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Their commitment is clear in Ottawa's response to the territorial government's Non-renewable Resource Development Strategy.
At the suggestion of federal Finance Minister Paul Martin, the GNWT asked for $234 million over four years toward Northern highways, training and economic development.
We got $3.9 million for some bridges that extend the life of the Mackenzie Valley winter road for a few extra weeks.
And many promises about transfer of federal authority and resource revenue sharing.
New RWED Minister Jim Antoine found out all about it during his pre-Christmas trip to Ottawa. He couldn't even get a straight answer from the bureaucrats who he should talk to about the NWT plan.
Meanwhile, millions of dollars flow south each year into federal vaults. The NWT gets back just enough to get by, let alone build the roads we need or train our people.
The bureaucrats who hold the purses strings don't care because they don't live here.
They get to drive to work on paved highways, jet about the country in taxpayer-fueled Challenger jets and can just go down to the supermarket to buy the food they need to feed their families.
They are more concerned about building their departments and padding their budget than they are about finishing the job of building this country by developing the North.
It's time for politicians like Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Robert Nault to get serious about the North.
An investment in the NWT is an investment in Canada. It's about putting Northerners to work. It's about creating new wealth and development the resources the country needs.
There are no real words to describe the grief that must be facing the families of the four people killed in the New Year's Eve plane crash near Tulita.
Three Northerners: Kole Crook of Hay River, Ashley and Lindsey Andrew of Tulita and the pilot Dana Wentzel of Lower Sackville, N.S. all died after the small Cessna they were travelling on crashed into a ridge that afternoon.
Crook, 27, an accomplished and popular Metis fiddler who was en route to a performance in the small community, will leave a major gap in the North's burgeoning music scene.
He and his talents will be sorely missed by us all.
Ashley, 18, and Lindsay, 11, were going home to Tulita after spending Christmas with their parents and grandparents in Fort Good Hope when their lives were cut short in the fatal crash.
To Dana Wentzel the North was not only a place to fulfill his dream to fly, but it was his first full-time job as a pilot.
Highly qualified, Wentzel was following in the footsteps of so many other aviators who have forged North since the days of Max Ward.
Now the transportation safety board are tasked with finding out what went wrong.
There are many who are touched by this tragedy. The public needs to know that it is safe to fly in the North. The families of the victims need to know why this happened.
By getting to the bottom of this tragedy, the transportation safety board can ensure that four people taken in the prime of their lives will not have died in vain.
In more than one Nunavut community this holiday season, police stepped up efforts to seize alcohol and drugs. The officers believe those efforts directly reduced bootlegging and drug trafficking in the territory.
The numbers tell the story.
In Panniqtuuq, RCMP confiscated just half a bottle of booze during the 2000 Christmas holidays. Those same officers were kept busy investigating several reports of domestic assault, impaired driving and alcohol-related crime between Christmas and New Year's Day.
This past year however, they took more of a proactive approach. By seizing 51 bottles of alcohol and $6,000 worth of marijuana over the course of the holidays, Const. Jeff Johnston said they received no reports of drunkenness or alcohol or drug-related crime. None.
Iqaluit RCMP also reported a decrease in the severity and number of alcohol-related crime because of increased efforts over the last eight months to shut down bootleggers and dealers.
Residents of Rankin Inlet were even more proactive. They handled their desire to see less booze-inspired crime by imposing a community-wide ban on liquor from Dec. 14 to Jan. 3. The results, police said, were dramatic. For the second year in a row, they saw a significant drop in the number of calls they received.
While some people will argue that banning alcohol is an infringement on human rights, other recognize that being victimized by alcohol-related crime also detracts from their rights.
Until we find ways to foster responsible drinking in Nunavut, it would be prudent for more communities to think about following Rankin Inlet's lead. By removing alcohol, we remove crime and a great deal of stress on legal and medical systems. That's makes everyone happier and healthier in the long run.
With these kind of facts on the table, it's hard not to see the sense behind choosing a sober Christmas.
By the end of this year, Nunavummiut in Sanikiluaq and Iqaluit will have new radio stations from which to choose, one run out of a day care and the other a profit-making venture from the Evaz Group. Along with other projects in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot, it's beginning to look like a new era in the communications business.
More Nunavummiut voices on the airwaves are always welcome. Radio plays a vital role in keeping the territory connected -- a much stronger role than in most Southern regions, which have a wider variety of communications options. For years, CBC Radio has held a virtual monopoly on Northern radio, and while it has served us well for the most part, competition is never a bad thing.
There is a troubling trend developing, however. Both the Sanikiluaq and Evaz radio programming promises to be upbeat and positive. The former will air only "nice things" while latter intends to introduce "light-hearted" programming.
There's nothing wrong with a little fun and an optimistic outlook, but a radio station can be much more that just cheery hosts, happy music and community announcements. As college and community radio stations across Canada have discovered, the technology also offers young people the chance to try their hands at broadcast journalism and develop critical analysis and news judgment skills. Surely each new station could find an hour or two a week for serious community reporting.
We're not talking about formal training and high-quality production values. Community radio is just a small step toward the challenging world of broadcast journalism. But many a well-known voice on the air today got their start at local, amateur radio stations.
In the meantime, we wish CKJJ Sanikiluaq good luck, and we look forward to listening to CKIQ Iqaluit this fall.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
With the 2002 Arctic Winter Games (AWG) coming up in March, it's only fitting we begin the new year by focusing on sports.
The development of organized sports in the Kivalliq continues to be a top priority for youth in our region.
