Status quo no reason to shut out the mayor Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, January 27, 2017
When Yellowknifers went to the polls more than a year-and-a-half ago, they faced a selection of candidates for the position.
Presumably the fine voters of this fair city cast their ballots based on their confidence in each candidate's integrity, leadership and experience.
We expect few people realize, once elected, the mayor is shut out of debates and excluded from casting a vote on the matters of the day except in the case of a tie vote in council.
The mayor does have the option of excusing him or herself from mayoral chairmanship by switching spots with the deputy mayor and voting on a matter, but it rarely happens.
Heyck told Yellowknifer he has been frustrated by rules which prevent him from contributing to debates during council sittings. And frustrated he should be. Heyck, a person of considerable experience in city matters, was elected to lead, not to sit silently while others debate and vote on the matters at hand.
Sure, the mayor could swap chairs with the deputy mayor more often, but why make such a fuss every time the mayor wants to be heard? The chair swap could also be seen as an infringement on the rights of the councillor standing as deputy mayor, so it's hardly a solution.
All councillors and the mayor were voted in to represent citizens in city matters. The average Jill and Joe wants to know where the mayor stands on the issues of the day, and may assume the mayor stands with however council voted on a matter. But at times nothing could be further from the truth.
An external report also supports extending mayoral power, pointing to jurisdictions in the rest of Canada where many towns and cities have already moved to allow their mayors to vote.
But regardless of what external auditors may or may not recommend, extending the mayor's powers only makes sense.
Did Yellowknifers vote in their mayor because they felt he or she would make a great chairperson who would silently keep council meetings on track like some kind of rules-of-order geek?
No, the mayor is the first round pick in a hockey draft, and nobody benches their number one pick. Yet on council, "benched" is an apt description of the mayor during council deliberations.
He's a sideline player by virtue of unquestioned and outmoded traditions that are already abandoned in many other municipalities across the country.
Council has struck up a committee to study the idea of extending the mayor's power, as well as extending council terms from three years to four.
On the question of extending the mayor's power and making the role more significant to city governance, we wholeheartedly stand behind the idea. Both for this mayor and future ones.
A little appreciation goes a long wayDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, January 26, 2016
The level of commitment it takes to be on Fort Simpson's fire department is high, and that's why the department is celebrating receiving the 2015 NWT Fire Services Merit Award.
In 2016, volunteers for Fort Simpson's fire department logged 2,000 hours and responded to 164 ambulance calls.
They meet every two weeks and participated in numerous training exercises.
According to assistant fire marshal Travis Wright, even the awards committee was blown away by the amount of work fire volunteers do in Fort Simpson.
Fort Simpson's fire department is one of the last ones in the territory to tackle both fire and ambulance, Wright said.
That in itself is impressive, especially considering how busy Fort Simpson's ambulance is and the fact the majority of calls the department receives seek ambulance services.
Although Fire Chief Roger Pilling and deputy fire chief Pat Rowe make it as easy as possible for volunteers, those volunteers are still effectively on-call all the time. It's not a job that has set hours or gives you weekends off, either - when the radio buzzes, someone has to respond.
That could be at 3 a.m. on a Sunday or in the middle of the workday.
But beyond the topic of the hours volunteers put in, it's also important to remember the kind of people who are taking on this work. Many of the department's most dedicated volunteers are teachers and business owners who genuinely want to make a difference.
Most have other full-time jobs, and heavy demands on their time but that doesn't stop them.
But in order to see where these volunteers get their dedication, all you have to do is look to the top.
Under the guidance of Pilling, the ranks of the department swelled this year to the biggest it has ever been.
He has been a staunch advocate of more funding and proper equipment for the department.
Of course, if you were to ask Pilling yourself, he'd most likely lay the credit for the department's success at the feet of the volunteers themselves.
But the truth is that the decades he and Rowe have spent dedicating their time to the fire department have built up a structure that gives volunteer firefighters opportunities for training and the ability to pick up skills they can't get anywhere else.
They take their volunteer work as seriously as any job and thanks to that, the fire department has flourished.
Often, volunteering can be a thankless job. But it undoubtedly makes the community a better - and, in this case, a safer - place to live.
