Friday, November 10, 2000
What is it about Yellowknife City Hall that compels council to move public business behind closed doors?
Is it the water, the air, the tradition of secrecy that seems to pervade the place?
The new council with the new mayor, on the first item of new business quickly fell into the old pattern.
Given an opportunity to break with the tradition of appointing themselves to committee seats behind closed doors, all but Dave Ramsay moved to boot out the media and close the doors to the public.
It was a "personnel" matter, according to Mayor VanTighem.
We would agree if the topic was promotions, demotions, or raises for the hired help at City Hall. But this meeting was about the skills of the people voters have just elected.
Surely they don't have secrets. Already?
It's a relief to learn that the plan to merge two wards at Stanton Regional Hospital has been shelved.
The amalgamation of surgery and pediatrics threatened to eliminate 10 jobs, but was put on hold after health-care professionals went public with their concerns.
Doctors and nurses told Yellowknifer they were not given any notice of the proposed changes, and those changes could "profoundly affect" patient care.
The workers were heard, but they should have been consulted as a matter of course. Their input is crucial when it comes to changes in health- care delivery.
Hospitals are not corporations and we can't allow them to be run as such. A hospital, according to the Webster's New World Dictionary, is a "charitable institution for providing and caring for the aged, infirm, orphaned, etc.," -- not a place to make backroom proposals that shatter the morale of doctors and nurses and jeopardize patient care.
The change of heart may have soothed the staff, but it does little to address the problem of funding health care in the Northwest Territories.
Stanton's deficit must be dealt with, along with the debts of three other NWT hospital boards that are currently running in the red.
Before Jean Chretien called the election, his Liberal government promised the GNWT another $6 million over a year for health.
That would help, but that money is in limbo until after November 27 and may be gone altogether.
In the meantime, there is no doctor in Hay River and several communities are without nurses.
It's the responsibility of the GNWT to provide adequate funding for health care, and it should not sit on this issue any longer.
One of the great attractions of Yellowknife is that it's a place where so many different cultures can connect.
The person working in the next office could be from St. John's or Sanikiluaq, from Cambridge Bay or Calgary. They could be Inuit or Dene, Metis or Vietnamese.
Now, thanks to Arslanian Cutting Works, add Armenians into the melting pot.
They're only here for a few months helping train Northerners in the intricacies of diamond cutting and polishing, but we hope that during that time they will be able to enjoy all Yellowknife has to offer.
They've already sampled our pizza and pork and visited the legislature and Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and they will likely to be seen other places as well.
Take the time to say hello and get to know our visitors: it will be an enriching experience.
The NWT needs to get itself on the map in terms of tourism destinations.
That's the view held by Dennis Zimmermann, who's just joined the NWT Arctic Tourism Association board. He points out that the NWT, and in particular the Mackenzie Delta area, have a lot to offer, but that similar attractions are offered elsewhere, and that many other places have been better at promotion.
Tourists come from all over and go on trips for a variety of reasons. They may wish to check out an area's natural beauty, or the culture and way of life of people.
Certainly the North has a lot to offer, in terms of its people and landscape, and the unique experiences visitors can have. But tourists must know what the NWT has to offer before they'll come here in large numbers.
Zimmermann wants the NWT Arctic Tourism Association to become more proactive, and makes a good point by suggesting that more cooperation among businesses within the NWT would go a long way towards helping to promote the tourism industry, and would benefit everyone across the entire NWT.
Tourists who do come here should be offered good, consistent service and attractions. That will increase the chances of them coming back, and it will encourage them to tell their friends about the good time they had during their visit.
Kicking up their heels
A good time was seemingly had by all those who took part in the Halloween Old Time Dance recently at Ingamo Hall.
The event featured jigging, square dancing, some wild costumes and a lot of laughs. Ingamo Hall officials are considering holding community dances such as this one on a monthly basis.
It's an idea with a lot of merit, as it provides many people the chance to get out of their homes, have fun, and chat with their friends and neighbours.
Advancing technology
Patrons of the Inuvik Centennial Library have been checking out some new computers.
These aren't just any computers. They were donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, from which all other NWT libraries have received equipment.
