facilities offered a wider variety of programming than the NWT was able to offer when the facility on K'atlodeeche First Nation was open.
He also said southern programs cost the territory one-third of what the old facility cost.
While these are all valid points, they also bring up a key issue that has yet to be addressed: there are only, as Abernethy said, about 12 residents in treatment at any one time.
While questioning Abernethy, Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli said it best: we have a huge addiction problem in the North.
With 44,000 people in the NWT, there are more than 12 people per day who need access to the programs offered by a treatment centre.
Add to that people from the other territories and Northern communities who, like those in the NWT, face unique challenges in overcoming their addictions, and the North has more than enough patients to warrant a treatment centre.
A detox centre would also serve to bolster mental health services in the NWT, an issue that shows its severity more and more with each passing day.
If the government is serious about its desire for a healthy population, one not ravaged by the effects of drugs and alcohol, it needs to approach the situation from a different perspective than just looking at numbers.
The benefits of a healthy population make it worthwhile for the GNWT to eat costs associated with running a detox facility - which, in and of itself, should not be aimed at making a profit anyway.
The programming in southern detox centres is designed for its southern clients.
Having a Northern treatment centre is an opportunity to meet specific Northern needs, addressing the effects of inter-generational trauma and the psychological difficulties faced by people in the North.
Until the government changes its tune, initiatives such as the New Mental Health Act, on-the-land programming and community wellness centres will fail to have the support they need to thrive.
Hospital heading back to basicsInuvik Drum - Thursday, October 8, 2015
While there is a lot of jargon and a whole slew of acronyms surrounding the programs implemented by the Inuvik Regional Hospital over the last decade or so, a lot of it comes down to common sense.
Staff at the hospital have been working hard to make the facility the safest it can be for babies and their mothers through initiatives that prevent women from being induced before 41 weeks and encouraging breastfeeding, among other things. The overall focus has been on maintaining a level of health long before getting pregnant that will allow women to carry and give birth more safely and with fewer possible complications.
That is all excellent, but it's a shame it's taking programs with so much jargon and acronyms to get there when it's largely a return to older practices.
One or two generations ago, people didn't have much choice but to breastfeed. Even now, it's a much cheaper option, especially in the smaller communities. Only 50 years ago, fewer people were overweight, which seriously decreased the risk of complications during pregnancies. So, while it's a shame that it's taking a government initiative to get back to what largely worked, it's a positive thing that it is happening at all.
Babies who are breastfed grow up to be healthier and do better in school, said co-chair of the Baby-Friendly Initiative Lesa Semmler this week, but women are often discouraged early on because they don't know what to expect. She said there is this automatic response to turn to the bottle and formula when a baby fails to latch on to a nipple right away but that with a little more coaching and help, they might tough it out a little longer, making it more likely they will succeed in breastfeeding.
Women and families here have the admirable attitude that pregnancy and birth is more of a natural process than a medical one. There are undoubtedly good reasons for this as well as advantages to this outlook, but it can also make women complacent about their own health. It is so important for women to be taking care of themselves, not only in the interest of having healthy babies, but for their own sakes. Once again, if it takes a hospital program to encourage that behaviour, then we should do that.
Justice denied while Bourque partiedYellowknifer - Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Remorse does not mix with a Happy Hour and a top-40 soundtrack.
Roman Bourque, the 6'4, 250-pound athlete who pled guilty to manslaughter in the brutal and senseless 2013 beating death of 5'10, 163-pound Air Tindi employee Emerson Curran, three years his junior, does not appear to be running a campaign to earn the public's compassion nor eventual forgiveness.
While his defence counsel portrayed his client to a packed courtroom as someone who had "done nothing but scrupulously observe (his bail conditions)" between the time he was charged two years ago to his eventual sentencing last week, Yellowknifers know the situation to be otherwise.
Many, many people saw Bourque in violation of court-ordered conditions to refrain from alcohol and establishments where serving alcohol is the main source of revenue - going to a beer garden in Hay River last summer and dancing in Yellowknife bars.
The fact that Bourque broke his bail conditions brazenly, seemingly without any fear of consequences whatsoever, is one of the worst kept secrets in town. These incidents took place months after he admitted to killing Curran while in an intoxicated state.
Bourque, now 25, is clearly not mature enough to understand that the moment he was charged with manslaughter he became a public figure and faced public scrutiny.
