Three people drank themselves to death during 2001.

It's a grim but true reality of life in the Northwest Territories. As long as booze has been available, too many Northerners have poisoned their lives. It has strained families and divided communities.

Now, as the NWT prepares to reap the wealth of gas reserves locked in the Beaufort Delta, our communities and traditions are more vulnerable than ever. We're already feeling the effects of wealth from diamond jobs. The volume of spirits, wine, beer, coolers and ciders consumed in the NWT increased by 41 per cent in 2001 compared with 2000.

Overdramatic? Perhaps, but an unhealthy addiction to alcohol and the money that will come down the Mackenzie Valley pipeline promise to make for a lethal combination.

Consider the facts as they now stand.

Fifty-eight per cent of the deaths NWT chief coroner Percy Kinney investigated last year involved alcohol. A 1996 study proved that when people drink, they drink a lot. A 1998 report showed that one-third of the people who committed suicide were legally impaired. Rates of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effect are among the highest in the country.

And what has the government done? Shut down Northern Addiction Services. That leaves just a six-bed Salvation Army treatment facility in Yellowknife and the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve to handle the problem. Anyone who can't get into those centres has to go south, away from family, language and culture. Even at that, Inuvik-Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland says there's a "silent wall" between people and treatment.

Sure, there are awareness programs and counsellors in most communities, but that isn't always enough. Even a draft report on a new Health and Social Services addictions strategy indicates a medical detox centre is necessary.

Still, in June Health Minister Michael Miltenberger questioned the need. "We have to make the fundamental decision about whether we want to put money into bricks and mortar or do we want to put money into programs at the community level."

The two issues aren't mutually exclusive. Community programs go hand in hand with regional detox centres.

The government is expected to soon release a new addictions strategy. Let's hope it includes plans for rebuilding the NWT's detox network -- perhaps small, regional centres where people can be treated nearer their home communities and in their own language.

Otherwise the reward of the current economic boom will be an expensive hangover.

It's nice to see the government of Nunavut working toward fulfilling one of the many obligations of the Land Claims Agreement.

Article 3 of the agreement states the government's duty to increase Inuit participation in all levels of government. In order to do this, a new training and internship program has been developed. It will give people with an interest in government an opportunity to slip into the ranks.

Fifteen land claims beneficiaries will be able to take advantage of the program. It may not seem like much, but it's a good start. Training will last two years and the interns will be paid 85 per cent of the average starting salary.

After the program's completion each of these interns will walk straight into a job.

The only factors determining success or failure are the interns' performance over the training period and evaluations overseen by supervisors.

Projects like this one are great initiatives. They build leadership and management skills. They give people a chance.

This is a perfect opportunity for beneficiaries to get their foot in the door.

It is also an opportunity for the people of Nunavut to have a say in what's going on, to make the decisions and to be a part of the territory's formation.

The best people for these government jobs are people who have lived in Nunavut and understand all of its intricacies. This program will help make this happen.

The initiative should be used as a model for similar organizations.

The internship positions will probably be spread throughout the territory as well.

Applications are being accepted from across Nunavut, and are available through Department of Human Resources.

A Senate committee has recognized in explicit language that marijuana is no worse a drug than alcohol. In a report released last week after two years of study, it also found that grass is not a gateway drug to harder, more dangerous, narcotics.

This is not news to those familiar, scientifically or personally, with marijuana. But the committee's call for legalization would require a revolution in Canadian drug policy.

Now that the appointed politicians have spoken, our elected members in both national and territorial legislatures should be prepared to do the same. It will not be easy to convince supporters of the current regime. But if what the senators say is true, then we should not be afraid of at least considering an alternative approach, one that distinguishes between real and imagined threats to society.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

For a cargo company seeking support, the points raised before Rankin Inlet hamlet council by the Northern Transportation Company Ltd.'s Tommy Owlijoot carried little weight. Owlijoot's talk of an "alliance" among NTCL, Gardewine North and the Hudson Bay Railroad Co. didn't impress the council -- and rightly so.

Referring to the alliance as the Kivalliq Transportation Group, the best Owlijoot could offer was the move toward one shipping bill and the assurance NTCL is "negotiating" with Gardewine North on a better rate for shipping goods from Winnipeg to Churchill.

Here's a flash for NTCL: If Gardewine North won't lower its Winnipeg-to-Churchill rates enough to be competitive in the Kivalliq market, maybe it's time to find another partner in your "alliance."

Having one bill for customers is something NTCL should have addressed a long time ago. And Coun. Justin Merritt was bang on when he implied Kivalliq consumers are tired of hearing about NTCL's "negotiating" problems with Gardewine.

First of all, if NTCL thought for one minute the fuel resupply contract was not going out to tender after the tainted fuel fiasco of the past year, its senior-management types had their heads buried in the sand.

