This is not too alarming in itself considering the hits the city has taken in the past three years.

The federal government cuts of the mid-nineties forced cuts at the territorial level which hit the city in two ways -- territorial grant cuts and laid off government workers leaving town.

Add Royal Oak's problems, Con's strike, the price of gold, division and a generally stagnant economic and 1.2 per cent doesn't seem too bad -- in fact appears something of a miracle.

But despite the drop in population of over 800 people or four per cent from 1996, the city's spending and revenue levels have risen about nine per cent.

This wouldn't be troubling, if not for the fact that revenue comes from Yellowknife ratepayers, who are watching their property values drop.

In 1997, council pledged in writing to decrease the total municipal debt to less than $1,180 per capita, "in anticipation of reducing it to less than $1,000."

It now stands at $1,270 per capita, and rising.

This council has not created the situation the city now finds itself in but aldermen and city hall hold the keys to the solution.

Council owes a pledge to ratepayers that there will be no tax hikes without a commitment to trim spending first, then tax revenue next.

It's in the administration's interests to help achieve lower spending levels on their own. If present economic trends continue, there may well be a tax revolt.

A mayoralty candidate running on a slash, burn and layoff platform in the next election could be swept into office and it might not be a pretty sight. At the same time, it might be justified.

It is only appropriate that the traditional guardians of the land would take part in the clean-up of Giant Mine.

Past owners of the property and the various licensing boards responsible for environmental monitoring have shown almost complete disregard for the long-term consequences of Giant's processing methods.

If jobs are going to be created, if training is to be done, if money is to be made cleaning up the mess, it should benefit the people who live here.

Deton'cho Corporation, a Dene-owned development company, has put forward a proposal to reclaim the Giant Mine property. The job and training opportunities, the political claim to the work, are such that the proposal should get the green light from by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Jane Stewart.

Several nurses took us to task for a recent editorial on nurses, noting our words were "patronizing."

On reflection, the nurses were exactly right. The intent was not to patronize but to recognize the work they do beyond their daily duties.

The GNWT has recently put over $3 million into a program aimed at keeping nurses working and living in the North. It should go some way in showing these health care professionals how valued their work is.

While money is never the whole solution to staffing problems, our government has made a statement in the North that has not been heard in the South.

This infusion of cash, combined with the recruitment and retention strategy, will hopefully help keep our nurses off the picket lines and North of the 60th parallel.

There is a growing voice across the Keewatin which is quickly transcending the boundaries of complacency into one of moral consciousness.

This rising voice no longer thinks it appropriate for literally hundreds of God's creatures to give their lives every spring so that a handful of winners may benefit financially or from material gain.

This voice can be heard on local radio stations and its words read on community bulletin boards via the Internet. It is gaining in volume and quickly garnering the attention of those who depend on the popular vote to keep them in office.

This voice has a message and that message is the time for fishing derbies, were there ever a right time, has passed.

The voice has already been heard in Arviat, where community leaders are talking about this week's derby being the hamlet's last, at least in its present voice.

A growing number of Inuit feel their ancestors would be embarrassed or ashamed by the practice of killing fish to win money or prizes. This, they say, runs contrary to everything the Inuit culture prides itself upon when it comes to holding Mother Nature and her inhabitants in the highest of regards.

There are many people in Rankin Inlet who did not take part in that community's fishing derby this year because of the large number of last year's catch which met with no better fate than being left to rot in the community dump. Apparently, losing catches are not even worthy of being dog food.

There is also the scientific opinion to be considered, which warns such derbies put an immense strain on the fish population. The cold Arctic waters severely hamper a fish's ability to mature and too much strain on the resource in too short a period of time could lead to an instantaneous collapse of stocks under the right conditions.

There are suggestions being bandied about. The best of which is to lower the cash awards and prizes so that only those who truly love to fish will take part, effectively eliminating those who are only fishing for dollars.

It is hard to support an endeavour when something must give up its life for material gain. Surely the same prizes raised to support the fishing derby could also be raised to sponsor another form of traditional competition -- one based upon skill, which instills pride in both victors and competitors alike and does not rely on the death of living creatures for its success.

Can an event which trades one's natural resources for cash and prizes really produce a winner? Just a thought.