Build road to diamondsNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 18, 2016
There has been no shortage of reasons to celebrate in Whati over the last few weeks. On April 1 the community welcomed its 30th anniversary as a hamlet. In that same week the Department of Transportation applied for permits to build a 94-kilometre road to the Tlicho hamlet of 500 people from Highway 3.
The road will replace the winter road, which is becoming increasingly expensive to build and open for less than 90 days each year.
In addition to reducing the cost of having to make the winter road, the new two-lane gravel highway will provide tangible benefits for the community- from cheaper groceries to better opportunities for local businesses.
Perhaps more importantly from an economic perspective, it will pave the way for Fortune Minerals to open its NICO mine 50 km north of Whati, which has lobbied the territorial government to build infrastructure to help its project get off the ground.
Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT/Nunavut Chamber of Mines, told News/North the road to Whati embodies the best of both worlds: it reduces the cost of mining in the territory through the supply of infrastructure while reducing the cost of living and providing a much needed road to the community.
"In the best case, infrastructure might serve both," Hoefer said.
While the road to Whati may hold double benefits, the fact is even if the road is built the opening of the mine is not a sure thing. Which begs the question: why isn't the government doing more to push for infrastructure to the diamond mines that are currently driving the territory's economy?
According to a 2013 study, the three diamond mines operating northeast of Yellowknife at the time employed a total of 3,028 people -- 1,548 of whom were Northerners -- in 2011. De Beers' Snap Lake has since closed, leading to layoffs for 434 people, although Gahcho Kue is expected to start production this fall and hiring more people by the day.
To put that into perspective, the total number of Northerners employed at these sites is three times higher than the entire population of Whati.
With climate change, the winter road network to the mines some 300 km northeast of Yellowknife is under increasing threat. Warm weather forced the Tibbitt-to-Contwoyto winter road to close after only 42 days in 2006, forcing the mines to fly in supplies which ultimately cost four to eight times more per pound than transporting them by road.
The road opened a week a later than normal this year due to warmer weather and continue to be hampered by thinner ice conditions which means trucks must travel with lighter loads.
An all-weather road connecting Yellowknife to the diamond mines - and to other mineral rich areas along the NWT/Nunavut border, and even to Gray's Bay on the Arctic coast - is one of three major infrastructure projects being proposed by the GNWT.
Also on the list is the road to Whati and the $525 million Mackenzie Valley Highway, which would open up access to natural gas reserves. The idea of connecting communities in the Sahtu with roads is not without merit but with the price of oil and natural gas as low as they are at the moment the project just isn't economically worthwhile at the moment.
In contrast, the Slave Province diamond mine region is already a proven resource employing thousands of people. Or as Hoefer put it: "It's such a bread basket from mining perspective that it's the big prize."
Although it was recently touted by the premier as an important project in an interview with News/North, things have been relatively quiet on the diamond road front as of late.
If it really wants to get the most bang for its buck the GNWT should focus its energy on cultivating the bird in hand rather than the birds in the bush.
Increasing the lifespan of our diamond mines and ensuring the resource royalty tap remains open means the NWT will be in a better position to build the Mackenzie Valley Highway when higher gas prices return and make its construction more desirable.
Reap economic benefits of cruise ship passengerslNunavut/News North - Monday, April 18, 2016
Imagine being on the shore of a small community in Nunavut this coming August when a large, white shape appears on the distant horizon.
As the shape comes closer it becomes apparent the largest ship ever seen is coming closer. Word quickly spreads throughout the community and soon residents are standing along the shoreline to witness the passage of a gleaming 68,000-tonne, 250-metre vessel topped with majestic rows of 13 decks dotted with doors to cabins and staterooms. Cries of admiration soon turn to questions as people wonder if it will stop offshore and if anyone will come visit. What does this giant ship mean to a tiny outpost?
If you live in Cambridge Bay or Pond Inlet, there is a good chance you already heard about the planned excursion by the 1,070-passenger Crystal Serenity of the Northwest Passage, from Alaska to New York City. That's because Crystal Cruises has done comprehensive advance work, including talks with people in potential ports of call about having a limited number of passengers come ashore for a taste of Inuit hospitality.
Although cruise ships plying the Arctic Ocean and the Northwest Passage are nothing new, this time the response was somewhat guarded from Cambridge Bay, agreeing to a visit this year only to see how it goes, likely because of fears the community may become overwhelmed by the size of the ship and potential number of passengers involved.