His decision to celebrate his reputation as a guy who enjoys partying by displaying nostalgic images of himself sharing laughs with buddies and booze on his Facebook page where anyone could see them, including the victim's family, is further evidence of that.
What's completely incomprehensible is the lack of interest police and the courts have shown in Bourque's partying habits after being charged with manslaughter and then pleading guilty to it. Never mind that Bourque put himself at risk of having another two years in jail added to his sentence for breaching his conditions, why is someone freshly convicted of killing a man with his bare hands free to enter bars to drink and carouse the night away?
His supporters might say he is a great guy, who in the words of Judge Karan Shaner, committed a 'impulsive, stupid, violent" attack in the heat of the moment during an argument at a party. They might say where he went and what he did during the last five months he was free awaiting his sentence is no one else's business.
We say the justice system's lack of interest in Bourque's pre-sentencing status put him and the public at risk and is yet one more shameful, entirely inexplicable episode in a completely avoidable tragedy.
Youth suffer when we refuseEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 7, 2015
If it's almost the start of minor hockey season, than it's also time to start the annual hunt for people to step up and help run a program in our community that supports our young people by providing them with a valuable, positive activity.
In fact, it continues to boggle the mind how even a community as hockey-crazy as Rankin Inlet continues to struggle with the same problem year after year.
May whatever God you worship, if any, bless the thousands of fans who take in hockey games in Rankin Inlet every season.
Rankin's grand old barn is known across the North as home to some of the loudest and most-engaged hockey fans on the planet.
And there can be no denying those crowds, especially at tournament time, make every game that much more exciting to be a part of.
I call it fairy dust.
When the fans come in they expect to see two teams on the ice, coaches behind the benches, two or three officials calling the action, someone working the time clock and someone else taking care of the all-important game sheet.
It's common knowledge that shortly before game time a band of fairies shows up to spread their dust around and all these people magically appear.
And if it sounds like I'm being facetious, it's probably because I am.
In no other place in Canada do so few people do so much for the youth and the game than in communities across Nunavut, even Rankin "Hockey Town" Inlet.
It's one thing to not be into a particular sport, or sports at all for that matter.
And there's no law against floating through one's life without having volunteered for anything, or pitching-in to help one single program or project survive or prosper.
But imagine a world without cadets, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Little League Baseball, drama and music clubs, community art programs and hundreds, if not thousands, of other similar programs all with one thing in common.
They're all run by volunteers!
Compounding the situation in our communities is the fact there are so many parents of these kids sitting at home doing nothing, when they could be involved with their lives and making memories that will last a lifetime.
I'll be the first to admit that, thanks to the actions of a very select few of the most despicable people in the world, it's a drag having to submit yourself to a criminal records check and take a seemingly never-ending slew of sensitivity and training courses from Hockey Canada to go on the ice with a small group of young hockey players.
That's the hard truth of the often cold world we live in today.
But in the big picture, it's still a small price to pay for such an important and often uplifting experience.
Here in Rankin, another truth is there's too many people walking around our community who love the Hockey Town moniker.
That is, as long as they don't actually have to do anything to help out.
Some may say volunteering to help out with hockey is not for everybody, and there's truth in that, just as there's truth in saying there can't be nobody willing to volunteer to help out in an entire community.
These are our children and youth playing our game and they need our help.
What say we pitch in and take up the slack?
Keep politicians on the hookNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, October 5, 2015
Ah, election season.
The time we vote candidates into positions in the House of Commons they will hold for the next handful of years, or until the prime minister again decides to dissolve Parliament.
This time around, four men are applying for a $167,400 per year job, plus travel allowances, in the Northwest Territories riding and you get to choose who is getting in.
The person who gets the position will fly between the territory and Ottawa for the next handful of years and represent our interests in Parliament. This person will advocate for much-needed Northern infrastructure and bring some of our biggest sociological concerns, such as missing and murdered indigenous women, support for people with addictions and mental health issues and the environment to the national stage.
In reality, it's more than a job. This person will play an integral roll in deciding how billions of dollars of government money should - and should not - be spent. This person will have a vision, aligned with his party's vision, on what the future of Canada should look like. This person will only be as effective as the amount of time he spends with the reports, research, polls, analyses and other documents that make up day-to-day government business. Between caucus, committee meetings, Parliamentary sittings and travel between Ottawa and the NWT, this person will have very little free time. This person must be committed.
