It is doubtful that a "Road to Resources" to the mineral rich Slave Province will be built in the next decade but that doesn't stop everybody from arguing where the road should start -- Yellowknife or Rae-Edzo.
Few Yellowknifers stop to think the question over very long before deciding Yellowknife is the logical choice, considering all the services we offer.
Rae-Edzo is the logical choice for the people living there, based upon geography.
In the March 10, Yellowknifer, Rae-Edzo Chamber of Commerce president Fred Behrens, who also happens to be mayor, once again expressed support for the future road to start in his town.
Forgetting his expected bias, Behrens makes two good points: The Rae-Edzo route, once built, would be faster and cheaper; secondly, a road would open up the communities of Rae lakes, What Ti and Snare Lakes. That means 800 potential customers for Yellowknife.
Rae-Edzo has a population of 1660 which could be expected to grow if such a road existed. There would be service facilities built and people needed to staff them, again more potential customers for Yellowknife.
The advantages of having the road come through Yellowknife are not as clear. Beyond cottage country on the Ingraham Trail there are only caribou who are notorious for buying nothing and not settling down in any one place very long. More truckers may gas up and eat but Yellowknife would be little more than a whistle stop.
Of course no such road should be contemplated until the dusty donkey trail between Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife has been straightened and paved.
Taking Behren's point, if the road to resources can also be the road to new commerce for the Dogrib region and Yellowknife, that would be the best of both worlds. At the very least, it is a concept worth serious discussion.
We applaud the efforts of a handful of Northern businessmen making up the team of investors hoping to get the go-ahead to open up the second diamond-cutting and polishing plant in the city.
Arctic Diamonds, which will be 50 per cent Northern-owned and 50 per cent owned by outsiders (with Belgium and Southern Canadian investors) has conditional approval from the GNWT to set up shop. They are now awaiting word from BHP, who will be Arctic Diamond's main supplier.
If this new plant goes ahead, it will train and employ upwards of 40 people and be the second cutting and polishing operation in the city.
This is good news for Yellowknife. The more industry launched in the North in connection with the diamond play the better. Then there's the fact that Arctic Diamonds would be setting up shop in downtown Yellowknife at a yet-to-be disclosed location. One only has to look around at all the empty storefronts and commercial space to realize that we've certainly got the room.
There was no shortage of events around the North last week honouring women during International Women's Week.
Yellowknife was no exception, holding, among other things, the Dare to Dream conference at the Explorer Hotel. The conference provided a forum to deal with women's issues arising from the territorial division.
How will the division affect women? Did anyone ask this question at any time during the process of splitting the NWT in two?
So often, so many political decisions are made without thought to how it will affect women or other minorities. So it's nice to see that there are those who work hard to make sure women are not forgotten during these times.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The ideal of always giving someone a second chance, no matter what their standing in society, sounds good in theory, but can often be difficult moral ground to maintain.
That being said, it is interesting to note there are those who were more than a little surprised with Coral Harbour MLA James Arvaluk's election win and rise to the cabinet position of minister of education.
This could prove itself to be a huge gamble on the part of Nunavut's first elected representatives.
Yes, there can be no denying Arvaluk's many contributions to the Northern political landscape during the past few decades. And, being a democracy, one also has to respect the voice of his constituents who felt he was still the best choice to represent them in Nunavut's first legislative assembly.
It is also quite obvious Arvaluk's fellow politicians had enough faith in the man and his political experience and expertise to elect him to a cabinet position. Such an endorsement of confidence in Arvaluk's abilities coming from the people we've chosen to lead our new government carries a great deal of weight.
And, there are many who say Arvaluk is his own harshest critic, that he's learned his lesson and deserves a second chance.
But there are also many in the educational field who wonder how those who must work under the new minister will feel about taking direction from someone who did not have to pass the same stringent screening tests as they and would not have been approved to hold their positions if he had been subjected to the same procedures.
There is no choice but to wait and see how what some people perceive to be Premier-elect Paul Okalik and the legislative assembly's first major gamble will play out.
However, there are voices in the Keewatin not entirely comfortable with the scenario of Arvaluk as education minister.
While many people still want to hold on to the traditional values of forgiveness and second chances, some people also believe change has to come in certain areas to ensure a brighter future for their youth. They are not convinced Arvaluk's appointment was a step in the right direction.
Hopefully, Arvaluk's appointment will prove itself to be a good one. But, there are those who will question the overall value of such a gamble and view the move as setting a dangerous precedent in what our new government views as socially acceptable.