Crystal Serenity: Love Boat or ship of fools?Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, August 8, 2016
The largest-ever luxury liner's voyage through the Northwest Passage is scheduled to begin later this month. It can be viewed as a great opportunity for tourists to learn about the North, meet some of its residents and leave some money behind when the ship weighs anchor.
Or it could be a social nightmare if the people living at the ports of call end up feeling like animals at a zoo, don't make any cash selling crafts, don't realize programs and donations promised by the cruise line and are treated poorly by some of the hundreds of visitors.
The first cruise ship navigated the once impassible passage in 1984. In the 1990s, ships began to pass through every year. Cargo vessels have also routinely taken advantage of the thinner, rotting ice. In fact, for the last few years, the Northwest Passage has been almost free of ice in late summer.
About 10 cruise ships carrying around 2,600 passengers sail through the passage annually. However, the 250-metre long Crystal Serenity, with approximately 1,000 passengers and more than 600 crew, dwarfs those other boats.
Ulukhaktok, on Victoria Island, is just one of the communities passengers will visit. Cambridge Bay and Pond Inlet in Nunavut are also planned ports-of-call for the ship.
The US$350 million Serenity, with hundreds of thousands litres of fuel, will pass through some relatively shallow waters that experts say are unreliably charted. Even though the hull-strengthened ship will be led by an icebreaker and have two helicopters scouting ahead, there is always the chance of mechanical failure or human error that could lead to an ungodly disaster.
Not to mention the irony that the voyage has been made possible through global warming, which the entire spectacle will be contributing to - even if the liner will burn low-sulphur fuel.
Tickets for the cruise - running from $21,000 to $120,000 -- were sold out by April and Crystal Cruises is already planning another voyage next summer. So we're talking about people with some decent amounts of disposable income. Money that hopefully won't have been blown on the ship -- which has a gift shop and casino - and instead be spent on arts, crafts and food in the Northern communities.
Ulukhaktok's 400 residents are preparing to create experiences visitors won't soon forget and is ready to handle the influx of tourists.
"We're really excited," senior administrative officer Judi Wall told News/North. "A little bit nervous but really excited at the same time."
Now credit must be given to Crystal Cruises for having begun consultations with the communities a couple of years ago.
The company states that passengers will be educated in cultural sensitivity and wants to make a positive impact in the communities. A number of programs are being considered, ranging from helping with the construction of new buildings, scholarships for children or bringing additional medical supplies. That is to be commended.
Climate change and associated global warming have created some problems for the people and animals in the North. Arctic tourism could be viewed as a positive byproduct of the evolving climate.
While some might have moral issues with the ships and their rich passengers taking advantage of global warming, the smart thing to do is accept the new reality and work on development initiatives targeted at increasing the direct economic benefits from these cruises.
Tootoo the Independent stings Nunavut the mostNunavut/News North - Monday, August 1, 2016
Support came from numerous corners when Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo first announced his need to seek treatment for addiction and made a request for privacy.
His sudden resignation on May 31 as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government was considered by many to be a short-term situation with hopes that he would regain his Fisheries and Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard portfolios when he came back healthy.
There was, however, concerns that Tootoo also left the Liberal caucus, meaning that Nunavut is no longer represented by a member of Parliament in the ruling party. Instead, his seat as an Independent in the House of Commons will be far from the front benches, essentially invisible to the workings of the democratic machine, such as it is in Canada.
Upon his completion of treatment, Tootoo told reporters at his Iqaluit constituency office July 27 that he recognized he had a problem with alcohol and that he needed to get help. Meanwhile, the media was reporting allegations that Tootoo was involved in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a staff member.
In an interview with Nunavut News/North July 28, Tootoo responded to pointed questions about the allegations by repeating his earlier statements regarding treatment for addiction. "I know there are rumours out there but the facts are I recognized I had an alcohol problem and I took steps to deal with it."
At no time did Tootoo deny the allegations but he didn't address them either.
That all changed Aug. 3 when Tootoo took to the airwaves with a prepared statement in which he admitted he "engaged in a consensual but inappropriate relationship and that is why I resigned."
