Premier Stephen Kakfwi was on the right track earlier this month to flag an Alaskan state bill that threatens a proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

While NWT politicians often focus their energies surrounding the rival Alaska Highway pipeline on Washington -- and Alaska's two Republican United States senators, Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski -- they would do well to glance, as Kakfwi did, at Juneau.

Alaska Senate Bill 296, currently in committee, and sparked by Republican Governor Tony Knowles, would allow the Alaska Railroad Corporation to float tax-exempt bonds as an incentive for producers to commit to the $17-billion Alaskan route, which would bring stranded natural gas from the North Slope to the south.

While passage or defeat of the measure will not in itself decide the fate of the Alaska route, the NWT must keep an eye on Juneau as well as Washington.

Last week, News/North reported on the bootlegging fines handed out to four people in Fort McPherson. Judge Michel Bourassa hit the four where it hurts -- right in the wallet.

With fines ranging from $2,875 to $4,600, the sentences included one of the bootleggers getting a month in jail and another four months.

Fort McPherson RCMP Cpl. Geoffrey Garceau credits the community for the successful convictions. He said people are starting to understand the true cost of a bottle of booze.

It's not the $30 or $40 that goes into the pockets of the bootleggers, it's the terrible price families pay -- drunken fights, sexual assaults, individual mayhem and injury in the community.

Bootlegging is a crime and for good reason. It hurts people.

Bootleggers feed on their customers. In order to stop being victimized, we the customers have to have the courage to make statements to police then follow through and make the same statements in open court.

The cops and courts are there, some people in Fort McPherson have taken a stand. Many more must come forward.

Since Sept. 11, it seems that our flags have always been at half-mast.

They went down in mourning for the thousands killed in the terrorist tragedies.

Flags were lowered again when the Queen Mum died and they were down for more than a week in tribute to the four soldiers killed in Afghanistan. At the News/North office, we get phone calls from people demanding to know why some flags weren't lowered.

This show of respect is part of a renewed recognition of the burden of serving your community or your country.

Last week's outpouring of grief for the deaths of the four soldiers was unprecedented in recent history. Did we lower our flags when our soldiers were killed on peacekeeping duty? That is just as noble a cause as fighting a war against terrorism.

It has taken tragedy for Canadians to fully understand a soldier's job. They train -- unappreciated and often ridiculed -- in peace time so they're ready to defend the freedoms we take for granted.

Perhaps this new appreciation among common folk will encourage politicians to do the same. Our armed forces need adequate equipment, staffing and funding they need to do the jobs they've been given. How long have our new frigates sailed with outdated helicopters? How long did it take to get new search and rescue helicopters? What will it take for Ottawa to meet the needs of Northern sovereignty?

The process of naming Iqaluit's streets has taken more than four years. In the past year alone, the city held four public meetings. The latest one was last week.

Some of the concerns noted at the meeting were minor, even amusing. People were concerned that kids living on Igunak Street would get teased because the name means "fermented walrus," which is known for creating a stink.

Good point. The street will get a new name.

But some of the oversights discovered were startling. Not one street, for example, was named after a woman.

And not a single Iqalungmiut made it on to the list, although names of several European explorers did.

After four years of work, that seems more than a little bewildering.

Words and names are extremely meaningful, especially to Nunavummiut, whose culture and language have been threatened and likely will be under siege for many years to come -- without stronger support from within.

If names mean nothing, the capital city never would have changed its name from Frobisher Bay to Iqaluit. It was a symbol of something bigger and more significant. Through that one simple action, Nunavummiut reclaimed Iqaluit as their own.

So, for some, naming the city's streets after history's Qallunaat explorers or making them easily palatable to today's Qallunaat feels like a step down the wrong alley, if you will.

That's why it's important for the city to get the names right and make sure a process is set up for naming future streets. Following the meeting, the city made a sound decision to replace explorers' names with the those of individuals who have directly contributed to Nunavut or Iqaluit.

