Monday, June 25, 2001
The territorial government has managed to make the Jane Groenewegen conflict of interest file into something that resembles one of those interminable soap operas from the wasteland of daytime TV.
Characters come and go, weeks and months pass and the plot writhes like a snake on hot pavement. But nothing actually happens.
Most recently, the board of management set up a new committee to deal with Groenewegen's allegations that the conflict commissioner should not deal with the case.
Confused? Let's recap. Hay River businessman Jack Rowe made a formal complaint that the deputy premier is in conflict because a company of which she is a director rents office space to the government.
Groenewegen consulted with her lawyer and came up with an allegation of her own: conflict commissioner Carol Roberts should not rule on the case because her remarks to the media revealed bias against Groenewegen.
The board of management, that secretive little body that attends to the public's business when the legislature is not sitting, told Roberts to stop. Too late, Roberts replied, her investigation was complete. Lawyers were called in to argue - at taxpayers' expense.
Last week the conflict commissioner delivered her report and urged that it be made public. Rather than table the report in the legislature, MLAs set up the new committee.
The committee has almost the same membership as the board of management, except that Leon Lafferty replaces Speaker Tony Whitford. It will report to a special session of the Legislature in July on Groenewegen's allegations against the commissioner.
Unless there is another plot twist, that should bring us a step closer to learning the fate of deputy premier, and what this soap opera will cost taxpayers.
Human Resources Minister Kelvin Ng and Nunavut Employees Union chief Doug Workman officially signed off the collective agreement last week. When ink hit paper in the hallowed halls of the Nunavut legislative assembly, it brought to end months and months of tough talk and bitter feelings.
We can, hopefully, get past this. We can, hopefully, put the inappropriate picketing, the name-calling and the questionable e-mails out with the trash. We can, hopefully, forgive -- or at least begin to forgive -- the perceived and real wrongdoings.
It would be wise if we forgave, but didn't necessarily forget, everything that transpired. We say this not because we advocate holding a grudge, but because lessons can be learned by studying history.
For example, rather than dismissing threatening e-mails as part of the climate of labour negotiations, perhaps Workman will be the first to step forward next time around.
By not raising the matter before Ng did, Workman cloaked the union in suspicion and made it seem like they were trying to keep the correspondence under wraps. Had the union president made the first move, and if he remembers to do so should he need to in the future, it would show he has nothing to hide and that the union does not condone violence.
As the leader of the union, Workman's executive and membership look to him for guidance. If he plays an open-door game and is accountable for his own actions, this will set the tone for the way the union as a whole conducts itself.
Enough time is spent in this territory gabbing about programs and organizations with made-in-Nunavut policies. Around every corner we hear about decisions that are more culturally appropriate.
Both Ng and Workman can help change the frosty relationship between labor and management in the territory. Each could take less and give more.
"Everyone is jumping on the oil bandwagon. Sure it's good but it only lasts for a few years. Arts is a long-term industry." -- Ruth Wright , Inuvik
The comment above came after the last exam of the last year of the jewelry and metalwork offered by Arctic College in Inuvik.
Another such program in Rae-Edzo was terminated due to lack of funding, although college staff are struggling to keep it going.
The program, which never received long-term funding, lasted two years and students hoping to take a third have been left hanging.
According to Opportunities North 2001 in this week's News/North, 3,707 or 12 per cent of the NWT's population make crafts full or part time.
While the oil and gas potential deserves the government's attention as the industry scrambles for trained Northern workers, it's short sighted to ignore other opportunities.
Before the birth of the secondary diamond industry, the NWT largely ignored the precious metals leaving the territory.
In contrast, Nunavut artisans have long sold works made of soapstone deposits along with bone and ivory walrus tusks.
Now the NWT has diamonds, which go very well with gold and the next logical step is the very jewelry program now being cancelled.
Not everyone can be oil and gas workers. Artisans are just as valuable for keeping money in the North and increasing export in the long term.
Arctic College should strongly present the facts to their funding governments and agencies and reinstate an essential piece of the training picture.
Six of every 10 Nunavummiut live in some form of public housing. To those unfamiliar with the North, that would sound like more than enough. But it isn't. As many as 1,400 families are on waiting lists for a place of their own.
It's an administrative and economic challenge that dwarfs most of what passes across the desks of our bureaucrats. The private sector can't be expected to supply enough affordable homes, and even the federal and territorial governments are finding it impossible to handle on their own.
The only logical alternative is a collective effort, by co-ordinating programs and matching funds. Nunavut Housing Minister Manitok Thompson must do whatever she can to convince her federal counterparts to work with her and industry if we ever hope to fill what are often very pressing needs.
Editorial Comment
Malcolm Gorrill
Inuvik Drum
The person or persons who broke into the Inuvik Community Greenhouse last week made off with $2,500.
They also stole some peace of mind from members of the Community Garden Society of Inuvik, as well as community members in general.
Society co-ordinator Carrie Young was right when she said it's not so much the money, it's the insult. The insult is to Young, and everyone else who's helped the greenhouse launch its second commercial season.
