Road dispute needs a calming solutionNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, May 8, 2017
A Dene band that defied the threat of legal action by the GNWT in order to build a road was hacking through much more than brush and trees.
Nahanni Butte simply got tired of regulatory delay and started slicing through the bureaucratic red tape it believed was holding back its chance for economic development in conjunction with a proposed mine near the community.
On March 28, the Department of Lands filed a notice of injunction with the Supreme Court of the NWT, seeking to stop Nahanni Butte band members and associates from "trespassing" on territorial lands. The department also filed a statement of claim with the courts regarding the road.
The department claims Nahanni Butte is trying to speed up development of Canadian Zinc Corporation's Prairie Creek Mine by getting around an environmental assessment process required for construction of a road to the mine.
Currently, a proposed all-season road to the mine has been languishing before the Mackenzie Valley Review Board for three years.
Although the old logging road Nahanni Butte was clearing – it finished in late April – did not overlap with the proposed all-season road, the GNWT noted it follows "the same general path."
The statement of claim sought unspecified damages, costs, an injunction against the band and possession of the road, arguing the band has "damaged territorial lands." The document claims territorial lands in the Nahanni Butte region are controlled by the commissioner until Nahanni Butte's land claims are settled.
As you'll read in today's News/North, Nahanni Butte is now pulling out of the Dehcho First Nations, the all-season road to the mine again at issue.
But in March, the band was defending allegations of "trespass" levelled against it by the GNWT as a land use permit would be needed to use heavy equipment on the land.
Marcellais said the band had asked for the department's assistance in putting together an application for a land use permit in early February and has been waiting to sign off on the final application.
"After more than 48 days, our operating season is coming to an end and the use of heavy equipment is pointless as we will soon be under spring thaw conditions," Marcellais stated in an e-mail.
"Once again, we are confused by government officials who claim to want to work with us to help us navigate the complex bureaucracy ... and when it's obvious they cannot simplify the process in a logical manner, they resort to calling attention to their self-importance and need to 'protect' the public.
The hearing between the band and the GNWT in front of NWT Supreme Court judge Shannon Smallwood in Yellowknife was adjourned April 7.
The GNWT has held the position that Nahanni Butte is trying to manoeuvre an end-run around the environmental protection process in order to speed up development of Prairie Creek Mine. However, after the band retained a lawyer and vowed to fight the injunction, the GNWT declared it would seek a solution outside of court.
Outspoken NWT Senator Nick Sibbeston, who hails from the Deh Cho region, has even called for an apology from the territorial government for what he termed its " terrible" decision to take legal action against the band.
We're not sure if that's called for but surely cooler heads need to prevail in this dispute.
It's amazing anything except frustration and frost flourish in this territory. With its overlapping jurisdictions and multi-layered approval processes, this is a frustrating place to do business.
The Nahanni Butte Dene Band's frustrating struggle to find a better way of life for its members is just the latest sad example of this.
'Tapped out' city a bad signNunavut/News North - Monday, May 8, 2017
Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern was the first guest speaker for a breakfast meeting series organized by a reborn Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce last month.
She told attendees about the city's woes finding the money to fund infrastructure repairs, which are such a burden on the city that it has had a hard time considering the creation of new infrastructure. But a growing population demands housing development, which requires sewage and water pipes. Apart from September 2016 funding for much-needed wastewater treatment, it's a cost the city has to bear.
Compared to the other communities, Iqaluit is blessed with a solid base of people with decent incomes. This fact leaves Iqaluit ratepayers holding the bag for infrastructure that supports all Baffin communities. The city, for example, is responsible for the roads that will lead to the airport set to open in August. Washrooms and food beyond security are among the perks of the new airport, but the water and sewer infrastructure for those are paid for by the city. Who decided that was fair?
Anyone in the city knows well the condition of the underground infrastructure, as city workers are always digging somewhere to replace pipes that are long past their expiry date. Redfern said the city would need hundreds of millions of dollars to get out of the business of temporary fixes.
Every hamlet faces similar problems. The federal and territorial governments took an important step this week in announcing $230 million to help ease some of them.
