It seems Yellowknife City Council simply cannot deal with the idea that the houseboats in the bay are not now and will probably never be its responsibility.
Earlier this month, the City asked the people who live on the houseboats to sit down with representatives from Council and a couple of mediators from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), who were on hand to help them resolve their differences.
Seems like a marvellous political gesture of superficial good will, but very little else. Considering the City has two lawsuits pending against the houseboaters, perhaps the gesture is not even a good one politically.
Since 1995, City Hall has been trying, through the courts, to impose its sovereignty over the houseboats, despite the fact that it has been clearly and repeatedly spelled out to everyone involved that the bay is a federal jurisdiction, not a municipal one.
It seems unlikely that the federal government, in the persona of Ports Canada, is going to make some sort of exception in the case of Yellowknife and hand over control of the boats in the bay to the City of Yellowknife.
Despite the clarity of that, the City keeps the lawsuits, apparently for the right to tax the boats and to control them through building permits and the like, going.
Now City Hall has drug the territorial government into the mix through MACA. What, exactly, was supposed to be accomplished by this meeting is unclear: other than to help the City and the houseboaters resolve the dispute. How, again, this is not made clear.
The only people actually making any headway in this five-year legal odyssey are the lawyers who are involved, who are happily building their retirement packages. It's time the City considered letting the whole thing drop. It can't win and it's just going to keep costing everyone involved money, time and grief to discover the City can't win.
Which comes first, the passengers or the bus service?
That is the question that the city is grappling with in the wake of a recently completed study of public transit service.
In Yellowknife, where distance rather than density is a factor in the city's growth, public transit will become increasingly important. Access to industrial parks for workers without vehicles is a selling point to developers and potential employers.
The problem is that developing public transit costs the taxpayers money and the returns aren't immediate. However, expanding bus service should be part of an overall plan for the city's future. Spending on public transit must be regarded as a long-term investment. The money is recouped from an expanding tax base. That's why extending bus service to Kam Lake makes long-term sense.
During National Nurses Week we would like to take the opportunity to thank these caring professionals who put up with us when we are at our very worst.
From cuddling preemies to spoon-feeding seniors, the nurses run the gamut of service in our health care centres.
They're waiters and waitresses, a comforting hand to hold and a nice smile when you need it most and, with the exception of this one week out of the year, their work goes largely without thanks or recognition.
Budget cutbacks, heavier workloads, wage freezes and strikes have our young men and women looking to other professions and shortages of nurses are inevitable.
We'll miss them when they're gone, but while we are still fortunate to have these tireless caregivers at our bedsides, lets smile and thank them for a job well done.
Editorial Comment
Paula White
Inuvik Drum
Imagine quitting school two months before graduation.
Many of us can't. But unfortunately it happens. Twyla Amos is living proof of that.
She also turned down an opportunity to go to university on a volleyball scholarship. It's something she obviously regrets. She said herself that she often wonders where she'd be now if she'd accepted.
Amos admitted she was young and foolish. But she said it with a laugh, because it was only about two or three years ago that she did this. By most people's standards, she is still young.
Maybe not so foolish anymore, however.
Amos is on her way to Europe with the U.S. junior girls' volleyball team. She and 21 other girls are going to train in Holland, Belgium, Germany and England. They will have the chance to play against some of Europe's finest players. Amos is the only Canadian on the team.
What a fantastic opportunity! Most people would give their eyeteeth to go to Europe, not to mention having the athletic ability to go as part of a top-notch team of volleyball players. Amos saw a great opportunity, and this time, she grabbed it. She wasn't going to pass this up. She's going to come back from Europe with improved volleyball skills and the memories of seeing places, people and cultures that most of us will only ever dream about seeing.
Amos credits her father for starting the ball rolling on the European tour. It's great to see how much respect she has for her father by giving him the credit. He definitely deserves it. But Amos is the one who has been out there pounding the pavement, trying to raise enough money to go. And she has been most successful.
Northern youth should pay close attention to Amos' situation. So many seem not to take school seriously enough. Many do, that's for sure. But just as many don't. They do enough just to get by, or drop out altogether. Five or six years later, they're wishing they hadn't.
Amos makes an excellent role model. She would be great to have as a guest speaker in a school. She's young enough to be able to relate to kids, but yet old enough to be able to tell them about her experiences.
Keeping kids in school is not a problem that's exclusive to this generation. It has been an issue for decades now. But like my generation and the one before that and the one before that, there are many kids who don't get the message.
Imagine having the smarts to recognize the fact that you'd made a bad decision. Imagine having the guts to turn your life around. Fortunately, lots of people do.
