Imagine lying on an operating table looking into the digital eyes of a three-armed robot. It's getting its orders from an unknown doctor thousands of miles away and it's going to be cutting you open.

That's what's involved in the $1 million trial project of tele-robotic surgery at Stanton Regional Hospital.

The concept is frightening but it's also fascinating. Highly specialized medical knowledge and skills will be instantly transmitted to Northern doctors rather than patients flying to a hospital down South.

Could the money be better spent on real live doctors, nurses and professional support staff? Yes, but it's a federally-funded project and has the potential to raise the standard of health care at Stanton Regional.

For those worried about technology taking over, take comfort in the fact that while we may have robot doctors, the patients will always be human.

In November 1998, the sky was falling on Yellowknife's Gerry Murphy Arena.

"We can't afford to let the ice users be put in potential danger," Coun. Dave Ramsey told Yellowknifer at that time. An engineering firm recommended $1.7 million in upgrades for the arena. The fire chief listed a dozen life-safety concerns.

A figure skating coach thought it should be shut down then and there. But it stayed open while city council dithered over what to do.

The arena has hung on tenterhooks ever since. It was even shut down for a short time in February 2001. Re-opening the facility cost the city between $15,000 and $20,000.

Last week, Ramsey had a change of heart. He wondered if the city should be so quick to write off the Murph. After all, he argued, the city plans to have three ice surfaces when a new twin-pad facility is complete sometime in the next couple of years.

Perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to call in the wrecking crew.

It will cost $2.8 million more to build the second sheet at the new complex. Until then we'll be left with two that are used more than 85 per cent of the time during the winter months.

The fact that the old arena has remained open for the past 3-1/2 years is reason enough to question the "life-safety concerns." And wonder if the city really does have to spend millions on the Murph to keep it open for the next couple of years.

Think of what we'll lose. Noon-hour skating sessions for downtown workers. Public skates that always get the heave-ho when there's a tournament or special event. The ability to consider the arena for another use.

Although the Elks Club has expressed an interest in the site for a new building -- a positive proposal that needs due consideration -- the Murph could serve other uses. Follow Inuvik's example and turn it into a year-round greenhouse. How about a concert hall or public gallery? A year-round public market?

Whatever happens to the building, city planners must resist the inclination to discard the old in favour of the new, and the higher taxes that always come with it.

Yellowknife's five-member public services committee on May 7 will consider a proposed amendment to the municipal highway traffic bylaw that would make bicycle helmets mandatory for riders.

While the city's civil servants are still tinkering with the proposed wording, it appears the change has enough votes to pass easily on council. Only Coun. Alan Woytuik seems opposed, making the rather ill-chosen analogy that "with the shootings going on in schools, the next thing you know we're going to pass a bylaw that every kid going to school has to wear a flak-jacket."

Ontario perhaps has the right idea in how it has balanced safety and the assumption of voluntary risk: cyclists under 18 must wear a helmet, older riders choose.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

A few disturbing trends have emerged in the Kivalliq's minor hockey scene during the past few years.

While we're sympathetic to parents who find it difficult to meet the costs of player equipment and registration, other areas can be addressed at no cost other than one's time.

With the possible exceptions of Rankin Inlet and Arviat (and even they're pleading for more volunteers), it's worrisome how many hamlets have their entire programs resting on the efforts of one or two individuals.

While we have seen positive developments in Chesterfield Inlet -- the situation in Coral Harbour, Whale Cove and Baker Lake shows how quickly a system can erode when one individual carries the entire burden.

Don't get us wrong, we loudly applaud the efforts of these individuals in trying to ensure local kids have the opportunity to play hockey. But, where are all the hockey moms and dads? Why does almost every rec co-ordinator and minor-hockey organizer have to beg and plead for more parents to step up and take some responsibility for the program in their community?

As we've said many times before in this space, youth involved with minor hockey gain far more than just exposure to the game. They learn co-operation, teamwork, self-esteem and a sense of fair play.

Time and time again we hear our region's minor hockey personalities say how much our kids enjoy playing the game. Yet we also see their continued pleas for more volunteers fall on deaf ears.

Pond Inlet lost most of its organized hockey season this year and, if we're not careful, the same could befall an unfortunate community or two in our region.

Too many people in the Kivalliq are content to stand back and watch a handful of volunteers put in enormous hours of their time to keep our hockey programs running. So many expect so much from so few, including the program being delivered for next to nothing.

There can be no denying hockey is a big-time popular event in our region. But there's much more to the game than just showing up at the arena whenever your community hosts a tournament.

It's time for people in our region to step up and start making a contribution to minor hockey.

For those who have played (or still play) hockey, look at it as the opportunity to give something back to a game which has given you so much. For the numerous hockey parents in our region -- look at it as the opportunity to do something for your kids that will only cost you time, but will be appreciated by your children for years to come.

