Tories wrong to bench BeyakNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 10, 2017
While the territory's lone MP says he would have no problem if Lynn Beyak resigned from Canada's Senate, award-winning aboriginal columnist Cece Hodgson McCauley is standing fast in her defence.
As reported last week in News/North ("McLeod criticizes senator; columnist defends her again," April 17), Beyak was recently kicked off the senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples by the Conservatives after she said there were good deeds and some other positive aspects to Canada's residential school system that have been overshadowed by the negative reports.
In the expected blowback that comment made, it was unclear if people were offended because Beyak was non-aboriginal, or was going against popular opinion.
Liberal MP Michael McLeod, a residential school survivor himself, attended Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife in the 1970s.
"I was surprised to hear her say that after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission studied the whole issue of residential school for many years," McLeod said.
McLeod said he understands how some residential schools survivors say the experience was not all negative for them and he defends their right to say that.
However, he said Beyak, as a non-indigenous person, should have been more measured in her comments.
"This is not about us as aboriginal people. We know what happened. We don't have to rejudge it," McLeod said. "You should be asking her to explain her actions and comments.
"To stand on the sidelines and whitewash the history of aboriginal people is totally wrong with the limited understanding and involvement she apparently has."
It's pretty clear the great majority of residential school attendees are quite entitled to refer to themselves as being survivors, as the entire system was genocidal.
However, there are few absolutes in life and it's obvious there are some residential school students who don't share the view of the majority. Such as award-winning News/North columnist Cece Hodgson McCauley.
She said Beyak has the right to speak her mind and the only reason aboriginal people have expressed outrage with her comments is because some of them are still seeking financial compensation from the federal government for their residential school experience.
"I had 10 years in residential schools and it was the best 10 years of my life," Hodgson McCauley said. "Why shouldn't (Beyak) speak out about it? She said she spent a lot of time with aboriginals.
"It makes more sense if white people, all people, know our stories. Why can't she say something. It's freedom of speech."
But the Liberals, indigenous activists and Conservative critics seized upon the chance to make political hay from Beyak's comments.
Freedom of speech is important in any democracy. People shouldn't be afraid they will be punished or shamed if they speak their minds - of course, that doesn't hold for threats or hate crimes.
Beyak is a victim of the sense of overheated political correctness in society.
The Conservatives were wrong to demote Beyak from the Committee on Aboriginal Peoples as all viewpoints should be represented - such as those of Hodgson McCauley.
Mines only work when Nunavummiut workNunavut/News North - Monday, April 10, 2017
Nunavut's mining community gathered this month in Iqaluit, and mining companies from each region - Kivalliq's Agnico Eagle (Meadowbank and Meliadine), Qikiqtaaluk's Baffinland (Mary River), and Kitikmeot's TMAC (Hope Bay) - were honoured with the corporate award.
It's hard to ignore the success one of those three - Agnico Eagle in the Kivalliq - is having in making Inuit the heart of their operation.
Baffinland Iron Mines admitted its own envy, as its Inuit employment levels - 16.7 per cent - are half as high as the gold mining company's, which sits at 35 per cent on its way to 50 per cent.
There are reasons Agnico Eagle is ahead of its contemporaries. One is the fact that Meadowbank has been producing gold since 2010. Mary River started in 2014. Hope Bay just poured its first gold bar in February and has yet to start commercial production. Agnico Eagle's second mine, Meliadine, near Rankin Inlet was approved for development in February.
It's easier to access Baker Lake's mines, too, with lower relative costs. Meadowbank has a road from Baker Lake, while Mary River requires workers to be flown in, many from a great distance.
The price of gold and iron have had different paths over the lives of the mines, too. Gold surged soon after Meadowbank opened, gaining 44 per cent and staying hot before stabilizing near its June 2010 level. Iron, meanwhile, was already in freefall when Mary River opened, and continued to lose more than half its value before finally recovering in February to its September 2014 price.