Onus on individuals to manage alcoholInuvik Drum - Thursday, January 26, 2016
Prohibition doesn't work.
Throughout the town hall meeting on whether to allow The Mad Trapper an extra 16 Sundays to serve alcohol or not, I started to wonder why we don't just ban alcohol completely.
Most people against the Sunday bar openings seemed to demonize alcohol and name it the great plague of Inuvik.
Alcohol may indeed be a generally bad thing, but I don't think four months of Sunday openings at one place in town is the straw sitting precariously on the camel's back.
If these people believed what they were saying, surely they would want to ban alcohol completely.
Unfortunate as the North's history with alcohol may be, the dialogue in the town hall was at a superficial level.
It was focused mostly on "alcohol is bad." Okay, agree there - moving on to the question at hand now.
When laws are made, there are direct effects and unintended side effects. The direct effect here would be the Trapper can't serve on Sundays. The unintended effects are much harder to see, but just as real.
Here are a few possibilities: people who desire alcohol instead load up on other days, potentially leading to more binge drinking; people who want to feed their addiction on Sunday turn to alternative, more dangerous measures; and demand for booze on Sundays still exists, fuelling the black market to supply it.
The future is hard to predict, and anything could happen. Government can't control human nature, and no law operates as simply as its stated intended effect.
I was glad to hear some voices toward the end put the onus on individuals themselves.
If Inuvik wants to be a community where alcohol is not an issue, the onus is on the people to pursue that goal, not the heavy and clumsy hand of government.
The opinions of the people opposed to this issue are just as legitimate as any. It is heartbreaking to hear of the effects alcohol has had in the North. We all should preach and practise a life of moderation, civility and good health.
But we must search deeper into the question of human action and consequences, instead of relying so heavily on feelings.
Human rights ruling is about dignityYellowknifer - Wednesday, January 25, 2017
In September of last year, Elizabeth Portman won a Human Rights Adjudication Panel decision against the city which charged users of its accessible transit system more than users of regular city buses.
Portman, who has multiple sclerosis, was awarded more than $8,000 - a reimbursement of the amount of money she had payed over what a regular transit user would pay between the dates of Feb. 12, 2014 and Dec. 1, 2015. Buried in the panel decision is a statement one would hope Yellowknife's city administration takes time to think about.
"(The city's) not making this service available to (Portman) at the same rate as the regular service made her feel like a lesser person," stated the decision. "As a result it affected her self-respect and dignity."
Unfortunately, the city didn't give this line much thought because the fare structure continued to be unfair, causing Portman to bring the city before the human-rights panel again last month.
Now, the panel has ordered the city to reimburse these unfair charges to all users of accessible public transit. Getting dinged twice in two years for discriminating against people with disabilities indicates there is a lack of understanding within city bureaucracy of what fair accessibility means.
It's pretty simple: The city has a responsibility to make sure its infrastructure is accessible to all Yellowknifers. When looking at the fares to use this infrastructure, one should not be able to tell the difference between who has a disability and who doesn't.
This isn't just about money. This case is about dignity and self-respect. The city now has another chance to think about the impacts having a discriminatory fee structure has on its residents.
Hopefully, administrators will heed the message and avoid getting hauled in front of the Human Rights Adjudication Panel for a third time, causing even more expense and embarrassment.
Explore the amazing Northwest TerritoriesYellowknifer - Wednesday, January 25, 2017
The number of people using territorial campsites has reached the highest levels since 2003, according to Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
In total, 29,158 people camped out overnight in NWT parks last year. These soaring numbers have consequences for Yellowknifers as most of these campers are staying at Fred Henne Territorial Park.
So anybody interested in a stay-cation this summer might be dealing with a bit of a bottleneck.
But hopeful happy campers shouldn't fret. The department has offered some pretty good advice: Why not explore some of the other campgrounds across the territory, where numbers sagged last year?
Within driving distance of Yellowknife are the beautiful Lady Evelyn Falls, Twin Falls Gorge, Sambaa Deh Territorial Park and Little Buffalo River Falls Territorial Park, to name a few campgrounds. Some of these places are a pretty good day's road trip away, which makes for the perfect weekend getaway.