There is a renewed sense of optimism across the region with a new director for Sport Nunavut in place in Baker Lake and, of course, the spotlight of the AWG shining on sports in general.
Kivalliq News has extolled the benefits of sports to our region's youth many times in this space.
And with a new minister responsible for Sport Nunavut we are also optimistic about the future.
Manitok Thompson's previous experience with MACA will no doubt be a tremendous benefit to her in managing the affairs of Community Government and Transportation.
But the minister is also well-known for her rah-rah type of personality when it comes to competitions, especially those featuring teams from the Kivalliq.
Although she may not have the same love of hockey as Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Thompson has shown she appreciates the power sporting events have in bringing a community, region or territory together for a common cause.
Thompson also understands the power sports have in creating positive role models for our youth and providing them with further incentives to stay in school.
While we wouldn't hint for a second that Thompson's husband, Tom, has any influence whatsoever on the minister's decision-making, we can't help but feel the fact he's president of Hockey Nunavut will pay dividends to the sporting community some where down the road.
With his experience in sports as a player, official and administrator, Tom's insight could prove itself to be quite valuable to the minister during light conversations over breakfast.
And, hey, as giddy with Christmas spirit and optimism as we are at this time of year, we're even going to overlook Tom's habit of often not being able to see too far past the capital's new arena on this one.
Yes indeed, with a new director and minister responsible for Sport Nunavut in place, the sporting community may be close to believing in Santa Claus once again.
Hopefully, when it's time to look at further developing our sports programs and facilities, our new minister's spirit of giving will more closely resemble that of Santa's than the Grinch.
Editorial Comment
Malcolm Gorrill
Inuvik Drum
Another year has come and gone.
This marks a special time, a time of reflection. It's a chance to look back over what has taken place regarding one's neighbours, and within the Delta, over the past year.
It's useful to spend a little while reflecting, as time has a way of speeding by, seemingly more quickly each year.
One interesting thing about analyzing a certain year is that every person has a different perspective. For some Delta residents, 2001 may have been the year they got married, or graduated, or had their first child. No doubt some people gained great new friends this year, while some also lost friends.
It's hard not to think about the year in terms of how things were before Sept. 11, and afterwards. Though the Delta is a long ways from New York and Washington, people here and all over the world were affected in one way or another by those horrendous events.
Several events in 2001 stand out for me. One would be the Northern Youth Games, held in Inuvik in the first week of March. Athletes from the Delta and the Sahtu displayed some great competition and had a lot of fun along the way.
A big highlight from the year is the first Inuvik Petroleum Show in June. The event itself was highly interesting and was well attended, and it was also interesting to watch the expectancy build up as the conference approached.
The Cops for Cancer event during Midnight Madness was also fun to take in. More than 30 people, adults and children, shaved their heads -- and often their beards -- to raise money for a good cause.
The Great Northern Arts Festival generated lots of excitement in July. It kicked off strong and just seemed to build strength every succeeding day. Assembled for 10 days was an amazing level of talented artists and musicians.
During the summer I also popped by the Inuvik Community Greenhouse on several occasions. Once plants have sprouted there it's a beautiful and peaceful place to spend time at.
A simple reunion of friends in October stands out as well. Rosie Grandjambe of Fort Good Hope and Sara Jane Firth of Fort McPherson had not seen each other for 39 years, and did their best to make up for lost time.
In 2001 I also made a lot of friends and, other than a vacation in the spring, this marked my first full year in Inuvik.
All the best to you in the coming year.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson
Another year has come and gone.
It seems as though a disproportionately high number of people passed away within the region in 2001. We will keep cherished memories of the departed, and hopefully remember what they taught us about them and ourselves. Their passing serves as a poignant reminder of how precious life really is, and how we shouldn't take each day for granted.
Of course, 2001 is the year that will largely be remembered for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Close to 4,000 lives were lost on Sept. 11 as two jumbo jets slammed into the World Trade Centre's twin towers, collapsing them, while another plane hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into a Pennsylvania field. As far away as we are from "ground zero" -- as the downtown New York city crash site was labelled -- we couldn't escape the around-the-clock news coverage that went on for many days.
The term "global village" takes on even greater meaning during times like this. I even recall a couple of people telling me they went into the bush to get away from it all. Yet they said they found themselves back in front of the television a few days later, wondering about the extent of the devastation and struggling to understand why it happened.
The fall-out from that tragedy promises to extend well into this year and, perhaps, years to come as the war on terrorism wages on.
Another ongoing saga, but one closer to home, is the tortoise known as self-government negotiations. Things continued to plod along in 2001. A high point came in May with the signing of the Interim Measures Agreement and Draft Framework Agreement.
The key now, as far as development is concerned, is a Interim Resource Development Agreement. That should hopefully be negotiated and ratified this year -- no guarantees, of course. Some blame First Nations for the tedious pace of the Deh Cho Process, but the federal government's chief negotiator often acknowledges the frequent time lags in Ottawa. Any significant negotiations point has to wind its way through a massive federal bureaucracy.
Fortunately, Robert Nault, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development will be in Fort Simpson next week.
There's a major sticking point at present with the Deh Cho seeking 50 per cent of royalties from resource development, while the federal government is countering with the Dene/Metis comprehensive claim formula, offering substantially less. It would be encouraging if Nault could bridge that gap in a meaningful way.
When reflecting on the year that was, it's remarkable just how many award winners, fascinating travellers and explorers, strong-willed political leaders and everyday good people comprise the Deh Cho. Because of them 2002 stands to be every bit as fascinating as the one just passed.