Friday, April 06, 2001
It was funny at first, the royal controversy over who "really" won the Yellowknife Caribou Carnival queen's crown.
Now, it's a royal mess with one woman seeking legal advice while the carnival committee stands firm.
It's all because organizers wanted to say thanks to the top two ticket sellers by naming co-queens. The two, Christiane Boyd and Gisele Forget, sold about 18,000 tickets between them.
Under carnival rules, the top ticket seller gets to wear the crown.
The carnival committee isn't saying who won, but Boyd insists the crown and the glory should be hers alone.
In hindsight, the decision may still be the one organizers would choose but consulting the two winners before making the announcement may have avoided the present dispute and protected the integrity of the whole process.
After all, Boyd's fight to make the crown her own may seem distasteful but it should be remembered that same energy and determination earned many thousands of dollars for the carnival in ticket sales.
It's time to stop the bickering.
If Boyd did win, and carnival organizers want the Quest for Crown taken seriously, then they must reverse their decision no matter how much it hurts.
As for Forget, if she did lose, then the consolation prize of a trip to Mexico should help her wounds heal sufficiently to return next year and win the crown legitimately.
As for carnival organizers, those tireless volunteers, they erred on the side of generosity. Who can fault them for that?
If you believe that good things come to those who wait then you are probably not one of the families on the waiting list for public housing in Yellowknife.
And according to a recent study, their wait will continue as the future of affordable housing looks bleak.
The study also proves just how out of touch we are when it comes to tackling homelessness.
We live in a city of less than 29,000, where realtors pick up awards for top sales, with the fastest growing single parent population in the country, and a senior population that has grown by 40 per cent in the last decade.
The housing market is cyclic, the homeless aren't.
We can't wait until the market drops for homes to become available. We need to get building now.
In an age of technology, it pays to put it to use.
That's what the education ministry is doing by using the Internet to get courses into remote communities.
The ministry has tapped into the network operated by Calgary's public school board, bringing 40 courses available on the Calgary system, and the NWT's mandatory Northern studies course to students in remote areas.
Thanks to the efforts of teacher and Web programmer Ray Lake, the online version of the Northern studies program has been improved and now 14 students are taking advantage of the innovation.
It's worth remembering though, that an important part of education is ensuring there are enough teachers to help students with questions about their online work.
Editorial Comment
Malcolm Gorrill
Inuvik Drum
Some misdeeds can have far reaching effects.
Samuel Hearne secondary school grads have been taking part in various activities to raise funds this school year. They've held at least one car wash and a dance, plus shared the concession for a weekend at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex.
The grads also have been holding hotdog lunches at the school on Fridays. However, their hotdogs were stolen recently, casting doubt on whether these lunches would continue.
Whether the lunches continue or not, this theft will discourage grads and their hungry customers.
Events like these are more than just a chance for people to get a quick meal, or for the grad committee to collect a few more dollars.
They serve as a chance for people to interact with the future leaders of tomorrow. And students get to interact with the world outside their school during what should be some of the happiest days of their lives.
Events like hotdog lunches don't just happen magically. Supplies have to be bought and stored, and volunteers have to be recruited to serve up dinner.
Not to mention the fact that none of it would take place at all were it not for customers -- be they fellow students or members of the general public.
The theft might also cast a pall for other activities the grads put on. After all, it's hard to volunteer for something after it seems a lot of effort was wasted.
Hopefully, the grads won't let this incident get them down.
Beautifying the town
Efforts continue to make Inuvik a more beautiful and better place to live.
The town's community beautification
committee has hired a firm from Edmonton, Gibbs and Brown Landscape Architects, to come up with a long-term plan to beautify Inuvik.
Members of the community will be invited to have their say in what should be done.
Such a plan could also result in making the town more attractive for tourists, and businesses, so all could derive benefits.
The community beautification committee should also be commended for planning to carry on some of the things that were done last year, such as the placement of flower pots and banners.
A pick up day will again be held to get garbage off the ground and in the bins, where it belongs.
Flight of fancy
Now to switch gears to those just embarking upon their educational journey.
The kids at Inuvik Preschool recently took a trip to the moon as part of their space studies.
Watching them don moon boots (sneakers) and air packs (juice containers), and squeeze into their two rockets (cardboard boxes), serves as a reminder of how unlimited a child's imagination can -- and should -- be.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson
News of Nahanni Butte's seismic deal with a Calgary-based company has some people jumping for joy while others are scrambling to gather more information.
