Planning for the best but preparing for the worst is never a bad thing.
However, when a government decides to plan for the worst, and keep it a secret, and then go right ahead as if everything is going along the very best, you have to take pause and wonder.
In Wednesday's editorial, "Diavik project critical to North", there was an incorrect estimate. The editorial should have read, "The earlier $875 million estimate is now $1.28 billion."
In the article "Car-seat safety." (Wednesday's Yellowknifer) we incorrectly identified the required weight of a child for using a forward facing car seat.
The weight, legislated in the Motor Vehicles Act, is nine kilograms, not 20, as the article stated.
We apologize for any inconvenience these errors may have caused.
Yellowknife's administration has been busy developing worst case scenarios for the town, given the situation at the city's mines and the effects these events have on the economy and the tax base.
The plans apparently explore how the city could cut 10, 20 and even 30 per cent to its spending.
As far as it goes, that is not a bad a thing. Planning for a possible disaster before it strikes is a mark of good planning and forethought.
However, making such plans and then not sharing them with the people of Yellowknife who will ultimately feel the effects of these possibilities isn't acceptable.
These plans were made on taxpayers' time with taxpayers' money. To withhold what we may or may not be facing in the future is not in the best interests of everyone involved.
It is also curious that, with these plans in hand, council went ahead this year and raised taxes -- again.
To draw up contingency plans and then ignore them seems an exercise in futility if not actually ridiculous.
The people of Yellowknife have a right to know what is being planned and how it might affect them.
We are not children from whom the hard truth must be hidden. Raising taxes at this particular time of uncertainty seemed a move that is, at best, out of touch with reality. At least we could be told the alternatives.
Corrections
Last call before price hikes, ladies and gentlemen. Drink up while you can still afford it.
The territorial government has gone to the well once again, raising the tax on alcohol for a little more cash, $1.3 million to be vaguely exact.
Thank God the territory has a population of party-loving people who are willing to finance the lavish spending habits of the territorial government.
To teach the government a lesson in fiscal prudence, we are proposing that the entire territory go on strike until the next budget. No smoking, no drinking.
We are hereby keeping that revenue from the GNWT to increase their appreciation of how much the party sector of the population contributes to the well-being of the territories.
So bottoms up and butt out. And don't forget to take back your empties. That's a refund you've earned.
In keeping with our reputation as a giving community, and proving the fact yet again, Yellowknife is leading the nation when it comes to raising money for breast cancer research.
According the stats from last year's CIBC Run for the Cure, more than a thousand Yellowknifers took part and raised a total of $110,000 -- not too shabby for a community the size of ours.
Likewise, the numbers show that we were well ahead of the national average as far as dollars per runner goes, which was only $52 per runner.
Which just goes to show that Yellowknifers not only recognize a good cause when they see one, but are also willing to support it.
This year's run is taking place on Oct. 3 at St. Patrick High School. Let's all be sure to keep up what is a very good work.
Editorial Comment
Daniel MacIsaac
Inuvik Drum
My sister, Wendy, remembers my first day of school better than I do. Oh sure, I remember the new shirt, the excitement -- and then the anxiety building as some of my kindergarten classmates started howling and bawling as their parents slipped out of sight and the door closed behind them.
But Wendy, four years older than me, remembers the fight between David Webster and Clayton Boxall -- two of the littlest of my little kindergarten friends -- in front of the school at recess. These were the days before the World Wrestling Federation, of course, and the sight of two five-year-olds really duking it out has stuck in her mind to this day.
What's stuck in my mind is that excitement of beginning the new school year. I didn't always love school, but it became such a dominant part of my life that it still feels strange when September rolls around and I'm not going back. Certainly I learned to love my classes by the time I got to university and put off entering the "real world" as long as I could.
So it's now that I look with envy upon the kids headed back to hit the books -- and on those hitting them for the first time. I wish them luck, and think if only I knew then what I know...
Living through tragedy
No words can express the grief being experienced by the Aklavik families suffering loss after last week's boating tragedy. And no words can fully express the sympathy with which their fellow Northerners are hearing and reacting to the news.
But those same families can also mourn comforted by the knowledge that their community and friends will be there to support them. Even those in the region who remain unknown to them can still understand the harshness of the Northern way of life. We can work with nature and enjoy it, but we can never fully tame it. In many ways, this wildness is also part of nature's attraction for both Northerners and southerners alike.
Another comfort is that those people, lost to the sea, will never be forgotten.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Chief Harry Deneron said he believes the Acho Dene Koe are being scrutinized more closely than the gas companies that are operating in the Fort Liard region.
