Once again city council is mocking voters and abusing democracy by scuttling behind closed doors to make public decisions.

City council recently shut the public out of a hearing on the reinstatement of Diamond Cab driver Phuc Huynh's chauffeur's licence.

Convicted of assault with a weapon in a non-work related incident, as well as uttering death threats, Huynh's licence to drive taxi was revoked, just as a city bylaw directs.

Huynh's supporters, who were allowed in the room the public was kept out of, told council the incident was out of character and he had an unblemished record as a cabbie.

Council, without hearing from either Huynh's victim or the public, ignored the court conviction and gave the licence back. The debate should have been in public, not behind closed doors.

Secrecy is all about the arrogance of power and contempt for the very people councillors and the mayor work for.

It happens because Section 22 of the NWT Cities, Towns and Villages Act allows it.

An overly broad piece of legislation, it lets council by a two-thirds majority vote close a meeting to the public where "it is of the opinion that to do so is in the public interest."

In comparison, the Ontario Municipal Act, for instance, allows council to hold a closed meeting only if the subject matter deals with security of the property; personnel matters dealing with identifiable individual employees; acquisition or sale of land; labour relations; litigation or potential litigation and advice subject to solicitor-client privilege.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem defends the secrecy, saying it is done for the legal protection of Yellowknifers and to help out local business.

Secrecy was the order of the day under former mayor Dave Lovell.

Hundreds of thousands of city dollars were wasted by bad decisions made by council behind closed doors and local business suffered most.

A successful court challenge by the Yellowknife Property Owners Association pried open council's doors.

Van Tighem's election was meant to keep them open.

We hope he and his fellow councillors will now have the integrity to add secret meetings to their upcoming election platforms.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

Rankin Inlet hamlet council has the opportunity to start a new trend in deficit fighting.

While the hamlet's projected deficit will probably come in under the $121,000 being forecasted, just how far under remains to be seen.

In the meantime, council will be meeting to discuss doing its share to fight the expected deficit.

Council will be looking at reducing the honorariums paid for regular meetings and sitting on the various boards necessary to run a municipal government.

Councillors currently receive $200 per council meeting, while the deputy mayor receives $250.

Each councillor who sits on a committee is also paid $100 per meeting.

While -- when stacked up against many other municipalities -- the honorariums are certainly nothing extravagant, they do add up to a fair amount of change by year's end.

This is especially true of committee meetings.

Council is expected to lower the per meeting honorarium to $50.

More importantly, council will also look at ways to streamline committee efforts.

This will include the possibility of utilizing a schedule for committee meetings, instead of the ad hoc approach of the past.

There will still be a need for impromptu meetings to be called now and again, but, by and large, the scheduled approach will save the hamlet money.

Proper scheduling will also make the committees far more effective in the long run.

While it's true the lowering of honorariums and scheduling of committee meetings are no deficit busters on their own -- they do send a positive message and set a community standard.

Should the deficit approach the $100,000 mark or more, hamlet council will be looking at ways to knock that down without dipping into its accumulated surplus.

That means one or more departments will take a substantial financial hit.

If and when the bleeding starts, hamlet councillors will be quick to point out the first cut started with them.

And, in this case, even if the first cut isn't the deepest, it sends the message council is doing its part to allow the hamlet to continue moving forward.

Who knows, maybe this will be a message Nunavut MLAs will hear?

Maybe they will vote to roll back their latest self-voted raise when the next territorial budget eats up the remaining surplus and goes into a true deficit situation?

Of course, we are talking about a group of MLAs who voted against a fall election, despite the wishes of the people.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

It looks like the smoking bylaw is a done deal. It wasn't the cakewalk council thought it would be, but it did happen without the debate I thought it would inspire, considering the number of smokers here.

There wasn't so much as a cough or a wheeze from the smoker's lobby, with not a single smoker showing up in opposition at any of the council meetings or the public meeting.

Some of the passion exhibited by the in the anti-smoking councillors at these meetings has been outright inspiring. I sure hope they will be equally inspired when the dust starts to fly.

Last year, I walked into my living room to see a cloud of what I thought was smoke, billowing through my sliding door. Closer inspection revealed that it wasn't Home Hardware burning down next door, but the dust rising from Franklin Street. With each passing car or truck, thick dust came wafting in to settle on my TV screen, CD racks and all over the once clean dishes in the rack.