There's immense pressure on some First Nations' leadership from within their own communities to sign deals with seismic, oil and gas and mining companies, amongst others. That was quite evident at the 1999 Deh Cho Assembly in Kakisa when then Nahanni Butte chief Peter Marcellais broke down and cried under the strain as he revealed to fellow aboriginal leaders that his community had decided to enter into a pre-bid process for oil and gas. As it turns out, that process was supported and later adopted by the Deh Cho First Nations (DCFN), but little in the way of real development came of it.
Current Nahanni Butte chief Leon Konisenta told The Drum he has 10 people waiting for jobs. In a community of fewer than 100, that's a significant number. These are jobs that will keep them relatively close to home, something that potential employment through Tungsten mine, if and when it goes back into production, wouldn't offer. That's an important factor, as witnessed in Fort Liard, where some residents turn down oil and gas positions because they would be isolated hundreds of kilometres from their families for weeks at a time.
There's also a question of what other benefits the Nahanni Butte Dene band has procured from this seismic deal. The DCFN has been working fervently to ensure that impact benefits agreements are made mandatory within the region.
Whatever the terms of Nahanni Butte's contract, it's obviously acceptable to chief and council. Whether anyone else applauds them or criticizes them, as it now stands, they are the ones who have the final say.
Pay the mayor?
Whether Fort Simpson's mayor deserves a half-time salary is debatable. Looking at what the NWT's other cities, towns and villages offer their municipal leaders may help.
The territory's smallest town, Norman Wells, like Fort Simpson, doesn't offer anything more than an honorarium. However, the honorarium totals $12,600 annually as opposed to a total of $4,440 offered in Fort Simpson (assuming the mayor is able to attend every meeting). Fort Smith, which is twice the size of Fort Simpson, pays its mayor a half-time salary of $25,900 each year.
The NWT's chiefs are also paid for their work, although not very much, but that's another issue for another day.
Wilson's request apparently fell on deaf ears. That's understandable because the timing is suspect.
If Wilson has been an advocate of compensating the mayor over the past five years, as he says, then it should have been fresh in his mind during the municipal election campaign six months ago. Not a popular campaign plank, perhaps, but one that should have been addressed.
In a flier issued by his supporters last October, point number four read: "He (Wilson) is prepared to commit his time doing the job now that he is retired from his real job... This is important."
This is indeed important.
Paying the mayor is an issue that needs to be given serious consideration -- during the next election campaign.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Pierre Richard's hint about the results of the Repulse Bay narwhal survey is good news to all parties involved in the three-year co-management pilot program.
The program got off to a rocky start with Repulse hunters going more than 400 per cent over their quota in the first year, but has levelled off substantially since.
With 1999's survey showing no stock decline, the door is wide open for the Repulse Bay HTO, Nunavut Tunngavik, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and the Keewatin Wildlife Federation to make community co-management successful in the Repulse area.
As time goes by, the key to continued success may very well rest with the hunters' accuracy in reporting their numbers, especially the struck and lost.
Repulse Bay has earned itself a sterling reputation the past two years for its honesty in reporting landed narwhals and struck and lost.
The hamlet's plea to other communities to honour its limit and reporting procedures when hunting narwhal in the Repulse area should be adhered to, legal grounds for doing so or not.
It will also be interesting to view the reports from last year's traditional knowledge survey conducted by the DFO during a series of workshops in November and December.
It will be especially interesting to see the difference in opinions, if any, between Repulse, Coral and Rankin Inlet hunters.
If the various opinions are segregated when made public, it may give Repulse an idea of what to expect when it comes to other Kivalliq communities respecting their self-imposed rules and limits.
Proper planning?
We certainly have no argument with the Keewatin Chamber of Commerce's assertion that the tourism industry is in a sad state in Nunavut, mainly because of the shortsightedness on the part of the government to properly fund Nunavut Tourism so it can do its job properly.
However, we do find its claim of no proper tourism plan being in place rather amusing, considering the chamber planned its own AGM to run right smack in the middle of budget week at the capital.
Holding an AGM this past week guaranteed there would not be a single MLA or minister on hand for its members to lobby.
With planning like that, Nunavut Tourism may have a hard time deciding just how closely it might want to work with the chamber in the future.