Consider taking this sage advice and, instead of staying at same-old Fred Henne park, head off the beaten track to see some of the more remote wonders this spectacular territory has to offer.
Final hurrah nears for grand old lady as tournies beginEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Well, once again, it's that time of year in the Kivalliq for the hockey-crazed among us.
The official start of the Kivalliq tournament season was scheduled to launch in Arviat last weekend with the annual Jon Lindell Memorial (JLM) Calm Air Cup, quickly followed by the Arctic Atoms in Rankin Inlet this coming weekend.
During the next two months, fans will pack arenas, especially in Rankin Inlet, for numerous tournaments, featuring the Powerful Peewees, Polar Bear Plate, Terence Tootoo Memorial, midget territorial in Arviat, senior men's in Coral and Kivalliq Cup old-timers in Baker Lake.
The Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association has been renewing its efforts to launch a regional bantam tournament, with bantam being the only age class without its own tournament in the region.
Naujaat usually brings the puck madness to a close with its Arctic Circle Cup senior men's event, and a rotating all-ages female championship also takes its turn being hosted by a Kivalliq community.
The 2017 Challenge Cup junior 'C' championship is scheduled for Iqaluit this time around.
With time running out on the grand old lady on the hill in Rankin, with the new arena finally looking like it's going to become reality, it's now more important than ever for hockey fans in the region to show their class while cheering for their favourite teams.
If ever there was a barn that deserved to go out with dignity, it's the Rankin Inlet arena.
I have long lost count of the number of incredible hockey games I have both been a part of on the ice and watched from the stands in that cold, old barn.
And every time I think I've reached the pinnacle of how good a game can be in our region, another one comes along that's even better.
Yes, there have been moments in other barns.
I will never forget the overtime image of Amaujaq Lindell, playing for the family team in the JLM, the Karetakers, with his glove on the top of his head, looking up to the rafters in Arviat after Rankin goalie James Merritt robbed him of a sure goal with an incredible glove save.
I also will never forget two Arviat players in Whale Cove, diving to try and stop a deflected puck from slowly sliding across the goal-line in overtime in the championship game, only to come up a half-second short.
Nor will I ever forget one of those players trying to hide the tear sliding down his cheek, after playing his heart out and coming oh so close.
But the memories in the grand old lady in Rankin are vivid and many.
I have watched 10-year-old boys play like men in double overtime, players put their team on their back and carry them to a championship, refusing to lose, goalies for a team being outshot five to one make incredible save after incredible save, refusing to bend, and rivalries play out far, far above what many in the south think the level of hockey should be here.
And through the vast majority of the (figuratively speaking) hours of highlight-reel film going through my head, the almost ear-shattering din of the Rankin crowd is a constant companion.
I've been in many a nicer, more modern arena than Rankin's in my day, but, NHL barns aside, I've never been in one anywhere near as special.
I have a folder of photographs taken in the Rankin arena during the past 18-plus years, and I know there will be numerous times in my old age I will thumb through them and relive the memories.
And, as tournament season begins and the grand old lady nears her final hurrah, I'm equally sure there's at least one more awesome memory awaiting me at the top of that hill.
She hasn't disappointed me yet...
Justin Trudeau: ColonialistNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, January 23, 2017
There is absolutely no need for a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in Canada's North.
In fact, the move by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to impose a ban on any new activity - there aren't any sites in operation now in the Beaufort Sea - simply tramples on desires of communities such as Inuvik to eventually reverse their declining fortunes.
In fact, for Trudeau and his Liberal government to callously ignore the new way of life in the North dredges up comparisons to the way the feds once strode through the region imposing their will on inhabitants.
Yes, there is only way to look at Trudeau's move to demonstrate solidarity with now-departed United States President Barack Obama: Slapping a drilling ban on the Arctic - without any consultation with stakeholders - is just outright appalling.
We wonder if NWT Liberal MP Michael McLeod was even informed of Trudeau's decision, or did he hear about it through the media? We invite MP McLeod to publicly defend his government's move and explain how it will improve life for people living in the NWT. No, not the ideals of career environmentalists but the lives of common folks looking to forge a real living in the North.