The city is now doing research to find good replacements. Anyone, from anywhere in the territory, with an idea should call up the city and let them hear it.

Word that a group of young musicians in Iqaluit managed to find airline tickets they could afford for a trip to a competition in Halifax should be welcomed by everyone who finds it necessary to fly south more than once in a blue moon.

But the story of frustration told by the trips organizers is a troubling one. Their requests for special treatment from the airlines got them nowhere, and we can't say we are surprised.

Too often these days Northerners expect far too much from the private sector when it comes to supplying services that Southerners take for granted. Getting around in the Arctic isn't cheap, and we can't ask corporations -- which exist for the sole reason of making a profit -- to turn into charities whenever we find it convenient.

In the Kivalliq, it's a similar story. There residents in Coral Harbour and Repulse Bay are unhappy with the level of service they are getting from Kivalliq Air. It's not that they don't have a regular, reliable flight schedule with Rankin Inlet and from there to points south. Instead, the main point of contention seems to be the size of the aircraft, which limits cargo and offers no in-flight toilets.

We sympathize with those who find it difficult to endure lengthy flights without a break, and those who are forced to part with large items when they move because the airplane doesn't have the room. But such luxuries just aren't economical in our part of the world, and may never be. Just as cheap flights south are sometimes impossible to find.

The truth is, those of use who choose to live in Nunavut must make some sacrifices. In return, we are graced with the most beautiful and unspoiled part of the country and a culture that is still touch with what really matters in this life.

We may not have hourly jet service between every community. But would any Nunavummiut give up what makes this place special in return for more of what makes Montreal, Winnipeg or Toronto what they have become? We didn't think so.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

You can't blame Rankin Inlet hamlet councillors for feeling like they're between a rock and a hard place.

Council has been painted as being responsible for some of the delays in construction of a regional health facility in Rankin. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The hamlet has bent over backwards time and time again to accommodate the wishes of both the Sakku Investments Corp. and the Nunavut government. That trend continued last week with the granting to Sakku of a right-to-occupy permit to clear snow, survey and sink pilings into the health facility lot.

The hamlet has assurances from Community Government and Transportation that it will not be held liable for contravening its own bylaw, which states all development permits must go through a 14-day waiting period.

The time is for a notice of development to be posted in the hamlet to give residents a chance to voice any concerns they may have.

Council's decision is a smart one, enabling work to finally proceed on the long-awaited project. At the same time, it does nothing to diminish council's position on the final lease agreement -- and that is the key point for the hamlet.

The land comes with a price tag of no less than $350,000, payable to the hamlet of Rankin Inlet. The lot is held in reserve for the health facility, regardless of who the ultimate lease holder turns out to be.

Council is positioning itself carefully so it doesn't get caught in negotiations between Sakku and the territorial government.

The original council motion was for the lot to be designated for the development of a health facility. It did not grant preferential treatment towards any development company. The final title holder will negotiate their lease agreement with the hamlet.

This is a significant point, since it doesn't put the government in a position of having to pay fair market value on the lot should it eventually be the lease holder. It also clears the way for the government and Sakku to work out a development deal beneficial to both, without either party having a market value advantage in the final negotiations.

This is especially important to the government, which was criticized by the auditor general for entering into long-term lease agreements with development companies.

Hamlet council can now sit back and wait for the two sides to strike a deal while development proceeds. Neutrality is the best position for the hamlet to adopt during these proceedings.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

The price of legal suicide just got higher.

Smokers were hit with a 75 cent per pack tax increase.

I don't have a gripe about the new tax, I think if it prompts people to quit or never start, it's worth it.

However, I tend to be pretty cynical about new taxes and can't help but wonder about the real motivation here.

If young people are determined to smoke, 75 cents isn't going to make much of a difference.

It seems to me, that if the government really wanted kids to quit smoking, they'd make it illegal for them to do so.

If it's illegal for stores to sell to young people, why isn't also it illegal for young people to possess or consume tobacco, as it is with alcohol and heroin?

