Helping victims travel a good move for justice Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, November 11, 2016
The criminal justice system exists to ensure people accused of crimes get their day in court, and are punished with an appropriate sentence should they be found guilty.
This is often small consolation for victims of crime who must endure lengthy court proceedings while waiting for justice to be served. The situation is particularly egregious for people who have lost a family member to homicide and must pay their own way if they don't live in the same community where court is being held.
Fortunately, a new travel assistance program is being established to help families of homicide victims who want to attend court proceedings. Until now, witnesses called to court did get some financial help to attend but not family members who had no direct involvement in the court process.
The program is a new initiative by the Native Women's Association of the NWT who have long had a role in helping victims of crime and violence but no money to help cover costs for family members to attend court.
The group put forth a proposal to the NWT Victims Assistance Fund - a territorial government-administered program funded by surcharges paid by offenders sentenced in court - which led to the creation of the travel assistance program.
The program covers transportation costs for family members to travel to Yellowknife or wherever in the NWT a homicide case is being heard in court, up to five days of meals and hotel lodgings, and as many as six counselling sessions. It also includes a handbook, titled Homicide and Loss of a Loved One, to help family members navigate the court process. The counselling is there to help people deal with mental trauma and issues that may come up during the court process.
The handbook, compiled with the help of the Status of Women Council of the NWT, the RCMP, coroner's office and the NWT community justice department, helps guide people through the legal process while offering suggestions on how to help grieving family members cope.
This new partnership between government, police and victims services gives families a much-needed support system. Grieving the loss of a loved one is traumatic enough, made worse when a life has been ended through violence.
At least now, families can focus on mourning and healing and not worry about how they are going to afford making the trip to see justice being carried out.
Thirty recommendations miss the mark Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, November 11, 2016
A $110,000 consultant's report on the state of fire protection within the city came back with the primary recommendation that the city hire more firefighters.
Hiring more firefighters is well and good but the report missed the most glaring challenge our firefighters face when they are called out to battle a structure fire in many parts of the city.
Time and time again Yellowknife's finest arrive on the scene ready to battle fire and ensure public safety only to struggle with an unreliable water delivery system.
At least twice this year firefighters responded to fires -- one in Kam Lake and one in Old Town -- where water supply was interrupted as firefighters battled structure fires.
The fire department relies on tanker trucks and portable reservoirs where no fire hydrants are available, as in Kam Lake or Old Town.
While parts of the city are not well-suited to underground pipelines and surface hydrants, it seems ridiculous that Kam Lake, the city's industrial area, remains without piped water. It should be noted too that Latham Island is particularly vulnerable to fire where narrow streets make it difficult for fire trucks to pass.
This becomes all the more problematic when extra water tankers are required and the time it takes to fill the portable reservoirs.
This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Hiring more firefighters without first addressing the matter of water delivery has the appearance of hiring more cooks to stir the same number of pots.
The city may need more firefighters but it first needs to ensure firefighters have a consistent supply of water at every fire they battle.
If a fire were to break out in Old Town or Kam Lake this evening, no one could say with reasonable certainty that firefighters would have the consistent supply of water they would need to most effectively battle the fire.
Adding more firefighters to the mix won't fix that.
An important way to look at conservationDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, November 10, 2016
For many people in the Deh Cho, conservation is a way of life.
It is no secret that indigenous people have often led the way when it comes to preservation of land, water and life. As hunters, trappers and fishers, people in the Deh Cho are often stewards of the region.
It comes as no surprise to anyone one living here that the social benefits of that stewardship far outstrip the costs involved.
Now, a new report commissioned by Tides Canada and the Indigenous Leadership Initiative seeks to quantify exactly what those benefits might be. The report was compiled by Social Ventures Australia.
The figure researchers came up with is $2.50 in social return for every $1 invested - and that is just the beginning. To put it in the terms used in the report, an investment of $4.5 million has seen a return of $11.1 million in just seven years within the Deh Cho region and Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation.
That figure alone should be motivation enough for anyone wondering whether the money has been worth it. Few other investments can grow that quickly or have such a noticeable impact.
And as more money is invested, as programs grow and more people become guardians of the land and water, that number is sure to increase.
But to paraphrase Dehcho First Nations Grand Chief Herb Norwegian, there's a hidden return on investment that can't be quantified.
That's where the "moral" impact of stewardship comes in.
Morality, in this context, can be as simple as cleaning up after oneself, hunting responsibly and taking your garbage with you when you move campsites.
It applies to anyone and everyone who spends time out on the land, whether for recreational purposes or for work.
The benefits of this particular impact may be the trickiest of all, if impossible, to quantify simply because the long-term effects of this kind of stewardship reach 20, 50, even 100 years or more in the future.
