It's ironic and sad. While there are programs and a territorial act in place to assist victims of crime, no fund exists to help a victim buy a new pair of glasses.

The same goes for some one who requires dental work after being beaten in downtown Yellowknife by hoodlums wielding pieces of two-by-four. Dental work doesn't come cheap.

This summer has produced many such innocent victims of crime in our city. Yellowknife Centre MLA Jake Ootes, who became involved in a search for a program to help these victims, can find no such program.

There used to be. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Program helped victims recoup financial loss, but it was discontinued June 1, 1996, a victim itself of GNWT budget cuts.

The Victims of Crime Act, which came into force in 1989, provides for compassionate treatment of victims, compensation for harm suffered and information for victims on their role in the court procedure.

This is the act that established the victims' assistance fund. That fund is financed by criminals as part of their sentence.

Unfortunately, it seems the victims' assistance fund can't be used to compensate individuals for specific losses. It can only find programs to refer them to for help and support. There are no programs to help with unexpected costs like glasses or lost teeth.

This is ridiculous.

Funds must be made available, especially for those who fall into that often neglected lower income bracket between welfare and comfortable middle class. These are the individuals and families who must go without necessities to pay for something that they shouldn't have had to deal with in the first place.

Such an oversight on the part of our legislators, quite frankly, makes us sick.

You've got to hand it to Mary Rocher. On Tuesday morning, her family store, Quality Furniture, lay in charred ruins along with almost half a million dollars of uninsured inventory.

On Thursday, Rocher is declaring the store open for business.

Such a spirited turnaround takes more than deep pockets. It takes the kind of determination that builds communities and economies where they before didn't exist, like Yellowknife.

So welcome back, Mary. Maybe you should think about taking Sunday off.

With Caribou Carnival put to rest for at least the 1998 season, what then is the fate of the Canadian Championship Dog Derby?

Well, it seems to be toast, too, which could spell disaster for the carnival for years to come. As one musher told us earlier this week, Edmonton is vying for a high-profile, big money dog race of its own.

With our race in peril, Edmonton will get just the opportunity it needs to make their community the new spot on the circuit.

That's a shame, because a Caribou Carnival without a dog derby will certainly not have international pull and national prestige and will not provide Yellowknife with an economic boost it has come to enjoy. Without that, the carnival might just fizzle and die.