Right now, Dennis Bevington of the New Democratic Party has this job - he's been the NWT's MP since 2006 -- as long as Stephen Harper has been prime minister. But Conservative Floyd Roland, Liberal Michael McLeod and Green Party candidate John Moore want it too.
In order to get in, they need your votes. Which means they're busy weaving tapestries of promises ranging from feasible to eye-rollingly inconceivable.
Roland has trumpeted Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his role in funding Northern infrastructure throughout his administration. He has recently pointed to the federal government's $100 million contribution to the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktok Highway. Recently, the Conservative Party promised millions more for other specific NWT road projects. Then, when Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger cried foul over the exclusion of Highway 5, which runs between Fort Smith and Wood Buffalo National Park, from the list, Harper said, "No problem" and added it during an August campaign stop in Hay River. Pretty sweet deal.
McLeod is busy unfurling his own laundry list of infrastructure projects, among them the holy grail of NWT wishes - the Mackenzie Valley Highway. He also promises to dredge the Hay River and build an all-weather road to Whati. Last week he announced funding for a new hospital and water pipeline in Yellowknife, although he now says the projects have not been improved by party brass. McLeod is aware his list is long and says he's willing to see the federal government enter a deficit in order to carry out these plans.
John Moore's campaign promises follow two themes - he wants to bring nuclear energy to the NWT and fund projects that build food security in the North.
While he hasn't made any specific promises on NWT infrastructure, Bevington says he would like to redistribute a portion of gas tax money the federal government collects to communities for clean energy and infrastructure projects.
As the Oct. 19 federal election nears, the candidates' platforms and lists of promises will grow. Northern News Services is maintaining a website available at nnsl.com and dedicating room in the paper every week to report on these campaign promises as they develop.
Your job is to pay attention to what these people have to say and vote for the person you think has the best vision for our country.
Inquest's findings a disgrace to governmentNunavut/News North - Monday, October 5, 2015
How can the Government of Nunavut possibly implement a strategy without allotting funding? That is one of the big questions coming out of the chief coroner's inquest into the high rate of suicide in the territory, which concluded Sept. 25.
It was an emotional nine days of testimony from witnesses which included families of people who died by suicide, experts from out of the territory, government employees, politicians, personnel from Inuit beneficiary organizations, RCMP officers, mental health workers and people involved with Isaksimagit Inuusirmi Katujjiqatigiit (Embrace Life Council) and the Kamatsiaqtut Help Line.
Again and again, the six-person jury heard that resources were not available and that there was a lack of will from the most senior levels of government to implement a suicide prevention strategy.
A great deal of troubling facts were revealed during the course of the inquest.
The fact that obligations for funding were stripped from the suicide prevention strategy before it was approved by the legislative assembly is an abomination, an embarrassment to the government and a failure that can be seen as nothing less than a breach of trust to the people.
How did members of cabinet and ordinary MLAs allow this to happen on a life-and-death issue such as suicide? They all have blood on their hands because they gave approval to what could have been an effective strategy if the means to put it into action were provided. It is like giving the people an empty sack of flour and saying, "Here is your food."
The jury is to be commended for delivering the strongest recommendations possible, topped with a call for government to declare a public health emergency and followed up with a directive for the territorial government to appoint a cabinet minister responsible and accountable for suicide prevention and create a secretariat responsible for suicide prevention with the mandate and resources necessary.
Action is urgently required to stem the incidence of suicide. Not only have 486 people taken their own lives since the territory was created in 1999, one more person, a young man in Hall Beach, killed himself Sept. 20, while the inquest was underway.
The jury called for adoption of 41 of 42 recommendations from the independent evaluation. It recommends special initiatives for schools, government departments and the Embrace Life Council, calls for support groups, followup with those who attempt suicide, the incorporation of cultural awareness and language training.
Of vital importance is the jury's call for multi-year funding for a Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy, for the Kamatsiaqtut Help Line, for the Embrace Life Council and for Inuit organizations to deliver suicide prevention programs. The jury wants support from the highest political level and wants a progress report by next September.
Will the government now step up and take responsibility, and provide the funds to address the tragedy which has plagued the territory?