But the infrastructure funding deficit is only a symptom of a bigger problem: the economy on Baffin Island is too dependent on government and one large company, Baffinland. We are told about 100 businesses in Iqaluit - Redfern says the city has 300 licensed businesses in total - are contractors for Baffinland, and the trickle-down from the mine's activity means work for a lot of Baffin Island's workers.
But when Baffinland isn't producing, we also see the lack of trickle-down.
The positive effects of a busy mine are seen in Baker Lake, where Agnico Eagle has taken a depressed community and turned it into a thriving one.
Work begets work begets work.
A mine needs housing, services, groceries, airlines, etc. It's hard to quantify the number of people supported by such a corporation but it's easy to see the quality of life that comes from having it in the community and region.
And mine infrastructure begets other infrastructure. Depending on the mine, the business may need new or upgraded roads, airports and seaports. And those need workers to build and maintain them.
Governments often see infrastructure as the way to stimulate the economy, and it can certainly be an effective approach. Compared to local infrastructure, the feds are spending far more -billions -on Arctic/offshore patrol ships. That no doubt serves a purpose in maintaining Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, but so does healthy and happy communities.
For years to come, the territory will need massive support to even approach the level of infrastructure wealth enjoyed by southern businesses and communities.
The federal government and southern taxpayers must understand the overwhelming infrastructure needs of the North, and if Canada is truly a nation from coast to coast to coast, it is unacceptable that Northern communities exist in Third World conditions.
Filthy rest stops a disgrace Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 5, 2017
Highway rest stops are often a visitor's first impression of a new area or region.
There's nothing more natural than the need to stop and stretch one's legs or use the facilities after the
lengthy leg drive between High Level, Alta. and the NWT 60th Parallel Visitor Information Centre.
Officially the centre is only open May 15 to Sept. 15 but a pull-out remains cleared all winter and an
outhouse remains available and open.
One would assume this is in case a traveller needs to use the facilities. It's a benevolent gesture and many
a traveller is probably grateful for it. At least until they stop to use it.
Photos taken this past winter along with the recent observations of Ice Road Trucker columnist Alex Debogorski document a foul scene the description of which would turn stomachs if it were repeated here.
One can only imagine the reaction of a visitor coming across such a sight on his or her first visit to the territory. First impressions are lasting impressions.
While it would be hoped people using the outhouses would show consideration for those who come after
them, the territory should take more care to ensure that if facilities are made available, that they are maintained and cleaned regularly. To make matters worse, the phone number the GNWT provides to outhouse users takes callers to a voice-mail informing them that the number is disconnected and nobody is checking the messages.
Filthy rest stops and poor roadside maintenance have been a longstanding problem. When Yellowknifer investigated complaints of human feces being left at rest stops on Highway 3 in 2009 the departments of Transportation and Industry, Tourism and Investment both argued it was the other that was responsible for cleaning up.
If maintenance is impossible for whatever reason, simply lock the thing up. A disgraceful outhouse does
no one any good and only invites ridicule and disdain. A situation like this invites finger pointing and blaming as different government agencies pass the buck but this isn't about laying blame.
This is about the government of the Northwest Territories cleaning up its act and putting its best foot forward
when it comes to what visitors experience when they first arrive in the territory via the major southern highway artery.
Keep calm and think of arsenic Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 5, 2017
Knowledge is power but the latest batch of academics researching
arsenic might want to take a lesson from their predecessors.
When researchers from the University of Ottawa announced last
year that lakes around Yellowknife had dangerously high levels of
arsenic and mercury, it caused a panic. Not because the findings were false – they're not – but because researchers failed to explain what the situation actually meant for ordinary people.
The way the information filtered to the public painted Yellowknife as a
toxic stew bubbling with danger. The lakes in question, however, are all tiny – many mere puddles – and in close proximity to Giant Mine where people are not likely to fish or go bathing.
On the flipside, in the 1990s data from the Baffin region showed Inuit in Canada had some of the highest levels of toxicity in the world, thanks to country food that had been contaminated with around 200 different toxic pesticides and industrial compounds.
