Church's hard-line stance a disservice to the NorthYellowknifer - Wednesday, August 3, 2016
At a general meeting of Canadian Anglican bishops (the 2016 General Synod) Canadian Anglican bishops voted in favour of a resolution to give the Church's blessing to gay marriage.
The vote in favour of gay marriage was passed by a very narrow margin. The Anglican bishops of the North, including the Rt. Rev. David Parsons, Bishop of the Arctic, have since made it clear they disagree with that decision and are publicly dissenting from it.
The resolution does not become a part of Anglican canon law until it is approved during the 2019 General Synod.
The bishops of the North may be generating momentum to derail the resolution before it becomes church law in 2019.
Bishops and congregants, of course, have the right to chart their own path regardless of the wishes of their church but such a contrarian position threatens to isolate an institution that has generally been regarded as a progressive force in society.
The Anglican Church has always been a champion of righteous causes, whether it was the formal recognition and sanction of divorce, or welcoming women into roles as ordained ministers and bishops within the Church.
The Northern bishops are out of step with their counterparts in the rest of Canada on the matter of welcoming gay marriage to the chapel.
In keeping with the Anglican Church's history of progressive action, it is probably a safe bet that the 2019 Synod will ratify this resolution.
When the time comes, the Northern bishops may decide to fall in line with the rest of the Canadian communion. If that happens, the northern Anglican community will have been seen to be dragged kicking and screaming into the fold, finally forced to acknowledge they lead a church that condones gay marriage.
This would be a disservice to the North.
The North's Anglican bishops should read the writing on the wall and fall in line with the larger Canadian Anglican community.
The power of social media to do goodYellowknifer - Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Critics of social media are quick to say it's only good for posting trivial matters, such as family photos and arguing with strangers about politics.
One youth, Jessy-Anne Jimenez, is harnessing its power to connect with people instantly to share her story of battling depression and thoughts of suicide. During that dark period in her life, which she said had its roots in her parents' divorce, she turned to Facebook and YouTube to talk about her experiences.
People replied to her posts, telling her they could relate and she wasn't alone. This lead her to connect with other youth, which helped her to continue posting and talking her way out of depression, as well as expanding to other platforms, such as Snapchat and Instagram to post more messages and videos and connect with a broader audience. She eventually became a Northern speaker with the Department of Health and Social Services' Talking About Mental Illness program.
She told Yellowknifer two things she learned about the experience was how to forgive, and that it's OK to talk openly about mental illness because life is worth fighting for.
Here is a great example of how the power of social media can help connect people over long distances to work together to solve problems, and not just a platform for entertainment and ridiculing others.
With stories of people being driven to suicide because of online bullying it is heartwarming and reassuring to see someone using social media to encourage and support people they never met and do some good in the world.
Children are the future of KivalliqEditorial Comment by Cody Punter
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, August 3, 2016
It's been less the five weeks and already I'm packing my bags again. Time has gone by so quickly I can't believe I'm already leaving. It feels like just yesterday I was strolling past the old power plant as the sun set slowly before midnight on my first night here.
That was where I met some of my first young residents playing on the old mining equipment. To me it was a beautiful metaphor for where Rankin Inlet is at right now. It is a town that was built around a mine when people moved in from surrounding settlements. Although the mine closed, a new one is getting prepared to open.
Over the weeks I have been here I have met dozens of people working at the mine. Some are at camp, others are taking part in their cooking program in town, some have come from around the Kivalliq to look for work here. Most of the people that I spoke to had the same words when they spoke about the mine: opportunity.
I had the pleasure of being able to visit the site, with none-other than Puujuut Kusugak, the city's former mayor and current head of communications for Agnico Eagle's Meliadine project. On our drive up to the mine Puujuut told me about how important it is for providing economic opportunities to the region's Inuit.
"If there was no mining there would be no experienced workers and lots of people out of work," he said.