The effect of commodity prices are evident far beyond the mines. The prices affect the flow of money in the neighbouring communities and the regional economies.
We wrote last week about the difference Meadowbank has made in Baker Lake. The need for income assistance has fallen there. It's apparent that when one person works, many benefit. That's especially true for many of the Inuit miners who are supporting families while keeping the money in the region. We need to see more of this, especially in North Baffin, rife with overcrowded housing units and food insecurity. As of 2013, more than half of the people in each of Clyde River, Arctic Bay, Iglulik, and Pond Inlet were on income assistance, with Clyde River sitting at 65 per cent. Only 25 per cent of Baker Lake's population was on assistance that year.
Government and the Inuit associations need to do whatever it possible to create incentives to get these mines above 50 per cent Inuit employment.
Get Inuit trained at all costs: Heavy equipment operators, mechanics, supervisors, workers with safety training. All of these people can find work after the mines at hamlets and other businesses in their home communities.
In other words, any dollar spent will stay in Nunavut. When you factor in the number of people one mine job can sustain, that's a better investment than even the gold being pulled out of the ground.
No need to name students Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 14, 2017
What is the point of the GNWT making public the names of, and the amount by which, anyone who has benefited from the territory's student loan forgiveness program ("MLA questions possible student privacy breach" Yellowknifer, April 7) in any given year?
Government department heads, lawyers and privacy experts may hum and haw over whether or not this represents a bona fide legal breach of a student's right to privacy, but Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly cut to the chase when he requested the GNWT simply stop doing this.
There is likely no legal reason forcing the government to publish an itemized list naming every student and the amount of his or her debt forgiveness.
If there were some kind of legal requirement behind naming each Jane and Charlie who shared in a student loan forgiveness program that cost less than $1 million last year, then surely there would be a legal requirement to let the light shine in on public servant remuneration which amounts to more than $700 million annually.
But as no so-called sunshine list exists for bureaucrats in the NWT, one has to assume there is no legal requirement to publish the specifics in the case of these students.
We understand the need for a public accounting of what government programs cost the GNWT and taxpayers. That the GNWT forgave close to $1 million in student loans is good to know.
Expenditures on student loan forgiveness are a good thing. Each loan forgiven represents NWT students getting higher education and returning home or not leaving, a requirement for loan forgiveness. Sounds like damned good value for the money. Hopefully next year the GNWT will need to forgive double that amount.
The exact amount of what each student is forgiven is irrelevant. This isn't bad debt being wiped clean in a gesture of territorial benevolence where the taxpayer has the right to know exactly what's up, who's involved and how much it cost.
This is a program funded to encourage Northerners to return north after completing education or other training in the south, or to stay in the north after completing their education here.
Publishing the name of every student and the amount he or she was forgiven serves no purpose. The practise should be abolished.
Arts success puts Yellowknife on the map Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 14, 2017
Congratulations to the three Yellowknifers who took home Juno awards earlier this month.
When people such as Quantum Tangle's Greyson Gritt and Tiffany Ayalik, and Isis Essery, who worked on Gord Downie's Secret Path project, excel on the national stage, it creates many positive benefits: it encourages other young, would-be artists to try their luck, puts the city on the map when it comes to arts and cultivates an interest in the North.
All of these things show those who divvy out arts grants that investing in the territory's arts community can pay back dividends. The territory already boasts Juno-winner Leela Gilday, and Digawolf, who has been a nominee. It is quite an accomplishment to see more artists added to this venerable list.
Yellowknifer is excited to see what's next for the Junos' newest inductees, and who else might grace that stage in the future.
Passion and work ethic all that's needed in new economyInuvik Drum - Thursday, April 13, 2016
She's just 14 but Savannah Elias-Beaulieu is showing impressive ambition pursuing an opportunity to compete in the Miss Teen Canada Globe contest this August.
The teen is working at Northmart and fundraising through other means to cover the costs.