As outlined in last week's edition, Crystal Cruises has planned extensively for this excursion, will have an icebreaker escort, is showing respect for emission levels and the environment, and has hired two Inuit -- one cultural specialist who is an Innuinnaqtun interpreter/translator and an Arctic guide who is a former Canadian Ranger.
It looks like the cruise ship operator has the resources required to plan and carry out this historic transit of the Northwest Passage, providing weather and water conditions co-operate.
But are the communities ready to play host to passengers and reap the maximum economic benefit from a cruise ship visit?
An arts and crafts fair will be held in Cambridge Bay and there will be demonstrations of Inuit culture in Pond Inlet. Is it enough?
We suggest there is much involved in offering visitors a unique experience in exchange for adequate compensation. A specific set of skills are involved, which requires training and education.
The Government of Nunavut has a fund so people can get training as walking tour guides and implement innovative initiatives targeted at increasing direct economic benefits from cruise ships.
Now is the time for people in communities who are expecting cruise ship visitors - not just from the Crystal Serenity - to prepare to be professional hosts. A potential economic boon is arriving off the shoreline, it is up to Nunavummiut to take full advantage of the opportunity.
Pride essential for young people Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 15, 2016
In making gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender role models and allies prominent in the community, It Gets Better Yellowknife and NWT Pride are potentially saving lives.
Over the past five years, NWT Pride has drawn LGBTQ artists and allies to the Folk on the Rocks site to celebrate sexual diversity for a summer festival. Anti-bullying group It Gets Better Yellowknife, meanwhile, is now putting on a rainbow-coloured whirlwind of activities called Days of Pink this week full of outreach to young people.
Much has changed since former Pine Point resident Everett George Klippert was released from prison in 1971, having being convicted six years earlier, essentially for being gay. But make no mistake, a life and death struggle continues.
A 2007 study showed 33 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth have attempted suicide, five times as many as their heterosexual peers. A 2010 study showed 19 per cent of transgender youth had attempted suicide within the previous year.
The NWT's suicide rate is twice the national average. One shudders to think what studies examining the suicide rate among this segment of Northern youth might find.
The series of events planned this week for Days of Pink range from an evening of art and music at the Fat Fox tonight to a lunch and discussion with youth at the museum cafe with Mayor Mark Heyck tomorrow. Ultimately, they all send one singular message: there is a place for gay, transgender, lesbian and bisexual youth in this city.
In hearing people discuss challenges unique to them, other young people may understand that they are not alone. In seeing adults who have faced and overcome similar situations, they may see a positive future for themselves and feel hope.
Think of what that might mean to youth struggling with sexual identity who may find themselves bullied in school who may have nowhere to turn if they are not out with their families or teachers. By reaching out to them, It Gets Better Yellowknife organizers are offering help to people who need it and who might not otherwise be able to find it alone.
Long live Bullocks Bistro Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 15, 2016
Bullocks Bistro has been a Yellowknife institution for almost a quarter century.
If a Yellowknifer travels and strikes up a conversation with someone who has visited the city it is not unusual for Bullocks to come up as if the place were synonymous with Yellowknife itself.
Every professional chef will hang up his or her apron for the last time but few will see that moment carry the kind of impact the closure of Bullocks could have had.
Fortunately, Renata and Sam Bullock timed the announcement of their retirement as proprietors of Bullocks Bistro with the introduction of the establishment's new owners.
When Jo-Ann Martin and Mark Elson took the keys for Bullocks Bistro last week they stepped in as proprietors of one of the most respected eateries in the city.
For many, a visit to Bullocks is a visit to the rustic heart of Yellowknife with only the freshest local or Northern fish and other fare on the menu.
As proprietors, the Bullocks will be truly missed, especially Renata's banter from behind the grill.
The new owners have vowed to keep the restaurant alive with the same flavours patrons have come to love (no Tex-Mex Cuban fusion here), but in time and good order, Bullocks will naturally take on the personality of its new owners.
Sam and Renata have earned a well-deserved retirement after establishing one of the city's most well-known brands and must-visit places for tourists and locals alike.
All fed upDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, April 14, 2016
As the Acho Dene Koe land claim enters its eighth year of negotiations, it seems GNWT negotiators have taken a step backward instead of forward.
That was never made clearer than during and after a public meeting with Premier Bob McLeod on April 7.
First, band members raised the concern over how third-party interests seem to be encroaching on the band's 6,474 square kilometres of treaty settlement lands, which was agreed upon two years ago in the historic signing of an agreement-in-principle.
