NWT needs a treatment centreYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 1, 2017
On March 30, 2016, Stanley Abel Jr. punched and kicked his uncle to death over a missing bottle of liquor.
On Feb. 17, NWT Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau sentenced him to five years in prison for manslaughter. Abel Jr. doesn't remember what he did and said he wishes he could take it all back.
During the sentencing, Charbonneau pointed out that a lack of a treatment centre in the territory is "an additional obstacle for those trying to seek help for addiction issues."
People such as Abel Jr. need access to addictions treatment so tragedies like this don't happen again.
After the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve closed in 2013, the lack of treatment options in the territory has remained a recurring issue. In October 2015, Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli asked about this in the legislative assembly.
Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy's response was one the assembly has heard time and time again:
"In the Northwest Territories, treatment facilities have failed every time we have tried to open one," he said. "They've failed because of staffing reasons, high cost, $420 a day compared to southern facilities at $155, safety issues ... and under-utilization."
Abernethy doesn't seem to get it. Even if it is expensive, even if it is underutilized, even if it's cheaper to send people south, a Northern centre needs to exist. By sending people down south for treatment, vulnerable people are put in a position where they have to navigate bureaucracy to get help.
People have to uproot their lives for it. Also, sending people from communities to a southern city like Edmonton can be a shock unto itself, which can make it that much more challenging for patients to succeed.
Desperate times call for drastic measures and when it comes to alcoholism in the territory, these are definitely desperate times. The territorial government needs to recognize that and commit to nothing less than a Northern treatment centre.
Lost without communicationYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Two missing hunters on the land - two different outcomes. Joe Black, a 65-year-old with a lifetime of experience being on the land, did the right thing once he became separated from his companions by staying with his snowmachine after getting stuck.
After a two-day ordeal on the frozen Barrenlands 150 km northeast of Yellowknife last week, a search and rescue team found him alive and brought him back to civilization and into the loving arms of family members desperate for some good news.
It was a different story for Antoine Betsidea, 46, whose body was found earlier last month after getting lost in a blizzard - also while hunting on the Barrenlands.
Surviving alone in such a place requires exceptional skill and a bit of luck. Both men were undoubtedly skilled hunters but unfortunately for Betsidea, his luck ran out.
As Dave Taylor, Yellowknife zone commander for the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, reminds us, odds of eventual rescue and survival are greatly increased when people are carrying walkie-talkies, a SPOT device, flares or GPS.
None of these items appeared to be present in either case.
Travelling on he land is essential for many people in the North - yet unforgiving. It really is a matter of life and death that people think of bringing a means of communications with them before venturing on to it.
As we said in the Feb. 10 editorial following Betsidia's death: Too often, not having a communications device is the last mistake anybody makes.
Path of traditional music is often narrow by natureEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, March 1, 2017
I was asked this past week to expound upon my thoughts on how popular music has changed during the past few decades, and how it can be a musical trap to have one's music defined as cultural or traditional in nature, especially among indigenous artists.
How popular music has changed during the past few decades is a deep, broad topic of discussion and best left for another day.
I remember reading a story on Susan Aglukark when her career took off with the release of her O Siem single from the album, This Child, which rose to the top of the Canadian charts and eventually went triple platinum.
I remember her talking about not really understanding what the term 'with a bullet' meant as her music reached more-and-more listeners, and how she wasn't going to concern herself with being 'the flavour of the month' as long as her music continued to do well.
As everyone in these parts is fully aware, Aglukark went on to have a very successful musical career without sacrificing any of her true self.
The work Aglukark has done in the past few years in putting a focus on literacy and art, taking up the battle against the monster that is suicide and, through her Arctic Rose initiative, lending a helping hand to those dealing with food-insecurity issues in the North has been an exclamation point to a career that still resonates with many fans.
Aglukark is a rare talent. During the days she was riding the top of the Canadian charts, she had enough strength in her music and delivery to be known as a true crossover artist, which is no small feat when dealing with the 'here today, gone tomorrow' world of popular music.
A precious few artists seem to have the talent to crossover musical genres and charts naturally, while others, even the great Bob Dylan, have to make a concentrated effort to achieve such a lofty goal.
Dylan was lustily booed, especially while touring England, after he broke out the evil electric six-string at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 in support his new album, Bringing It All Back Home.
Even the Beatles risked fan alienation as their music progressed into studio art through the era of Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Once an artist is cemented into a particular category, it's a long, hard road to try and be accepted by fans of a different genre.
