Change is upsetting.

Factor in the loss of control of $2 million in annual lottery revenue and you have the recipe for suspicious and angry Sport North delegates.

That's what the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) faces in the wake of its proposals for restructuring how sport and recreation is organized and funded in the Northwest Territories. That will mean funding swimming pools, promoting active living, developing hiking and skiing trails, and reducing the cost of recreation, a major barrier in itself.

The plan includes summer and winter games for the territory. MACA envisions new funding from the territorial and federal governments.

Control over the lucrative lottery system and about $750,000 in other funding would be handed over to a new board. It would comprise Sport North, regional recreation authorities and the Aboriginal Sport Circle representatives and a ministry liaison.

Another $825,000 in recreation funding that goes to communities will not be included in the pool.

The goals are laudable, but as presented, they leave people scratching their heads. As an effort to redefine sport and recreation in the NWT following division, the report fails to provide a clear direction for change. It does provide a foundation to build a new, better way to get people involved.

The real challenge facing MACA officials is to come up with a plan that outlines solid changes that will improve access to recreation and participation in sport. Instead of presenting what they have to MLAs next week, MACA ought to strike a committee and develop a proposal that all parties can support.

Change of this magnitude must be carefully considered so that the good work Sport North and others have done is not undermined.

The Northwest Territories has been fortunate so far this spring with only six minor forest fires reported to date. Two are already out and only 2.2 hectares have burned.

RWED officials report the deep organic layers of NWT forests are quite moist after an unseasonably cool and wet spring.

But at the same time there is no reason to be complacent. At Lac la Biche, near Conklin, Alta., just 765 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife, the House River fire -- rated at State 6, the most dangerous type of fire -- has consumed more than 201,600 hectares and is being fought by more than 900 firefighters.

As well, the Yellowknife area is now experiencing the driest conditions in the NWT as we head towards summer.

Caution is the watchword here. Many forest fires occur naturally through lightning strikes. Those we can't prevent. Fires caused by human carelessness we can. Smokey Bear's admonition still stands: "Remember, only you can prevent forest fires."

The Wildcat Cafe's introduction of a weekly guest chef is a good idea.

Every Saturday the seasonal restaurant has been bringing in a celebrity-type chef to cook up some chow and feed the folk who frequent the seasonal haunt.

So far, the lineup has included local thespian Erica Tesar, who dazzled the crowd with her chicken briani, and his worship Mayor Gord Van Tighem whose homemade stew was all the rage.

Our only question is where did Van Tighem park?

Since the city added the curb across the road last year, aside from Pilot's Monument, there's no parking area for patrons to pull up.

Let's hope the committee the city has struck to monitor this living heritage cafe puts two and two together and finds a solution.

In the meantime, grab those comfortable shoes and take a walk to the Wildcat. Upcoming grub masters include Weledeh MLA Joe Handley and Premier Stephen Kakfwi. They, too, we guess, will have no choice but to saunter on down.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

For those in the know, it comes as no surprise to see Rankin Inlet District Education Authority members trying to take matters into their own hands to address the severe shortage of busing services in the community.

While Rankin DEA vice-chair Ron Roach may be sincere in his assertion that the call for tender proposals to provide the service isn't a hardball tactic against the Department of the Education -- the publicity surrounding the dilemma has certainly got the department's attention.

But the busing situation is symptomatic of the much larger problem of gross underfunding in our educational system.

Board members across the Kivalliq complain the DEA has been picking up the financial slack in too many areas for far too long. In Rankin, three schools combined have been budgeted for 4.19 student support assistants (SSAs), which is indicative of schools across the region.

There are four SSAs at Maani Ulujuk middle school alone, plus a behaviour management co-ordinator.

Special needs is another area of prime concern. There are many schools across the region that come up with inventive names to refer to their special-needs classes due to the fact that, technically, they shouldn't have special needs classes without proper instructors.

Kivalliq DEAs have also been picking up parts of the tab for computer technicians, secretaries and a host of other positions the Department of Education should be funding alone.

When you look at the overall state of our educational funding, it's obvious cultural differences and language barriers aren't the sole reasons behind our students scoring so low compared with those in other parts of the country.

The Nunavut government continues to stubbornly back decentralization while critical areas such as education, health and housing remain badly underfunded.

