So, Health Minister Michael Miltenberger doesn't think there's a crisis when it comes to retaining health care workers in the NWT.

The announcement of this summer's closure of the Intensive Care Unit at Stanton hospital also doesn't give him too much cause for concern.

Then he tells Yellowknifer the compensation package currently on the table for health care workers is competitive.

Can he not add?

The fact remains health care workers in the south are receiving increases of up to 24 per cent. An operating room nurse in the Yukon earns $6 an hour more than one in Yellowknife. The Yukon has boosted funding for its doctors by 43 per cent.

It's not news that our health care workers, who are urging all GNWT employees to vote no to the new contract's three per cent increase, are overworked.

Craig Lee, an ICU nurse considering leaving the North, told Yellowknifer how one co-worker worked nine weekends in a row and another worked on surgery for a 24-hour shift.

The hospital's hands are tied by the number of staff, and they're closing ICU to give their overworked staff some much-needed time off.

Nope, no crisis here, we guess.

Dr. Ken Seethram, president of the NWT Medical Association, says the territory should have 83 doctors.

The government funds 59.5 positions. There are only 51 doctors now in the North.

"We are operating at 60 per cent below capacity," he tells Yellowknifer, adding doctors are paid a salary based on a 40 hour week, yet work as many as 70 hours.

Miltenberger's 'Crisis, what crisis?' attitude is disturbing.

Troubling, too, is the fact his deputy minister didn't know the ICU was closing until he learned of it in the media.

Now's the time Miltenberger must sit down with these workers and do the math. Otherwise, which ward are we prepared to see close next?

If you want a dose of reality ... a wake-up call in the devastation caused by drugs, alcohol and past abuse, take a few hours and sit in court.

You will be shocked, horrified and saddened by the stories that people tell inside the courtrooms.

A mom, struggling with alcohol and past abuse, gets sent to jail for punching her nine-year-old daughter in the face.

Jail time and a fine result from two recent cases in which men assaulted their wives. Alcohol was involved in both. One man was also struggling with abuse he suffered at Grollier Hall Residential School.

And there are other, even more horrifying cases that come up.

They're horrifying to read about and even more difficult to listen to. If only offenders who abuse their spouses, their children and others could really hear the damage that they cause...

MLAs have finally seen the light. They were so right when they announced there was no reason to have further public input on the same-sex adoption issue.

It means they know adoption rights should be granted to same-sex couples.

It means they know that good parents are what's important, not sexual preference.

It means they know that they are inviting a court challenge if they don't pass this legislation during the final reading of the bill later this month -- a situation that would be very costly to taxpayers.

It means they know it is irresponsible for them to impose their moral agendas on the people they represent.

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

It's encouraging to see that emergency services here are working together to learn from the recent thin ice tragedy in Inuvik.

Those grieving can at least take quiet comfort that initiatives are at work that may save a life.

There are split-second, life and death choices that must be made in these types of emergencies and transportation shouldn't be one of those choices.

In winter, it's a snow machine; in summer, it's a boat and in between...

In between there is no choice here.

If an option was available at the time, no doubt a hovercraft would have been the first rescue option.

Getting to the scene is the primary goal of any rescue effort and they need not be having to make decisions on how to get there.

The Delta offers an environment unsuitable for either land or water craft this time of year. It's a risky, treacherous soup of land, water, mud and ice.

There are a few seasonal stories that Northern reporters dread writing about each year: one of them is when someone intoxicated falls asleep in the snow and another is people dying under ice.

A close friend of mine died in a combination of the two -- drinking and diving. Kelly Stone died SCUBA diving under the lake ice, with fishing line tied to his belt that never stayed tied.

Kelly never found his way back to the hole and it was four months until anyone found Kelly.

Everytime I think about thin ice, I think about Kelly. Down there in the dark, running out of air, smashing and clawing at the ice above. I think about his friends on the surface, frantically cutting holes with a chainsaw, jumping up and down on the ice and shining a puny flashlight on a string down the hole.

I think about his family, who had to wait until spring, before they could inter his body.

I think about those things and it's enough give me goosebumps and way more than enough to keep my feet off thin ice.

Last week, someone told me of a race, where people would bet thousands of dollars and pink slips to see who be first to drive their truck from Aklavik to Inuvik on the new ice.

There's a thin line between brave and crazy, but driving a ton of steel across thin ice is a long way from brave.

Roderick Simon wasn't after a pink slip or money, he just wanted to go shoot a few geese, like he'd done every spring.

When Roderick went hunting, the river was soft and opening up all over.

At some point, there must have been a question; there must have been a doubt that was never acted on.

At some point, he knew he was pushing his luck, but he didn't turn back.

He never knew my friend Kelly but if he did, he might have thought twice about travelling the river and that's why I told you.

When the geese are on the wing and the moose is on the rut, we all think about spring and fall hunts, but we should also think about thin ice and the ones who've gone before.

Think about my friend Kelly and your friend Roderick before you answer the question and before you take that first step.

And if the ones who've gone before aren't enough to make you play safe, think about the ones you might leave behind.

Editorial Comment
Deh Cho Drum

No easy job Acho Dene Koe band members in Fort Liard obviously went to the polls with change in mind last week.

Change is what they got.

Floyd Bertrand, an approachable and soft-spoken individual, replaces Judy Kotchea, who shares the same qualities and who had spent the past two years learning the ropes as chief.

Only two members of the former Acho Dene Koe council, elder Stanley Bertrand and Floyd Diamond'C, have been returned to office. Two other former councillors, Kim Deneron and Phillip Betthale, chose not to run again, and, sadly, former long-time councillor Daniel Lomen perished in a plane crash last year.

The learning curve will be substantial for the new chief and council, but it comes with the territory.

It's hard to fault Judy Kotchea, the first female chief in Fort Liard, for the job she did since June 2000. She was often a lone voice at the Deh Cho First Nations' assemblies, fighting for the Acho Dene's interests. Whether one agreed with her outlook or not, it took a great deal of courage to stand firm.

The Acho Dene Koe were also the only ones in the Deh Cho region to sign on with the Aboriginal Pipeline Group (APG) last year. Their band council also undertook a community oil and gas review and told oil and gas companies that there would be no further land issuances until the band's land claim is settled. That, of course, is a very ambitious project, as the Acho Dene are trying to reclaim traditional lands in an adjacent province and territory.

Being an elected leader places great demands on one's time. In addition to regular council meetings, in the case of Fort Liard, there are numerous business engagements. Not to mention that people tend to stop elected leaders in the street to ask questions, share concerns or chastise them. As well, elected officials are expected to be present at practically all community events, often as guest speakers. This isn't an easy balancing act, particularly when a chief or a mayor has a family to consider.

So when the nostalgia flies about chiefs who used to consult with community members by going door to door, it's important to remember that that occurred in a different era when communities were smaller and demands on a chief's time weren't as extreme. Today, it's up to band members and constituents to attend community meetings or schedule an appointment with the chief or mayor at the office, or at least approach a councillor with questions or misgivings. While an elected leader is expected to be accountable, the public must also make an effort.

Convoluted process

Canadian Zinc is just the latest example of a resource development company stymied by the cumbersome regulatory regime in the NWT, and it's not the company's first exposure to a prolonged delay. While the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board has detected some legitimate areas of concern, after lengthy review that same board made recommendations as to how these concerns should be addressed. For other agencies, which are sometimes accused of being bloated bureaucracies (yet the people at the ground level are often scurrying to keep up with the workload), to add another several months to the wait is ludicrous. There has been plenty of talk of streamlining the regulatory authorities in the NWT, but there's no proof in this situation that any such improvements have come to pass.