Hard truth is, our governments have become as addicted to the tax as smokers are to the drug. If the feds were truly committed to improving the health of the nation, they'd outlaw the product completely, but in the interim, lawmakers could at least put some teeth in the tobacco laws we already have.

A mouse that roared

I was amazed to learn that the amendment to U.S. President George Bush's Energy Security Act was quashed in Congress last week.

It's inspiring to see what a few determined people can do to get their voices heard -- even thousands of miles away.

The people who depend on the Porcupine Caribou herd for subsistence must be elated that there are politicians in Washington like Democrats Tom Daschle, Joe Lieberman and John Kerry who took on the president and some oil-hungry Alaskans to kill the bill. We haven't heard the last of this issue and with elections coming soon in America, we might see another battle on the plains of ANWR.

Home-grown hero

It was a big treat to meet pilot Cecil Hansen on his turnaround from Edmonton.

The North imports so many of its pilots, it is refreshing to see a success that came right out of the Delta.

Aviation is such a big part of life in the North, one would think more young people would be at the controls of the big birds.

With Hansen as a role model, perhaps a few local kids will take interest.

Stand up and be counted

Good to see the census folks are taking another crack at the count in Inuvik.

I don't know what went wrong the first time the count happened, but somebody must have run out of fingers and toes.

Having been away from Inuvik for two years, even I noticed a lot more people here. New houses all over town, apartment buildings and just try and find a parking spot downtown.

I wasn't here when the last count was taken, but I'm sure there are quite a few more people here now during the boom, than their was in the recession.

Statistics Canada will be counting houses this time around. While I know a house is a big thing and hard to miss, maybe we should all get out and shovel our roofs and walks to make then even more visible -- we don't want to get missed this time.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum, Fort Simpson

Surely the late, great Elvis Presley wasn't singing of self-government negotiations when he crooned, "We can't go on together with suspicious minds."

Yet those very words ring true in light of last week's governance workshop in Fort Simpson. The Deh Cho First Nations and the federal government continue to creep forward ever so cautiously while the DCFN constantly casts a wary glance across the table.

This distrust remains despite federal negotiator Robin Aitken's repeated reassurance that Canada doesn't have anything up its sleeve. He is adamant that the federal negotiating team is pushing the negotiations envelope in Ottawa at the insistence of the DCFN.

A final agreement isn't projected to be signed for six or seven years. It would be excruciating for the two parties to carry on with so little confidence in each other. The Deh Cho should clearly state what sort of gesture of good faith they are seeking from the federal government.

In the meantime, the concept of self-government is starting to be examined more closely. At last week's governance workshop, the analogy of building one house (representing one government) was tossed around frequently. As facilitator Peter Russell pointed out, there are a lot of details about that house that have yet to be worked out.

Specifically, who holds power in what areas must be determined. At a community level it seems that Deh Cho leaders and elders want a single government to oversee everything including garbage collection and sewage. DCFN chief negotiator Chris Reid said the funding relationship with Ottawa must be direct, avoiding the loss of money to bureaucracy.

The idea of having single governments in the communities isn't a problem for some. In Wrigley, Kakisa, Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte, for example, the First Nations already administer programs and services. In essence, they already have their own local government.

The picture is a little on the fuzzy side for communities like Fort Simpson, Hay River, Fort Liard and Fort Providence, though. Each of those communities has a municipal government, a First Nations government and a Metis board.

There were references to how the Combined Council Alliance in Fort Providence is a good starting point for merging local government responsibilities.

However, there were also signs that on a regional level, proportional representation might become an issue. Hay River Mayor Duncan McNeill took umbrage with the concept of one community, one representative.

Hay River, he noted, comprises 3,600 people, more than the rest of the Deh Cho communities combined. Why should Hay River settle for a single representative? That's a tough question that will have to be answered somehow.

There are plenty of issues to be sorted out yet. The surface has just been scratched.

Deh Cho residents should keep abreast of these negotiations and be sure to ask questions or voice concerns.