While the Legislative Assembly is on the road with the sputtering Bill 15 show, self-government is moving forward.

The Dogrib have reached an Agreement of Principle with the federal government and the GNWT on their land claim.

Although they are still a distance from any kind of final approval, the Dogrib are making progress.

What remains unresolved at this point is the manner in which self-governing jurisdictions fit into the political mosaic that is evolving in the North.

While the land claims groups spin off in their own orbits, the legislative assembly fusses over representation. What is lacking in all of this is a plan and the leadership to see it through. Northerners whose interests aren't protected by land claims have to wonder what the future holds.

It came as a great loss last week when Northerners learned of the passing of Thelma Tees. She slipped away on June 14 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

She was 68 and, though retired from the addictions field since 1992, her work helping alcoholics should never be forgotten.

Were it not for Tees, Northerners would not have ever come to know or rely on the detox centre on Yellowknife's Franklin Avenue -- a facility that now can offer help to dozens of patrons a night. Tees started as a secretary there, went on to become a counsellor, then executive director of what is now Northern Addictions Services.

It was during her 17 years serving NAS that Tees' vision for a territorial treatment centre became a reality. In 1992 a 29-bed treatment centre was build in Dettah.

It's ironic and disheartening to realize that while Thelma was suffering badly from cancer, Northern Addictions Services in a way, too, was dying. With accusations of mismanagement flying, the territorial government ordered the centre closed last Christmas and, despite a never-ending waiting list for the treatment centre in Hay River, Tees' vision continues to remain empty and locked up while the board and the bureaucrats go over their options.

Shortly after Tees' retirement, she was presented with a humanitarian award from the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre. The word was that NAS wanted to name a wing of the Dettah Treatment Centre after Tees. It's not surprising Tees humbly refused their offer. Her only request was that the treatment centre continued to exist.

Replacing Tees will be impossible. But carrying on with her vision is not only possible, it's an option that shouldn't be ignored.

As much as the government of the NWT wants to minimize the ripple effect brought on by division, there are some cosmetic changes to be made.

The tug of war in the legislative assembly between Nunavut and the NWT over the polar bear licence plate was as embarassing as it was destructive.

But there was no question the NWT needs a new coat of arms and mace and that is being done. Now the GNWT's polar bear logo is up for discussion. It is a very efficient and distinctive design and most of the territorial workers surveyed don't want to give it up.

Unfortunately, it's not representative of the new territory's character. The government needs a new symbol just as functional and just as simple, just as Northern.

Asking the people is not a bad idea in such matters. It is their government after all.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board's decision to drop federal narwhal harvesting quotas for four communities is a bold step in the right direction.

Who better to manage the harvest than those who rely on a sustainable supply of whales for food? And who better to monitor the population than those who witness the migration of the whales each year?

In addition to assuming responsibility for the hunt, hunters and trappers organizations in the four communities involved -- Arctic Bay, Repulse Bay, Qikiqtarjuaq and Pond Inlet -- will to a large extent be responsible for how quickly quotas are dropped on other species.

Both are new and heavy loads, but ones we are confident they can bear.

Increasingly, the world is catching on that Canada is hot north of 60 and is beginning to stand up and take notice.

Whether it Northern diamonds, furs, minerals or artistic and cultural objects and expressions, the world is coming to realize that there is a distinct and indefinable uniqueness to the North.

Some of the most recent examples of that growing demand for things Northern include singers from Nunavut touring Europe and the introduction of a Northwest Territories line of fur garments.

There is also the ongoing discovery of paintings, sculpture and traditional items such as boots, parkas and the like: all of which are enjoying increased popularity far beyond the North.

It is important to recognize this growing demand as another natural resource and take steps to protect and it as we would any other valuable, renewable resource.

Like any other resource, art and culture must be protected used wisely.

With the growing attention that things Northern is attracting in the south and around the world, it is only a matter of time before cheap imitations start to surface. It is important that we make sure there is a clear distinction made between items painstakingly carved by hand in Iqaluit and those mass produced in Taiwan.

When the art and culture or a region starts to become a cash crop, there is also the chance that the art and the culture will twist and bend to keep up to consumer demand until it becomes completely unrecognizable from what it originally was and what it originally meant. It is that point that something vital and wonderful can be lost.

We have a unique and fascinating culture and heritage in the North and it is one that, like the land that gave it birth, is fragile. It is up to all of us make it our own business to preserve and protect it. We have to be sure that in marketing ourselves to the rest of the world, which is a good thing, that we do not wind up paying more than we earn.

It is always good to see the people most directly involved, concerned and knowledgeable with any undertaking assuming control of it.

That is perhaps especially true in the case of the commercial fisherman in the Baffin region.

For the commercial fishermen of the Baffin, the issues facing the region and the fisheries is about more than numbers and quotas - it's about living and surviving and growing. The government has only allowed these fishermen 1,500 tonnes out of the 5,500 allotted to the waters in question. With that kind of stumbling block, there can be no growth for the Nunavut fishery and, perhaps, by speaking with a united voice the fisherman can make the feds see the truth and the sense of that.