The computers provide a prime example of how far technology has come. The software has profiles or categories which allow various options. For instance, the child profile does not allow Internet access. The Big Print profile is designed especially for those with visual problems, as the computer will read out sections of highlighted text.
Each computer boasts two headsets so more than one person can listen in at once. Definitely more than a step up from the manual typewriter, and even the electric one.
Ethel Blondin-Andrew was the first federal political contender to make her way through Deh Cho.
There will be others of course. It will be interesting to see if the other MP candidates draw as few people to their public functions. Two people who were not associated with her campaign (myself included) turned out at a public meeting with Blondin-Andrew in Fort Simpson last week. The following day there were nine residents at a luncheon (again, count me among the ranks but only as an impartial observer).
This isn't to suggest she doesn't have much support. It's more likely the result of political apathy. The recent municipal election must have taken its toll on Fort Simpson residents. Besides, it's still fairly early in the federal campaign.
Blondin-Andrew didn't seem the least bit fazed by the small numbers though. She said she was going to the people. She visited numerous agencies, organizations and political bodies during her brief visit, which was extended by one day due to a snow storm on Friday afternoon.
Blondin-Andrew's experience of three terms in public office was apparent. She rarely fumbled for answers to issues -- although some of her responses were only pledges to keep plucking away -- and she kept things light rather than being dragged into a heated debate.
To her credit, she willingly admitted that she doesn't win every battle. There have been issues that she's been opposed to but emerged with the short end of the stick. Of course, she's quick to point out that she attained concessions in many of those cases. Better to emphasize that than to reflect on the issues where one has toed the party line when it wasn't a popular stance.
No pragmatist would suggest that a Western Arctic MP is going to have a disproportionately strong influence on any government of the day. Realistically, despite the massive tract of land we inhabit, our diminutive NWT population doesn't receive many "goodies."
As Secretary of State for Children and Youth, Blondin-Andrew said she's proudest of securing funding for Aboriginal Head Starts, day cares, Pre-natal Nutrition programs and Friendship Centre Programs for youth because that's part of her mandate. She said she has also assisted in directing training programs in the North. She also mentioned that she has lobbied to make 78 appointments to federal boards and panels over her past term.
The question for voters is whether that's enough. The other parties haven't shown a presence in the region yet, although NDP candidate Dennis Bevington has reportedly visited Fort Providence once and has more Deh Cho dates scheduled in the near future. Bevington's campaign crew is pumping out the e-mail messages with links to his Web site and his press releases.
Score one for the NDP on the environmentally friendly side -- no piles of junk faxes, not yet anyway.
Baker Lake MLA Glenn McLean is bang on with his assertion that the Nunavut Government is missing the boat on pre-employment mine training for Kivalliq residents.
While our government continues to spend time and energy on such pressing issues as the Nunavut time zone, a bonafide opportunity to make our region more economically self-sufficient is slipping through our fingers.
The government's failure to recognize the benefits of such training is disturbing.
Training would ensure a skilled workforce, and that means we would be able to fill job openings when they become available in Rankin and Baker Lake.
Local workers would also be able to reap the benefits many labourers from other provinces have enjoyed for years.
Those benefits come from holding trade tickets which allow them to work anywhere in Canada.
Every construction season, the cry goes up across the Kivalliq when we see workers from other provinces coming into our region to ply their trade.
But, who should we really be mad at?
Can we blame business for having to bring in skilled labour when our own government is doing nothing to train a local workforce?
With most mining and heavy equipment training taking four years, and the start of both Meliadine and Meadowbank estimated for 2002-2003, we're already behind the 8-ball in being prepared for when these mines become operational.
Maybe the Nunavut Government doesn't care about the extra revenue having 300 or more skilled Kivalliq workers would generate for its coffers, but we doubt it.
A more viable explanation would be this government's demonstrated habit of continually falling victim to the stop sign syndrome -- don't erect the warning post at the busy intersection until it's too late.
Equally annoying is watching other ministers continually beat the drum for training and industry development in their region while our own two ministers seem preoccupied with other concerns.
While we do not advocate civil disobedience, maybe it's time for Kivalliq hamlets to stage their own protests. Maybe one of our own ministers will then come calling to find out what the problem is.
Just ask the good folks in Cambridge Bay who decided last week it was "time" to get Minister Jack Anawak's attention.