The push back from the ban is starting to develop. You'll read a report in this week's News/North about how the Town of Inuvik, Nihtat Gwich'in Council and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation are angered by Trudeau's move ("Arctic forces join to reject drilling ban").
"We were taken aback," Duane Smith, president of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is quoted as saying. "We were not consulted in any meaningful way on the matter."
Smith said he was told by the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada about the move shortly before it was announced to the public.
Stewart Burnett, editor of Inuvik Drum, wrote a column on the issue re-published in News/North ("Wise southerners light the way," Jan. 16.)
Following the tongue-in-cheek headline, Burnett decried the drilling ban imposed by "latte liberals" and the "compulsion to spread their virtue."
"Northerners are certainly used to this show of force by now, living in somewhat of a repetitive history of outsiders telling them what's good for them."
In this week's News/North, Nunavut News/North editor Casey Lessard shares that territory's concerns over the ban, ("Trudeau's green crusade shows lack of respect.")
Writes Lessard: "Trudeau's siding with Obama is a smoke-and-mirrors trick that enhances his green credentials while cloaking the same old colonial attitude carried by governments past."
Indeed. The fact the Canadian version of the indefinite U.S. ban can be reviewed every five years clearly shows Trudeau was all ego on this move - either drilling in Arctic waters is too risky to the environment or it isn't? Half-measures avail you nothing, Mr. Trudeau. Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper showed much more interest in, and sensitivity to, the needs of the North.
What good has it done for the NWT to have sent a Liberal MP to Ottawa?
During the 2015 federal election, Trudeau visited the NWT and spoke of the Liberal Party's "real plan to grow our Northern economy."
Since being elected prime minister, we have not seen hide nor hair of Trudeau in these parts.
So we're simply left with these originally vapid and now just plain empty words from his party's platform: "Canada's North is a vast and beautiful part of the world, home to a rich culture and tremendous economic potential."
We can only hope Trudeau and his government - the territories don't even rank having a voice in cabinet - won't further hobble the economic pursuits of people in the North.
Lives are on the lineNunavut/News North - Monday, January 23, 2017
This month, Iqaluit Coun. Joanasie Akumalik called on council to protect the lives of homeless people in the city.
It's an important message, and he's chosen the right venue.
Iqaluit city council needs to better support the men who rely on the men's homeless shelter.
The shelter serves marginalized men - many of whom are unwelcome elsewhere due to mental health issues or recent incarceration - but the shelter is hobbled in its ability to do so by city regulations that require the men to leave the shelter throughout the day.
This is in contrast with the women's shelters, which correctly allow clients to remain indoors rather than face the elements.
It may be true that some of these men are able to find work during the day, but too many are left to find a daytime hangout space, when they could be taking part in mental health and employment support activities similar to the ones offered to clients at the city's two women's shelters.
We understand that the city has limited resources, and that the territory needs to help, too.
The city is unable to free up more land for more homes because it doesn't have the infrastructure money for more roads, water, or sewer lines.
This lack of progress impedes the ability to ease thehousing crunch experienced by many who seek refuge in the capital city.
Those living on couches or floors, with family and friends, across Nunavut know the need for progress in this regard.
But those pushed to the periphery of society, who have nowhere else to turn for help but the shelters, need special attention.
They are souls ready to be lost.
Two years ago, we witnessed the Christmas fire that killed a man living in a beach shack.
The December death of Jake Angurasuk -last seen at the shelter, his body was found weeks later 10 kilometres outside of Iqaluit -is only the latest tragedy that could have been prevented with a serious effort from our community.
They were both preventable.
People should be asking why the city still does not permit the shelter from staying open during the day.
What is the GN doing to provide the mental health care too many of these men need but go without?
Where is the execution of innovative ideas, such as a sea can compound to house these men, even in the short term until something better is in place?
Why is a three-bedroom shelter housing 22 men, which costs a charity $8,000 in rent each month, only open at night?
Jake Angurasuk's life mattered.
Lives are on the line.
It's time for each of us to consider what we can do to help and to get decision makers to act.