Health officials were stymied - there's no good solution when the
choice is eating contaminated meat or unaffordable processed food from the south. So in 1997, public health officials decided to just shut up, and tell people the benefits of eating their foods outweighed the risk.
This year's researchers, who took samples from people at a community consultation last month to study the human-health effects of the Giant Mine cleanup, need to tread lightly and strive for a similar balance. The research they're doing is incredibly important.
It needs to be done, and it needs to keep making headlines so the issue isn't literally buried. Ignorance isn't bliss-- but researchers have a responsibility in how they choose to ring the alarm.
Avoiding the broad brush of indigenous reportingInuvik Drum - Thursday, May 4, 2016
One of the most interesting things I was told at the 25th anniversary for the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement was that they weren't hosting any hand games for the evening.
All of the other communities had hand games for their corresponding celebrations.
Purely from my work-driven need for photography opportunities, I was hoping for hand games in Inuvik and curious why they weren't on the agenda.
Apparently not everyone here likes hand games.
Some view it, I heard, as a Sahtu tradition. It's not part of the history of the people here and not something many of them want to engage in.
Learning that made me reconsider how I report on indigenous issues in general.
Being non-aboriginal myself, it is natural and easy for me to report on indigenous people as a block, writing that they are engaging in an "aboriginal tradition" or showing their "aboriginal culture."
Even if I don't personally like to use those kind of blanket terms, a fast-paced reporting environment lends itself to easy turns of phrase.
Describing something as a Gwich'in or Inuvialuit tradition would be more accurate.
Traditions across aboriginal cultures are not all the same, and neither are traditions across other cultures or any other ethnicity. Broad brushes paint a poor picture.
It bothers me to ever refer to someone's ethnicity or heritage, but as a journalist I can't escape the fact "indigenous issues" is a repeated theme of coverage in the North. Almost all the institutions, from the government to the private sector, use the same blanket terminology.
To an extent it makes sense, as the subject of indigenous history is its own niche considering Canada's history, whereas "Canadians" is used only as a matter of fact and identification.
Although many indigenous people speak proudly of their aboriginal heritage, I can't help but wonder if any get tired of being lumped together as a homogenous group.
I personally bristle at any sort of group identity being placed on me, whether it's Canadian, caucasion, male or what have you. I am all of those things but don't want to be reduced to one and equated to everyone else who shares those traits with me.
The same goes for women, who are also often treated by the media as a block, as if all women think the same and are invested in the same issues.
The blunt presumption of using group identity to determine an individual's opinions is inaccurate at best and downright offensive at worst.
When writing on a deadline, "aboriginal tradition" is an easy way to get through a sentence and move on, without being more precise.
But surely I owe the same nuanced view I have of myself to the people on whom I report.
Clear rules needed for mall washroomsYellowknifer - Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Nobody, other than the participants, knows exactly what led to an A&W customer being roughed up by security at Centre Square Mall late last month.
That said, one rhetorical question helps to put the situation into perspective: What would have happened if the mall security guard had just given Ranelda McNeely the key to the washroom?
McNeely, a 23-year-old pregnant mother, had just eaten with her family at A&W and needed to use the washroom. She found a security guard on the lower level of the mall and asked him for a key.
Somehow, the situation escalated into a three-way fracas between McNeely, the security guard and for some reason, his mother.
A&W serves food, so it has to provide a washroom. According to A&W's manager, customers have access to a mall washroom but employees aren't given any specific policy on how to guide patrons there.
They don't stipulate customers need to use a certain washroom, and they don't advise patrons to carry any proof they are A&W customers.
Obviously, something needs to change here.
Either the mall needs to come up with an easy-to-understand policy for accessing the washroom, or security just needs to provide access without question.
It certainly does seem like at the mall, the pendulum has swung pretty hard from a laissez-faire attitude on loitering to a crackdown toward it.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. As Felix Seiler, one of the mall's owners says, the mall has long been a rough place.
Nobody deserves to come to work to be harassed, spit on or swarmed. And shop owners pay good money to rent space, so they deserve to be able to run their businesses in peace.