When you talk about quality time, there are precious few activities that reward you more than spending time at the arena with local youth. And if you're looking for remuneration for your efforts -- please accept all those smiling faces looking your way as payment in full.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

The Happy Valley Campground-elder's facility looks like a done deal.

By all accounts, this elder's facility looks like the first phase of a multi-phased dwelling that will eventually take over a unique part of Inuvik.

It's been a campground since the first settlers arrived in East 3 and those first visitors were thankful for the quiet comfort and beautiful view afforded at Happy Valley.

As the baby boomers come of age the campground will become an old folk's home and our visitors and future settlers will have to find a new place to settle, but that's not the worst of it.

My biggest worry is that the housing corporation is going to erect one of their patented cracker box structures in the valley, that will have the aesthetic value of another row house or that big green box Nova's just erected on Ptarmigan Hill.

There is enough of that camp-style mentality in the NWT and if tourism is a real goal here, we should be looking at what the Yukon has done in their downtowns.

People come to the North expecting to see their Hollywood vision of log cabins and igloos. We couldn't and shouldn't give them the same thing here, but we should be forward-thinking enough to plan some eye-candy for the industry.

No, we can't give the tourists the gold rush kisses and sour dough dreams of our Yukon neighbours, but we can sure build on the rich history of the Delta's original people, the fur trade, the whale hunt, and, more recently, the oil and gas industry.

I'm not naive enough to think that tourism is a force that will drive a town's economy. My hometown put all their eggs in that basket and now Kimberley, B.C. is a great place to ski or to get a minimum wage job, but you can't even buy a pair of socks there.

Like Nellie said last week about the muskox deal -- good economics is all about diversity. A strong economy has many components and when the oil and gas are sucked from the ground, Inuvik will need all of them.

A new friend here told me she feels Inuvik lacks the soul of a real Northern town like Aklavik.

Sure, it's new. It's artificial and government-created, but it's here to stay. Let's be forward-thinking enough give it some soul. It's up to the town's planners and those of us who call this place home to instil that soul.

The elder's facility will house the Delta's living history. It seems to me that would be a perfect place to also house some non-living history.

A tastefully-built museum to go along with the facility would be a perfect place for tourists to go and relive the rich history of the Delta. A fire pit area where elders could share tea, bannock and stories of the way things were would also fit in nicely.

The memories visitors take home with them will be what leaves them to decide whether or not they'll revisit the area. If they remember row houses and cracker boxes or lodges and teepees will make a great impact on a great renewable resource.

We need not look any further than Yellowknife to see how not to build a downtown. The Atco trailer makes a practical work camp, but do we really need to see highrises erected in their honour?

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson

A heap of good advice was dispensed at last week's Youth Business Development conference.

Successful entrepreneurs from Fort Simpson, elsewhere in the NWT and across Canada shared pearls of wisdom based on their own invaluable experience. A few of the recurring messages were that hard work, persistence and education are all needed on the road to prosperity.

There was little variance in terms of the hard work. Each guest speaker told of frequently working into the wee hours of the morning and on weekends, particularly in the early stages of a new venture. One of the struggles that many of them alluded to was trying to strike a balance between constantly working and spending time with their families. Quite often, their families wound up on the back burner.

However, many of the speakers pointed out that their goal is to achieve a level of financial independence that will allow them to be with their families the majority of the time.

Even though most of the entrepreneurs stressed the importance of education, not all of them had it. That fact could send a message in itself: if you are dedicated and determined, you can succeed without a formal education. While that may be true in some cases, Brendan Bell, co-owner of two Yellowknife coffee shops and now a Yellowknife MLA, made an excellent point on the topic of eduction.

While sitting across from a banker in hopes of obtaining a loan, he suggested, an entrepreneur with a good business plan who has persevered through four years of university is more likely to be granted a loan than one who has not.

On another topic, one youth delegate asked bed-and-breakfast owner Carolla Cunningham a thought-provoking question about friends and relatives expecting free lodging or use of her teepees at no charge. Cunningham, who had just touched on traditional values (sharing being a primary one) in her presentation, acknowledged that there's a fine line between retaining ties to culture and allowing others to take advantage of you. She said she uses a barter system as a compromise.

For example, if her relatives are coming from the North and expect to stay at the B&B, she asks them to bring caribou meat or moose hide in exchange. That's not only good business sense, but it won't shouldn't leave either party feeling shortchanged.

The Youth Business Development Conference embodied plenty of inspirational accounts. Yet it wasn't all one success story after another. There were admissions of failed business ventures. It comes with the territory.

Even though many entrepreneurs may have nerves of steel, they still get that queasy feeling at the prospect of financial doom. Yet most soldier on. They're a hardy bunch and our communities wouldn't be as well served without them.