On Aug. 4 he told Nunavut News/North that he has made full disclosure of the reasons for his resignation and said that he plans to tour his riding to reconnect with constituents.
Yet, questions remain.
We have to wonder where the Liberal party is in all of this. The people of Nunavut elected a Liberal, helped the Liberals get elected as the governing party and deserve to have a Liberal represent them in the House of Commons.
Yet, the Prime Minister's Office, in a statement, uses language that leaves doubt about who did what.
"On May 31, Hunter Tootoo acknowledged to the prime minister that he had been engaging in what was an inappropriate relationship in the workplace. He was therefore withdrawing from his ministerial responsibilities and from the Liberal caucus, and taking steps to address his addiction issues," stated press secretary Cameron Ahmad.
"Acknowledged" indicates the PMO was informed of the indiscretions prior to Tootoo's confession. "Therefore withdrawing" leaves doubt regarding whether he was told to resign from caucus or did so under his own volition. Was he kicked out of caucus? And, if so, because of his addiction or the inappropriate relationship?
The bottom line is that Nunavummiut have lost trust in their MP since the saga began at the Liberal convention in Winnipeg May 26 to 29. Dissatisfaction about Tootoo's changing explanations is growing.
Nunavut constituents have a right to know why Tootoo is no longer a Liberal.
Then they can decide the best course of action going forward.
Public intoxication is against the law Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, August 5, 2016
The RCMP's decision to quietly cease responding to calls about people being drunk in public has ironically led to a cacophony of sirens on city streets.
As of last September, as long as a drunk person isn't a danger to themselves or others, police expect calls for service to be directed to the city's ambulance services. Not only are sirens now wailing nonstop in the city but people are speaking out about it.
In January, Denise McKee, executive director of the Safe Harbour Day Shelter told Yellowknifer the change left her staff in a catch-22 where they can't kick clients out into the cold but can't let them stay because the intoxication often escalates into violence. Now, an emergency room doctor and the city's director of public safety are also saying their resources are being strained by the RCMP's change in policy.
In Friday's Yellowknifer ("Medical services strained as calls for drunks climb," July 29), the city's Dennis Marchiori says medical calls for drunk people have increased threefold over the past year. This means emergency room beds and ambulances are being taken up by people who have nothing wrong with them, other than the fact they are intoxicated.
The thing is, public intoxication is against the law under the NWT Liquor Act. The RCMP is under contract by the territorial government to enforce federal and territorial laws. If the RCMP is not enforcing this law and downloading the burden to other agencies, how can it be said that it is fulfilling its obligations with the Justice Department?
The RCMP has created a mess in unilaterally disavowing its officers from the responsibility to respond to calls for publicly intoxicated people.
The police are not a frontline health agency.
Dealing with public intoxication by leaving people to sober up in cells is admittedly not a good option but neither is choosing not to enforce a law in the hopes other agencies will pick up the slack.
Emergency room doctor David Pontin suggested perhaps what Yellowknife needs is a place where people can sleep it off.
Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy may want to consider adding a wet shelter to next year's budget. Or, simply demand the RCMP resume picking up intoxicated people until a better solution can be found.
As for the RCMP, it's shameful to watch a police organization wash its hands of an obligation to enforce a law simply because it's inconvenient.
The next time the police make a decision like this, they should consult with affected organizations to determine the best outcome for the most vulnerable, marginalized and therefore most important factor in this situation - Yellowknife's homeless population.
Carbon tax raises familiar stink Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, August 5, 2016
An MLA is angry because cabinet made a decision without consulting with regular members? It must be a Friday.
Last week, Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly expressed displeasure in seeing Premier Bob McLeod had signed his name to a joint statement with other Northern premiers against a federal carbon tax.
This is because O'Reilly says the premier told him he would consult with regular members before coming forward with a position on this issue.
In response, the premier said cabinet doesn't necessarily oppose the carbon tax in principle but stressed a need for the territory to be allowed some sort of Northern exemption.
Most Northerners would probably agree with McLeod in being wary of a carbon tax, seeing as the cost of living is already so high in the North and many communities rely on diesel. But a relatively uncontroversial stance has been soiled because once again, MLAs are reading about cabinet's plans in the newspaper.