Her passion is makeup and she wants to turn it into a job one day.
Not everyone in her life is completely sure makeup is a viable career path.
But look at Christen Dominique, NikkieTutorials, jeffreestar and many others on YouTube. They are running makeup and cosmetics channels and all have millions of subscribers each. Estimating ad revenue, those channels are likely generating a six-figure income at least, if not more.
The potential to turn a passion into a career without even leaving the house today is incredible.
Considering that young people make up a substantial amount of any of the top channels' viewership, makeup tutorials from a Miss Canada Teen Globe contestant, especially from an Arctic Canadian showing off some Northern culture, could be a hit.
Of course, it's not as easy as simply making a video and getting paid. Like any lucrative pursuit, making a channel on YouTube takes a lot of hard work and a lot of time for search algorithms to catch up, and a true passion for the subject is necessary to keep up the video stream and audience interest.
The economic prospects on social media get brought up regularly on this editorial page. But that's because the opportunities are marvelous.
The Town of Inuvik is big on tourism these days and tries to influence shows and their video crews to visit and document the area. But why fly in a whole production crew? A local with a video camera can do the same and reach millions of people around the world. That's the whole beauty of the Internet age.
Now, it's worth a disclaimer that the social media industry could be experiencing something of a bubble - seeing as almost none of these companies paying creators make money themselves - but even if the market corrects itself and pulls back some, it's not a market that's going anywhere or getting smaller in the long term.
Regular TV is dying, for good reason. The cast of characters on social media, from YouTube to streaming channels like Twitch or even short-lived booms such as Vine, is so much more diverse than in traditional media. Every niche one can think of is covered.
CNN just had one of its best quarters in years, and even at its viewership height in March, YouTube vlogger Casey Neistat, now affiliated with CNN, crushes the numbers Wolf Blitzer or anyone on that newscast gets. And he doesn't have a crew, just him and a camera.
Elias-Beaulieu already shows the type of work ethic and ambition that will open up doors for her that peers less focused on the future won't see.
Living in our dogs' filthYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Yellowknife has become a dog-poop minefield. It's quite obvious heading up the main entrance to Tin Can Hill - to the right and left of the pathway up are dozens upon dozens of droppings.
According to city administration, some of these gifts may be from wild animals such as foxes, bears or coyotes. Sure, but the number of domesticated dogs in town dwarf the number of large, wild mammals, and certainly they aren't all using the entrance to Tin Can Hill as a communal latrine.
Let's not kid ourselves. It's dog owners abandoning the vast majority of these messes.
Three years ago, administration updated the city's dog bylaw to include, among other things, a provision that requires dog owners to carry bags. Since then, this portion of the bylaw hasn't been enforced once.
City officials say people have been ticketed for failing to clean up after their dogs and officers have done public engagement on the issue but the city did not share the number of tickets given out or any data to say how much public engagement there has been.
City councillors who took part in approving the bag carry measure are obviously upset. Not handing out tickets makes this part of the bylaw "a pointless legislative exercise," said Coun. Adrian Bell, a proponent of the bag carrier provision in 2013.
City officials are being somewhat circumspect about why they are not handing out tickets to bag-less dog walkers but the reasons seem obvious.
For one, it's doubtful it would stand up in court should it be challenged. What if a dog walker insists she had been carrying three bags upon interception by bylaw officers but had used all three and deposited them in a city-supplied receptacle? Is the city going to conduct DNA analysis of the receptacle to prove none of the bags came from her dog? And just how many bags are people supposed to carry anyway?
The weaknesses of this particular portion of the dog bylaw aside, it's clear council was fed up with the status quo when they passed it. The fact that nothing appears to have changed since then reinforces the impression that the city doesn't take this issue very seriously.
Considering the annual uproar over dog feces that comes with the snow melt each spring, administration should be able to point to specific results - the number of tickets issued, the dates on which officers patrolled popular dog-walking trails to investigate compliance and conduct public engagement. Yellowknifer has asked for this information before but has yet to see actual numbers.
