Monday, April 30, 2001
Deputy-premier Jane Groenewegen may feel persecuted by the second conflict of interest complaint against her since becoming a minister of the territorial government, but it's the public that's really losing.
This is doubly so as Groenewegen almost singlehandedly brought down a premier run amok in the last government.
How many nights must she have sweated over the conflict of interest rules, gauging her case against then powerful Premier Don Morin and his team of Edmonton lawyers?
And yet, here she is caught making silly mistakes such as using her company truck improperly and leaving her name on legal documents when her name should have been removed as a matter of course.
Worse, taking a page out of Morin's losing strategy book, she's claiming innocence without explaining or taking responsibility for the circumstances that led to the complaint and using her lawyer to attack the conflict commissioner.
"An apprehension of bias" her lawyer calls the basis of the request that conflict commissioner Carol Roberts remove herself from the process.
We want to remind Groenewegen that the standard for conflict of interest for government ministers goes beyond profiting from their position at the expense of the public and undermining the integrity of their office. Not only must there not be a conflict of interest, there must be no appearance of conflict of interest.
At the very least, Groenewegen's documented breaches of the conflict rules suggest she either doesn't understand or have much respect for the appearance aspect of conflict of interest legislation.
As a result, public confidence in the government is shaken yet again, by the very politician who helped restore it not so very long ago.
The economic cycles that constantly put the North through a roller coast ride are on the way to a new boom.
Oil and gas development hit new heights this year and will only grow. Have-not communities are seeing the benefits, like the first-ever winter road to Colville Lake and now a benefit agreement with Paramount Resources.
The government has a plan to build the territory's infrastructure and a lot of that work, from roads to health centres will serve us well into the future.
Planning for the future must start now. Government must look to when the boom does end: what will sustain Northerners in 20 or 30 years?
Ordinary folk, too, must not only see today's high wages and benefit payments as money to raise current standards of living, but wealth to build a solid, sustainable Northern economy in the future.
Hay River town council is spending $3,000 on an advertising campaign to lure Yellowknifers to the western shore of Great Slave Lake.
Marooned as they are by ice on the Mackenzie River for the next two or three weeks, Hub City Mayor Duncan McNeil calculates that Yellowknifers will be susceptible to their siren song.
He's probably right. Much of the fuel for the tourism sector comes from Northerners visiting neighbouring communities. Travelers from more distant parts of the world are the gravy for hoteliers and restaurateurs.
The one thing sun-seeking Yellowknifers should keep in mind, besides being a clean, green, friendly town, summer comes to Hay River at least a week ahead of the North Slave. Now that's a sales pitch!
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, by its own admission, has turned a blind eye to preventing foot and mouth disease (FMD) from entering Nunavut.
When last contacted, a CFIA spokesperson said Iqaluit was the only Canadian international airport not rolling out disinfectant carpets for passengers hailing from countries with FMD. (To date, there are no reported cases of FMD in Canada.) The carpets are brought out at the CFIA's discretion.
At the same time, Canadian Customs confirmed more than 300 international flights stopped in Iqaluit last year, either on en route to Europe or the United States. Stop-overs may be short, but the airborne virus, as Western Europe discovered, knows no boundaries.
The CFIA's oversight could be a disaster waiting to happen, especially for the territory's one million caribou.
The organizers of the Third Arctic Science Summit say Iqaluit was the perfect place to discuss polar issues.
The event brought more than 200 scientists from 25 countries together to talk about climate change, migration patterns and water temperatures.
For the most part, Inuit were not invited to participate.
It's true that interpretation and translation services were provided, making the event accessible to Inuktitut-speaking residents of the territory. But, with a few exceptions, Inuit were not asked to give presentations or deliver speeches.
This was grossly neglectful of the organizers -- the Nunavut Research Institute.
Bruce Rigby, the executive director of the institute, said excluding Inuit from the podium was not an oversight, but a decision made because the summit was a meeting of scientific and business-minded people.
"Placing an elder in front of a microphone and saying speak did not seem appropriate," said Rigby.
Nothing could have been more appropriate.
In fact, given the degree of emphasis organizations like the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik place on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit -- Inuit traditional knowledge -- it showed poor judgment to not ask more Inuit to speak.
Who is more qualified to present the facts of climate change than Inuit -- the people who live here year round and witness the changes on a daily basis, decade after decade?
The organizers of the environmental summit had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the international science community how seriously elders are valued for their knowledge in Nunavut and how important elders can be to "modern" scientific research. Instead, they let it slip away.
In a competitive, changing world, it takes imagination and flexibility to carve a niche.
Already creating everything from kitchen tiles to boardroom tables, Iqaluit Stone Works has found other ways to make use of the rock that's so prevalent around Nunavut: memorial stones and plaques from Iqaluit granite or Kimmirut marble.
It all stems from a simple philosophy: "We want to show people there's more to stone than carving soapstone."
More than anything, it's just a matter of putting Nunavut's "world-class stone" together and a need for jobs with an ability to make the most out of what you have.
Now we have to ask: could that kind of thinking be expanded to more than just stone?
Editorial Comment
Maria Canton
Inuvik Drum
I've already had several bouts of spring fever this year.
The first came in January when my plane touched down in Yellowknife after a year-and-a-half of reporting in Iqaluit.
Those long Eastern Arctic winters can be killers, and last summer reporting from Rankin Inlet didn't exactly lend itself to suntans and sandals.