Then, there is the question over why band members have been recently receiving tax notifications from the GNWT, as well as a notification that they cannot use their treaty house unless they sign a lease with the Commissioner of the NWT.
After being slapped with a $1.6-million property tax bill, according to the band, they feel as though the government is trying to displace them. After all, what recourse is there when one cannot pay their taxes?
Many band members would rather move than have such a tax bill hanging over their heads.
But why are these issues coming up now?
Chief Harry Deneron sees one possibility -- that they are means to delay the negotiating process from reaching completion.
It is also possible, although perhaps unlikely, all these issues are simply misunderstandings.
Deneron said the government defended its tax bill on the negotiating table by saying that was for payment of services, not land.
But ordering the Acho Dene Koe First Nation to pay their property taxes -- while they are in the middle of the land claims process -- is, to say the least, in poor taste. After all, the Acho Dene people are negotiating to own that very land.
Deneron said he has been told their land claim cannot be completed until the tax man gets his money. Whether or not the GNWT said that in those words, that is how Acho Dene Koe sees the situation. But where is an already-poor band going to get that kind of money from?
The GNWT needs to seriously reconsider its position on the negotiations before drawing that line in the sand.
During the public meeting, McLeod said he fully expects a final agreement will be close at hand within the next few years. But that seems like rhetoric in the face of the very real problems at the negotiating table.
The government is lucky that Deneron's team is so committed to securing their land claim. But the danger of negotiations breaking down is still quite present.
Negotiators for the government need to make an effort to clear the air before they sabotage the process entirely.
Changing of the guard?Inuvik Drum - Thursday, April 14, 2016
The challenges in the financial position at the Anglican Church in Inuvik are a symptom of a trend facing a majority of churches in Canada. Fewer people going to church and putting money on the collection plate means less revenue and less resources to keep staff.
This is hardly news. Churches in other jurisdictions are selling property, investing in the market, and trying to plan for a future in which people just don't fill the pews every week, nor do they feel the need to give their money to the religious organization.
Departing Rev. Stephen Martin said last week that the Anglican congregation in Inuvik faces some tough choices, but so do the people higher up in the organization. Is it worth keeping a church open if it's a losing venture?
In the best case scenario, religious institutions -- no matter what faith they represent -- are community organizations. They help people who need it, offer comfort to those who may be isolated for one reason or another, and bring people together to do good things. In reality, like any other organization, churches can be places where politics and cliques take up a large amount of the time and effort of those running them, which trickles down to everyone involved.
Historically, churches are also part of the arm of the state, taking care of everything from welfare to hospital care, to education, for better or for worse. Obviously this is no longer the case, but churches often still remain at least partly active in those realms, sending people to visit elders in hospice and supporting services like food banks and homeless shelters.
At the end of the day, as long as the needs of the most vulnerable in the community are being met, that's all that matters. The advantages of doing that sort of thing for a church is that they can often be directed locally in a way government just can't. Of course, churches come with their own hierarchy to be reckoned with.
Whether the Anglican church here can continue to fulfill its role without a minister is not something we care to predict. It may chug along just fine, or it may not. What's important is that people continue to get what they need from the community and each other in one way or another. As always, if there is a void, someone will step up to fill it.
Help the addict, kill the marketYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 13, 2016
The RCMP's major cull of drugs, money and guns has no doubt made a meaningful dent in the city's illegal drug trade. However, only the flow has decreased -- the number of users will likely remain the same.
Until society casts its eyes at the pilot light of the drug trade - the addicts - addiction-fueled crime and criminal activity that supports the drug trade will continue, along with overdose deaths and families torn apart.
It's OK for community and territorial politicians to recline in their chairs with smiles on their faces, clapping their hands at an RCMP job well done - for a moment. But this major drug bust - which pulled in 1,200 fentanyl pills, 8.8 pounds of cocaine, 16 pounds of marijuana, 11 litres of liquid codeine, thousands of dollars of merchandise, 10 firearms, $75,000 in cash, two vehicles and a snowmobile - is actually a wake-up call to an addictions emergency. It's an illustration of a market rich with demand. Drug dealers are also business people and the risk in moving such a large amount of product to Yellowknife wouldn't be worth it if the market didn't support it.
This drug bust is an alarm bell.
