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They had nine names, nine families, nine legacies. Ten years ago today they were killed in an instant when a bomb ripped through the 750-foot level of Giant mine.
Six of them were Yellowknifers -- all nine men were human beings who died long before their time.
Now, as Roger Warren carries out the seventh year of a 25-year sentence for the murders he committed, many Yellowknifers appear reluctant to remember the horrors of Sept. 18, 1992.
We can hardly blame them.
The events leading up to that fateful day were disturbing to say the least.
The acts of violence between strikers, replacement workers, security guards and residents of Yellowknife changed our community forever.
The bitterness among families who remained on strike and those who crossed the picket line to work at Giant lives on to this day.
So how do we heal from such a tragedy?
We can blame Ottawa, as our former mayor Pat McMahon does, for not heeding the warning bells the city sounded at their doorstep when things were getting out of control.
We can blame the union for bad judgement and supporting vandalism which could only have encouraged the psychopath who planted the fatal bomb.
Or we can blame Peggy Witte, a.k.a. Margaret Kent, the queen of bankruptcy, for bringing in replacement workers and Pinkerton security guards in a brutal attempt to bust the union.
Who knows?
If Ottawa had acted, if anti-replacement worker legislation had been brought in, maybe the nine men would be with us today, putting their boats away for the winter and raising their families.
We can speculate all we want about what could have happened but the bottom line is we will never be able to bring back those who died on Sept. 18: Josef Pandev, Shane Riggs, Robert Rowsell, Arnold Russell, Malcolm Sawler, David Vodnoski, Chris Neill, Vern Fullowka and Norman Hourie.
Yellowknifers should focus their thoughts on these men who, unlike us, won't be able to recover or heal from that deadly day.
Their names should never be forgotten.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
We cannot understand why the government of Nunavut does not throw more financial support behind the Nunavut Youth Abroad Program. NYAP has been highly successful during its five years of existence, to the point where two former participants hold positions on its nine-member board of directors.
While we appreciate the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth is doing what it can to support the NYAP -- based on the youth allotment of its funding structure -- we can't help but wonder why the Department of Education isn't kicking in some much-needed support for this program.
The reluctance to increase financial aid is even more puzzling when one looks back at the government's contributions to the ill-fated Nunascotia program, a poorly conceived project that sent Nunavut students to a Nova Scotia university to hang out on campus and monitor classes. We can only surmise the government believed some form of osmosis would occur within these students, fuelling their desire to attend post-secondary classes.
Of course, without any work or commitment on their part, a number of the students seized the opportunity to do little more than party. The experience may have left a bad taste in the government's mouth towards supporting what it perceives as a similar program.
If that's the case, it's time to wake up and smell the textbooks. Competition for positions in the NYAP is intense among Nunavut youth. And a place in the program is not given simply because one wants it. The students must endure a comprehensive screening process in their communities to prove their desire to participate.
Once selected for the Canadian and international phases of the NYAP, they are exposed to different cultures, increase their awareness and self-esteem, get used to being away from home, develop work skills and learn how to function as part of a team. In short, the NYAP is doing its part in helping to develop our territory's leaders of tomorrow.
Government funding has ranged from $50,000 to $15,000 annually. The lower of which has been the norm during the past three years.
Increased internal funding would make it easier for NYAP organizers to raise the external funding it requires each year to run the $230,000 program -- a fair chunk (minimum $750 each) of which the participants raise themselves.
It would amount to an investment in Nunavut's future, an investment in an educational youth broker with a solid track record of providing high returns to its clients.
Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum
Seismic slump Seems the interest in oil and gas in the Delta has fallen off sharply this year, with major producers holding their cards close to their vests until they see what will happen with this pipeline.
They were ready to boom once before and were disappointed. No doubt that fiscal uncertainty is buzzing through the Calgary and Houston boardrooms again.
With so many other new prospects opening up, the big players are hedging their bets. Oil and gas on the east coast with Hibernia and Sable opening up, as well as new finds along the Rocky Mountain trench and in the Gulf of Mexico, are leading producers where the game is a sure bet.
Up here, they don't know what cards they're going to get dealt.
With pitch men and politicians dealing these wild cards and wild promises of 100 per cent ownership and billion dollar subsidies, the producers would just as soon place their bets where the game is played straight.
With slumping gas prices and shell-shocked stockholders every CEO is looking for a safe bet and with the winds of political pandering blowing south, I'm not sure they are ready to sit in on this Northern game.
Walking and talking
It was good to see the crowd of people walking the streets last Sunday to raise awareness of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Far too long this was a dirty little secret that was hushed away at the detriment of the unborn.
Generations grew up not knowing the evils of drinking during pregnancy and events like this one get people talking about the issue.
Help on Husky
The residents of Husky Trailer Park have a few options open to them, but it looks like none of them are going to be cheap.
Moving the trailers is out of the question for some of the people with older homes and doling out money for a new lot won't come cheap either.
The town will crawl out from under the situation one way or the other, so it's up to the home owners to seek the best route out for themselves.
Buying the existing lots to pay for a new utilidor may appear to be a quick fix to the problem, but the area still needs a proper survey done.
Once surveyed, one trailer will have to be moved out completely and the rest nudged over to meet with code.
Moving a trailer a foot or a mile costs about the same, so the owners had might as well look to cutting their losses and move into the new trailer lots the town has for sale.
Seems like a hard sell, but the options are few and all expensive.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
It's bewildering to think that more than $32 million has been pumped into a mine within the Deh Cho region, but a mere pittance has accrued to local businesses and residents.
CanTung mine resumed production in January and had been making preparations for months prior to that. The most commonly used defence for the lack of Deh Cho benefits is two-fold:
- The road through the Yukon is the mine's lifeline.
- Little interest has been expressed to date by First Nations and businesses in the Deh Cho.
For the record, there hasn't been anyone vigorously refuting those arguments, not since the departure of Shane Parrish, former CEO of the Acho Dene Koe Group of Companies, anyway.
Another factor that makes CanTung a tough nut to crack is that it has been around since the '60s. Therefore it can cling to exceptions for existing third-party interests and can fall back on some of those infamous grandfather-type clauses -- although North American Tungsten currently has a heck of a battle on its hands against the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, which won't renew its water licence under dated terms. It looks like that matter will be decided in court.
The Deh Cho First Nations' struggles to guarantee royalties and impact benefits agreements through the federal government -- equitable measures, all -- wouldn't apply at CanTung even if the details were worked out and ratified yesterday or last year.
Therefore, having a delegation meet face-to-face with the mine's top executive last week, although overdue, was a step in the right direction. The demands placed on Udo von Doehren, president of North American Tungsten, last Friday were neither great nor unreasonable.
The challenge was for CanTung to provide more jobs for local people and to pay to get them to and from the mine. Although von Doehren balked at picking up the full tab for the employees' return flights from Fort Simpson, he was willing to entertain a lesser cost if government or any other group would subsidize it.
To hold up its end of the bargain, the Deh Cho will now have to produce some committed employees. A three-week in, three-week out camp environment in such a remote, but scenic, location isn't appealing to every unemployed individual. Whatever the reason, there's obviously a hurdle to overcome when 10 of 11 CanTung employees from Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte walked away from their jobs.
In a region of 3,000 people, not all of them of working age, not all of them seeking employment, there are only so many workers to spread around as development projects become a reality. Opening the door to other NWT residents and Southerners who are willing to make their home in the Deh Cho is inevitable.
By starting now to figure out other ways the Deh Cho can benefit when the larger and richer MacTung deposits are tapped into, the better off we'll all be.