We all spend an inordinate amount of time dusting our homes, but imagine the dust we breath in each day?

Council brought up the dangers of smoking in parts per million and the toxic effects over extended period of time, but just imagine the parts per million in dirt we breath in every summer here.

Walking on the street is likely more harmful than sitting in the smokiest bar. A bike ride along the overpass feels like the equivalent to smoking three cigarettes.

If cigarette smoke was as thick as the dust in this town, I would be just as passionate as councillors Alfred Moses and Arlene Hansen. But it's not.

The town bought a beautiful street sweeper last year and we all appreciate that, but the paving and dust abatement needs to be bumped way up.

The smoking bylaw thing is a good step; it's easy, it's trendy and it's cheap. Dust isn't so easy, it's hardly trendy and it ain't cheap.

Rather than dumping down gallons of water and chemicals, the real solution is paving. The town currently spends $400,000 a year on paving.

Most of that money was spent last year on cold mix plopped into pot holes that falls out after a few cars pass over it.

This summer, there will be a hot mix paving machine in town and I'd like to see that baby laying it down hot and thick, around the clock and all around town.

It would take millions and more than a few summers of paving, but the longer we leave it, the more it will cost.

New subdivisions are going in and council is rubbing their hands together over the new revenue. The town is debt-free and every spare cent from bingo and lotteries is going right into the deep end of our new pool.

If we can afford to go millions into debt so we can go for a swim, shouldn't we be able to go into debt to save our lungs?

If council is truly dedicated to a healthier town, lets see them put some money where their mouths are -- and where our lungs are.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

It's looking more and more like it's time to part ways.

The relationship between the Deh Cho First Nations (DCFN) and the Acho Dene Koe (ADK) has always been tenuous.

Things have taken another bad turn with the ADK's mistrust of the Interim Resource Development Agreement, which is due to be signed on April 17. The Fort Liard First Nation is worried the agreement will cede authority over its traditional lands to the DCFN.

The same sense of apprehension existed prior to the signing of the Interim Measures Agreement and Draft Framework Agreement last year.

It could be argued that the real turning point came in 1993 when then Chief Harry Deneron and his council decided to go forward with oil and gas exploration. If that wasn't the defining moment, then it happened on May 16, 2001, at the Deh Cho spring leadership assembly in Fort Simpson. The tension was palpable in the Deh Cho First Nations boardroom that day as former Chief Judy Kotchea insisted on a resolution stating that interim self-government agreements "will apply to ADK traditional lands at ADK's discretion." Another clause gave ADK "sole ownership, authority and jurisdiction over its territory during and after negotiations."

In the meantime there have been other flare-ups between the DCFN and the ADK. There were hard feelings over a National Post feature that included negative comments about Fort Liard from DCFN representatives. Last fall's leadership assembly was pulled from Fort Liard after Chief Floyd Bertrand wrote a letter to Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte that DCFN Grand Chief Michael Nadli found offensive.

These are just the tensions that have been made public. There could be others simmering behind the scenes.

This shouldn't be viewed as a good guy, bad guy situation. It's just two sides that can't find enough common ground. They can't agree, and there doesn't seem to be much will to work through the problems.

The Fort Liard band has at least twice approached the Department of Indian Affairs with requests to have its own land claim. It's time the federal government to acquiesce and dissolve this sham of a union.

As for the other First Nations within the Deh Cho, they have managed to maintain an alliance, sometimes rocky, sometimes harmonious. Even outside of Fort Liard, there are those who have their misgivings over what they perceive as the DCFN's motives or hidden agenda. What is this organization if not representational of the aboriginal groups in this region?

There are four major political assemblies and numerous strategic planning sessions each year. If the DCFN is not fully accountable, it's the failing of each of the chiefs and Metis presidents and their respective delegates.

Bob Jackson was mistakenly identified as owner of the Leisure Cafe in the story, "Digesting the ban" (Friday, April 11). He is the restaurant's manager, while Jim Kong owns the Leisure Cafe. Yellowknifer apologizes for the error.

Yellowknifer reported last week that construction of a 21-kilometre stretch of Highway 3 will be completed by summer. The story should have stated construction will not be completed until summer 2004.