Pipelines good, pipelines bad. Politics good, politics bad. Own 30 per cent, own 100 per cent.

Pipelines are the subject of much debate in NWT communities, from the Beaufort Delta down to Fort Liard and the subject is not going to go away.

Two critical facts are undeniable: The NWT has huge reserves of oil and natural gas. More than $1 billion is going to be spent in the next five years looking for more.

Much more is uncertain. How long will the price of oil and gas stay high? Will there be an Alaskan pipeline? What benefits can aboriginal governments expect from pipeline development? Where are the trades people to be found to build a pipeline? What will the influx of money, jobs and transient workers do to Mackenzie Valley communities?

There are those who believe an opportunity such as this comes only once every 25 years, if ever again. There are others who believe the value is in the ground and will remain so until all questions are answered and only goodness will result.

Money has the effect of getting people excited and lots of money can make them lose reason and common sense. But a steady flow of money can put food on the table and improve people's lives.

It seems then, for those who wish to use money to improve lives rather than get rich, a slow steady course will serve them best.

If aboriginal governments control the resources, they must ask industry for certain commitments in return for the resources. When those commitments are met, then access to resources must be granted for further progress to be made.

Trust is not only the basis of personal relationships, it is the foundation upon which business is built.

While opportunity can slip away, solid opportunities generally remain so long as there is an honest effort to achieve maximum benefits for all parties.

With this kind of approach, the NWT will achieve prosperity in its own time. Anything less may well spell disaster.

Police staffing levels in three NWT communities have reached a criminal low. Wha Ti, Holman and Paulatuk have only one RCMP on staff. The threat of crime doesn't take a day off which, for those community officers, means no real time off, no sick days, no back up in emergency situations.

RCMP brass have put the problem to the territorial government and funding for additional positions is to be considered next spring.

That's a long time to wait for a bad situation to turn worse but it appears bureaucracies have no fear. We expect when the board of management looks at the proposal, they will be quick to approve. Lives depend on it.

Canada Post shut its doors in Iqaluit for hour-long periods earlier this month. Employees said they had no choice but to do so. Policy prevents staff from working alone and the closures gave them a chance to rest and eat lunch. We support those workers and applaud their right to do that.

What we do not support is the way the Canada Post let things slide. A combination of resigning employees and scheduled vacations left the post office struggling to offer the services they are mandated to provide. Yet the Crown corporation must have known in advance they'd be facing a lack of staff and could have taken steps to fly in temporary help before their only choice was to suspend services.

A canvas of Iqalungmiut revealed resentment and a fair amount of hostility towards the corporation. City resident after city resident said that, given the current rates of postage, 47 cents per stamp plus tax, they were entitled to good, reliable service. Other residents wondered why they hadn't seen job advertisements and questioned how a federal corporation could be understaffed in a community with a high rate of unemployment.

News/North was unable to get answers from postal management. Because calls were not returned, we can only wonder why the corporation allowed the services in a capital city to dwindle.

We are happy, however, to report that job ads were pinned to the walls of the post office last week. It appears that Canada Post is trying to mend its ways and bring their services back up to speed. We can only hope the corporation has the foresight to prevent the situation from happening again.

As Canadians, we have every right to demand that these services are made available. After all, Canada Post certainly doesn't cut us any slack when it's time to pay for postage.

We don't have enough nurses or doctors to keep our people healthy. We don't have enough police officers to keep our communities safe. And we're running out of leaders and administrators to run our territory.

On the other hand, Nunavut's population continues to grow, thanks to a high birthrate. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

More money in the form of salaries and operating budgets is an obvious part of the solution, but we suspect that more substantial reform to the very social fabric is also necessary. Either we learn to live with less, or we must be willing to pay for more.

It's true. Shane McQuirter has the smallest, whiniest set of wheels in Iqaluit. But the gregarious scooter owner also has the most affordable form of transit -- other than two legs.

His 13.5-kilogram motorized push-start scooter -- for sale so he can upgrade -- sets a fine example of compact, fuel-efficient wheels. Let his choice serves as an example of reasonable alternatives to the automall of new cars and trucks arriving by sealift this summer. Already, tractor-like wheels are chewing up community roads and clogging our famous four-way-stop. What next? Traffic lights?

Obviously, the scooting and biking season is short in Nunavut. But if we don't consider smaller, lighter modes of transportation, we may jeopardize an already delicate, if somewhat lacking, road system.

Editorial Comment
Malcolm Gorrill
Inuvik Drum

Artists, musicians, volunteers and fans are flocking to our community this week. The occasion is the 13th annual Great Northern Arts Festival, which gets under way Friday and goes until July 22.

A wide variety of style of artwork and media will be on display, and on sale. The many visitors will also get the chance to observe artists hard at work on their latest creations.