Which brings us to the other half of the metaphor. There has been much debate over youth and their place in the community since I got to town. It is understandable that people are fed up with being woken up in the middle of the night. There is no doubt there are some youngsters that are pushing the limits of common decency by driving around at 3 a.m.
They show a disregard for families, for elders and the law when they drive irresponsibly.
But for the most part the youth I have met in this town have been incredibly positive and inspiring. Some are great athletes. I would often see the same groups of children playing on the soccer field or the basketball court well into the night.
Others are more artistic. Nowhere was this more on display than at Rankin's Got Talent where the hamlet's youth exhibited a range of traditional and contemporary skills. Although everyone was impressive in their own way, it was Jordan Irkotee's beatboxing that stole the show. The young teen even got the chance to perform alongside Baker Lake's Nelson Tagoona, whose dedication to inspiring youth to follow their dreams rings true.
The mine may be creating jobs today but there are children in the community that can become anything they want tomorrow. In order to achieve their goals they will need all the love and support they can get to succeed. That means pushing those that are already excelling even harder while taking time to help those who might need it more than others.
I hope to make it back to Rankin sooner rather than later but if for some reason it ends up being on the longer side of things, I look forward to seeing where some of the very talented youngsters end up. Who knows? Maybe I will end up seeing them on TV performing in their latest music video, or making history by becoming the second ever Inuk to play in the NHL.
Ultimately it is not the history of mining but the wild-eyed leaders of tomorrow that will shape the future of Rankin Inlet.
Animal laws in North chew toys for urban activistsNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, August 1, 2016
About the same time an annual report branding the NWT as a "best place to be an animal abuser" in Canada was making the rounds, News/North was putting together a sad story of animal misery in an Inuvik house.
Bylaw enforcement officers seized 21 dogs on July 15, with a few more still to be rounded up.
No dogs were shot and the town's protective services department said all dogs taken into custody would be sent for adoption in "southern locales."
Now the town bylaw limits the number of dogs in a residence to three and recommends they be spayed or neutered. So the system worked; the sick and unsocialized dogs were seized after complaints from the public.
This is not the first time the property owner has run afoul of the municipality over dogs.
In 1997, News/North reported that 82 dogs were seized from his property after reports emerged that 30 had died of starvation the previous winter. The man was sent to Edmonton for psychiatric evaluation.
Stories such as that aren't uncommon in any part of Canada.
Do these people mean to harm the animals? Likely not. Animal cruelty and torture is a few more rungs down the ladder than over-collecting - or hoarding -- and that's when federal cruelty laws can apply.
Many communities have bylaws limiting the number of dogs a person can own. The number is usually three.
As you've read in News/North over the years, aside from undernourishment, lack of shelter and other basic care, over-population causes dog problems in communities. One female dog can have a litter of several puppies, all becoming large dogs within a year. Some communities have many stray dogs running loose as a result.
Many people own dogs and the vast majority look after them properly.
This includes the owners of sled-dog teams. Those dogs used to be livelihoods of families in the North. They were used for hunting, going to the floe edge, hauling water, fuel and wood. They are still used in racing as a sport.
Stories of hoarding, abuse and neglect make headlines.
And so do ready-made media pieces from animal rights groups. Such as the Animal Legal Defense Fund's annual study that again ranks NWT low on the list of provinces and territories.
Entitled Best and Worst Places to be an Animal Abuser, the study has us second to last, one better than Nunavut. The NWT has ranked near the bottom since the group's first report in 2008.
That study, from what we can tell, is solely based on a side-by-side comparison of animal protection laws in jurisdictions across Canada.
Now the North is a different creature when it comes to attitudes towards dogs - and animals in general.
The NWT has the Dog Act. It has been updated, but as the name implies, it still just protects canines.
The historical culture up here views dogs for work and protection.
Animals as indoor pets - dogs, cats, hamsters, goldfish, whatever - is a relatively recent phenomenon in the North. Less so in larger centres such as Yellowknife.
Hoarders and abusers need to be reported. Dogs need to be seized and put down if they are too sick to save.