We may not even see all of those effects in our lifetime.
But if such programs were not in place, the effects would be noticeable quickly.
The numbers themselves don't matter all that much.
Most people don't need to be told that investing in stewardship will have positive results - that's fairly obvious.
What does matter is the examples of social and economic outcomes listed in the report: less crime, increased capacity for self-determination and cultural retention of the many benefits listed.
In effect, what the report supports is the idea that a healthy land helps us to become healthy people.
And when we take care of the land, we ultimately take care of ourselves.
And that goes beyond quantifying. You can't put a price on mental and physical health.
Thank you for my freedomInuvik Drum - Thursday, November 10, 2016
Remembrance Day was always a big show and assembly at school, but growing up, I don't think I nor my peer group had a true sense of what the day really meant.
We heard the stories, listened to the poems and watched the somber displays, but that's a hard message to get through to youth who, like me, grew up in Canada's supreme peace.
I knew about 9/11 and Afghanistan when I was a teenager. I had service medals from my late grandfather in my bedroom. My grandmother told stories of living on rations in England during the 1940s. But the prospect of war in my own life still wasn't real.
Plus, there is something of a Western guilt, where we feel ashamed for any violence our past generations were involved in. At least that's the case among the generation I grew up with. I don't think I am stretching the truth to say a large number of us had an overall negative view of anything associated with war.
I gained my respect for wartime sacrifice after taking an interest in political history, economics and totalitarian regimes.
Freedom is the most important thing in my life. There is nothing I cherish more than being free to be who I am, to do what I want and to pursue what interests me.
Not everyone grows up in freedom. Even today, totalitarian regimes in North Korea and Venezuela dominate citizens' lives, controlling how they can spend their time and money. Every step toward that is a step I don't want to take.
If not for Canadians who were brave enough to risk their lives for our freedom, we could very well be living under national socialism, communism, some version of Stalinism.
It is important to remember and commemorate lives lost in defense of our freedom, but it is just as important we remember why men and women fought and died and what they continue to be willing to die for.
Freedom is the path to happiness and human achievement. That crosses the spectrum, from the freedom to walk to the store, the freedom to set up a business, the freedom to spend your own money as you choose, the freedom to love whom you desire.
In short, it is the freedom to live as you wish.
I'll take freedom over the prison state of totalitarianism every day, and thank God other Canadians thought so too.
Day shelter resolve a welcome changeYellowknifer - Wednesday, November 9, 2016
It's a positive sign to see improvements to city services so soon after the presentation of the new Yellowknife Homelessness Road Map.
Last week, Health Minister Glen Abernethy announced the Safe Harbour Day Shelter would soon be expanding its hours in order to close gaps throughout the day when people have no access to shelters.
There are no shelter services available in town between the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., noon until 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., according to the report. The shelter's proposed new hours would run from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., closing these gaps.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Services told Yellowknifer last week the department was kicking in an extra $285,000 per year to cover staffing costs for these extra hours. Before they can even think of eradicating homelessness, leaders need to make Yellowknife a safer place for its homeless population. Providing safe shelter options 24 hours per day is critical to achieving this. Good on the territorial government and NWT Disabilities Council for taking initiative on this issue.
Just two years ago, the city went with no day shelter at all because the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority allowed its contract to expire in May without securing a new one until October. The government has come quite a long way from this lackadaisical approach.
Evidence territorial leaders are taking more initiative to improve services for the homeless can be seen in another part of the day shelter contract. The government and NWT Disabilities Council have agreed to include a clause that would allow for the shelter to be moved if a more suitable space comes up at any time during the contract. This means there is no need to wait for the current contract to expire in order to search for an ideal location that is still downtown but not across the street from a condominium building and adjacent to the liquor store.
It's almost as if there is a sea change in how our leaders are tackling homelessness. These new announcements show they are taking the problem seriously. This is encouraging because that is the only way to tackle a serious problem.
Slow down for sled dogsYellowknifer - Wednesday, November 9, 2016
It's no secret that Yellowknife has a robust dog-sledding community.
It's also no secret that this community contributes to the city's sport, cultural and tourism appeal. So it's an absolute travesty that dogsledders have no safe space to train their dogs before the lakes freeze. This lack of space culminated in terrible consequence on Oct. 29, when musher Alexis Campbell's dogs were hit by a gravel truck on Deh Cho Boulevard, killing one dog and injuring another.
According to Qimmiq Kennels owner Jo Kelly, mushers have to cross Deh Cho Boulevard at least twice during training. This stretch of road is used mostly by heavy industry. It's also a popular spot for youth who want to drive fast. Traffic in Kam Lake has increased noticeably in the past decade as well. If snow is blowing, visibility can be low. Even when taking every precaution, it makes sense that mushers still don't feel safe.