But the fever quickly subsided when I re-discovered Yellowknife in January and February means deep freeze.
And then March came roaring into town with gusty winds and sunshine warm enough to melt snow and ice.
Chasing winter all the way, April has brought me Inuvik.
Day one had temperatures of -20 C, but the extended daylight made up the difference. The brilliant sun keeps my fever just below breaking point, always making me think the big melt is here, but just asking me to wait another day, week, month.
I'm told the melt comes fast -- here today, gone tomorrow. Speaking of which, I'll be your newswoman for the next month (just as spring arrives in earnest) while Malcolm is on holidays.
I invite all readers to drop by the office for a coffee, to pick up a paper or share a story idea. And if there's no time for that, give me a call when something is going on, I'll be happy to attend.
Paying homage
A special ceremony will take place soon.
Family members will gather to mark the grave belonging to Mary Snowshoe, a Fort McPherson resident who died in 1967 and was buried in Inuvik.
The family is unaware of which plot belongs to Snowshoe, but that's about to change thanks to the efforts of Bella Kay.
Kay decided a few years ago to pay homage to her great-grandmother, and plans to do so on Mother's Day with help from a town employee, who will guide her to Snowshoe's grave.
Kay is doing this because she believes Snowshoe's descendants, especially the young ones, need to know where they came from.
The efforts of Kay and other family members illustrate how family ties can transcend the years.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson
How many students per teacher is too many?
The Department of Education was aiming for an average of 17.5 students for each teacher in the NWT this year.
There are plenty of conflicting pupil/teacher ratio numbers for Bompas Elementary school. The most recent numbers obtained from the school are 8.5 teachers and 160 students. That works out to an average of 18.8 students for every teacher. On the face of it, that doesn't seem too bad.
However, looking at individual classroom numbers reveals something more to consider, even if the Department of Education does not base its pupil/teacher ratio on students in any given classroom.
There was, for a while, a problem at the Kindergarten level with 27 students. After complaints by parents, the class was divided into 11 students in the morning and 14 students in the afternoon. Here are the numbers for the rest of the classrooms at Bompas:
Grade 6: 23 students, Grade 5: 20 students, Grade 3/4: 22 students, Grade 3: 21 students, Grade 2: 26 students, Grade 1: 25 students.
It should be understood that there are times when the classes are divided for various subjects, making the numbers more manageable. There are also times when special needs assistants are available in the classroom to provide valuable support. Yet there are still periods when individual teachers at Bompas school are left to deal with up to 26 students at a time. That's a handful.
Of course, some would quickly point out that it's not uncommon to find classrooms of 30 or more students in the south. Although that may be true, it doesn't make it right.
According to the letter Dehcho Education Council (DEC) chair Allan Landry wrote to the Fort Simpson DEA, the Department of Education has found a few ways to cut back on funding. These practices are typical when one level of government off-loads programs or services to another level of government or a designated board. The funding usually falls short of what is needed, leaving those in charge to make difficult decisions.
The DEC has chosen to dip into its surplus to bolster resources -- making classroom support a top priority -- especially in Fort Simpson. The problem is that, at the rate the surplus is being swallowed up, it will only last another four years. Unless something is done, the real education crisis will begin when that surplus is exhausted.
Nolan Swartzentruber, director of the Dehcho Divisional Board of Education, defended the Department's practices, arguing that it allocates funds across the entire NWT in the "most equitable way possible." Any Department surplus at the end of the year is given to the boards, he noted.
What the Department requires, Swartzentruber suggested, is the political will of the government to designate more money towards education. For that to happen, NWT residents, including those in the Deh Cho, will have to make it crystal clear to MLAs that education deserves a bigger piece of the pie.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Female hockey coach Jill Suzanne Sparks deserves full marks for her ability to look beyond medals when judging the progression of female hockey in Nunavut.
We here in the Kivalliq region have always boasted some of the best female hockey talent in the North, and it is good to know someone as well grounded as Sparks is involved with the program, both at the grassroots development and elite levels.
Sparks knows there is far more to accurately judging a program's development than the number of awards its teams or athletes rack up.
Competitiveness, enthusiasm, skill development and appreciation for the game are all aspects of an athletic program's development every bit as important as winning awards, if not more so.
Culture awareness
April was a big month for Inuit culture and tradition with the annual Nunavut Drum Dance Festival in Rankin Inlet and an audience with Pope John Paul II for five Kivalliq youth.
As exciting as having our Kivalliq youth perform in front of 50,000 at Saint Peter's Square in Rome is, the event which awaits next year right here in Canada promises to be every bit as big a triumph for Inuit culture on the international stage.
The more Inuit culture and tradition is exposed to the global community, the more quickly interest grows in experiencing that culture first hand.
That interest in experiencing a specific culture and its traditions quickly translates into sales in the areas of artwork and fashions.
History has shown in other regions such attention also holds the promise of attracting tourists, eager to learn about their new interest and the history behind it.
At the same time, events like the Nunavut Drum Dance Festival are equally important for keeping our traditions alive and strong within our own borders, and helping to develop the next generation of performers who will present that tradition to the world.
While funding for the trip to Rome was courtesy of the 2002 World Youth Day organizing committee, such ventures help lay an important foundation for our own government's ventures in promoting all things Nunavut to the rest of the world.
A foundation, hopefully, the future success of our region and territory can be built upon.