There will be growing pains for sure but the transition will go much more smoothly if those in security roles at the mall use their heads before judging people and perhaps even post a clear washroom and loitering policy.
This is the song that never endsYellowknifer - Wednesday, May 3, 2017
After the summer of 2014 - the worst forest fire season on record for the territory - the Department of Environment and Natural Resources reviewed its firefighting performance.
The department assessed how it responded to fires, used resources, protected buildings and other values, communicated with people and monitored fires. One of the recommendations at the time was to improve communications with the public.
Two years later, the department is still making that recommendation to itself.
Last summer, a fire along the Ingraham Trail blazed its way through Namushka Lodge at Harding Lake.
On the day it happened, one of the lodge owners met with the department to warn that his brother and 21 guests were out there. Nobody in the government tried to make contact with the people at Namushka Lodge. Nobody even tried to warn a superior about the situation. The lodge was destroyed but fortunately, nobody was hurt.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has been struggling with good communication for years, and post-mortem reports such as the one into the Namushka Lodge fire illustrate this.
At some point, the department is going to have to start taking its own advice before somebody gets hurt or killed.
The lunacy of over-sensitivityEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, May 3, 2017
I've been fortunate in Rankin Inlet during the past 18-plus years to have known a fair number of people who liked to discuss "hot topics" of the day openly and honestly, without playing the race card or firing about a bunch of impossible-to-disprove labels in an effort to force silence or capitulation.
It has been my experience, those who employ such tactics usually do so when unable to counter a well-made point, get themselves involved in a discussion with someone of the opposite view who has a deeper understanding of the topic, or are really not interested in any opinion but than their own.
I've grown during the course of the discussions I've had with folks in Rankin over the years.
The most important lesson for me was learning to not only listen to an opposing viewpoint, but to try to understand it and where the person expressing it is coming from.
I can't say it's changed my opinion on a vast number of issues, but it has changed it on some, and a few of them were surprisingly so to me.
Learning how to properly evaluate the opinion of others, while being able to constructively examine my own way of looking at things, taught me to understand the different types of racism and how they differ.
It also helped me learn to differentiate between fact and wishing it were so in the opinion of others.
Learning these skills came at a vital time in my life, as the rules of debate were radically changing, and one was no longer allowed to counterpoint with the logically obvious.
If someone suggests every Canadian should have to learn Inuktitut, you risk having an ugly word tossed at you for asking is that after all English folks learn French and all Francophones learn English, our nation's two official languages.
We're supposed to be a great model of multiculturalism and racial harmony for the world, but we're becoming a nation where a minority of easily-offended types rule due to everyone's fear of being called a racist or a bigot, and it has transcended craziness to absolute lunacy.
There are two people considering court action because of the revocation of their personalized license plate.
In Winnipeg, a city with a population of 705,000, a man by the name of Nick Troller - a huge fan of the Star Trek franchise - had his plate taken when two people complained part of it was offensive to indigenous peoples.
Troller's plate proclaimed we are the Borg! Resistance is futile! And, here it comes, Assimil8.
So two people in a city of 705,000 ignored the Star Trek characterization of the evil Borg - a fictitious alien race that is, in reality, a collection of species who have been turned into cybernetic organisms to serve as worker bees while connected to a hive mind known as the Collective - and applied it to the struggles of indigenous peoples.
They're lucky Harry Potter wasn't there, or they may have quickly raised their tolerance bar.
But, if being offended by a Borg fan isn't enough, look no further than a Nova Scotia man who had his plate revoked for the spelling of his last name.
It made no difference to the handful who complained that Lorne Grabher was a real person, and there were no sexual desires or fantasies attached to his family name being on the license plate.
In Grabher's case, the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms - arguably this country's last true bastion of free speech and equal rights for all - is threatening to sue the Nova Scotia government for infringement of the freedom of expression.
We do live in the greatest country in the world, but the attack on free speech and freedom of expression, as well as the rampant over-sensitivity, has to end or it will not remain so for much longer!
