Monday, December 18, 2000
It happens every year. Ice flowers blossom on Great Slave Lake and get hung up on sandbars at the mouth of the Mackenzie. Ice dams, the water level drops and ferry service stops.
Every now and then, someone gets the urge to blast the whole mess away.
It would make an entertaining spectacle. We could sell tickets.
But those who know the river doubt that anything short of a tactical nuclear strike would accomplish much and then not for long. We would be hoisted on our own petard - and probably on national TV.
Enough. It's time to end the seasonal guessing game and get serious about a bridge across the Mackenzie river.
We spend $150,000 a year on the ice bridge and much more than that to run the ferry for a gap-toothed service. Add in the cost of warehousing, air freight and it becomes clear why the Mackenzie bridge tops Northern wish lists.
A toll bridge might generate as much as $2 million a year. It would serve not just Yellowknife, but the mines that will open in the Great Slave geologic province between here and the wished-for tidewater port on Bathurst Inlet.
Importantly, the Fort Providence First Nation is spearheading the proposal, something that would help them build financial stability, and other Northerners a year-round road link.
The project could be financed in the same way as the crossing to Prince Edward Island. That project cost $1 billion. It serves fewer than 140,000 residents, at a cost of about $67 million a head.
We're just guessing, but if that last number was tripled, it might be close to the cost of a bridge across the Mackenzie. A new feasibility study due in March will provide a closer estimate. In the meantime, are 37,000 Northerners worth three Islanders?
As a bonus, we could name the new bridge after a famous Northerner. Just think of it. Kakfwi Bridge. Writ large in tiny lights, twinkling above the great river.
So, Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew won't be seen buzzing around NWT highways in a brand-new silver Ford Mustang.
The car was the way the so-called Friends of Ethel Blondin-Andrew decided to honour the four-term MP and Secretary of State.
Unfortunately, as an MP, Blondin-Andrew can't keep the generous gift. The "Friends" should have known that.
We don't have a problem with honouring the MP for her efforts. But there are better ways to say thanks. One way would have been a scholarship fund that could be given out annually to a deserving young Northerner in Blondin-Andrew's name.
That would have created a lasting legacy that would help Northerners remember her contributions long after the payments on that Mustang ran out.
"Ent'su," Rosie Firth exclaimed when she first caught sight in the Smithsonian Institute of a fragment of the forgotten past of the Gwich'in.
It was a costume of caribou skin decorated with porcupine quills that prompted her expression of amazement and wonder: "Oh, my goodness."
Firth is one of eight women of the Gwich'in Traditional Clothing Project who have found a doorway to their cultural memory through the intricate patterns of quill work laid down generations ago.
They will take that knowledge back to their homes and share it with their families and neighbours in Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, and Tsiigehtchic.
What a rich gift that will be.
Youth programs make a difference.
That was abundantly clear at the fifth annual general meeting of the Baffin Regional Youth Committee.
It was the biggest meeting to date, with 48 people in attendance from all Baffin communities. Only Grise Fiord youth weren't there -- because of bad weather. It was a week full of workshopping ideas and techniques for the smooth operation of youth programs and centres. Each community had two youth representatives and one elder present.
What they learned is shared with their peers when they get back home.
An example of success is the group from Arctic Bay, formerly known as the High School Cafe, which made snacks and ran a canteen at the school.
The student group, which includes some graduates, has evolved into Nunavut Youth Consulting. They are working out a business plan to have their own bed and breakfast -- The Middle of Nowhere Bed and Breakfast.
While most Baffin communities have youth groups, there's one gaping hole: Iqaluit.
The capital has neither a youth group nor a youth centre: a situation that frustrates Iqaluit youth.
Adult members of the community share their concern. Mary Alainga, who was at the AGM, took it up at the Iqaluit Town Council meeting last week.
To their credit, council is sorting out the logistics of opening a youth drop-in centre and the programs it would feature. They have budgeted money for a youth co-ordinator and want to figure out ways for youth to attend meetings and sit on committees.
They should also remember to canvass the youth, to find out what they want and need and how they too can make it happen.
It's heartening to see a group of Kitikmeot sewers take charge of their economic destiny.
Headed up by Kugluktuk resident Bessie Sitatak -- who realized a need for her sisters in the west to learn to sew fur -- the group of 12 participated in a 10-day workshop to learn the basics of the craft.
Sitatak said she organized the workshop to give women a new skill, to give women a marketable new talent and to give women a concrete way to improve their standard of living.
The economic crunch continues to hold Nunavut in its grasp. It is people like Sitatak that will break its grip.
We applaud your efforts.
Ironic is one word to describe the problems Kivalliq ice-makers have in getting their arenas ready for a season of hockey and recreational skating.
Southerners would likely see it as hysterical.
To the arena managers and residents of towns like Rankin Inlet it's downright frustrating.
At least in Baker Lake, arena manager Daniel Iyago can flood a concrete floor. In Rankin, they pour water onto bare ground. First they have to freeze the ground, then create a solid sheet of ice.
As a result, their skating season is shortened by weeks.
We recognize the Nunavut government's funding situation, but even a concrete floor would likely go a long way to giving residents of places like Rankin a place to play indoors when they can't be outside.
The government says it has a plan to bring artificial ice to Kivalliq arenas -- let's see it.