Wednesday, September 9, 1998
The Electoral Boundaries Commission is working on re-drawing the territorial map after division. They are looking at how many seats will be in the post-division legislature and the districts that those seats will represent.
The mayor and the city councillors have submitted their suggestions and they all have a similar refrain -- more representation for Yellowknife.
As things stand now, there are 14 seats in the legislature for electoral districts in the western Arctic.
If the present allocation stands, Yellowknife will be sorely under-represented. With division, the city, with roughly half the population of the Western Arctic, would have less than a third of the seats.
In a jurisdiction as spread out and as sparsely populated as the western Arctic, the standard paradigms of representation by population are difficult to apply. Regions have specific interests that merit representation in the legislature despite the small number of voters.
On the other hand, both Dettah and Ndilo are lumped in with the city of Yellowknife. Their concerns have to compete with those of the city for attention.
Like it or not, what happens in Yellowknife resonates through the rest of the territories. The fiscal health of the capital is important for the regions. Yellowknife is the engine of the western Arctic's economy. Yet the city's interests are not adequately reflected in the number of elected representatives in the legislature.
The submissions by the mayor and the city councillors are designed to bring the city's presence in the legislature more in line with its importance to the western Arctic. Their recommendations will inevitably inflame some resentments in the communities. So be it.
It is important that the legislature reflect the reality of the territories. And it is important that every voter in the territories is reasonably represented.
The strength of any democratic system is its inherent fairness. Let's hope the boundaries commission keeps that in mind.
This summer there have been many reports of land speed records on Highway 3.
Cutting the time it takes to drive to High Level, or Edmonton, even Calgary, is a matter of pride for some frequent drivers.
While these speed demons don't say they are breaking the law, we know better. How can anybody, even fairly cautious drivers, help it when the speed limit on the paved highway is the same for the rocky cart trail between Yellowknife and Rae?
We can only hope transportation minister Jim Antoine from Fort Simpson or House Speaker Sam Gargan, who hails from Fort Providence, get sick of driving 90 km/hr, as we know they do faithfully, and legislate a reasonable increase in the speed limit.
The lone wildlife officer who had to deal with the young black bear wandering down Matonabbee street two weeks ago said he was unable to contact other off duty officers.
As a result, the bear was killed instead of captured and relocated.
There is no point in having a live capture and release policy, as renewable resources does, if there is insufficient manpower available to achieve the policy.
The sad incident highlights a need to refine procedures. The live release policy should include the requirement that enough officers be on call and available on short notice to carry the policy out.
Editorial comment
Jennifer Pritchett
Kivalliq News
Finishing high school had real significance for one graduate of Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik high school in Rankin Inlet this year. Bertha Tukturdjuk is the first high school graduate from Repulse Bay since 1982. Her perseverance is to be commended. She has accomplished something that no other student in the community has done for more than 15 years.
One of seven in her graduating class in Rankin Inlet, her efforts must be recognized and used as an example to other youths in the community who haven't yet received their diploma.
But Repulse Bay is not alone in the struggle to get more students through Grade 12. The story is the same throughout the North. Out of the 636 students across the territories who were enrolled in Grade 12 last year, only 300 graduated. With only 27 per cent of students graduating, compared to 73 per cent in southern Canada, the NWT has the lowest graduation rate in the country.
The numbers will only improve one student at a time. Success stories like Tukturdjuk are the kind that can move students to reverse the trend to quit school.
In fact, the numbers have already started to rise across the NWT. In 1997-98, 300 students collected Grade 12 diplomas while the previous two years had slightly fewer with 295 graduates in 1996 and 263 in 1995.
In addition to slightly more students completing school, more and more adults are returning to the classroom to get more training. In 1995-96, 2,051 Northerners received government funding for education purposes. This indicates some serious effort on the part of government to make education attainable. The rest is up to the students and their families.
However slowly, the situation does appear to be changing. There seems to be a greater emphasis on education in the last couple of years. This is encouraging and it's the positive results that students have to see when they are struggling through school. Others have done it, so can they.
And Tukturdjuk has done a lot for students in her community. Her distinction as Repulse Bay's first graduate in more than 15 years has instilled a sense that the goal can be reached. Let's hope that more and more students from that community and others will finish school and go on to have promising futures.