It seems the nursing shortage has reached the critical stage and not just in the North. It has become a world-wide problem, with fierce competition among different countries to recruit qualified nurses.

The federal government has to do something about this now. It is being predicted that the situation will be a crisis for the next 10 or 11 years. Ottawa must take steps to solve this dilemma. We could be in big trouble otherwise.

I wouldn't even begin to guess at the reason for the shortage, although I've heard several being tossed around. One is that there aren't enough attractive incentives for nurses. This is easy enough to rectify. Put some of those cutback dollars into incentives and that fixes that problem.

Or how about low wages? Again, same solution. Extending nursing programs to four-year degree programs may also have contributed to the shortage. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Who wants to go to school for four years, only to come out and make peanuts? I'm aware that times are tough for both the government and the country in general, but nurses aren't exactly something we can live without.

I can remember that for a brief period in my life, just after graduation, I contemplated going to nursing school in Saint John, N.B. It was a two-year program back then and I would have been guaranteed a job after finishing (I also would have been following in my mother's footsteps). I decided not to (for reasons I won't get into), but one of my good friends went ahead and entered the program. She was lucky. She landed a job, as predicted, immediately after graduation at the Saint John Regional Hospital. In fact, most of the nurses in her class ended up with jobs right in Saint John.

In the years immediately following my friend's graduation, the nurses who finished the same program couldn't get hired locally if their life depended on it. Many of them ended up going to the United States for jobs and it wasn't too long after that the government did away with the two-year program and made it mandatory for nurses to attend four-year degree programs. In my opinion, this helped spur the shortage on its way.

Now, we are left with a serious shortage and the government has some major back-paddling to do. Let's hope it doesn't take 10 or 11 years.

Inuvik's bald epidemic?

I'm sure many people have noticed there are a lot more bald people around town this week. It's kind of hard to miss, actually. Everywhere you go -- the police station, council meetings, fire department, air cargo offices -- there are people with bald heads.

Coincidentally, a large number of people had their heads shaved last Friday night during Midnight Madness. It was for the Cops For Cancer fund-raiser, which proved to be quite the crowd-pleaser.

Everyone involved in this event deserves a lot of credit. First for raising about $15,000. That's an amazing number. Many individuals raised more than $1,000 and at least one raised more than $3,000 in under four days. Second, the group deserves praise for being brave enough to shave their heads. But the reason behind the event makes it all worthwhile. Cops For Cancer is held to raise money for cancer research and the shaving of heads is symbolic of all those individuals who lose their hair during cancer treatments.

Congratulations, both to the fund-raisers and those who made donations.

I'm going out on a limb here. There was a public hearing regarding the addition of five more MLAs scheduled for Tuesday evening in Fort Simpson. I'm betting that it was a poor turnout.

OK, call me a pessimist. Due to deadlines, I can't tell you exactly how many empty seats there were at the community hall on Tuesday evening. But I can tell the afternoon session was a dud.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations is scheduled to visit five NWT communities -- Fort Simpson is the only one in the Deh Cho. They are seeking alternatives to the idea of adding five more members to the Legislative Assembly.

It's a wonderful thing to live in a democracy and our territorial government has certainly done its utmost to consult with the public at every turn. They started these public hearings last year in when the Electoral Boundaries Commission toured the NWT. The three panellists spent several weeks collecting input from the public. I can't tell you how few people showed up in other communities, but in Fort Simpson there were about 10 last September. Perhaps there's some truth to the excuse about conflicting events and how busy this relatively small community is, but the reality is that apathy and ignorance are factors when it comes to such matters.

The Constitutional Working Group had fared even worse when they showed up a month earlier. While going through some back issues of the Drum, I came across a 1997 article by Ralph Plath entitled "The great debate that wasn't...people have other priorities besides the constitution." It documented the poor turn out for a constitutional forum in Fort Simpson. Different year, same story.

Regardless, the Electoral Boundaries Commission wrote a report and came back with a recommendation to add two seats in Yellowknife. Not surprisingly, only Yellowknife cared for that idea but the legislature wound up throwing it out. Then the Friends of Democracy stepped in and threw their weight around. Finally, Justice Mark de Weerdt laid down the law (and the formula) on how the ridings must be proportional to populace.

That results in three more MLAs for Yellowknife, and one more for each Inuvik and Hay River. So, does the story end there? Not a chance.

The Aboriginal Summit wants no part of increased bureaucracy and lodges an appeal (which failed). So what does the territorial government do? Well naturally, they get on their horses and set off to consult with the public once again.

In last Wednesday's Yellowknifer, Standing Committee member Roy Erasmus was quoted as saying that the committee "doesn't want to hear that there should be no more seats -- if someone says that they should explain how we can stay with 14 seats and still abide by the judge's ruling."

They heard that very message anyhow. The problem is that they haven't been getting many constructive suggestions. This was an opportunity for constituents to voice their opinions and make a difference. Unless everyone instead sent a letter to the clerk's office in Yellowknife with some suggestions, the opportunity was lost.

It's a tough pill to swallow, but poor attendance at the Tuesday's public hearings would likely mean we're all going to have to do just that -- swallow hard and shell out more money for some extra bureaucrats.