If the last territorial election had a buzzword, it would be transparency - this was a big issue many politicians, including McLeod, campaigned on. Cabinet has a team of well-trained and well-paid communications people. Is it really that hard to keep regular MLAs in the loop?
Accountability needed in Cholo investigationDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, August 4, 2016
At the Dene National Assembly last month, Senator Nick Sibbeston came out with a bombshell: he may know the name of Billy Cholo's murderer, but RCMP haven't followed up.
According to Sibbeston, it has been a full two years since he and a friend of Cholo went to the RCMP station to give a statement about a man who had threatened to kill Cholo just prior to his death.
Since then, there has been only silence from the investigating team, who Sibbeston says failed to contact Cholo's friend about his information - despite Sibbeston calling the RCMP out in public twice now.
If Sibbeston is right, then there is someone in the community with vital information about Cholo's murder. This is information that could result in new leads, could give police an avenue to investigate and for all we know could eventually lead to an arrest.
Of course, the possibility also remains that the information leads to a dead end or cannot be substantiated. But we will never know if the information is valuable unless police follow up on it.
Now, it must be said, a death threat is not a direct link to a murder. However, it could be a clue - and that clue becomes less useful as time goes on.
To be fair, tracking down a killer is not as easy as it sounds.
One can only imagine the difficulty of that job, especially when the investigating officers live an eight-hour drive away from where the murder took place.
But if anything, that should make every lead more valuable.
The community needs to hear from the RCMP on this. It is time for a community update, or another visit from the investigating team. This case is frustrating for the public because they only know three things: Cholo's murder remains unsolved; the officers involved are in Yellowknife; and one person who has information relating to the case has not been contacted by RCMP.
Community members need to be re-assured the investigation is proceeding. They need to know that the case has not fallen between the cracks. If more months and years pass with no word from the police, and no follow-up on relevant information, the community will only lose faith in the RCMP.
That may be unfair to the officers on the case, who may be doing everything in their power to solve the mystery of Cholo's murder.
But the public does not need to know specific details of the case.
What they do need to know is that the case is still ongoing and that RCMP are following up on every possible lead.
Community members will not rest or stop speaking up about the case until an arrest is made.
Hopefully the same thing can be said about the investigating officers.
Community can do better for the animalsInuvik Drum - Thursday, August 4, 2016
The NWT has once again come in second to last when it comes to legislation that protects animals in Canada. The territory came out better than Nunavut.
This is hardly a surprise, especially to anyone working to help improve the treatment of animals in the North. Several organizations -- including the NWTSPCA in Yellowknife, as well as Arctic Paws in Inuvik -- work very hard to get dogs and cats the veterinary care they need, shelter when there are no other options, and transit to their new homes in southern Canada.
They also spend a lot of time trying to educate people about animal welfare and explain to them that they have other options besides letting their beasts reproduce over and over again, perpetuating the cycle.
There are rules in municipalities that limit how many dogs a person can have, with some fines and other consequences imposed when people break those rules. This was the case most recently in Inuvik when bylaw officers obtained a court order to go on to a property and seize the dogs there. We heard this week that they expected between eight and 12 dogs, but have ended up dealing with 29 dogs so far.
This is not the first time the town and wider community have stepped in and taken dogs away from this particular resident. In 1997, they seized 87 dogs from the property, and reports were that he had many more than that. The municipality has tried taking it to the courts, but that effort was unsuccessful when the judge found ownership impossible to prove.
It doesn't matter who is involved or what are the circumstances. The fact that more than a dozen animals have been allowed to exist on one property once -- never mind several times -- is proof that there is a need for stronger legislation to prevent it from happening again.
There are obviously other issues involving humans that have to take precedence over the welfare of animals. Some people may not like to hear that, but at the end of the day, a human life needs to be more important than a dog's life or existence.
That being said, how we treat the most vulnerable creatures, in this case dogs, is a good indicator of where we're at as a community. The fact that this has now happened more than once, despite the very best intentions of all involved, means what we're doing clearly isn't working.
More education is needed, as is more support for organizations set up to help animals in need.
More than that, however, we need to bring the level of legislation up to par with the best in Canada and then actually enforce it.
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.