Twyla Amos is living proof of that.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Spare time. It's something many of us wish we could have more of -- much more of. Whatever we choose to do with it, it's certainly nice to be able to devote some time to a hobby, catch up with some friends or just plain lounge around.
Teachers, it's often pointed out, have plenty of spare time during the summer. Where else can you find a job that gives you the months of July and August to unwind? Even many teachers themselves will joke about it.
But they earn it. Most are too modest to admit it, but they are the pillars in many a community. If it wasn't for their voluntary efforts in their own "spare time," many programs and events would never get off the ground.
That point seemed quite clear to me over the past few weeks. Since my job requires me to photograph and record as many local events as possible, it often occurs to me just how many of them are co-ordinated by teachers.
Naturally, students love to travel. Trips with classmates and teammates have to rank among the most memorable events of young adulthood. However, travel requires lots of money, particularly in the North. Teachers are often saddled with the onus of accumulating those funds. Better yet, they oversee fundraisers that impart to students a greater sense of responsibility. Even though they get the students involved, the teachers still put in the hours. Over the past few weeks, the Nahanni Rafters from Thomas Simpson School held a jail and bail fundraiser and, more recently, a Mother's Day tea. Teachers were there for those events, sacrificing an evening and a Sunday afternoon.
Classes from Bompas School and Deh Gah School in Fort Providence will soon be going on trips to Alberta and Ottawa, respectively. In addition to various other revenue-generating activities, those students have catered more lunches and dinners than you'd ever imagine. Teachers have been there in the background, getting the groceries and doing the cooking. What a relief it must be to get a hand from a caring parent -- and there are a number of them out there as well.
The past weekend was the Bompas Carnival. For two hours, members of the community had the opportunity to play games and indulge in decadent snacks while teachers played host. Some of the teachers inevitably spent at least an hour to set things up beforehand and another hour to clean up afterwards. That's often the case.
Then there are the coaches. A significant portion of a community's coaches are teachers. They commit a minimum of a few hours per week leading their teams through practise. More hours are spent lining up games, tournaments and accommodations. Periodically, entire weekends are devoted to travelling with the team and supervising them after the games.
Scores of coaches sacrificed Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Super Soccer in Yellowknife on April 30, May 1 and 2. Not missing a beat, many of them were in the midst of other school events again this past weekend.
Whether it's running bingos, serving as volunteer firefighters, supervising community clean-ups, coaching student athletes, acting as chaperons or spending extra hours on tutorials after school, teachers are invaluable volunteers.
When the end of June rolls around, remember to wish them a relaxing summer holiday.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The cry has gone out for artificial ice once again in Rankin Inlet, and this time around, advocates of the movement appear ready to do whatever it takes to make their dream a reality.
At the first meeting, held at the hamlet to discuss plans to secure the financial wherewithal needed for the costly undertaking, it was a major surprise to most in attendance to learn from MLA Manitok Thompson that MACA's standards of criteria do not provide for artificial ice in any of the arenas being built in various Northern communities.
The result of this criteria faux pas is that these expensive new buildings are being grossly under utilised.
In Sanikiluaq this year, for example, the arena was only used for one short month due to warm weather conditions. Closer to home, Rankin barely doubled that time frame in only having its ice available from December until mid-March.
Rankin Minor Hockey Association president Jim Ramsay was bang on when he said people in the community should view the movement as a means seeking to develop a multi-use facility. Such a facility would provide countless hours of constructive endeavour for area youth and fill some of the dangerous down time our local kids must deal with.
Their is also the issue of community pride and spirit. Members of the Rankin Inlet old-timers squad who recently made the trip to Kuujjuaq, Quebec, witnessed that pride first hand during their trip.
That hamlet, with a smaller population than Rankin, has a modern, state-of-the-art facility which is beautiful to behold. Complete with a small gymnasium and bowling alley, people in that community take every opportunity to show off and brag about their rink.
Having a viable arena also affords the opportunity for various events and tournaments to be held which bring people from the Keewatin together. To find out how much of an impact that can have on a community, one needs to look no further than the absolute joy experienced in Repulse Bay last month when that community hosted the annual Kivalliq Cup tournament.
Although it could be argued there are more pressing issues facing Keewatin hamlets than artificial ice, there could be no arguing the benefits the ice surface would bring to a community. As with any proposal that stands to benefit our youth the most, it's tough to argue against any project that promises to make life a bit more fun for our kids.
Our youth do without enough of the things in life most southern kids take for granted. The time to start bridging that gap is now, and in Rankin Inlet, artificial ice would be a major step in that direction.