City councillor Shauna Morgan is right to be concerned about the state of Jackfish Lake - an appealing body of water at the northern perimeter of the city save for the alarming presence of blue-green algae that has turned the water an unsightly reddish-brown the last few years.
Morgan raised the issue during a municipal services meeting earlier this year where the subject matter was a capital area plan, which encompasses Jackfish Lake.
There was some uproar earlier this year when it was learned the territorial government hadn't tested water quality in Kam Lake in nearly 30 years despite a report from 1989 showing arsenic levels at more than five times the Canadian guideline level for safe drinking water.
But Jackfish Lake, which the GNWT reports has arsenic levels about five times the recommended drinking water level, is much more accessible to the public, tourists in particular, who are bound to be less aware of arsenic issues around Yellowknife than residents are. Fred Henne Territorial Park, downtown, the legislative assembly and museum are just a short walk down the road from Jackfish Lake. The area is crisscrossed with hiking trails.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is conducting a water sampling program of Jackfish this summer. Hopefully, this will provide the public with some information about the health and water quality of the lake.
Blue-green algae problems aside, it is an attractive area enjoyed by residents and tourists alike so developing more tourism and recreation-related infrastructure, such as boardwalks and lookouts, is a good idea.
In the meantime, there should be clear signage warning visitors there to not swim, drink the water, or eat the fish.
Keeping arts alive could pay off for struggling community
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, July 20, 2017
Antoine Mountain judges a community's health by its art.
The concept can sound airy to those more focused on hard sciences, economics and industry.
What does a painting or poem matter next to a multi-million-dollar rock quarry operation or satellite industry?
Art can be a proxy word for self-expression. In that light, the connection to community health becomes more clear.
Nothing is more defining of the human experience than self-expression. Without that, we're not all that different from animals, ants or any self-replicating organisms.
The concept is embedded in history as peoples across cultures battled for their own freedom to express themselves, in political, economic and personal terms.
A community with no self-expression is either under some kind of authoritarian control or devoid of emotion for another reason. The freer the society, the more humans can be humans.
With funding drying up, the Great Northern Arts Festival nearly didn't happen this year. The festival that is going on is scaled down from years past, as the largely empty hockey arena for workshops exemplifies.
But ask anyone attending, artist or visitor, and they're glad it's happening.
Discussion of social ills and crime in Inuvik has been a hot topic lately, with the Gwich'in Tribal Council recently hosting a community meeting to address the subject.
Vandalizing grave sites, drinking to blackout night after night and disengaging with society in similar ways are evidence of people who are lost and directionless.
Teenage years seem to be a point of divergence among people in the Beaufort Delta, judging by students' success numbers in high school. Some discover their passions, stay in school and find their path in life, while others become disengaged with the prescribed path and find their expression in darker places and forms.
Without a doubt, the greatest predictor for future behaviour is a child's upbringing and development.
Anything the North can do to develop positive passion in young people will help steer them clear of these more destructive paths. Though we can rage at the people who act out in this way and vandalize the community, we all wish they could heal and become contributing members of society, as everyone has worth and something to give.
Arts are one very accessible way young people can find their passion and voice. It's not barred off in the way long-term career and other educational choices are.
Sports go along with that. School athletics have the remarkable ability to switch a light on in students who otherwise look disengaged with the institution.
Both GNAF and the North American Indigenous Games, currently running in Toronto, provide outlets for self-expression and opportunities for people to find what makes them happy.
With money tight in the region these days, these kind of pursuits seem like easy places to cut.
But beyond the simple aesthetics of a nice drawing or good feeling from a day on the ball field, providing these sort of outlets and opportunities reinforce positive values and passion that will pay off for the community in the long term.
Feds falling behind in support for homeless
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, July 19, 2017
The Liberal Government has carefully crafted a reputation as the party that cares about social issues.
So it's especially galling the city has been twice denied modest federal funding for homelessness initiatives.
On top of earlier successful efforts such as Bailey House, Lynn's Place and the Housing First program, the city, territorial government and other organizations have been working for more than a year on a broader comprehensive plan to combat homelessness. The federal government is expected to be a key player in this, as many of these initiatives are going to be expensive. The housing portion, led by consultant Alina Turner, is expected to cost more than $100 million.
On top of housing, the city and territorial government have been busy building other support systems including a mobile-outreach program, sobering centre, extended hours for the homeless shelter and a managed alcohol program.
Last week, the city failed to get a $100,000 investment into its mobile-outreach program because city staff wasn't able to make the program fit the federal government Homeless Partnering Strategy directives.
