There's a well-worn adage about the aboriginal approach to schedules and deadlines: "Inuit time" or "Dene time."

To some those phrases border on racist, to others they fairly reflect thousands of years of living on natural schedules rather than those run by digital clocks. Either way, we propose a third brand: "Western Constitutional Working Group Time."

A constitution for what's left of the NWT after Nunavut splits has been in the works for at least 13 years, and yet some members of the latest group charged with producing one seem to feel it's appropriate to blow off important scheduled meetings to tour Europe.

The MLAs in question -- David Krutko (Mackenzie Delta), Roy Erasmus (Yellowknife North) and Charles Dent (Yellowknife Frame Lake) -- apparently believe they can best serve their constituents by looking for tips on how to convince BHP to locate a diamond valuation centre in the NWT than by sitting through yet another meeting on that darned constitution.

As a result, an important meeting was cancelled earlier this month. The advent of Nunavut drew that much closer with no sign of a resolution to the formidable challenges facing the working group.

Some may argue that the April 1, 1999, deadline is "arbitrary," that we can take all the time in the world we need to get the constitution right.

Such a view is misguided for two reasons. First, after 13 years, we are still a long way from resolving the differences over the inclusion of aboriginal representation in a new NWT legislature. Without a deadline to focus our efforts, there is no reason to be optimistic of progress.

Second, Nunavut's future politicians deserve to know with whom and what they will be dealing when it comes time to discuss pan-Northern issues. The working group owes it to the people of Nunavut and the people of the rest of the NWT not to waste any more time.

Get to work, folks.

The MLAs who went to Antwerp would have better spent their frequent-flyer points going to Ottawa. After all, if real influence is to be exerted on the location of a diamond-sorting centre, it will come from Ottawa.

Those diamonds are a Northern resource. Their assessment will effect Northern revenues. To put a sorting operation anywhere but the North flies in the face of any commitment to the development of Northern resources.

If Ottawa wants to reduce the North's dependency on federal contributions, it has to encourage the development of secondary industries here. A diamond-sorting centre is an obvious first step.