Of course, the communities receiving the benefit of a handful of government positions back decentralization. But why wouldn't they? Any economic gain during these days of underfunding and cutbacks are staunchly guarded by communities receiving them.

Since the territorial government still has no way to show the overall cost of decentralization, it can continue to trumpet its gains without having to produce a dollar figure to answer the question of costs.

But the fact of the matter is, the majority of Nunavummiut continue to pay the price in critical areas for an idealistic policy, one that has not received a positive review from any body other than the government and hamlets benefiting from it.

The needs of the many should outweigh the needs of the few.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

For good or bad, it seems the town has settled the taxi situation in Inuvik -- for now at least.

The town has done their best to get out of the taxi business with the new law and the 30 drivers will have to scrap it out on the streets for the market share.

More than just earning a living, drivers are now also driven to pay off the cost of a $10,000 license.

The $300,000 will go a long way towards a new leisure centre, or whatever council decides to do with the funds raised from the license fees, so something good has come out of all the fighting.

While I haven't been here for the many years this battle's waged, I have the sinking feeling it's not over yet.

The drivers have dropped their court challenge, but the real challenge will be keeping this issue out of town council.

As it has been for years, it seems only half of the drivers are satisfied. The other half may soon have a choice though, as I hear rumblings of a new livery license before council.

While it never seemed to worked before, competition might be just what the Inuvik taxi industry needs.

With two companies competing, the customer will surely benefit. Perhaps not with lower rates, but perhaps with cheerful, prompt service.

Let's hope the drivers will be professional enough to keep the government from stepping back into the fray.

Dust in the wind

It looks like it may be a while until the town gets the street sweeper sweeping streets again.

While the rest of town is looking good, the streets are in dire need of a scrub.

It's not like spring comes as a surprise to any of us, but it seems the town was slow reacting to the change of season.

The contract for sweeping streets was handed back to the municipality, but they have yet to even buy back the sweeper.

The push is on to get the town cleaned up this week and I think the town should be leading by example.

It's hard to get motivated to clean your yard up, when there's a half-inch of dust coating it.

More than unsightly, the dust is a real health hazard.

I surely hope the streets will get swept before we hear the words 'smoking bylaw' mentioned again in council chambers.

Hurry up breakup

We're all glad to see the ferry is starting up again.

It seemed like a short break between ice road and ferry, but I'm more used to the long wait they have down in Yellowknife.

It'll be good to see the price of milk drop on store shelves too.

That's one thing I have a hard time with up here. The price of a bottle of beer in Inuvik is about the same as it is anywhere, but the price of milk is near triple.

The GNWT swears up and down that they don't subsidize freight on booze, so I guess they just have a cheaper trucker than the milkman.

Subsidy or not, I think part of the tax government makes off the booze sales here, could go a long way towards affordable fresh milk on our tables.

Editorial Comment
Mike Bryant
Deh Cho Drum

Well, my time in the Deh Cho is drawing to an end, at least for the time being.

I would like to thank all the people who have made wearing Derek's hat over the last month a little easier to bear.

There's simply too many to mention here.

Finding stories was never a problem. Fitting them all into the paper was the only difficulty I had.

My boat ride with Steven Cli was definitely one of my favourite adventures while here.

We didn't get to where we wanted to go, but it was the trip itself, and Steven's company, that made it worthwhile.

It's too bad I missed out on the beaver though.

One of my last duties here was covering the gas pipeline consultation meeting Monday night.

It was made clear by some people that despite the soothing tone of Imperial Oil exec Randy Ottenbreit's voice, they are still worried about what benefits the pipeline will bring them.

People want jobs, and by saying the pipeline is but "a step" towards solving the North's problems, was perhaps a little short of the guarantee some people were looking for.

After all, it's suppose to be a $60-billion industry some day.

Then again, as Liidlii Kue First Nation Chief Rita Cli has said time and again, people will need training to take full advantage of it.

The GNWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment has made modest steps in recent years to tackle that very problem, but with pipeline construction looming three or four years down the road, time is certainly of the essence.

It's something the gas companies can help out with as well. Merely throwing $4 or $5 billion around without aiding in the training local workers will not solve the problem.

Anyway, I best be off. Cheers and good luck.