If there is evidence of intentional cruelty, the person needs to be charged under existing laws.
However, we certainly don't think a study from a California-based group, obviously taking an urban view of the realities of the NWT, calling us out as a "best place" to be an animal abuser is very helpful.
However, it's clear that the GNWT must continue to modernize its animal protection laws, while still respecting the realities of a dog's life in the North.
Kitikmeot keeps culture aliveNunavut/News North - Monday, August 1, 2016
In taking on TV, radio and the Internet as platforms to promote cultural programming, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association is stepping up to the plate as rightful stewards of Inuit culture.
The organization's TV and radio outlets alone will allow it to reach out to the 5,896 people in the region.
By streaming through its website, they will be able to reach even further to those who may have left the region for one reason or another but still wish to keep tabs on home.
Far from letting technology get ahead of them, the association has partnered with SSi Micro, marrying tradition with new media.
Efforts that create a space for Inuit culture in new media ensure its preservation for another generation.
So long as there is a place for people to use Inuit languages, it is safe to assume it will be filled by enough Inuit language speakers to keep it alive and even thrive.
There is another benefit as well. Like a rock thrown into a small pond, this move may produce a ripple effect that will eventually be reflected back onto itself.
Right now, a fourth-year sociology student in Rankin Inlet is studying the lack of representation of Inuit women in media but one does not have to get academic to notice Inuit faces are lacking in films and on television.
If the situation is to change and Inuit are to be better represented in media, so that young Inuit have role models, then there will need to be more Inuit with media skills.
The television and radio platforms now available in the Kitikmeot offer the opportunity for interested Inuit see if they can translate that interest into a career relevant to the region and beyond.
As more and more Inuit get visible jobs in the media field, the idea may spread among young people that, yes, this is a possible career for them, where their culture may be practised regularly.
All of which is to say this has remarkable potential to make a difference in promoting culture.
In so doing, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association has gone from lobbying the CBC to bring back a bureau to the region, to making its own multi-media platform.
Truly, they have come a long way in the past 15 years.
Faulty communication threatens lives Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, July 29, 2016
Lodge owner Bryan Chorostkowski did not mince words describing the narrow escape of him and his group of 11 children and 10 adults from Namushka Lodge July 15.
He believes it's likely lives could have been lost had it not been by a stroke of luck that they were alerted the fire was fast approaching.
Chorostkowski's brother had called warning winds were pushing the fire towards the lodge. So Chorostkowski went out to check the firebreak and found towering flames licking at the trees just 500 feet away.
He rounded up the group and by the time they were floating away to safety, the fire was consuming the lodge.
Now, the question the Chorostkowski family is asking is: "Where was the government?"
Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) fire operations is in charge of tracking forest fires, fighting them, and identifying any communities or buildings threatened, at which time they send out public safety alerts.
According to Richard Olsen, manager of fire operations with ENR, the Chorostkowski family was warned the fire might come their way on that fateful Friday. The Chorostkowskis are saying that didn't happen. They are saying they tried to contact the department but nobody answered the phone.
Either way, it was a phone call from Bryan Chorostkowki's brother that saved the group.
The Department of Municipal and Community Services handles evacuations if they need to happen, but the department's director of public safety, Kevin Brezinski, said they are not set up like a 9-1-1 dispatch, so it's important for lodges to have their own emergency response plans.
If the Chorostkowski family was briefed on Friday, then ENR would probably have known the family was hosting a group that night.
ENR staff also knew winds were gusting 50 km/h and while the extreme weather made it impossible for crews to fight the fire, they were hopefully tracking it.
When the wind changed direction and the fire started moving south towards Namushka Lodge, why didn't ENR warn the group it was coming?
Faulty communications can cost lives. It's true that July 15 was very hot with high winds. The fire was moving quickly and unpredictably. It's understandable that these weren't the best working conditions for those tracking the fire.
That said, the Chorostkowski family is asking reasonable questions. It's also reasonable to expect the government will take a good look at how it handled communications on July 15, and how it can do better .
