Hamlets across the territory need to take the leap of faith and follow the smoke-free trail broken by Iqaluit. On Feb. 25, the capital city passed a new bylaw. Effective April 15, smoking will be banned in all public places except bars.

The city said the bylaw was motivated by health issues. Having a healthy environment to live in and having a healthy population is very important. No one should have to walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke if they don't want to. No one should have to eat dinner with an ashtray.

Already some organizations across the territory are starting to take the leap towards butting out.

The Nunavut and Northwest Territories Workers' Compensations Board are leaning towards a complete ban on smoking in the workplace.

If the implementation is successful, the legislation would see smoking banned in all workplaces including bars, restaurants, and private clubs.

At the same time, the Government of Nunavut is reviewing its Tobacco Act. It is doing so as we speak in the legislative assembly.

As Iqaluit's mayor said, smoking is not something to gloat about.

"Up until now, smoking was cool here. It was cool to smoke. By passing this bylaw, we're saying no it's not," said Iqaluit Mayor John Matthews.

In this day and age, smoking is almost shameful. It is shunned. If you smoke, you have to go outside. If you smoke, you have to stand three metres from the door.

Iqaluit's Frobisher Inn has been smoke-free since last Aug 1. Manager Rainer Launhardt said he was never afraid the ban would take away business.

"You go to a non-smoking environment and you increase business. We will lose some people, but we'll gain a lot more," said Launhardt right before the ban was put into effect.

Promoting health and comfort in a community is key. Protecting children and their futures is essential. When a community takes the lead and bans smoking in public places, everyone receives a message. QUIT smoking - it can kill you.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

It will be interesting to hear just how much "community radio" in Rankin Inlet changes now that hamlet council has taken a hands-on approach with the new station.

We're not talking about the actual music programming.

Nor are we talking about its financial management and accountability, which has been called into question in the past.

With all things money related going through the hamlet, that end of the operation should be airtight.

What we're interested in hearing is how the public "chatter" is handled.

Each and every Kivalliq hamlet has been plagued with this concern over community radio for decades.

People phone up, over open public airways, and proceed to put down any person or organization they may have a beef with, legitimate or otherwise.

To date, hamlets have been very lucky.

As every hamlet SAO and financial officer is aware, such personal attacks are open invitations to litigation.

And, such litigation would not be aimed solely at the person spewing their poison over the airwaves.

Lawyers are interested in representing clients who have a case against entities with deep pockets.

In short, whomever has control over a public broadcasting system, no matter how limited in range, also has a responsibility to monitor its content.

Every Kivalliq council, at one time or another, has discussed ways of cleaning up what's being heard on both community-radio airways and citizens-band (CB) radio.

Yet, little has been done to rectify the situation.

People in the Kivalliq are becoming increasingly aware of their rights as individuals.

As such, it's only a matter of time before a municipality finds itself in a courtroom defending against a libel suit that could end up costing tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Having an open public forum such as community radio is not a licence to launch personal attacks or vendettas against other people or organizations.

The damage that can be caused to a person's reputation, family, employment or business interests can be substantial.

Hopefully, once council has settled into its role as station director, it will quickly adopt a policy of zero-tolerance towards those who abuse the privilege of speaking over public airways.

After all, it's not as if the vast majority of those listening don't know who's doing the talking.

Maybe hamlets should look into hiring and training radio monitors.

The move would help get hate mongering off our airwaves, and also create some much-needed employment in our communities.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

You have to sympathize with the plight of Laura Moses and her family as they are faced with re-living a violent and disturbing part of their past.

Dealing with the horrific loss of a loved one cannot be easy, but their plight is further compounded by living in a small town.

It's inevitable that the victim and offender will meet in a town this size and the justice system should have been more sympathetic to that.

With any violent crimes, the family should be notified of upcoming hearings and possible release dates of the offender. The request for notification should not have to fall on the victim or their survivors, it should be an automatic part of the parole process.

In violent crimes, the Crown often requests a victim impact statement to present to the court before sentencing.