The mobile-outreach program would roam the streets looking for vulnerable people who need rides to a shelter, their place of residence or the city's sobering centre. It seems ridiculous a program like this wouldn't fit the directives of a government strategy to combat homelessness.
This rejection comes on the heels of another denial of $500,000 for a managed alcohol program because apparently it isn't innovative enough, another ridiculous assertion.
For his part, NWT MP Michael McLeod has been silent on both funding rejections. This simply cannot stand. He should be banging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's door down demanding the help his constituents need.
If the city can't depend on the feds to match the tangible efforts of junior governments, it doesn't inspire confidence they will offer much real support at all to the plan as a whole.
A vast majority of Yellowknife's vulnerable population is struggling in part with the lingering effects of the residential school system.
Keeping this in mind, funding a support system for these people should be easy and straightforward, not torpedoed by poorly conceived directives.
By saying no, the feds are not only threatening the existence of essential programming for this city but their own legacy as a government in touch with the needs of their constituents.
Ban on running dogs needed
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Right now there is no law on the books banning people from running their dogs alongside their cars.
This is how some Yellowknife dog owners exercise their dogs, usually at the Sand Pits or the Dettah Winter Road. Not only is this practice borderline cruel - there is no way forcing a dog to run alongside a car is even a little bit fun for any dog -it's unsafe.
Last year, for example, Yellowknife resident Trudy Hause's dog was injured by a driver running a dog alongside their truck at the Sand Pits.
Partly in response to this incident, city council is considering a ban on running dogs, at least on roads within municipal jurisdiction.
The only dissent on the bylaw comes from Coun. Niels Konge, who expressed doubt at last week's municipal services committee meeting that such a bylaw would ever be enforced, seeing as there are so many other bylaws on the books that don't.
Considering there has been a push in the past few years to crack down on distracted driving, it begs the question: how is texting while driving any less distracting than driving with a dog leashed up outside a moving vehicle?
Time to start treating the practice of running dogs alongside cars as the public-safety issue it is.
Recognizing Northern talent
Editorial Comment by April Hudson
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, July 19, 2017
I have worked with fur and leather all my life as a hobby, but I've never seen garments quite as fine as the ones worn by Veroniquez and Iqaluk Nirlungayuk on Nunavut Day in Rankin Inlet.
The exquisite garments, crafted from caribou hide, were finer than any other clothing I've set eyes on.
Such garments are often compared to works of art, but they are much more than that: practical; warm; essential; and in many ways the embodiment of a Northern lesson I learned as a child, to use every part of an animal and let nothing go to waste.
It made me think of how inspiring it is to see what can be created by someone who truly embraces their talents.
Combined with the many beautiful dresses and boots worn by women and girls, the celebration was a joy for a sewing enthusiast such as myself.
When I met Veroniquez and Iqaluk, I had been in Rankin Inlet for a grand total of two days.
I'll admit I was full of trepidation when I arrived: of all the territories and provinces I've lived and worked in, this was my first time setting foot in Nunavut.
The afternoon of July 9 was all it took to dispel any nervousness I felt. Children danced with each other and screamed in delight, friends faced off over the egg-toss and families bonded over Frisbees and balloons.
It was everything a celebration should be.
Cold weather didn't dampen spirits, either. Wind and gray clouds were brushed off as if they didn't exist.
Speaking of Northern talent, Calvin Pameolik and Gustin Adjun were perfect picks for the afternoon's entertainment. The two wowed the crowd with sets of well-known songs coupled with originals that truly grasped one's heartstrings. These were two young, professional musicians and it was obvious they took their music seriously - although their stage presence was anything but serious, with plenty of laughter, grinning and lighthearted songs.
All the singers - including two brave young girls who got up on stage to belt out a song - made it worth sticking around for the whole afternoon. Before I knew it, I'd been there for three hours.
What a welcome.
It struck me that Nunavut Day itself is far more than just a celebration of a territory that has existed for only 18 years. Of course, the land itself and the Inuit people have been here much longer, and that's really what the celebrations seemed to be about: a tribute to tradition, culture and a way of life that has existed for centuries.
Much of the credit for the day's success deservedly goes to Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), which planned the day to be something that could be enjoyed by all ages. That was evident in the games and activities for children and adults as well as elders.
One of the greatest touches, which truly made the afternoon feel like a festival, were the balloons created by Lori Flynn, Brenda Osmond and Audrey Paynter. Those three had a line-up of children - and, I'm sure, some adults as well - all afternoon as they twisted balloons into various shapes.
This was definitely a day to remember.
I know I'll never forget it.