Second, if ever there was a prime example of companies doing business in the North being spoiled by the monopolistic environment of the past few decades, this is it. For the size of company it has become, we can't get our heads around NTCL's contention that it "cannot dictate" the rates it wants from Winnipeg to Churchill or Thompson. It's not like no other transportation company would jump at the chance to get a slice of the region's lucrative cargo pie.

Merritt was right again when he said NTCL has become big enough to take matters in its own hands and set up an independent shipping system if its "alliance" won't help deliver competitive rates to Kivalliq residents.

NTCL's claim it will no longer be able to conduct business in the region with dry cargo alone was met with the same collective shrug of the shoulders by Rankin council that the company is, obviously, getting from its "alliance" partners. The time is now for NTCL to realize the gravy train has jumped its tracks.

If the company has any hope of support from the Kivalliq, its senior managers had better show up with an offer for that support.

And that offer has to be a lot more substantial than one bill for consumers. If not, NTCL will soon receive its own cargo bill -- and that will be for a one-way trip out of the Kivalliq.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

It seems despite the attempts of the Gwich'in Development Corp. to research the best deal for the Gwich'in people in the proposed pipeline project, there are still some dissenters within the ranks.

James Firth says the Mackenzie Gas Project doesn't provide enough benefits to the aboriginal people and the ARC plan guarantees aboriginal ownership.

As Chief of the Inuvik Native Band and also as president of the Northern Route Gas Pipeline Corporation, James Firth has a fine line to walk. On the other side of the issue is Nellie Cournoyea, who is chair and CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and chair of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.

Clearly, both groups have their own agendas. The Inuvialuit have subsurface rights to trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that needs to get to market and the Gwich'in don't.

With much of the gas discovered lying beneath the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the Inuvik Native Band is feeling left out of the economic equation and Firth feels holding out for pipeline ownership is in the best interest of his people.

While the ideal seems honourable, the goal, simply put, is unachievable.

The producers will never relinquish control of the pipeline to any one group. From all I understand, the big three in this deal were more than reluctant to concede even the one-third ownership negotiated by the APG.

Without producer support in a pipe, there will be no shipping contracts, without the shipping contracts, there can be no bonds issued and without the sale of bonds, there will be no pipeline construction.

Should the ARC plan ever get to the sale of bonds, the real owners of the pipe would be the bond holders, so the issue of ownership is a moot one -- with either plan the aboriginal groups have to go into debt.

So, unsatisfied with the GDC report, now the Inuvik Native Band is having its own study done.

With money from ArctiGas, the band has commissioned a study that will no doubt give them the answer the want to hear.

Seems to me, with all these "independent studies" and all the various factions seeking their own answers to the same problem, no one's getting any closer to building a pipeline.

Granted, the two pipelines are not like comparing apples to apples, but I think we all know that an "independent study" is generally dependent on finding the answers sought by the one paying for the study.

If these groups really wanted the truth, they should all get together to agree on one consultant to conduct one independent study and live with the findings.

This infighting is not making for good relations and certainly isn't inspiring the producers to think that even 25 years after Berger, the North is now open for business.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

While the last thing some businesses want is a meddling financier, the NWT Development Corporation's arm's-length approach with Nats'enelu has been a flop.

The fledgling enterprise needed financial guidance over the past few years, but either didn't receive it or ignored it.

The Development Corporation has a spotty track record as none of its current stable of clients are profitable. Development Corporation president Fred Koe says "it's a tough business."

The high costs for labour, materials and marketing make conditions formidable, according to Koe.

With that in mind, and having been funding businesses for more than a decade, why couldn't the Development Corporation see early on that problems were arising with Nats'enelu? Why didn't it assume enough of a hands-on approach to ensure that its investments can be recouped?

Three years ago -- Koe pointed out that it pre-dated his tenure -- the Development Corporation's board voted in favour of supporting Nats'enelu by becoming a minority owner in the venture.

It was a shortsighted decision. On the face of it, the business produced quality products and had the potential to be profitable, but the necessary expertise was not in place over the past five years.

The Development Corporation elected to hand over investment capital to a company that was essentially flying by the seat of it's moose-hide pants.

In becoming a minority shareholder, the Development Corporation, with all its collective knowledge, could do nothing more than be a background player.

D'Arcy Moses was a gifted designer, but he was up-front about the fact that business was not his forte.

Leaving important financial decisions in his lap was not prudent.

Although he grew into the general manager job to some degree, no one was to take his place.

Fort Simpson cannot be absolved from blame in the downfall of the business, either.

Several appeals were made for board members over the past few years but few people answered the call.

That seems to be changing, with 10 people having attended a luncheon meeting in late August.

Martina Norwegian said there was renewed enthusiasm in the room.

Here's to hoping that enough residents are ready to make a long-term commitment. Otherwise, it won't bode well for the already faltering enterprise.

With Nats'enelu on the ropes, the question that begs to be asked is whether a future Deh Cho Economic Development Corporation would be willing to bail the company out.

At what cost would an investment be made and how long would the Economic Corporation wait for the ship to right itself?