Once one sifts through the criminal element that has dealers protecting their stashes with high-powered rifles, and witnesses those cycling through court because they steal and scam to feed their addictions, one find vulnerable people self-medicating with a range of substances which may include alcohol, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, even marijuana. Their 'drug of choice' may vary but their motivations are the same. Addiction can touch anybody - while the most visual example are those who loiter on the downtown streets, addiction can touch the high school student, the single parent and the white-collared worker.
Until society de-stigmatizes addiction by treating it as a medical issue, and addicts as patients in need, nothing meaningful will change and it will continue to exist in the recesses of society.
There are a number of ways this can be accomplished but it all begins with an understanding that addicts will continue to self-medicate no matter what is going on around them.
Bust a major supply line to Yellowknife? Addicts will find their fix. Send them to jail without treatment? They'll almost certainly be back at it when they're out. These are the realities of addiction.
NWT Wellness Court, which diverts those who fit a specific criteria to treatment from jail, has shown some success working under the help-the-addict philosophy.
Harm reduction - which is making drug use safer for an addict while providing them support for when they try to conquer their addictions - also goes a long way. One example of this is the country's only safe-injection site in Vancouver which gives addicts a safe place to use drugs in a medical setting where they receive clean needles, medical attention if they overdose and support when they're ready to try to get off drugs. This demonstrates the understanding that addicts will continue to use and that it's society's responsibility to keep them alive and safe while they do so.
Government can also put a squeeze on the drug trade by regulating it and rendering it unprofitable. Canada has an opportunity to observe and assess the legalization of marijuana, which is on the horizon under the federal Liberal government. This would obliterate the benefit to criminal organizations, which in the latest local example, equates to 16 pounds of profits. When marijuana becomes legal and controlled, regulated and taxed by government, the profits could ideally return to benefit Canadians and possibly even those who struggle with addictions.
A philosophical shift needs to happen both locally and nationally when it comes to addictions, and while Yellowknife RCMP indeed deserves praise for its part in attacking an industry with many casualties, it must be remembered it is just that - a part.
Drug use in sport tars everyoneEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 13, 2016
The warning signs were everywhere, but too many choose to ignore them.
For decades, hockey dangled its way around the dark cloud of performance-enhancing drugs, while athletes in numerous other sports were caught time after time.
Slowly, but surely, the win-at-all-costs mentality took hold as players, coaches and especially parents chased the dream of being in the one per cent of those who make the NHL and the megabucks salaries that come with it.
We really shouldn't be any more surprised by a player getting caught here and there than we should by their I-didn't-know-what-I-was-taking excuse.
But, my gosh, what we witnessed out of Russia this past week took things to a whole new level.
Who would ever have believed an entire hockey team would be dropped from the international stage for doping?
So it was with the news Russia's entire under-18 team was pulled from this week's world championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
It is one of the biggest if not the biggest doping scandal in the history of the sport.
The booted players included German Rubtsov, who some scouts have going as high as 12th in this year's NHL Entry Draft, while just about every scout has him being selected by the 20th pick.
News out of Russia suggests no less than about 80 per cent of the under-18 team tested positive for the banned substance, meldonium, the same drug that recently brought down Russian superstar tennis player Maria Sharapova.
Meldonium increases blood flow and it's thought athletes use the drug to carry more oxygen to muscle tissue.
It is believed to be used by a large number of Eastern European and Russian hockey players at all levels, including the NHL, which still does not test for the drug.
A number of the disgraced players are claiming they were only following coach Vitali Prokhorov and his staff's instructions in taking the drug.
But, as we all know, neither ignorance nor blind trust are acceptable excuses for stupidity.
For years now in pro sports, especially Major League Baseball and the National Football League, you can't help but wonder every time a player has a record-breaking performance.
Such is the power of the stigma attached to performance-enhancing drugs, in that their use tars everyone with the same brush.
Still, here in Canada, many of us will adopt the never-our-boys stance, make like an ostrich, and pretend the use of performance-enhancing drugs is not at epidemic levels.
There will always be those who willingly take shortcuts for personal gain, even at the cost of their own long-term health.
Still others believe everyone else is cheating, so they have to as well in order to be able to compete on a level playing field.
It is becoming painfully obvious our only hope for a clean playing field rests in the abilities of those who wear white lab coats to work every day to come up with a foolproof method of drug testing, and the chances of that rest somewhere between slim and none.
Sad days for sports fans, indeed.
Thankfully, we're sheltered from such abuse here in our Northern oasis, and we can still count on the sports we watch to be contested by clean players.
Or can we?