Those comments were made Thursday, the day his band was fined $25,000 in territorial court and ordered to perform $100,000 work in kind for violating the Fisheries Act. The band was held liable for not adequately supervising some contractors they hired who are alleged to have pushed significant volumes of dirt over an ice-covered river and an ice-covered stream to create a temporary crossing.
Deneron was so adamant that the gas companies have been doing the same thing that he took me to some of their barge landings along the Liard River. He showed me how the landings jut out into the water and, he contends, likely result in soil being deposited into the water ways. The Amoco barge landing, leading to their site at Pointed Mountain, has been in existence for 30 years, he said. There's a gaping cavity in the vicinity of their barge landing. Deneron claims the company has caused it, yet they have never faced a single charge, he said. Why is that?
Kent Halvorson, a land-use inspector with DIAND, responded the gas companies' practice is not to dump soil into the water ways. As well, those companies have a water licence, allowing them to construct the landings, he said. The Acho Dene Koe did not have a water licence to build their temporary crossing.
Neil Robinson, field supervisor with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Yellowknife, said there is no favouritism bestowed upon the gas and oil companies.
"It's like anything else with enforcement, you can't get everybody but we try," he said. "Things happen, we can't get it all. If we find out about it and we investigate it, yes, then we do something. But if you don't see it, what can you do?"
What happened near Fort Liard in March and April of 1998, by all accounts, emanated from ignorance. The Acho Dene Koe didn't have an environmental specialist on staff, nor did they hire a consultant. As Judge Robert Halifax has pointed out, ignorance of the law is no excuse. He also noted during sentencing that a significant fine had to be in order. If, he expounded, it's cheaper to pay fines than to meet regulations by hiring or acquiring the needed expertise, that will simply result in more violations of the law.
The band's lawyer, Robert Gorin, noted that the Acho Dene Koe are now working with others experienced in constructing ice crossings -- a step in the right direction.
There's no question that the development in Fort Liard has done wonders for the local economy and the employment rate -- which Gorin said was estimated by an employment officer to be at 90 per cent. The band, he also noted, has completed other projects that some people have considered "impossible."
No one should begrudge the residents, or the leaders, the fruits of their labour. However, in climbing the ladder to success, there are rules and regulations to be observed. Regardless of what anyone else may or may not be doing, to neglect the law can easily result in dropping a few rungs on that ladder very quickly. The best thing to do now is accept the lesson learned and to continue to make gains for the community.
Editorial Comment
Dane Gibson
Kivalliq News
Throughout the summer, there's been several land camps organized to ensure Inuit youth have the opportunity to learn the ways of their ancestors.
If there seems to be a certain urgency in the need to hold these events, that's probably because there is. Elders are dying and with each passing, another timeless piece of spiritual and cultural knowledge is lost with them.
In the face of the powerful and alienating force of Western culture, youth today are plugged in to the Internet, Nintendo, and Much Music -- but are unsure how to fillet an arctic char.
The teenager says: 'Why do I need to know how to fillet a fish, or even catch one, when I can get an order of Popcorn Chicken at the KFC?'
It seems the elders are the only ones who know how dangerous this reasoning is, and as fewer children speak their traditional language, it's getting harder for elders to communicate their concerns.
The Western machine is running the world today because of it's ability to produce and consume gadgets.
The aboriginal way is to respect the fact that the land, animals and marine life, if respected, will provide everything they need to survive for all time.
Right now, power is flowing to the communities, satellites are delivering cable and phone services but what if the power falters, satellites fail? The West is running on a short-term gain software program that is bound to crash.
Many of the elders of today have retained most of the knowledge and training necessary to live in the Arctic as their ancestors did before them.
For youths to turn their backs on that knowledge to embrace materialism is a mistake. Nobody is going to turn back the clock, but it's important to always view the promises of a technologically driven society with a healthy dose of scepticism.
The most recent camp for youths was organized by the Makkuktut Sangitilirput on Marble Island. The Kivalliq Inuit Association held Pijunnaqsiq '99 this summer, a cultural camp that had five hamlets come together in Coral Harbour.
During the gathering participants did things such as sea mammal hunts, they learned how to make traditional tools, and how to use the backside of caribous to produce thread for sewing.
These are just a few of the unique skills that remain alive here. How important is it for that traditional knowledge to stay alive for future generations?
Elders have always known that the land doesn't lie. The land camps give them a venue to show the youth why that message is so important.