The gamble has often proved itself to be a recipe for a complete career meltdown.
Passion, conviction and commitment to the material they write and perform are often what separate run-of-the-mill and successful artists, no matter what the musical genre.
Your ears would have a hard time, for example, believing the sincerity of a Boy George performance of the Delta blues.
Once the music of a developing artist is classified, without reservation, as being that of a particular genre - especially traditional stylings - that artist had better be committed to, and passionate about, the path they're on if they hope to achieve any level of commercial success.
Being placed inside the musical box comes a lot more easily than breaking free of its confines, and that rule of thumb is one that developing talents, especially those in traditional or cultural settings, had better take into consideration before ending up on a narrow musical path that offers a lot more restriction than may first meet the eye.
Musical food for thought.
Time to groom fur industryNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, February 27, 2017
Trapping has historically been important part of the lives of First Nations in the NWT.
There is a huge potential market for highly desirable NWT fur whose marten, lynx, wolverine, wolves are considered some of the best fur that comes out of North America.
However, there is still a social stigma in many countries - fueled by animal welfare advocates, including movie and music stars - against wearing fur as it is thought to be inhumane.
People must insulate themselves against the cold. So what are you going to wear? Garments created by a sustainable natural resource, or those derived from the petrochemical industry for nylon?
The trapping of wild animals, while not a pretty thing, is no less humane than harvesting livestock on a farm.
Francois Rossouw, a fur marketing specialist with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment Rossouw, recently told News/North that educating the public is one of the roles of the fur industry.
"Unsustainable is fake fur, or chemical fur. That's killing our planet. Anytime you wear (something) that's petroleum based, it's basically killing our planet," he said ("NWT fur heads to China," Feb. 20).
"And they claim to be environmentalists which is exactly what they're not ... If you took a fur coat and buried it in the forest, it would disappear, versus a nice Gore-Tex jacket, it'll be there forever. At the end of the day, it's really educating young people, of course, about the fur industry and about the differences."
Mackenzie Valley fur flew across the ocean last month, when the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program headed to the 43rd China Fur & Leather Products Fair in Beijing. This was the fourth year NWT has been represented in the event.
The fair, one of the largest of its kind, included exhibitors from 14 countries, as well as investors, buyers and representatives from international fur organizations.
"China is the largest consumer of raw fur product in the world. And so pretty much 80 per cent of the fur does flow through China now," Rossouw said.
The GNWT backs the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program which brought a variety of wild-caught fur to the trade show in China. A variety of different species was taken to China, including marten, referred to in the industry as Canadian sable, as well as lynx, muskrat, beaver, wild mink, fox, wolf, wolverine, squirrel and weasel.
In a good year, the furs can net big bucks for the territory but sales have been in decline recent years. In 2013, NWT furs earned $2.3 million but that figure dropped to $911,000 in 2015.
The good news is that tourism growth from China to the Northwest Territories is skyrocketing. The number of aurora tourists to the territory grew by 48 per cent last year, the majority of them from China. Spending also grew by 48 per cent - to $37.9 million.
Considering how, as Rossouw notes, China is the largest consumer of fur products in the world, there are plenty of opportunities for the NWT fur industry to grow - not just in harvest numbers but in finished products as well.
The NWT doesn't have the manufacturing manpower that China has to make mass-produced products but it can specialize in locally-made products for tourists and even with the development of prototype designs, such as Inuvialuit-style parkas, that could be manufactured in Asia.
The door may have shut on NWT fur products elsewhere but it is wide open when one faces east. The time is right to carry as much through the threshold as possible.
The name has to goNunavut/News North - Monday, February 27, 2017
Last week, Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo led a select group of indigenous MPs in speaking out against the name of the building housing the Prime Minister's Office, the Langevin Block.
It's the right fight for Tootoo to pick, as the Trudeau government has indicated it intends to improve relations with indigenous people. Yet Trudeau's staff works in a building named after one of the architects of the residential school system. It's plain to see that indigenous people in Canada see this as an overdue move for the government to make.
But Hector-Louis Langevin, a Father of Confederation and Conservative cabinet minister in Sir John A. Macdonald's post-confederation government, wasn't the only official who saw indigenous people as "savages." As former politician Bob Rae told CBC, our first prime minister and many of his contemporaries felt they needed to be civilized.