Don't break dish deal
Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, July 17, 2017
Space appears to be the final frontier for some of Canada's federal government's licensing mandarins, as they ignore the needs of private industry by throwing a force field around their precious, dysfunctional regulatory system.
A multi-million dollar satellite monitoring farm in Inuvik continues to sit idle, as the feds take their sweet time to decide on a licensing application. A process that usually takes a few months in other countries, is looking at a year with no resolution in sight.
The frustrating ordeal has soured applicants' excitement over the promise of starting a satellite industry in a community that is looking for alternatives to the fizzling oil and gas business.
Planet, along with Kongsberg Satellite and New North Networks, has invested $10 million in the private ground station in Inuvik. It had hoped to use the station to track a late July launch of 48 satellites. But then the wonders of space met the impossibly impenetrable and completely lacklustre licensing skills of one federal government department.
As a result, Planet has threatened to pull out of Inuvik if it can't soon get its satellite licence approved.
News/North reminds readers that it was on June 11 when the GNWT marked the completion of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link, designed to help grow and attract the satellite business. The $80-million, 1,154-kilometre fibre line connects High Level, Alta., to Inuvik, and it will extend to Tuktoyaktuk once the all-season road is finished.
The federal department responsible for administering the decade-old Remote Sensing Space Systems Act is the massive Global Affairs Canada, which has three ministers at the helm.
The exasperating situation has caught the attention of the international aerospace industry, after a July 11 story headlined "Planet ground station caught in Canadian regulatory limbo," appeared in SpaceNews.
Mike Safyan, director of launch for Planet, was frank about his frustration dealing with Global Affairs Canada.
"Working with them, to be frank, has been a huge pain," he said. "Their timelines for review have been incredibly frustrating and the whole process has been surprisingly opaque."
Global affairs spokesperson Jocelyn Sweet took some time responding to Inuvik Drum editor Stewart Burnett's request for information.
Painting a bleaker picture for the future of the Inuvik satellite industry - and any similar projects that could seek licensing anywhere in Canada in the near future - is the fact Global Affairs is currently considering the results of an independent review of the act to determine how to best regulate the sector. But Sweet wouldn't or couldn't elaborate on what "considering" means.
McGill University's study this year of the Space Systems Act concluded, in part, "the Global Affairs Canada office in charge of implementing the act as 'underfunded and under-staffed,' and recommending that more resources are required, especially as applications increase."
Inuvik Mayor Jim McDonald told town council he has raised the concerns over the issue with NWT MP Michael McLeod.
If the people of NWT elected McLeod to be part of the new Liberal government, then this absurd bureaucratic logjam is something they would expect him to throw some verbal dynamite on.
If MP McLeod and his brother, NWT Premier Bob McLeod, can't convince the Trudeau government to salvage the Inuvik base station by issuing a simple licence, their political stock won't be only thing failing to lift off.
Territorial arts centre overdue
Nunavut/News North - Monday, July 17, 2017
As Kiviuq Returns closed out the Alianait Festival on July 3, the show made two things abundantly clear: Nunavut's got talent, and it's about darn time there was a place to showcase it.
Nunavut is the only Canadian jurisdiction without its own dedicated performance arts space. It doesn't have to be that way.
Back in the 1980s, when Nunavut was just a glint in devolution's eye, the Northwest Territories didn't have a performance space either. But after major support from The Globe and Mail drew attention to the issue, the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre incorporated in 1981, thanks to contributions from businesses, foundations and individuals from across the country. After more than 30 years, it's still the only fully equipped live performance theatre in the NWT.
Nunavut has one of the richest artistic communities in the country, creating all sorts of groundbreaking kinds of performance. Nunavut is home to cutting edge Canadian performers who are inspiring people around the globe while reawakening traditional stories and art forms and re-imagining them for 2017. That's awesome -- and Nunavummiut deserve a space of their own to shine the spotlight on their community. Northern art and artists are often held up as distinctly 'Canadian' but they shouldn't just be celebrated in the south.
Without an arts centre in Nunavut, the territory is missing out on an opportunity to strengthen ties to the rest of Canada through art. What's more, an artistic centre would provide a reason for other performers to come to Nunavut, which can only strengthen and enrich the artistic landscape here. Art is pivotal to society; it's a way to help make connections, increase understanding and open minds.
A fundraising campaign for a performing arts centre launched on July 1, and Qaggiavuut, the territorial performing arts group, has enlisted the support of centres across the country. Kiviuq Returns heads to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa July 21 and 22, and will hopefully draw attention as well.
This time around, Nunavummiut don't need to wait for The Globe and Mail to get involved. Hopefully the rest of Canada will listen.