This means the onus is on the City of Yellowknife to make sure the area is safe for mushers. At the very least, install signage. So the signs tend to get stolen? Replace them. The city could mandate bylaw patrols in the area during these times of year, or tailor existing laws to improve safety. For instance, the city could designate dog-sledding crossing areas with lower speed limits and increased fines for people caught breaking the law.
Really, anything is better than what the city is currently doing to ensure dogsledders are safe - which is nothing.
A moment to remember those who suffered the horrors of warEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, November 9, 2016
My dad's brother, Bill Greer, had mentioned over a few pops on his last furlough that he believed he just might come home alive at the end of the Second World War.
He was immediately chastised by a few friends and family members for tempting the fates by saying it out loud.
The last words a family member ever heard Bill say were along the lines of don't worry about him because if he was going to get it, it would have happened by now.
The war was winding down and Uncle Bill, who was a spotter and navigator on a hunter killer anti-submarine aircraft, had not seen anything but empty skies and ocean waters during his previous three or four missions.
It was a beautiful day for flying when his aircraft launched skyward.
His crew was off to check areas where the remnants of the once proud German wolf packs were still doing damage to convoys bringing supplies across the
Atlantic.
They had seen nothing and were about to head back to base, when his pilot decided to drop down for a closer look over an area where German subs had been spotted.
The sun was high in a cloudless sky when they began to descend, with light spots dancing over the waters before bursting brilliantly skyward.
Bill shaded his eyes and watched their water dance before having to turn away from their brilliance. A slight bump jolted their aircraft.
Bill's final thoughts may have been on that strange turbulence, when his world exploded in one last blistering flash of light.
The magical dance of the sun's rays meeting the ocean water had blinded the crew to the submarine, initially caught off guard and unawares, sitting on top of the waves.
The thundering crack of its deck gun would herald the end of Bill's life, and those of his crew, moments later.
Everyone in my family knew at the time my grandfather favoured Bill the most of all his children, and he took news of his death hard.
It led him to commit an unpardonable sin for a father a few months later.
The day my father arrived home from the war, there was no one to meet him at the train station.
He walked miles to the family home and entered to see his father sitting at the kitchen table.
My grandfather looked up, stared at his son for a moment and said, "It should have been you."
Those words burned inside my dad's heart for the rest of his days.
As horrible as those words were, such is the power of war to bring out the ugliest aspects of the human race both off and on the battlefield.
Lives are lost and destroyed in the name of freedom, bodies maimed, families torn, minds twisted, nerves forever frayed and scars left to burn on the inside.
The cost of freedom - and the lives we lead that so many find ways to be offended by today - was high.
We can never repay the lives lost or destroyed, but we can remember.
We can take the time this coming Sunday, and every Nov. 11 for the rest of our lives, to pay our respects to those who bled on the battlefield, lived the rest of their lives with broken hearts, or were haunted to their dying day by images too horrendous to even talk about.
If we don't remember, we are doomed to repeat ... lest we forget!
Taking from the poor; giving to the rich?Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, November 7, 2016
It's all about the bottom line.
Despite the hot air expended by politicians or how much rational sounding baffle-gab by various officials, the amount of money families on income assistance actually get to live on is all that matters.
So it's with some concern we watch another messy roll-out of a GNWT program in which we are left to either believe the minister in charge or the people lining up against him.
In the Oct. 31 edition of News/North (Perpetuating Poverty? Page 11), critics called changes to the income assistance program nothing more than clawbacks.
"It's just the opposite of Robin Hood," said David Poitras, former chief of the Salt River First Nation. "Robin Hood robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, but this way here, they're robbing from the poor and giving it to the government, I guess."
Poitras said he has had discussions with people afraid to voice their complaints.
However, Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green raised the issue in the legislative assembly and also with News/North.
It all started back in August when the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) eliminated the program's food and clothing allowance for children under the age of 18. The change was the result of increases to the federal Canada Child Benefit (CCB) program, according to the department.
The CCB program changes came into effect in July and replaced the former Canada Child Tax Benefit, the national Child Benefit Supplement and the Universal Child Care Benefit.
Green said while the new CCB payments do increase overall household incomes, that doesn't mean low income families no longer need the income assistance food and clothing allowance.
"The rationale for the government to provide Canada Child Benefit was to alleviate poverty among children," she said. "So what has happened here is that those same children who live in poverty are not getting the full benefit of the federal money because the territorial government has reduced its funding to them. So the federal government gave with one hand and the GNWT took away with the other."
ECE Minister Alfred Moses countered Green's claims, stating the NWT hasn't reduced funding to families.