The issue shows that the tradition of naming buildings, bridges, roads, etc., after people should be reconsidered. People are imperfect.
It should be noted that Inuit tradition for naming place-marks rarely recalls individual people but rather, important events and activities such as good fishing or hunting grounds or places for shelter. Inuit names are thus instruments of traditional knowledge.
Viewed after the passage of time, naming buildings, awards, and highways after Langevin, Duncan Campbell Scott, and Sir John A. Macdonald should be reviewed with a post-colonial lens.
The names of British explorers still grace many sites in the North. Gradually, Nunavut communities are abandoning completely their English names and it makes sense. The same should be true in southern Canada, where so many streets and buildings bear the mark of flawed humans with histories that are no longer relevant or representative of today's values. It's OK to be proud of our history but not everyone agrees that Langevin's legacy is something to be proud of.
To be fair, it will take more than changing the names of a few buildings, bridges, or roads. It will take a serious effort to change the minds of Canadians, too many of whom still view indigenous people as "savages."
This concept of "the other" is stirring up anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant sympathy around the world, in Canada, and yes, in Nunavut. This concept still also affects indigenous people.
Last month, Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch told university students she would eliminate the Indian Act without consultation, a move that would eliminate reserves, a place First Nations can call "our land." But forced assimilation - for indigenous people or immigrants - is not the way to correct the wrongs of the past. To the contrary, it would finalize the effort to colonize Canada.
This is not the message we need to send to Canada's First Peoples. It's time for the federal government to do the right thing, and take a hard look at any properties named after individuals.
Our country can't forget the racist policies that led to Canada's creation, even if they were the dominant perspective at the time. It doesn't mean people have to continue celebrating them.
Giant contract must profit Yellowknives Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, February 24, 2017
By including incentives to ensure indigenous involvement in the Giant Mine clean-up project, the federal government is hitting the right notes when it comes to recognizing the importance of including Tlicho and Yellowknives Dene.
The mine was one of the main pillars of the Yellowknife economy for decades but it was built without much consideration and benefit for the region's original inhabitants and land users. Today it is at least acknowledged that Yellowknife and its surrounding resources exist on the traditional territories of its first people.
In the early days of Giant, the arsenic by-product of the gold roasting process was belched completely untreated straight into the atmosphere out of a roaster stack.
According to a Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board document, approximately 7,300 kilograms of arsenic per day was released into the atmosphere, straight across the bay from Ndilo during the first year of mine production in 1948.
The 1951 death of a child in Ndilo after consuming arsenic-contaminated snow forced the mine to install emission scrubbers which eventually cut arsenic pollution to approximately 5,500 kg per day by 1954.
Improvements to emissions control continued. By 1978 arsenic emissions were approximately 30.5 kg per day but by then more than 24 million kilograms of arsenic had been emitted into the atmosphere and settled on the land and lakes in the vicinity.
The rest was collected and stored in underground vaults, 237,000 tonnes of it to be precise.
To be even more precise, that's 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide buried on the traditional territories of the Yellowknives Dene.
As then chief Fred Sangris said during a 1998 NWT Water Board hearing, "We were never consulted and we did not give our consent to have this mine built on our land."
The construction of the mine undertaken without the consent of the land's original inhabitants is something people today rightly acknowledge was wrong.
It won't be enough to merely include incentives for contractors to hire aboriginal businesses and workers.
Too often incentives in mining sector-related jobs is mere lip service that bears no appreciable aboriginal participation. TerraX Minerals, which hopes to revive Yellowknife's defunct gold-mining industry, complained to MLAs Wednesday about its difficulties recruiting aboriginal employees for its workforce.
The government must convince an already skeptical aboriginal community that participating in the cleanup of Giant Mine is something worthwhile.
The government should set up an office where Yellowknives Dene First Nation and interested members of the community can sign up, whether it be for subcontracting opportunities or employment.
A firehose of cash is about to be directed at Yellowknife thanks to this clean-up project.
It is incumbent on decision makers to ensure those who have suffered the most historical harm come away from this project with the most benefit, both in terms of rejuvenated land safe for future generations and financial and social benefits that flow to indigenous contractors, workers and their communities.
Parent pushback on cut classes inevitableDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, February 23, 2016
Educators in Fort Simpson recently announced a plan to cut up to one and a half Mondays of classes per month.
The cuts, which are being hailed as a pilot project, are part of a collective agreement between the GNWT and the Northwest Territories Teachers Association. That agreement allows schools to cut up to 100 hours of class time in favour of professional development.