Last week, the public saw a report assessing what went wrong when the Olesen's log home burned on the Hoarfrost River in 2014. Flawed communication based upon faulty information was a major factor in the mishandled fire.
Hopefully a similar report about the events that led to the destruction of Namushka Lodge will help the government improve emergency response operations during wildfires. And, while we're hoping for things, here's hoping the public can have easier access to reports like these, in the interest of transparency.
Catholic church's rebuilding return to graceDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, July 28, 2016
Last week village council voted to approve the development of a new Catholic church in Fort Simpson.
Although construction won't begin for a little longer yet I have to say I think this will be great.
When I was a child several of the churches near my house in New Brunswick decided to amalgamate to help pay the bills.
While this seemed like a good idea, the congregation and I soon found ourselves holding services in a middle school auditorium as we raised money to construct a (w)hol(e)y new church.
Admittedly, I don't go to church often, or at all (I'm a journalist. I need my Sundays to practice my Peter Mansbridge impersonations).
However, I do understand the pleasures of having a place to call your own.
As nice as the middle school was to allow us to use their facilities, it wasn't a church.
When the parish I was a part of finally did move into the new church we constructed, it felt like a return to grace (pardon my pun).
I remember walking in the front doors for the first time and seeing the inside of the building.
The first thing I noticed was the stained glass windows from my old church had been incorporated into the new one. It gave me peace of mind that my old, quaint, little church would live on.
Remembering the past is important in my mind and is a major part of religion.
And, with the steeple from the previous church remaining next to the new proposed one, it seems like this community is on track to do just that.
Now the only thing that stands between the present and the construction of the new church is a 14-day waiting period in case there are any complaints or appeals from the public, and by the time this newspaper comes out it will be far fewer than that.
I would encourage the community of Fort Simpson to take this time seriously.
While I've described the inside of the my church back home as beautiful, the outside looks dreadful.
There's really nothing to say about a church that looks like a modern retail store, no matter how many stained-glass windows you slap inside.
Should be child's playInuvik Drum - Thursday, July 21, 2016
Every week, we do a feature on the sports page called the sports card, in which we ask children which sport they like best and then a few more questions about why they like it.
The most popular answer - by far - is soccer. It beats out hockey, even in the winter. After weeks and weeks of this answer, and as the weather grew warmer, we started asking where these children were so enthusiastically playing soccer.
Their answer: inside the school or in their backyards.
This is a curious thing because pretty much every small municipality in the country has something of a soccer field. To be fair, there is a nominal field on Ruyant Crescent but as the deputy mayor Steven Baryluk noted this week, it is in sad shape.
The real shame is that soccer, unlike other sports, requires relatively little equipment. With the fewest frills, it requires only a soccer field and a soccer ball. No need for heavy hockey pads, sticks nor ice time, soccer offers a level playing field for families of all income levels. But to do it right, a field is necessary.
It wasn't always this way.
There used to be an outdoor sports facility before East Three took over the space.
The territorial government at the time had promised that the facilities would be replaced but obviously that hasn't happened yet.
Town council heard the matter could be resolved this fall, and I certainly hope that will be the case.
There's a lot of talk about getting people active and taking full advantage of the summer months to get outside and make the most of the 24-hour sun. There are many programs geared toward getting children involved in sports, arguably too many sometimes.
Yet this town doesn't have a useable outdoor field.
It may seem shrill to complain about something which is admittedly pretty far down the priority list for many levels of government but consider the end game, if you'll pardon the pun, is that young people will be healthier for it.
The massive investments this year alone in the town's water treatment plant and utilidor system were and are obviously more urgent than recreation - not to mention from vastly different funding sources. It just seems, however, that something so basic should not be so easily overlooked. It would seriously improve the optics of the centre of town, and would be good for everyone.
Furthermore, when the majority of children, admittedly in a very unscientific poll, say they love soccer and want to play more of it, it would be really great if we could give them a place to do it.