Aside from the obvious economic benefits to the town, and the artists, the festival also provides a good chance for artists from all over to come together, see each other's work, talk, and let the creative juices flow.

It's a special event that's not to be missed. Let the excitement begin.

Thrills and spills

It seemed like every kid in town was in the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex last week, when the Majestic Circus came to town.

Sure, the show may have suffered from the fact one of the trucks didn't make it to town, which meant some performers, as well as the horses, couldn't appear, but it was still entertaining. That was particularly evident when watching the faces of the young ones, transfixed by the aerial trapeze act, or laughing with delight during the dog show.

It all goes to show that, even in this age of television and video games, there's still nothing quite like a circus.

It was interesting meeting ringmaster Phil Dolci, a former Chicago lawyer who fulfilled a lifelong dream by running away to join the circus. He likes making children laugh, and meeting new people. Dolci also revealed he likes travelling, which is a reminder of just how many communities, sights and sounds circus performers take in over the years.

Worthwhile project in the works

If you build it they will come. That phrase certainly holds true for the skateboard park the town is planning.

Though a final location has yet to be picked (ramps being built now are to be placed on one of the tennis courts for this summer only), it's safe to say the park will act like a magnet. Those wanting to practise their skateboarding or scooter prowess, or who just want to hang out with friends, will finally have a spot all to themselves.

This should cut down or even eliminate the skateboarding taking place now in front of stores in the downtown.

Editorial Comment
Dave Sullivan
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson

Fort Simpson's first Open Sky Arts Festival, followed by an enthusiastic Canada Day celebration, was the right ingredient for a terrific weekend in the village.

The July 1 parade was lauded too, except by the dozen or so families who missed it.

Waiting along the usual parade route, they watched the floats turn down another street before passing by.

The parade was shortened and re-routed this year. Not many knew about the changes, although some notices were posted around town.

Vandalism and bored teens

It would be unfair to link a recent spate of vandalism in Fort Simpson to the summer closure of the youth centre, but mentioning both facts together can illustrate a point -- that teens get bored on endless summer nights.

With school out youths are often out until the wee hours. The lack of organized activities and supervision needs to be addressed.

If youths don't want to use the centre in summer it's because what's offered is not what they want to do.

Builders of programs are doing something right during school, because the centre is well used during those months.

If extra resources were devoted to programming interesting outdoor summer activities, officials may discover it to be an investment rather than a cost.

If the vandalism damage were tallied, the price could very well add up to be less than extra effort that would be required to provide a more stimulating environment.

Paving vibes

While it's great to see the village's main street being paved, the china is seriously rattling in buildings along the roadwork.

Steamrollers have changed over the years. I don't know what they call the ground-flattening machines today, but we used to call them steamrollers. I'm quite sure they're not steam-driven. In any case, modern ones have this feature: hydraulics cause them to deliberately shake, with vibrations resonating deep into the earth. No reports of damage though, at least not yet at the Drum office.

Editorial Comment
Jorge Barrera
Kivalliq News

Grizzly bears all over Baker Lake, breaking into cabins, eating all the dried meat, residents afraid to go out to their spring camps, one bear shot and last Friday the hamlet called a state of emergency, martial law imposed on the bears.

Heady times in Baker Lake. According to the president of the local Hunters and Trappers Association, this is the first time in his 50-year residence in the community that something like this has happened.

What's happening with these bears? Obviously hunger has driven them to the outskirts of the community, but why are they so hungry? No one has immediate answers to these questions, but it's something the Department of Sustainable Development better take a hard look at.

The North prides itself with being one of the last pristine environments remaining on the globe, but obviously things are amiss and Baker Lake's recent bear problems are one in a string of natural aberrations occurring in the North.

Last summer it was skinny polar bears. Global climate change is real. Only quacks would dispute that fact and the North is taking the brunt of it.

Despite the North's outwardly hash climate, it, too, teeters on fragile relationships which sustain it's ecology. A culture that depends so strongly on the natural world cannot take threats to the environment lightly.

It's time for the Department of Sustainable Development to declare a state of emergency on the environment.

Sure the odd study happens here and there and the North's voice has been heard in the recent past on climate change. But it's not enough. A sustained lobby needs to emerge.

The Nunavut government should be pounding on federal Environment Minister David Anderson's door. "Listen Dave," they should shout, "our ecology is deteriorating fast, get out of your comfortable cabinet seat and do something."

The federal government has played patsy with the U.S. over the environment despite George Bush's agenda of pollution exemplified by pulling out of the Kyoto agreement on climate change.

Someone has to push Canada to take a stronger stance on the environment. Someone has to make what's at stake clear to them and there are few in a better position than the Inuit of Nunavut.

How much longer can we stand by and allow nature, desperate and hungry, to claw at our doors?