It's taken a lot of planning and hard work to get the greenhouse to where it's at today, and anyone involved must have felt at least a little discouraged to hear someone had taken advantage of their labours.
Fortunately society president Effie McLeod has said that while the theft is disappointing, members will keep on with what they've been doing.
With that attitude hopefully the society can put this theft behind them and still have a productive year.
Taking on a challenge
Efforts are being made to establish another worthwhile group in town.
Greg Stromgren and Linda Eccles are setting up a local chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Setting up any society is a challenge, and keeping it going is often quite challenging as well.
But this duo have spotted a need within the community, especially regarding the large number of loose dogs. Whether they end up taking over the running of the pound from the town, or work in partnership with town officials, there's little doubt the Inuvik SPCA could fill a valuable role within the community.
Helmet proposal makes sense
Town council is looking into the possibility of establishing a bylaw to make people wear helmets while riding bicycles, as well as devices like scooters and skateboards.
The move makes sense, especially pertaining to young people, who perhaps won't put on a helmet no matter how many times they're told they can help prevent head injuries.
Enforcing such a bylaw could be a challenge, but once in place for a time, and residents get used to the idea, a lot more people in town will likely be using helmets regularly.
While council debated the issue last week it was said that not many young people in town use helmets. That point was brought home for me last weekend when I went for a half-hour walk, and was hard-pressed to find someone wearing a helmet while biking or skateboarding.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson
Next week marks the annual Deh Cho Assembly in Kakisa. With people throughout the Mackenzie Valley waiting anxiously for word from the Deh Cho First Nations on a proposed pipeline agreement and with Nahanni Butte pressing for support for a seismic project, there are some ripe issues on the agenda. Hopefully these matters will be dealt with conclusively.
Yet the assembly is more than a series of political and economic affairs discussed around the table. It's an opportunity for the people within the region to catch up with each other, eat together, camp out together and fend off the mosquitoes together. There will be drum dances and an ever-popular talent show. A new arbour is being constructed and it will inevitably be the talk of the first day or two.
During the political discussions some delegates will wander off to have a cigarette on a bench overlooking peaceful Kakisa Lake. They will make small talk, reflect on the nature of the assembly debate (which can be acrimonious at times) or discuss plans for the future.
As the event draws to a close, there will be a sense of urgency to address issues that have been pushed back and to pass resolutions. Whether every item on the agenda is dealt with or not, delegates will close the meetings with a prayer, handshakes and hugs and wishes of safe travel home.
They may leave with a sense of not having accomplished everything they set out to do, but that feeling will be more than matched by the warmth they feel from their relatives, friends and neighbours.
The longest day
Today (June 21) is the longest day of the year. The glorious sunshine will only lessen every day as of tomorrow. Yeah, that's definitely a "glass half empty" way of looking at it. There's still plenty of warm, even scorching hot summer days to be had, cool swims in the pool or the river, vacations, camping, golf and softball, fun with friends and on and on. Perhaps its time for an excursion, such as the one that Jeannine Gaulin and her friends have embarked on, cycling from Fort Simpson to Inuvik. Rest assured, they are not sitting in front of a television right now. Sure, their sense of adventure is not for everyone, but you have to admire their conviction.
Don't just sit there and watch the bulldogs bounce mindlessly off the window, enjoy the next few months, even as the sun rises a little later and sets a little earlier.
Editorial Comment
Jorge Barrera
Kivalliq News
Forty-one new students will walk through the halls of Alaittuq high school next year. The future of Rankin Inlet, the Kivalliq region and Nunavut depends on them.
This is not just another grandiose and meaningless statement that usually accompanies scholastic rights of passage across the country. In the Kivalliq region and Nunavut as a whole, this message is an indisputable fact. Every high school drop-out in this region saps strength from this fledgling territory.
In the majority of Canada, with a higher population density, a drop-out here or there is a ripple in a huge sea. Here, with Nunavut's population of just 28,000, no bigger than a medium-sized town in the south, every drop-out means one person fewer to fill the many government jobs the Nunavut government is scrambling to fill with Inuit.
Every drop-out means one less Inuit doctor, lawyer, carpenter, welder. One less teacher, nurse, dentist.
This part of the country faced a whirlwind of change in the last 50 years. A whole nation went from living off the land to surfing through cyberspace and flipping through the thousand channel universe. The world is suddenly at the doorstep of every home in Repulse Bay, Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet, and with it comes the threat of a cultural dilution.
This was part of the urgency driving the creators of Nunavut. Nunavut is here so Inuit culture perseveres.
But borders on a map do not save a culture. History cannot be reversed, but no one has staked the future and education gives people the tools to shape the future in their own image, to use the evolving world for their own means.
That is the importance of education. And unfortunately a 60 per cent graduation rate (admittedly a generous estimate) in the Kivalliq will not be enough to save a culture in a world rapidly evolving.
That is why Donald Clark, principal of the high school, said he hopes to see all 41 junior high grads make it through high school.
The graduation of 15 high school student last year is good, but not good enough.
The future depends on you, the Grade 8 class of MUI and all Grade eight graduates throughout the Kivalliq.