Perhaps the Crown could also ask the judge to recommend corrections notify victims of crime when the offender is up for release.

That way victims and their families might avoid the situation that's now before this Inuvik family.

Surely the offender has rights and it's true the man has served his time, but that's little comfort to the family whose forced into standing on line with him at the bank or grocery store.

Fuelling new centre

The plans for the new leisure centre look pretty good and if you're at all curious, you should get down to town hall for a peek.

Looking at the plans and watching the price of fuel skyrocket, I can't help but wonder how much it's going to cost to keep that hot tub hot all winter long.

Although we're sitting on huge lakes of natural gas here, the cost of our gas is tied to the equivalent cost of diesel fuel.

As George Bush threatens war to drive up the cost of oil to make he and his cronies rich, here we are a world away bearing the brunt of his policies.

I think it's time to re-evaluate the cost of our energy here and get off the oil standard.

Floyd Roland was quite right to bring this up in the legislature Monday, because I don't know of one person who has realized any savings since the natural gas conversion happened here.

As the world price of oil edges higher and higher, so will our natural gas costs. If the utility providers can't see their way clear to charge us the real cost of our energy here, perhaps under the new regional government we can set up our own utility that will.

Cause and effect

Kudos to the IRC for taking the lead on the up-coming conference on fetal alcohol syndrome.

The information on diagnosing and treating FAS and FAE is a black hole in the medical world and there is no reason why we can't take the lead research right here.

Far too long this was an issue that wasn't talked about, so it's no surprise that we still know very little about it.

Conferences like this on a small scale will make life easier for caregivers in our communities, but in the big picture, they help fill the world-wide void that exists in FAS/E research.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

It's time to take stock of some rather remarkable happenings in Fort Simpson.

First off, kudos to Thomas Simpson school's student council (and to the equally thoughtful staff members) who have given their time to raise money for the unfortunate souls in Badger, Nfld. Fort Simpson, a community of similar size, is equally susceptible to flooding. It had to be evacuated in the 1960s and experienced another close call in the late 1980s.

It must be heart-wrenching to find one's home practically destroyed by water-cum-ice. Hopefully the outpouring of support from across the country, including a contribution from Fort Simpson, will provide the boost Badger's residents need to get through this distressing time.

The Fort Simpson Darts Society also deserves a round of applause for successfully hosting the territorial championships this past weekend. Walking into the gymnasium (which was a fairly harsh environment for a non-smoker), the set of 2.5-metre, double-sided darts cabinets immediately caught one's eye. Many of the players commented on how impressive the cabinets were, including Danny Clouston, president of the Territorial Darts Association. The interlocking cabinets were sturdy, well-constructed and allowed the players to throw darts without distraction, according to Clouston. Not bad for a design that Fort Simpson's John Moreau jotted on a restaurant napkin. Moreau, Larry Campbell, Steve Gooderham, Wally Watson and Clayton Moreau combined efforts on construction.

Despite the fundraising efforts, the territorial darts tournament was unfortunately a financial drain. The Fort Simpson Darts Society must now try to recoup close to $5,000 in losses and help raise enough money to send up to four players to the national tournament in New Brunswick in June.

Congratulations to Chris Stipdonk, the only Deh Cho athlete to compete at the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton, N.B. People who know Stipdonk are getting accustomed to him bringing back a fistful of medals from competitions. It wasn't meant to be this time, as he was pitted against some of the best badminton players in the country. However, it was a good learning experience and a significant achievement for someone who only took up the sport two years ago.

Parks Canada employee Sophie Borcoman did return to Fort Simpson with some hardware, an award known as The Flame. It came quite unexpectedly, but was much-deserved. She has been instrumental in incorporating a Dene perspective and she has done a great deal to promote Nahanni National Park Reserve's image.

Finally, Fort Simpson should be proud of having the Beavertail Jamboree to indulge in this week. The hard work of the organizing committee and the volunteers shouldn't be taken for granted. Yellowknife's Caribou Carnival has been faltering and was almost cancelled this year.