Now, Yellowknifer is not advocating for a doggy police state of bylaw checkpoints shaking down owners for their poop bags. But it's clear council and the public would like to see more enforcement.
What if bylaw picked a time of year to do a blitz, where they make themselves visible around off-leash areas, let people know about the bylaw, hand out bags - and some tickets. Then report back to council.
Dog feces isn't just gross. According to the city's own Facebook page, it can contain E. coli, giardia, parvo, tapeworms, roundworms, salmonella, coccidia and these organisms can survive in the soil for years.
And it's not just dogs using these parks. Children do too. Children who love to play in the dirt. The fact the city has such a laissez faire attitude toward this mess just makes it seem like it doesn't care.
And if the city doesn't care, why should dog owners?
Whale of a taleEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Patrick Moore found himself in a little hot water after voicing his opinion on whale hunting at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit last week.
To come to Nunavut and suggest Inuit should think about phasing out whale hunting; well, them's fighting words in these parts, so you have to expect people to be upset by the notion.
Today, while one person talks, the other often puts on the appearance of listening, but they're really waiting, and rather impatiently at that, for the person to finish so they can hear the glorious sound of their own voice staunchly defending their stance, cause or opinion.
There were a few interesting points I took from Moore's little spiel in Iqaluit.
First, when something happens in public, be it Moore's intentional comments or something quite unintentional, we've learned from the American media to instantly adopt the blood-in-the-water mentality and make as big a deal out of the situation as we can, whether it's warranted or not.
And we've cleverly elevated certain terms that, by their very nature, mute one's voice under the unspoken, but all too real, threat of racism.
We don't get upset today, nor do we get even. There's far too much energy required with those types of approaches.
On those types of paths, we risk the possibility of having to substantiate a point or claim, and, heaven forbid, we may end up face-to-face with the biggest little three-word question in the world, why? Once you put yourself in that situation, someone may actually expect you to answer.
Well, we can't have that. Fortunately, we've learned to play the role of the victim and the put upon to perfection in this country. We know the best thing to be today is offended. Once you establish yourself as genuinely offended (and, psst, hey, who's to say, really?) it's a slam dunk from there.
Play your cards right, and the media may do it for you by cleverly placing the all-powerful word in a sensational, attention-grabbing headline.
And even if, after reading the story four times, you're still not sure who was offended, unless you count the person on Twitter who thought it was cute the way the "white dude" (the white dude is always fair game) expressed his opinion, there's still no worries.
In fact, even if Moore went out of his way to state he has no intention to advocate against Inuit hunting whales (which he did), or even if he was quoted, on the record, saying he respects the rights of aboriginal people to hunt them, if that's what they want to do (which he did), it wouldn't matter.
Moore alluded to a couple of minor points, being entitled to his opinion and having the right to free speech, but - let's be honest, right? - the "white dude" and his rights, up against someone who has been offended? Moore would soon take to Twitter to publicly explain his beliefs on the matter.
One can't help but wonder how many public explanations soon became admissions of guilt in somebody's courtroom.
But, the best was yet to come.
That sour little moment came courtesy of the Nunavut Mining Symposium itself, when it turned its back on Moore, his rights, opinions and well-spoken, if ill-conceived, thoughts on alternatives to whale hunting, and issued a statement apologizing to any guest offended by Moore, making sure to note some of the views expressed by Moore (gee, wonder which ones?) are not reflective of the symposium's or, more importantly, any of its sponsors.
Moore picked the wrong battlefield, and Inuit face too many real threats to their way of life to be concerned with his Disney-like depiction as reason to stop hunting whales, but the man should get points for acknowledging aboriginal rights, while not renouncing his right to free speech and being entitled to his opinion.
If Moore had been a Clash fan, he would have known, "You have the right to free speech, provided, of course, you're not dumb enough to actually try it."