The idea is that quality over quantity is what's needed for students in the territory.
At a meeting on Feb. 16, parents in Fort Simpson heard - some for the first time - that every school in the Deh Cho region had opted in for the project.
Most schools won't see the full 100 hours cut, according to Dehcho Divisional Education Council superintendent Terry Jaffray. In fact, some schools, such as Bompas Elementary School, will hardly see any instructional hours cut at all.
The cuts would also bring the Northwest Territories in line with the amount of hours taught elsewhere in Canada, say educators.
The logic behind the cuts is fairly cut and dried: students won't benefit from poor quality instructional time, even if they get more of it.
It's up to individual schools how the cuts will be rolled out, and how many hours each school will cut.
Some, like Bompas, will only see a handful of hours cut, while others may see more.
But the methodology behind the plan leaves plenty of valid questions for parents, who weren't consulted at any step along the way.
Chief among their concern is how educators can justify cutting hours when many of the students in the territory are already behind in their studies, and those who aren't still have a leap to make in order to reach the level of their peers further south.
Although consultation was not strictly necessary in order for educators to move forward with this plan, it is entirely understandable why the proposal is receiving such pushback from parents.
Despite the hours teachers currently put in, it must be incredibly frustrating for those parents to see cuts from a system that appears to have already failed their child.
It's worth mentioning that while Bompas students would only lose 11 hours of class-time when increased hours elsewhere in the week are factored in, the grim reality for parents is that there will still be an extra 10 days per school year when their children will be at home on Mondays when there is no class. For households with no stay-at-home parents this could be a tremendous hardship.
During last week's public meeting, Jaffray said educators don't need a buy-in from parents in order to move forward with their plan, although it would be nice to have parental support.
That's unfortunate because the insight of parents could be a valuable tool when looking at how to improve the education system.
Parents are also correct that fewer hours in the classroom will not necessarily guarantee better quality of education for students. That's largely dependent on the individual teacher.
Fort Simpson, without doubt, has some first-class educators. These are people who put in far above and beyond the required work in order to make learning fun and accessible for students.
But it would be naive to say that same drive applies to every teacher everywhere in the territory.
If parents could be assured the quality of their child's education would increase across the board, they may have an easier time swallowing a pretty bitter pill.
But such assurances are not possible. In lieu of that, the least educators can do is move forward with parental input every step of the way.
It's often said that it takes a village to raise a child. In the village of Fort Simpson, that means true collaboration between parents and educators. Both sides have insight into what's best for students in the community, and both sides need to be properly informed and consulted on decisions of this nature.
Good and bad a messy businessInuvik Drum - Thursday, February 23, 2016
When celebrating our country's history, should we include the bad parts too?
That subject came up twice in stories this week.
In my opinion, yes we should, but without losing sight of the triumphs of civilization.
There's a lot of Western guilt these days but no one has a clean history.
Today's society certainly didn't invent colonialism, murder or conquering weaker territories, and cultures elsewhere are not clean of human rights abuses or evil actions.
What we can be proud of is our ideals of freedom and justice.
Though there is no purity in the world and never will be, the West has blazed a moral trail in the modern age for human rights, women's liberation, rule of law, quality of life, free speech and democracy.
Even our ability to go on social media and chastise leaders of government is a power people of the past could not imagine.
At the core of what makes Western ideals so great is a fundamental belief in freedom.
That extends from the freedom to say as you please to the freedom to love whom you want, trade under your own terms, live how you desire and so much more.
With freedom comes the crushing responsibility that keeps humans productive, progressing and contributing. It is at once a controlling and liberating mix that has driven Western civilization so far forward.
It is through freedom that we find truth and improve.
Of course, society hasn't always acted in line with our ideals.
There is a lot for Canada to be ashamed of in its history. Its treatment of aboriginals in the 20th century was repugnant, along with putting thousands of Japanese into internment camps during the Second World War.
It can only be a good thing if our interpretation of Canadian history has a wider scope and incorporates both the good and bad. We're not better off deluding ourselves about the past, and nor are we better off self-flagellating about history's mistakes.
With a wider view, we can actually learn what went right and wrong and steer our future based on that knowledge.
Our same ideal of freedom should guide us in honestly and earnestly discussing our history and where to go from here.
To whitewash or smear it all would be doing ourselves a disservice.