"When we restructured the program, the Federal Child Tax Benefit was included in the assessments. We took those assessments out ... the NWT's contribution, hasn't changed," Moses said according to Hansard.
"It does look like the funding went down for food and clothing, which, in fact, it hasn't. Actually, more families are getting more money."
Not so, said Karen Wilson, housing director for the YWCA, who noted the elimination of the food and clothing allowance for children has already had a devastating impact on NWT families.
"If the federal government deemed it fit to give extra to children for children's well being, why is the territorial government taking the food money out?" Wilson said.
Given the minister's statement that it could look like the funding went down, he would be wise to get his staff to figure out why that perception is there.
But if the perception is a reality for those on assistance, then a reversal of this policy is called for.
Because as of the writing of this editorial, we are left siding with the critics of the GNWT.
Most recipients of income assistance have nowhere else to turn. We remind the GNWT that the Trudeau Liberals were elected with a mandate to give more more to families with children.
To deny NWT families that extra money would be wrong.
The GNWT and Minister Moses need to fix this mess and demonstrate their new bookkeeping methods do not clawback cash from income assistance recipients, leaving them with less.
We call on Minister Moses to prove that "more families are getting more money."
'I don't beat around the bushes'Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, November 7, 2016
Cece Hodgson-McCauley has again been honored for her tireless work to improve the aboriginal condition in the NWT.
Oh, and to "build that damn road" - the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension from Wrigley to Inuvik.
For decades, her frank, unvarnished columns in News/North and its predecessors have both encouraged average people to "get on with" making their lives better.
She has called for better use of our resources, both large and small, and better connection between the communities in this vast territory.
In the Oct. 31 edition of News/North ("She's a big force to be reckoned with," page 3), readers learned of the latest accolade to come her way.
Hodgson-McCauley had won this year's Indspire Award for politics. Indspire is an Indigenous-led registered national charity that invests in the education of Indigenous people. It is the largest non-governmental funder of Indigenous education.
The annual Indspire Awards "recognize the success of individuals who have the discipline, drive, and determination to set high standards and accomplish their goals."
That describes Cece to a tee. Oh, and did we mention she's 94 years old?
Congratulations and we look forward to many more columns.
Problem is teachers can't speak InuktitutNunavut/News North - Monday, November 7, 2016
Inuktitut in classrooms is a hot topic in Nunavut this month but the real problem is being ignored.
Last month, South Baffin MLA David Joanasie told legislators a constituent complained to him that a Grade 8 student in one of his constituent communities was told not to speak Inuktitut. The excuse? The student might be bullying but the teacher can't understand the language.
Iqaluit-Sinaa MLA Paul Okalik backed him up, saying he heard similar accounts of teachers banning Inuktitut in Iqaluit classrooms.
But a Department of Education investigation found the alleged incident never happened. The Cape Dorset district education authority also says it's not happening, that teachers are not banning the language.
The DEA says that if the story were true, Joanasie should have told them - not all of Nunavut - so they could deal with it before it became public. There's a communications protocol and Joanasie should have stayed quiet.
Did it happen? Was it a lie? A rumour? A misunderstanding? Whatever the case, Joanasie and Okalik were quick to raise their voices, as the tales told to them were reminiscent of a not-so-distant past.
Residential schools were designed to assimilate students - remove children from their families and their culture. The government policy and teacher practice was to prevent Inuit students from speaking their language, both to satisfy the policy and maintain discipline.
Today, the school system is disciplining David Joanasie for defending his language, and the incident is a distraction from the real problem.
The Government of Nunavut's role is to strengthen Inuit culture and the Inuit language. Yet in our classrooms, Nunavut is failing.
NTI vice-president James Eetoolook expressed his concern last month in an interview with Nunavut News/North's Michele LeTourneau, saying the government is not doing enough to change the fact that the vast majority of teachers do not speak Inuktitut.
Start with the fact that the government's budget for advertising teacher jobs is spent mostly in the south.
Add in Nunavut's abysmal high school graduation rate - which is linked to the amount of Inuktitut learned in school - and it's hard to see how Nunavut Arctic College will grow its teacher education program. At the current pace, the program will need decades to graduate enough Nunavut-trained educators to tip the balance from an English school system to an Inuktitut system.
By then, it may be too late. The territory's teachers are not only teaching students to be English, they are teaching young parents to be English. When young children speak English at school and home, how does Inuktitut stand a chance?
It will require real efforts to find Inuktitut-speaking teachers - and substitute teachers! - real power for community leaders in administering education, and real faith in students. Let's start by accepting that staying silent - or telling our students and MLAs to do so - will not develop the knowledge needed to win this fight.
